Good morning! The weekend edition is 662 words, a 4-minute read.

What’s on tap: 

• “Odyssey” discovery

• Foster care village

• Python hunters

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Today’s Big Story

Russia’s Wartime Vote

• Russians began voting Friday in the country's first parliamentary election since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a three-day vote that will determine all 450 seats in the State Duma as the war enters its fifth year.

• President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party already controls more than two-thirds of the Duma and faces little organized opposition. Yabloko, the only registered party openly critical of the war, was removed from the ballot last month, while anti-war politicians have been imprisoned or forced abroad. Russia also declined to invite election observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

• For the first time in a parliamentary election, Russia is also conducting voting in four Ukrainian regions it claimed to annex in 2022 but still does not fully control, along with Crimea. Ukraine and the European Union called the voting in occupied territory illegal and said they will not recognize its results.

Saturday’s Quick Hits

• A researcher discovered a 1,700-year-old fragment of Homer’s “Odyssey” tucked between manuscripts in a Dutch university library. Dating to around 300 A.D., only about 30 fragments from the same period are known worldwide. The playing-card-sized parchment contains part of Book 12 and once belonged to a complete copy of the poem in ancient Egypt. (More)

• Warren Buffett stepped down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway after more than 60 years leading the company. Buffett, 96, was named chairman emeritus and will remain on the board, while his son Howard Buffett takes over as chairman. The move comes eight months after Buffett stepped down as CEO and handed the role to longtime lieutenant Greg Abel. (More)

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order directing experts to develop recommendations for stronger AI safety rules, including a potential emergency “kill switch” for advanced models. The group has two months to develop its plan. The order also calls for independent organizations to conduct safety audits and verify AI companies’ risk assessments. (More)

• Toys “R” Us will open 120 standalone locations for the holiday season, bringing its U.S. total to 160 stores in time for Christmas. The expansion comes as the toy industry sees its strongest first-half sales in six years. Adult-only households now account for 55% of toy sales, reflecting growing demand from collectors and hobbyists. (More)

• The lone holdout juror in Lindsay Clancy’s triple murder trial said he had no doubts about her guilt, disputing fellow jurors who said he acknowledged reasonable doubt during deliberations. Michael Desronvil said he believed evidence showed Clancy knew what she was doing and planned the killings. The disagreement resulted in a mistrial after more than 38 hours of deliberations. (More)

• Two-year-old conjoined twins from Ethiopia are seeing each other face to face for the first time after doctors successfully separated them at a St. Louis hospital. The girls were born joined at the head facing opposite directions — a condition occurring in roughly one in 2.5 million births. Nearly 30 specialists spent a year planning the 25-hour operation. (More)

Weekly Dose of Positive

• Christian Bale opened a California foster care village with 12 homes designed to keep siblings together when they enter the foster system. (More)

• A British couple who won $155 million in the lottery has given roughly half their fortune to charity through a foundation inspired by Dolly Parton’s philanthropy. (More)

• Average incomes have more than doubled since 1990 in nine African countries. Extreme poverty and child mortality have also fallen across all nine. (More)

• Station Casinos awarded nearly 10,000 employees $70 million in company stock, with workers receiving $1,000 for every year they have worked for the company. (More)

Extra Credit

How much Florida’s contract Burmese python hunters make.

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