Flagship

Israeli strike kills Hezbollah commander

An Israeli airstrike on Beirut killed a senior Hezbollah commander, fueling fears that Lebanon may soon be enveloped in a metastasizing Middle East conflict. A days-long Israeli assault on the Lebanese group — part of the country’s expanded war aims that has shifted military focus from Gaza to its northern border — has killed hundreds, including children. And while analysts say the aerial offensive has degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities, many have nevertheless noted its massive weapons arsenal and preparations for a ground war in Lebanon. If such an Israeli operation takes place, “it’s not going to be a walk in the park,” a retired Israeli military official told The Wall Street Journal. “There’s no way we’re not getting a bloody nose.”

Biden addresses UN for the last time

US President Joe Biden used his final United Nations speech to defend his foreign policy achievements and urge people not to “grow weary” in the face of global conflict. He stressed the world was at “an inflection point in our history,” with the Gaza war expanding across the Middle East, a humanitarian disaster unfolding in Sudan, and Ukraine still embroiled in “Putin’s war” — and no end in sight for any of the crises. Alongside the tumultuous US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Middle East war may be the “final nail in the coffin for [Biden’s] foreign policy legacy,” The Independent wrote.

Asian Americans voters prefer Harris

Kamala Harris’ popularity has surged among Asian Americans, a fast-growing voting bloc that will help decide a closely fought US presidential race. The Democratic candidate has more than doubled her lead over Donald Trump among Asian Americans compared with the advantage President Joe Biden previously held: 66% plan to vote for Harris and 28% for Trump, according to a survey by APIAVote and AAPI Data. “What Harris has done has brought Asian American voters back into the presidential tent,” AAPI’s data head told Axios, adding that he expected turnout in November to reach historic highs, and that the group — which includes 15 million eligible voters — was “very likely to tip the scales.”

China probes US fashion brands

China is investigating “discriminatory measures” by US clothing giants Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger for boycotting Xinjiang cotton. Western governments for years have warned that the production of goods in the western Chinese region likely relies on Uyghur forced labor, but Beijing’s latest retaliation against the brands’ parent company shows how big firms are often “sandwiched” between pressures from China — a crucial market — and the West’s human rights concerns, The New York Times wrote. The US bans imports from Xinjiang unless the importer can prove the goods were made without forced labor, but that is “practically impossible,” the Times noted, because China has forbidden independent investigations into the region’s labor practices.

Chinese economist sacked for Xi criticism

A top Chinese economist was removed from his post at a state-run think tank after he allegedly criticized Xi Jinping’s handling of the economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. Beijing’s investigation of comments Zhu Hengpeng made in a private WeChat group comes as China’s lackluster economy grapples with a prolonged real estate slump and persistently weak consumer spending. It’s a crisis that many economists blame on Xi’s efforts to “boost the state sector, rein in what he considers capitalistic excess, and protect China against perceived foreign threats,” the Journal wrote. Chinese economists are now subjected to censorship usually reserved for political and social commentary, Le Monde argued, because “there’s no room for pessimism” in Xi’s China.

Israel’s investment advice chatbot

Israeli authorities approved a chatbot that offers investment recommendations. The chatbot will be rolled out this month in partnership with one of Israel’s largest banks, Bloomberg reported, calling it a “significant — and controversial — milestone for generative AI.” Regulators worldwide have cautioned against using AI in retail investing: The US Securities and Exchange Commission chair this month warned of a future financial crisis if too many brokers and money managers relied on “the same model, the same algorithm, the same data.” The US government has cracked down on discrimination by AI products that experts warn could lock people out of financial and housing markets.

Record number of factory robots

A record four million robots are operating in factories worldwide, a symbolic threshold in automation that is also raising cybersecurity concerns. China is the world’s largest market for factory robots, according to the International Federation of Robotics, representing 51% of global installations in 2023, a result that the Harvard International Review pinned on China’s aging population and declining birth rate, requiring automation to fill labor gaps. But factory robots are “easy targets” for hackers who can steal product designs, disrupt production lines, or even cause physical harm, an expert warned in IoT World Today, urging manufacturers to “treat their robotic workforce with the same security attention they give to traditional IT.”

Microsoft president on AI chip exports

The US “needs to get comfortable” with exporting semiconductors to maximize the power of artificial intelligence, Microsoft’s president said at Semafor’s The Next 3 Billion event. Brad Smith’s comments come nearly two years after the Biden administration first outlined harsh restrictions on China’s access to cutting-edge semiconductors. But the curbs have slowed exports to Middle East and African countries where Beijing also has business interests: Washington worries they could be diverted to China, but critics argue the restrictions erode US tech’s inroads in those regions. Other tech leaders like Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger have cautioned that expanded restrictions will push China to evade US sanctions and ultimately “build its own chips,” according to The Register.

A case for banning sports gambling

US states that legalized sports gambling should ban it again, an expert argued. In 2012, several states overturned a two-decade ban on sports betting, and by 2023 Americans were betting more than $1 billion a month, Charles Fain Lehman wrote in The Atlantic. He cited research showing that lifting the ban increased bankruptcies, reduced household savings, and exacerbated domestic violence, especially among deprived communities, and that — contrary to expectations — it didn’t raise much in tax revenue or help reduce black market gambling. Some politicians have proposed careful regulation, but, Lehman argued, “the more elegant solution is the blunter one: ban sports gambling once again.”

Chinese students find propaganda ‘boring’

Many students in China are sleeping through their four-hour mandatory “political education” propaganda classes. Since the 1990s, pupils have been required to attend classes intended to reinforce their loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party and mitigate frustrations over a stumbling economy, with topics like “[Chinese leader] Xi Jinping’s thoughts on the rule of law.” Xi declared in May that they were boosting morale, but one foreign scholar who spent two years studying in China wrote in the Financial Times that a quarter of his classmates slept through them and many others used them to do unrelated coursework: One said that the classes are “boring” and “a waste of time.”

September 25:

• The EU votes on proposed tariffs for Chinese electric vehicles.
• Campaigning begins in Indonesia’s regional elections.
• Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix attend the London premiere of Joker: Folie à Deux.

When Hong Kong artist Chow Chun-fai was unable to find a familiar intersection in his rapidly changing home city, it inspired a series of time-shifting works that fuse past and present. Concerned that history is being forgotten amid a city in flux, the artist created a series of paintings that blend the neon signs and mahjong parlors of his childhood with how those same streets look today. Map of Amnesia, at the Tang Contemporary Art gallery, is a testament to how beloved landmarks are being “transformed or threatened by redevelopment,” the South China Morning Post wrote, while Chow’s “blending of fiction and reality changes the way we see familiar places.”

• Wall Street jockeys for jobs as election nears.
• Republicans’ latest worry: Their imploding N.C. candidate could drag down Trump.
• Harris’ vow to end the filibuster for abortion rights faces challenge in her own party.