Our daily trip around the world

🇷🇺 A Russian chess player is under investigation for allegedly poisoning her opponent. Last week at a women’s chess tournament in southern Russia, pro player Amina Abakarova was caught on camera spraying her opponent’s chessboard with a substance allegedly containing mercury, resulting in her rival getting sick. Abakarova has been temporarily suspended from competing, and faces a possible lifetime ban along with up to three years in prison.

🇯🇵 Japan issued its first-ever megaquake alert. A 7.1-magnitude earthquake occurred off Japan’s southern coast yesterday, triggering a tsunami advisory expected to remain in place for a week. No major damage or deaths were initially reported. Yesterday’s earthquake was located at the edge of a major fault line, prompting Japan’s government to issue its first-ever alert – the lowest level of warning – about an increased risk of a "major earthquake" striking in the near future (which experts say could potentially result in up to 224,000 deaths).

🇲🇽🇺🇸 Mexico’s lawsuit against American gun manufacturers was largely thrown out by a US judge. In 2021, Mexico’s government filed a lawsuit against eight US gun manufacturers over allegations the companies are fuelling widespread weapons trafficking from America into Mexico. On Tuesday evening, a US federal judge threw out claims against six of the eight gun-makers, in a ruling that said the companies’ alleged connection to gun violence in Mexico is “gossamer-thin at best."