Flagship

Israel continues strikes in Lebanon

Israel struck “dozens” of Hezbollah targets Sunday as a ground operation appeared imminent. The country has shuttled reservists and tanks to the Lebanese border, and US officials told ABC small “border movements” may have already begun. The escalation comes after the Iran-backed group confirmed leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed by an airstrike — his death will come as a blow to Tehran’s operations in the region, as Nasrallah occupied a position of trust other Hezbollah leaders do not, the Financial Times noted. The immediate question is whether “Iran will be looking for some way to turn the tables and save some face,” one analyst said, or if Israel’s success in degrading Hezbollah’s forces could force the group to back down, a security expert told NPR.

Chinese stocks rally on stimulus news

Investors are increasingly confident that China’s lackluster economy may be recovering after key indexes saw some of their biggest weekly gains in years last week. Markets were buoyed by Beijing’s multi-point stimulus package, which included billions in spending and easing measures, although not all its details have been clarified. “FOMO is running high for [Chinese] investors,” one analyst told Bloomberg, adding that Chinese stocks could see a further 20% rise. When asked what investors might buy, one hedge fund manager bluntly told CNBC: “Everything. Every. Thing.” It’s a major change in stance for leader Xi Jinping, who previously disdained spending measures, The Economist noted, but amid the country’s deflationary spiral, stimulus is now “politically correct,” as one Chinese banker said.

New Japan PM rattles stock market

Analysts are warning of economic turbulence ahead of Japan’s new prime minister’s swearing-in on Oct. 1. The country’s stock market may experience a “very ugly” Monday, a trader told the Financial Times, as investors come to terms with Shigeru Ishiba. He is a known critic of the Bank of Japan’s long-standing policy of aggressive easing and stimulus, and supports higher taxes on companies and investment income. That said, Ishiba took a more dovish tone after he won the ruling party’s leadership contest Friday, saying that “monetary policy must remain accommodative,” however he would not push back if the central bank decides to further raise interest rates. Analysts told the Financial Times that until there is more clarity, “volatility is likely to persist.”

Russia seems to regain footing in Ukraine

Russia downed 125 Ukrainian drones overnight Sunday as Moscow seems poised to begin a new military push in the country’s south. Russia’s regained footing has intensified Kyiv’s calls for the West to send additional aid and weapons. After meeting Ukraine’s leader last week, US President Joe Biden pledged $8 billion in further aid, but did not authorize Kyiv to use US-made long-range weapons to strike inside Russia, a move Moscow warned could lead to war with NATO and even a nuclear response. Meanwhile, in Europe, Kyiv’s allies are struggling to ramp up weapon production to rearm both the bloc and Ukraine, as “efforts remain mired in bureaucracy, bottlenecks, public wariness of weapons production and banks’ refusal to lend money,” The Wall Street Journal wrote.

Austria’s far right clinches election

Austria’s far-right Freedom Party won its first national election, exit polls showed. The party — which will need to form a coalition to govern — is riding a wave of public anger over what voters perceive as the country’s mismanagement and soaring cost of living. Party chief Herbert Kickl, described as “arguably the best communicator” in Austrian politics and a known admirer of Hungary’s authoritarian leader Viktor Orbán, has pledged to turn Austria into a “fortress” and to send non-EU citizens to their families’ country of origin. Formed in the 1950s by former Nazi officers, the Freedom Party’s victory is the latest in a series of triumphs for Europe’s far right and pro-Russia blocs, buoyed by anti-immigrant sentiment and growing Euroskepticism amid the Ukraine war.

Lawsuits mount ahead of US election

Lawsuits over US election rules are piling up in state courts, with experts increasingly concerned there will be even more challenges after Nov. 5. More than 90 lawsuits that challenge state election rules have been filed this year by Republican-aligned groups, The New York Times reported, and Democrats have also filed suits, albeit fewer. Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee alone has said it is involved in 120 legal challenges across 26 states, Reuters noted. The lawsuits, many brought in key swing states like Georgia, are unlikely to have much impact on the election itself, experts said, but they indicate a broader effort to lay the groundwork for challenges to the results, with the memory of Jan. 6 2021 underscoring the potential consequences.

