112 years ago today, an Italian museum worker snuck into the Louvre and stole the Mona Lisa. His scheme was straight out of National Treasure: He donned a white smock to blend in with museum staff and abducted the painting on a day the museum was closed. He held the smirky portrait in his trunk for two years before finally trying to sell it in Italy. Police then arrested him, although he served just six months in prison.

In today's edition:

• Putin, we have a problem

• Viral meme dog dies

• Capybara contraband

 🔑 Key Stories

Russian Mission Failure

Russia’s first mission to the Moon in 47 years ended in failure after the spacecraft crashed into the Moon

• Earlier this month, Russia launched its first mission to the Moon since 1976, hoping to land a probe on its South Pole. Russia would have become the first country to land there, but on Saturday, the probe crashed into the Moon, destroying it

• The failure – which analysts say may be related to the European Space Agency ending a partnership with Russia last year – sets back Russia’s goal for a joint China-Russia moon base

• India hopes to land a probe there later on Wednesday

Dig Deeper

• NASA – which last sent a human to the Moon in 1972 and remains the only space agency to have done so – plans to return humans to the Moon in 2025 and seeks to establish a permanent colony there

Canadian Wildfires

50,000+ Canadians have evacuated their homes amid the country’s worst wildfire season on record

• Canada usually experiences wildfires in its western regions in the summer. This year, though, 5,700+ wildfires have burned nearly 15M hectares (one hectare = ~two and a half acres) of land. For reference, in 1989, Canada’s next-worst fire season, fires burned 7.6M hectares

• Fires are currently burning in British Columbia, causing tens of thousands to evacuate. 19,000+ have also evacuated Yellowknife, a provincial capital with pop. 20,000, as fires have approached the city

• Canada’s military will deploy in British Columbia to help fight fires

Dig Deeper

• Firefighters are using various means to fight the flames, including “water bombing,” which involves planes dropping water or fire retardants from the sky. On Sunday, they said that has shown some success in fighting the blaze

Ecuador: Post-Assassination Election

Ecuadorians voted in presidential elections on Sunday 9 days after a candidate was assassinated

• Since 2020, Ecuador has gone from being one of South America’s safest to most dangerous countries. Earlier this month, a presidential candidate was assassinated. Drug gangs are were likely behind that

• In the killing’s wake, 100,000+ police and soldiers were deployed around the country. With 88% of votes counted, a leftist lawyer came in first with 33% of the vote and a centrist businessman came in second with 24%

• Those two candidates will now go head-to-head in an October election

Dig Deeper

• Businessman Daniel Noboa is a political centrist who has pledged to expand job opportunities, attract foreign aid, and increase punishments for certain types of corruption

Kansas Newspaper Raid

New revelations have shed light on why a Kansas police department raided a local newspaper

• Earlier this month, police raided the Marion County Record, a family-owned outlet based in a small Kansas town. Police seized cell phones, computers, and other documents. The raid provoked an outcry

• Newly-released documents show that police raided the paper after one of its reporters accessed the driving records of a restaurateur whose license was suspended in 2008 over a DUI. Police allege that in accessing that document, the reporter broke the law

• The newspaper denied all allegations of wrongdoing

Dig Deeper

• Last Wednesday, a county prosecutor ordered all confiscated items to be returned to the Record, arguing there wasn’t enough evidence to justify the raid

• The Kansas Bureau of Investigation has since taken over the investigation into whether the Record committed any crimes. It’s unclear if Kansas prosecutors will investigate Marion’s police department

• Marion’s police chief has defended his actions on social media, alleging Zorn broke the law

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🍿 Popcorn

ICYMI

• La Roja! Spain won its first Women’s World Cup title with a 1-0 victory over England, ending a contentious campaign on a high note. 15 players quit last year due to the coach’s “unprofessionalism”

• It’s a mob story: Taylor Swift’s presence at a New Jersey wedding resulted in “pandemonium” outside wedding venues. Police got involved and shut down streets, frustrating many locals

• Prison’s coming, yo: A judge sentenced the man who sold the fentanyl-laced heroin that caused The Wire star Michael K. Williams’ death to 10 years in prison

Wildcard

• It’s a Huriquake! A 5.1-magnitude earthquake shook Southern California just as Tropical Storm Hilary made landfall on Sunday. Hilary is SoCal’s first tropical storm in 84 years

• In-sein-ly frustrating: Organizers canceled a swimming test for the 2024 Olympics in Paris due to poor water quality in the River Seine, marking the third such cancellation in a month

• RIP, meme dog: Viral meme dog Cheems Balltze died at 12 after battling cancer. Cheems – a Shiba Inu – became an internet sensation for his “bonk” and “swole dog vs. weak dog” memes

👇 What do you think?

