“At least three journalists were killed Friday morning by an Israeli air strike in Hasbaya, southern Lebanon. Lebanon’s health ministry and local media have reported that several others were also wounded by the strike, which they have said took place early on Friday morning as the journalists slept in a guesthouse traditionally used by media professionals. … According to Reuters, at least 18 journalists from six international media outlets, including Sky News, Al-Jazeera, and Lebanese broadcasters, were staying at the property. Lebanon’s information minister said the attack was deliberate and described it as a ‘war crime.’ The Israeli military has yet to comment but has previously denied targeting journalists.” (10/25/24)
“The mystery bettor on election gambling site Polymarket who made large bets on a Trump election victory is a French national who took a position based on a personal view of the presidential race, Polymarket said in a statement on Thursday. Four accounts have bet heavily on Trump winning, with the total potential payout of those wagers standing at about $46 million as of Thursday, according to the website. The bets, coming with the rise in Trump’s odds on Polymarket, raised questions by social media users about whether they were swaying the markets or whether prediction markets were simply a better leading indicator of the race. Opinion polls have indicated a statistical dead heat between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. On Polymarket, however, Trump’s chances have soared in recent weeks to 62% versus Harris’s 38%.” (10/24/24)
“A panel of judges at the International Criminal Court reported Mongolia to the court’s oversight organization on Thursday for failing to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin when he visited the Asian nation last month. Putin’s visit was his first to a member state of the court since it issued an arrest warrant for him last year on war crimes charges, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. Russia is not a member of the court and the Kremlin has rejected the charges. ‘States Parties and those accepting the Court’s jurisdiction are duty-bound to arrest and surrender individuals subject to ICC warrants, regardless of official position or nationality,’ the court said in a statement. Putin is wanted by the court for his alleged personal responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation of children and unlawful transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.” (10/24/24)
“New applications for U.S. unemployment aid unexpectedly fell last week, but the number of people collecting benefits in mid-October was the highest in nearly three years, indicating it was becoming harder for those losing jobs to land new positions. The second straight weekly drop in filings for state unemployment benefits reported by the Labor Department on Thursday likely reflected an ebb in claims from Hurricane Helene, which earlier this month had boosted applications to the highest level in nearly 1-1/2 years. There is a still a chance that claims could rise in the weeks ahead as the impact on the labor market from Hurricane Milton has yet to be felt.” (10/24/24)
“Armed gangs have attacked U.S. Embassy [gang] vehicles in Haiti, where a fresh offensive by a powerful gang coalition has left at least one armored vehicle with a shattered window. As a result of the attacks, the embassy is preparing another round of evacuations of [gang] staff, a source told the Miami Herald. Also in the lines of the gangs’ crossfire: the United Nations [gang]. A U.N. helicopter with three crew members and 15 passengers on board was shot at Thursday and reportedly hit with multiple rounds as it flew over the gang-controlled neighborhood of Grand Ravine, several sources said.” (10/24/24)
“Fresh onions are the likely source of an E. coli outbreak at McDonald’s restaurants that has sickened 49 people and killed one, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said late on Wednesday, alarming some McDonald’s customers and other fast-food chains using onions as an ingredient. Taylor Farms, a supplier for McDonald’s, the biggest U.S. burger chain, recalled several batches of yellow onions produced in a Colorado facility, according to a recall memo on Wednesday by US Foods, one of the largest suppliers of food service operations in the country. The US Foods recall alert does not mention whether US Foods supplies onions to McDonald’s. Fresh onions are an ingredient in McDonald’s Quarter Pounder, and McDonald’s pulled the Quarter Pounder from its menu in Colorado, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming, and in parts of Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico and Oklahoma.” (10/24/24)
“For the first time under President Joe Biden, a federal permit for a new lithium mine has been approved for a Nevada project essential to his clean energy agenda, despite conservationists’ vows to sue over the plan, which they say will drive an endangered wildflower to extinction. Ioneer Ltd.’s mine will help expedite production of a key mineral in the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles at the center of Biden’s push to cut greenhouse gas emissions, administration officials said Thursday in Reno. … In the works for six years, construction of the Rhyolite Ridge mine should start next year in the high desert halfway between Reno and Las Vegas, the Australia-based Ioneer said.” (10/24/24)
“A car bomb left outside a police station in the town of Acambaro in western Mexico has wounded three people, prosecutors in the violence-wracked state of Guanajuato said Thursday. They said another explosion occurred in the nearby town of Jerecuaro, but nobody was wounded. The near-simultaneous attacks in two different towns about a half-hour apart suggested the involvement of drug cartels that have been fighting bloody turf battles for years in Guanajuato.” (10/24/24)
“Daniel Chapo was declared the winner of Mozambique’s presidential election on Thursday after a process marred by violence and widespread accusations that his party, Frelimo, which has run the country for nearly five decades, committed fraud. The country’s electoral commission announced that Mr. Chapo won with nearly 71 percent of the vote in the election, which was held on Oct. 9. He will replace Filipe Nyusi, who has served his limit of two five-year terms. … The election results must be confirmed by the Constitutional Council, the nation’s highest court, and they will almost certainly be challenged by Venancio Mondlane, the upstart opposition candidate who finished second and who has said that the election was stolen from him. Several independent election observation missions have said that they saw irregularities in the voting process that tilted the race in Mr. Chapo’s favor.” (10/24/24)
“United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, speaking in Russia on Thursday, called for peace in Ukraine and ‘across the board’ as wars also rage in Gaza, Lebanon, and Sudan. Guterres spoke before Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders from ‘BRICS Plus’ countries gathering in Kazan, a city roughly 500 miles east of Moscow. ‘Across the board, we need peace,’ Guterres said. ‘We need peace in Ukraine,’ he added. ‘A just peace in line with the U.N. Charter, international law, and U.N. General Assembly resolutions.’ After the speech, Guterres renewed his call for a cease-fire in Lebanon and Gaza. ‘We need a cease-fire in Lebanon, as we need a cease-fire in Gaza and the immediate release of all hostages,’ he wrote on social media. ‘Escalation after escalation is leading to the unimaginable for the people of the region.'” [editor’s note: Now and then (though rarely) the UN gets something right – SAT] (10/24/24)
