October 9, 2024

MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts:

• Amidst ongoing Israeli military operations against Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Lebanese people in a video message today, saying “You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will bring destruction and suffering similar to what we see in Gaza.” [more]
• Israeli officials closed schools in northern Israel and warned residents of the region to limit activities after Hezbollah militants in Lebanon fired an estimated 180 rockets at Israel yesterday. [more]

HURRICANE MILTON | Currently a Category 5 storm, Hurricane Milton is expected to weaken, but grow in size, prior to making landfall along Florida’s Gulf Coast late tonight or early tomorrow morning. Meteorologists say the storm is likely to maintain hurricane strength along its entire path across Florida. [NOAA storm page] [more]

GOOGLE SEARCH MONOPOLY | According to a court filing yesterday, among the remedies being considered by the U.S. Department of Justice in its antitrust lawsuit against Google are: forcing the search engine giant to sell parts of its operations and making the data used by the company to power its search engine available to competitors. [more]

GEORGIA | The regents of Georgia’s 26 public universities and colleges voted yesterday to ask the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the National Junior College Athletic Association to ban transgender women from participating in women’s sports. Currently the NCAA – the largest U.S. college athletics governing body – follows the transgender standards and policies of national and international governing bodies for each sport. [more]

U.S. ELECTION SECURITY | FBI officials say a 27-year-old Afghan man arrested this week in Oklahoma was inspired by the Islamic State militant group to plan an Election Day attack targeting large crowds in the U.S. next month. Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, of Oklahoma City, has been charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State, which is designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization. [more]

U.S. FEDERAL DISASTER RESPONSE | Amidst what the agency says are widespread rumors being spread on social media, and sometimes by politicians and other celebrities, about its disaster responses and policies the Federal Emergency Management Agency has launched a website to address such rumors and provide information on FEMA's response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. [Hurricane rumor response website] [more]

WASHINGTON | Aerospace giant Boeing has reportedly withdrawn its latest contract proposal aimed at endings a weeks-old strike, accusing the union representing some 33,000 striking workers of failing to seriously consider its proposals. [more]

NOBEL PRIZES | Scientists David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John Jumper have been named the winners of the 2024 Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work with proteins. Baker has worked to develop numerous novel proteins since 2003, and Hassabis and Jumper created an artificial intelligence model that has been used to predict the structures of nearly all of the 200 million proteins identified to date. [more]

SOUTHEAST ASIA | Leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations began their annual summit today in Laos, with talks expected to focus on the civil war in Myanmar and ongoing territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Meetings with other countries contending for influence in the region, including the U.S., China, and Russia, are scheduled to follow the two-day summit. [more]

KOREA | North Korea announced today that it plans to permanently block all road and rail border crossings with South Korea and to strengthen its military structures along the border to defend against what it sees as threats from U.S. and South Korean forces. [more]

BELARUS | In a continuation of what are widely seen as politically motivated actions ahead of next year’s presidential election, state prosecutors in Belarus announced new criminal inquiries yesterday against 22 opposition activists on charges of alleged involvement in a “conspiracy to seize power,” and against 23 others accused of forming an extremist group for their activities. [more]

SUDAN | The U.S. announced new sanctions yesterday against Algoney Hamdan Daglo Musa, a senior leader of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, for leading efforts to supply weapons for use in Sudan’s 17-month-long civil war in which more than 20,000 people have died. [more]

BRAZIL | The U.N. High Commission for Refugees has named a 79-year-old Brazilian nun, Sister Rosita Milesi, the winner of the organization’s Nansen Refugee Award, which is given annually in recognition of work to protect internally displaced and stateless people. [more]

BASKETBALL | With semifinal series wins against the Las Vegas Aces and the Connecticut Sun, respectively, the New York Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx have advanced to the 2024 WNBA Finals. Game 1 of the best-of-5 Finals series is scheduled for tomorrow night. [more]

TENNIS | The All England Club announced today that line judges at the Wimbledon tennis tournament will be replaced with electronic line calling starting with next year’s tournament. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1888, the Washington Monument – a marble-faced granite obelisk that honors the first U.S. president, George Washington, and which was, at the time, the tallest structure in the world – opened to the public in Washington, D.C. [more history]