Top US scientist under scrutiny

Hundreds of research papers by a top US government scientist appear to contain problematic data and images, an investigation found. Eliezer Masliah runs a $2.6 billion National Institutes of Health neuroscience lab, where he studies how Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease damage connections between brain cells. However, the investigation, published by Science, uncovered widespread evidence of malpractice; the NIH released a statement admitting “findings of research misconduct.” The issues “cast a shadow” over clinical trials inspired by Masliah’s work, with at least one Parkinson’s drug candidate showing no benefit over placebo and significant side effects. “If it is based on suspect scientific foundations and… ineffective, further clinical testing could raise false hopes and divert patients from trials of other experimental drugs,” the outlet concluded.

Devastating floods hit Nepal

Catastrophic floods and landslides in Nepal have killed scores of people, with dozens more missing. The rainfall in the area around Kathmandu was the highest on record in more than 50 years, according to the Red Cross’ Climate Centre, and while heavy rains are expected during the country’s monsoon season, “these floods are further evidence of the help that countries like Nepal need to adapt to a climate very different to what they saw in the past.” However, activists have also criticized the government for blaming climate change to deflect from local accountability, according to climate news site Mongabay, and recent government approvals of mining, tunneling, and deforestation projects have increased the risk of landslides during heavy rain, according to the Nepal Economic Forum.

Climate change redraws Alpine border

Italy and Switzerland have a new Alpine border thanks to climate change. Previously, glaciers beneath the Matterhorn’s peak acted as natural barriers between the two countries, but they have rapidly melted, altering the landscape. The changes, which affect the area around the popular Zermatt ski resort, were ratified by Switzerland Friday, Bloomberg reported; Italy is expected to follow suit. Europe has seen rapid warming and record temperatures every year this decade, with Alpine glaciers losing as much as 10% of their volume in the last two years. Meanwhile, Italian experts this month warned that the Marmolada — one of the most symbolic glaciers on the continent and a “natural thermometer” of climate change — could completely melt by 2040.

Cybersecurity experts urge vintage tech fix

Cybersecurity experts are increasingly turning to an old-fashioned fix in the event of a tech problem: pen and paper. Major system outages like 2023’s CrowdStrike incident, which saw 8.5 million computers bricked, have forced organizations from airlines to energy and healthcare providers to government agencies to bring back analogue processes in a pinch, but re-establishing paper-based routines would get those institutions ready for the next, seemingly inevitable, outage, experts told the BBC. One tech-savvy person who may agree is OpenAI chief Sam Altman, who spent several minutes in a recent interview expounding on his own note-taking system: a spiral-bound notebook and a ballpoint pen.

September 30:

• Samsung Electronics chairman attends a Korean appeals court hearing over fraud charges.
• Marine Le Pen goes on trial in France over campaign finance allegations.
• Joker: Folie à Deux holds its Hollywood premiere.

The earliest known drawing by the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo is going on sale. The sketch, long thought to be the work of Michelangelo’s teacher Ghirlandaio, is expected to fetch more than $21 million, ArtNet wrote. The sketch, titled Study of Jupiter, is thought to be one of the few surviving studies Michelangelo did as a child, in this case, at the age of 12, as he later ordered his earliest drawings burned to emphasize his genius. The two-tone ink and the distinctive interest in monument, mass, and torsos — instead of accurately rendering the figure’s extremities — were the giveaways. “No other Ghirlandaio pupil draws like that,” one British art historian said.

• A fake government letter in Pennsylvania warns of forced refugee resettlement.
• How the African Union’s credit rating agency plan could work.
• Musk’s new Memphis data center hits an AI milestone.