September 23, 2024

ISRAEL AND LEBANON | Israel called for civilian residents of southern Lebanon to evacuate their homes, and the U.S. has urged its citizens to leave the country, following a weekend of escalating cross-border violence that saw the Hezbollah militant group fire hundreds of rockets at Israel and Israeli forces carry out hundreds of airstrikes on suspected militant strongholds. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 942 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Local authorities say at least 21 people were wounded Saturday night in a Russian bombing attack on the Shevchenkivsky district of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv that damaged several residential buildings. [more]
• Ukraine’s National Cybersecurity Coordination Center on Friday banned the installation and use of the popular Telegram messaging app on state-issued devices, citing security issues, including the alleged ability of Russian intelligence services to access the personal messages of app users, as the reason for the move. [more]

U.S. GUN VIOLENCE | Four people were killed, and 17 others were injured, late Saturday night when yet-unidentified gunmen opened fire in Birmingham, Alabama’s Five Points South entertainment district. Police, who are continuing a manhunt for suspects today, say the shooting appears to have been a targeted “hit” of one of the people who died in the incident. [more]

U.S. GOVERNMENT FUNDING | Congressional leaders are reported to have reached an agreement yesterday on a short-term spending measure that, if passed, will avert a government shutdown ahead of the October 1 deadline and fund federal agencies and operations through mid-December. Votes on the spending bill are expected to take place later this week. [more]

U.S. ELECTIONS | U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris yesterday urged former President Donald Trump to accept an invitation to take part in a second presidential candidates’ debate on October 23. Trump has indicated that he does not intend to debate Harris again, citing last week’s start of early voting in some states as his reason. [more]

U.S. GULF COAST | Meteorologists say an evolving storm in the western Caribbean is expected to strengthen into a hurricane before moving north and making landfall along the U.S. Gulf Coast later this week. Florida’s Panhandle and Big Bend regions are the areas noted as potentially being affected most by the storm. [more]

U.N. PACT FOR THE FUTURE | The United Nations General Assembly approved its 42-page “Pact for the Future” framework yesterday, which calls on the world’s nations to work together to address 21st-century challenges, including climate change, sustainable development financing, artificial intelligence, escalation of conflicts, and historical inequality and poverty. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres praised the General Assembly action, but warned that it “demands not just agreement, but action.” [full framework document] [more]

IRAN | The state-run IRNA news agency reports that at least 38 miners have died, and another 14 are believed to still be missing, following an explosion Saturday night at a coal mine near the central Iran city of Tabas. A sudden leak of methane gas in the mine has been cited as the cause of the explosion. [more]

FRANCE AND MARTINIQUE | Specialized anti-riot police were sent from France to the French Caribbean island of Martinique over the weekend amidst ongoing protests over the high cost of living and a government announcement of curfews and a ban on demonstrations in several areas of the island territory. [more]

SRI LANKA | Anura Kumara Dissanayake, head of the Marxist-leaning National People’s Power coalition, was sworn in as the new president of Sri Lanka today following his victory in Saturday’s national election. [more]

SUDAN | Sudanese health authorities say at least 388 people have died, and 13,000 others have been sickened, in cholera outbreaks over the past two months amidst recent heavy rainfalls and the displacement of millions of residents caused by the African nation’s ongoing civil war. [more]

ECUADOR | Ecuadorian regulators cut electricity service to 12 of the South American nation’s 24 provinces for nine hours yesterday amidst an ongoing drought that has reduced water levels at the country’s hydroelectric power plants. Reports note that additional nationwide power cuts are planned for most days this week. [more]

PAKISTAN | Reports say one police officer was killed, and four others were wounded, yesterday in a bomb attack on a convoy escorting foreign diplomats in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Authorities say ambassadors and officials from Indonesia, Portugal, Kazakhstan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Turkmenistan, Vietnam, Iran, Russia, and Tajikistan were among those traveling in the convoy and that none of the foreign representatives were harmed in the attack. [more]

GERMANY | Organizers say about 6 million people are expected to attend this year’s Oktoberfest folk festival in Munich, Germany, which opened Saturday and runs through October 6. [more]

SPACE | Russian astronauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub are scheduled to return to Earth from the International Space Station today after having set a new record for the longest continuous stay on the ISS of 373 days. [more]

BASKETBALL | Ahead of yesterday’s opening of the WNBA playoffs, A’ja Wilson and Caitlin Clark were announced as the league’s unanimous choices for the AP Player and Rookie of the Year awards, respectively. [more]

WEEKEND MOVIES | "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" topped the North American box office over the weekend with an estimated $26 million in receipts, followed by "Transformers One" and "Speak No Evil." [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1932, by royal decree, the dual kingdom of the Hejaz and Najd, along with its dependencies, was unified under the name of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. [more history]