Amid reports that Israel was preparing for a possible limited ground invasion of Lebanon,the Israel Defense Force launched raids in the country's south,and Iran fired ballistic missiles at Israel.This comes as Israel reportedly targeted the head of Hezbollah's executive committee in a strike,a Yazidi woman was freed from Gaza after being held captive for 10 years,and UN chief António Guterres was banned from entering Israel.Meanwhile, NATO chief Mark Rutte pledged support for Ukraine,as Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the West to shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine —a request that the Pentagon denied —and Russia planned a record increase in its defense spending.In other news, the UN extended its mission in Haiti for another year,and Mexican soldiers killed six migrants near the Guatemala border.

Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo was sworn in as Mexico's first female president,Canada's Justin Trudeau survived a second vote of no-confidence,and Japan's Shigeru Ishiba announced snap polls for Oct. 27.This comes as the UK's Sir Keir Starmer met with EU officials in Brussels,French politician Marine Le Pen's embezzlement trial began,Singapore's former transport minister was jailed for receiving illegal gifts,and Russia decided to remove the Taliban from its list of terrorists.Meanwhile, the EU voted to extend tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles,as it sued Hungary over its "national sovereignty" law,the UK agreed to give sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius,and the International Court of Justice heard a land dispute between Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.In other news, a North Korean defector was arrested after crashing a stolen bus while trying to return home.

Kamala Harris reportedly took a slight lead in the race to the White House,as Liz Cheney formally endorsed the vice president,JD Vance and Tim Walz faced off in the vice presidential debate,and the Department of Homeland Security warned of "significant" threats ahead of November's election,as the director of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency expressed confidence in the integrity of the electoral system.This comes as Donald Trump said that he would veto a national abortion ban,Melania Trump revealed that she is pro-abortion,and new evidence challenged the former president's immunity in the Jan. 6 case.In other news, the Biden administration toughened its asylum restrictions at the US-Mexico border,and the FBI settled a $22M sexual discrimination lawsuit.

A study linked transgender laws in the US to an increase in attempted suicide among teenagers,the Republic of Georgia enacted a controversial LGBTQ+ law,and the state of Georgia's six-week abortion ban was overturned.Meanwhile, the European Court of Justice ruled that gender and nationality are enough to grant Afghan women asylum,Sweden considered a national ban on begging,and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange made his first public comments since being released.

The US Supreme Court agreed to hear Mexico's billion-dollar lawsuit against US gun manufacturers,120 new sexual abuse claims against rapper Sean 'Diddy' Combs emerged,and three former Memphis officers were convicted in the 2023 killing of Tyre Nichols.

Microsoft announced plans to revamp its artificial intelligence assistant Copilot,scientists mapped the entire brain of a fruit fly for the first time,and evidence of a second asteroid impact dating back to the Dinosaurs' extinction was discovered.

The US' East Coast ports were shut down amid a short-lived dockworkers strikethat ended on Thursday,OpenAI was granted a $4B credit line,Google threatened to block New Zealand news over a proposed bill requiring it to pay publishers,and California banned legacy admissions at public and private universities.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an addition of 254K new jobs in September.

The World Health Organization approved the first-ever mpox PCR test,and an outbreak of bird flu killed dozens of felines in Vietnam.

Switzerland's glaciers were found to be receding at an above-average rate in 2024,and the UK closed its last coal-fired power plant.

A school bus fire in Thailand killed 20 children,a capsized boat left dozens dead in the Democratic Republic of Congo,and a regional airport in Japan was shut down following the explosion of a World War II dud shell.