Today's Question:

Were the police justified in raiding the Kansas paper?

Reply to this email with your answers!

See yesterday's results below the Wrap! 

🌯 Roca Wrap

Are capybaras a cuddly pet or illegal contraband?

Weighing as much as 150 lbs and growing up to four feet long, capybaras are the world’s largest rodent. The key to that size is grass and poop: They eat up to eight lbs of grass daily and then eat their poop the following morning, which provides them with bacteria they need to digest grass.

Capybaras are native to South America. They live on land but stay near water, where they spend much of their time. They have partially webbed feet and ears high on their heads, much like hippos.

Known for being friendly and affectionate, viral videos have turned them into an internet sensation and driven their popularity as exotic pets. Zena Foord of Northern Ireland was one of those people who wanted a pet capybara.

Last year, Foord reached out to a nearby pet store owner who used his connections to find and purchase one from a pet store in Cambridge, England. The owner enlisted a pet enthusiast and farmer to pick up the capybara from Cambridge and transport it to Northern Ireland. The capybara moved into Foord’s house, where her son, a TikToker named Kyle Thomas, took a liking to it.

Thomas – who has 35M TikTok followers – named the capybara “Queen Elizabeth” and began posting videos that drew millions of views and showed him feeding, playing, and dancing with it. But last fall, the capybara fell ill. Foord brought it to a vet, who realized the animal didn’t have the proper import paperwork or health documentation.

They notified police, who arrested the trio involved with importing Queen Elizabeth. The trio had violated the UK’s post-Brexit trade laws.

The UK is primarily made up of Great Britain (England, Wales, and Scotland) and Northern Ireland, which is the northern 17% of the island of Ireland. Northern Ireland is predominantly Protestant; the Republic of Ireland, an independent country, is predominantly Catholic. Conflict between Catholics and Protestants killed thousands of people in Northern Ireland until 1998, when the sides signed the Good Friday Agreement.

The peace deal abolished the border checks between Ireland and Northern Ireland, allowing people and goods to pass through freely. That worked while both Ireland and the UK were in the EU.

But when Brexit happened in 2016, it raised a problem: The Good Friday Agreement said there would be an open border between Ireland and Northern Ireland; Brexit meant there would not.

The situation raised fears of a return to violence in Northern Ireland. As a solution, a new deal – the Northern Ireland Protocols – was reached.

That was a trade deal that allowed people and goods to pass between Ireland and Northern Ireland as they had before Brexit, but required goods passing from Great Britain to Northern Irish ports to go through customs as if they were passing between foreign countries.

Among additional rules, pets traveling from the UK to Northern Ireland must receive certain certifications and health forms. The trio involved with the capybara purchase didn’t receive those forms, and all three admitted in court to violating Northern Ireland’s laws by importing the capybara. None of them received any prison time, but all now have a criminal record.

The UK has since replaced the Northern Ireland Protocols with a more lenient policy, under which it wouldn’t have been a crime to import him to Northern Ireland. Yet Queen Elizabeth the Capybara wouldn’t live to see that, for she was already dead of her illness.

If you have thoughts, let us know at [email protected]!

 🌊 Roca Clubhouse

Yesterday's Poll:

Travis King is a US soldier who ran into North Korea last month. Should the US try to negotiate his return?
Yes: 10%
No: 75%
Indifferent: 15%

Yesterday's Question:

Just 20 Qs!

🧠 Final Thoughts

We hope everyone had pleasant weekends. On this Monday morning, we have one word of advice: If you're importing a capybara, please make sure you have the proper documentation.

See you tomorrow.

—Max and Max