Vox Sentences: "A cowardly act of terror"

Vox Sentences is your daily digest for what's happening in the world, curated by Ella Nilsen. Sign up for the Vox Sentences newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday, or view the Vox Sentences archive for past editions.

Eight people were killed by a driver on a bike path in New York in an incident being investigated as an act of terror; Airbus is dealing with twin scandals in the US and Europe; hundreds of refugees seeking asylum Australia are refusing to leave their detention center.

Terror in New York

Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post via Getty Images

• At least eight people were killed Tuesday afternoon after a man in a pickup truck rented from Home Depot drove for several blocks through a bike path in lower Manhattan. [NYT / Benjamin Mueller, William Rashbaum, and Al Baker]
• Police shot and wounded the suspect, a 29-year-old man, after he waved two guns — a paintball gun and a pellet gun — at law enforcement officials. [NYT / Benjamin Mueller, William Rashbaum, and Al Baker]
• The incident is being investigated as an act of terror, according to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. The suspect reportedly shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("God is great" in Arabic). [CNN / Eric Levenson, Brynn Gingras, and Ray Sanchez]
• While no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, using vehicles to mow down pedestrians has become a frequent tactic for ISIS-linked terrorists in recent years. [Vox / Zack Beauchamp]

One reason these "lone wolf" vehicle attacks have become so popular is that they're hard to predict and prevent. They aren't designed to cripple a country — just terrorize the populace. [Vox / Zack Beauchamp]

Airbust

Pascal Pavani/AFP/Getty Images

• The French airplane company Airbus is facing new questions from the American government after it admitted it lied to the US State Department about following rules governing overseas arms trafficking. [NYT / Jack Ewing]
• In a recently released report, the company said it did not follow US arms sales regulations on sales agents it used to sell “defense products,” but it did not say exactly what arms were sold. So far, it’s unclear whether the US Justice Department will investigate the company. [WSJ / Robert Wall]
• Airbus is already in hot water in Europe, where regulators in the UK, France, and Germany have stopped paying the company while they investigate alleged corruption. [Financial Times / Peggy Hollinger]
• The company has been accused of bribery and embezzlement stemming from some of its past deals selling civil aircraft to China, Kazakhstan, and Turkey. Some of the allegations include that middlemen were involved in airplane deals, accepting millions in bribes along the way. [Handelsblatt / Thomas Hanke, Hans-Peter Siebenhaar, Silke Kersting, and Volker Votsmeier]
• The company is worried about the financial impact of all these investigations, which has already affected sales of its planes. [Reuters]
• Airbus has started an internal investigation into what went wrong both with US and European operations. But it appears its stock hasn’t suffered yet; company stock is still climbing. [Bloomberg / Benjamin Katz]

Australia is trying to starve out refugees

Recep Sakar/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

• Australia’s government is trying to close a detention center for refugees on Manus Island in the South Pacific. That’s proving difficult, as refugees are refusing to leave, saying they fear for their safety if they are relocated. [NYT / Damien Cave and Adam Baidawi]
• There are about 700 refugees who have been living in the center for years who are refusing to go, even as Australia tries to tighten the screws by denying them food and water. [CNN / Hilary Whiteman]
• The electricity has also been cut to the detention center, with generators being switched off, leaving many of the buildings overheated, refugees told local media outlets. [Special Broadcasting Service]
• The men’s fears of being attacked if they leave the camp are founded; Human Rights Watch has recorded incidents of refugees on Manus being beaten by local men, and refugees have complained that police do little to stop the violence. [Human Rights Watch]
• It’s an explosive development in an already contentious issue in Australia over what to do with refugees fleeing the Middle East and parts of Asia including Myanmar. The camps Australia runs in the Papua New Guinea islands of Manus and Nauru are known for their bad conditions. [Vox / Amanda Taub]
• But the ruling political parties also don’t want to resettle refugees in Australia. The government has agreed to resettle a portion, but is trying to hand off refugees to other countries or send them back to their homelands. (Not wanting to take these refugees is precisely why Trump got into a spat with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull earlier this year). [Washington Post / Greg Miller, Julie Vitkovskaya, and Reuben Fischer-Baum]
• Lawyers for the Manus refugees filed an injunction today to try to block the detention center from closing and getting the men food, water, and electricity. [Associated Press]

Miscellaneous

• If you’re in 17th-century England and trying to scare away witches, what better method than carving a bunch of interlocking circles into your house? [Atlas Obscura / Kirsten Amor]
• There’s as much sugar in 19 pieces of candy corn as there is in a can of Red Bull ... about 7 teaspoons, to be precise. [BuzzFeed / Sally Tamarkin]
• Argentina’s version of #MeToo is #NiUnaMenos, or “not one less,” drawing attention to the terrifying number of women killed by men in the country. Recently, one of the movement’s leaders became a victim herself. [BuzzFeed / Karla Zabludovsky]
• Scientists have discovered an ancient dinosaur with massive teeth that most likely chewed through palm tree leaves. Delicious. [The Verge / Rachel Becker]
• In Illinois, juvenile offenders who assault guards or staff face serious consequences: time in adult prison. A recent investigation found that the teens who were more likely to get sent to prison are disproportionately black. [ProPublica / Duaa Eldeib]

Verbatim

• “I really connected to the idea that you find witchcraft through persecution. I think that’s why a lot of people are drawn to witchcraft — they don’t fit in, they’re queer or a person of color or just a little weird.” [Self-described witch Haleigh to Vulture / Lila Shapiro]
• “For example, if you also happen to be from northern New England, you can go as the phrase ‘hard tellin’ not knowin,’ which translates roughly to I don’t know, and please stop asking me questions, I have cows that need tending to.’” [Rebecca Jennings on how to dress up as a sexy idiom for Halloween / Racked]
• “You get dragged into the gutter of nastiness and pettiness and shame and all of these things, and it sometimes seems healthier and wiser to just move on with your life and not allow yourself to be re-victimized.” [Actress Daryl Hannah on Harvey Weinstein, to the New Yorker / Ronan Farrow]
• "I mean, for me, authenticity is, when you're in a rock band, being able to play your fucking guitars for a start." [The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins to Noisey / Alex Robert Ross]
• "It doesn't taste strongly of deer. I would say it would be like deer-lite. Not a Budweiser but a Bud Lite.” [Hunter Rick White on Arby’s new venison sandwich, to NPR / Nate Hegyi]

Watch this: Inside North Korea’s bubble in Japan

Why North Korea has children’s schools in Japan. [YouTube / Johnny Harris]

Read more

What Canada taught Bernie Sanders about health care

Researchers have ditched the autism-vaccine theory. Here’s what they think actually causes it.

The Trump-Russia scandal: everything we know so far, explained

Melting permafrost in the Arctic is unlocking diseases and warping the landscape

October was an amazing month for new music. Here are 9 standout releases.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.

So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)

If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via