September 18, 2024

ISRAEL AND LEBANON | Pagers used to communicate amongst members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded nearly simultaneously yesterday across Lebanon, killing at least 12 people and wounding nearly 3,000 others. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have blamed Israel and promised retaliation for the remote attack, which appears to have involved small amounts of explosive material embedded in the pagers. The explosions occurred just one day after Israel announced that ending Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel was now one of its war goals. [more]

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR | Update from day 348 of the conflict:

• The U.N. General Assembly is scheduled to vote today on a Palestinian-backed resolution that would declare Israel’s occupation of Gaza illegal and demand the withdrawal of its military forces. Israeli officials say the non-binding resolution fails to mention Hamas’ attacks on Israel, and the U.S. has characterized the resolution as having a “significant number of flaws.” [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 937 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Media reports say a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack triggered a massive explosion at an ammunition depot in Russia’s Tver region today, setting off earthquake sensors and prompting the evacuation of the nearby town of Toropets. Analysts note that Russia announced in 2018 that it was building a facility for the storage of missiles, ammunition, and explosives in the area where today’s explosion occurred. [more]
• The Russian military claimed today that it has captured the town of Ukrainsk in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region. Analysts note that Ukrainsk lies on the path to the defensive stronghold city of Kurakhove. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | Amidst sustained reductions in overall inflation – from a high of 9.1% in June 2022 to 2.5% last month – the Federal Reserve is widely expected to announce its first benchmark interest rate cut in more than four years later today. [more]

U.S. ELECTIONS | The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the FBI say they are investigating suspicious packages and letters, some of which contained an unknown substance, sent to election officials in more than 15 states. Officials note that there have been no reports of injuries linked to the packages. [more]

NEW YORK | Hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested at a Manhattan hotel and ordered jailed without bail yesterday following a federal indictment that charges him with “sex trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution, drug offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice.” In an initial court appearance, Combs pleaded not guilty before a federal magistrate. [more]

CALIFORNIA | Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation into law yesterday that aims to protect against the unauthorized creation of digital voice and likeness clones of Hollywood actors and performers. [more]

U.S. RETAIL SALES | Preliminary estimates show retail sales in the U.S. in August rose 0.1% from July and 2.1% from the year-ago period. [full report] [more]

MEXICO | Mexican Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval said yesterday that at least 30 people, including two military personnel, have been killed over the past two weeks in the northern state of Sinaloa amidst ongoing violence between factions of the powerful Sinaloa cartel. [more]

NORTH KOREA | South Korean and Japanese officials say North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles into the sea off its eastern coast today – its second series of such launches over the past week. [more]

AUSTRALIA | Reports say infiltration of the encrypted communications app Ghost by Australian police has led to at least 38 arrests in four Australian states. Among those arrested was Jay Je Yoon Jung, 32, who authorities allege developed the app in 2017 specifically for criminal use. [more]

COLOMBIA | Government officials in Colombia say the National Liberation Army rebel group is responsible for an attack yesterday on a military base in the eastern part of the country that killed two soldiers and injured 21 others. Following the attack, President Gustavo Petro suggested that the incident could lead to the suspension or cancellation of peace talks with the rebel group. [more]

MALI | The al-Qaida-linked militant group JNIM has claimed responsibility for attacks yesterday on a military police school and an airport in Mali’s capital city of Bamako. Government officials say several soldiers were killed in the attacks and that at least 15 suspects have been arrested. [more]

BANGLADESH | Thousands of members of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party rallied in the capital city of Dhaka yesterday to demand that Bangladesh’s interim government, headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, set plans for new national elections. [more]

AI | Blackrock and Microsoft yesterday announced their new Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership – a $30 billion fund to invest in artificial intelligence-related infrastructure, data centers, and energy projects. [more]

SOCIAL MEDIA | Meta-owned Instagram announced yesterday that, beginning today, accounts on the social media platform for anyone under the age of 18 in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia will be set to private by default, limit the reception of private messages from unknown persons, and restrict the presentation of “sensitive content.” Instagram says it will roll out similar features for teen accounts in other regions later this year. [more]

SOCCER | Harry Kane scored four goals in Bayern Munich’s win over Dinamo Zagreb yesterday, breaking Wayne Rooney’s record for the most career Champions League goals by an English player. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1931, in the so-called Mukden Incident, the Japanese army in Manchuria used the pretext of an explosion along its railway to occupy Mukden (now Shenyang) and to justify its invasion, and eventual control, of all of Manchuria, which lasted until 1945. [more history]