Portal:Current events/2024 September 24

September 24, 2024 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Israel–Hezbollah conflict
- September 2024 Lebanon strikes
  - The death toll from the ongoing Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon increases to 558 people, including 50 children, with 1,835 others injured. (Al Jazeera)
  - The Israeli government declares a nationwide state of emergency until September 30. (Anadolu Agency)
  - Ibrahim Qubaisi, Hezbollah's missiles and rocket force commander, is killed after an airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon. Five other people are also killed in the attack. (The Guardian)
  - The United Kingdom deploys 700 troops to Cyprus ahead of a planned evacuation of thousands of British nationals from Lebanon. The UK has advised all of its citizens to leave Lebanon immediately if they can. (Reuters)
Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Kharkiv strikes
  - At least three people are killed and 22 others are injured in a Russian guided bomb attack on an apartment building in Kharkiv, Ukraine. (Reuters)
Mexican Drug War
- The death toll from the ongoing shootouts between rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel increases to at least 77 people, with the finding of two corpses on a highway today. (Infobae)

Disasters and accidents

2024 South American wildfires
- 2024 Brazil wildfires
  - Over thirty environmental organizations condemn Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's actions that contradict his calls for further global action against climate change, such as requests for drilling oil reserves near the Amazon River and paving the BR-319 roadway through the Amazon that they state contribute to ongoing wildfires. (AP)
2024 Atlantic hurricane season
- Tropical Storm Helene forms in the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to become a major hurricane before making landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast on September 26. (National Hurricane Center)
2024 Pacific hurricane season
- Three people are killed in flooding caused by remnants of Hurricane John in Mexico. (Reuters)
The USNS Big Horn of the United States Navy runs aground and is damaged off the coast of Oman while operating in the Middle East after replenishing the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group. (AP)

Law and crime

Attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Florida
- Ryan Wesley Routh is formally charged for attempting to assassinate former U.S. President and Republican Party nominee Donald Trump at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, United States. (NBC News)
Human rights in Belarus
- Belarusian independent news outlet Reform.news reports that Jörg Dornau, an Alternative for Germany member of the Saxony parliament, has allegedly used political prisoners as labor on a Belarusian onion plantation owned by his agricultural firm. (Politico)
Murder of Felicia Gayle
- Marcellus Williams is executed by the state of Missouri shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court denies a request to delay the execution. (CBS News)
Recognition of same-sex unions in Thailand
- Thailand passes the marriage equality law allowing same-sex couples to be legally wed starting in January 2025. (AP)
Prosecution of S Iswaran
- Former Transport Minister of Singapore S Iswaran was indicted in court for five (out of 35 known so far) charges for obtaining valuables as a civil servant and one for obstructing the course of justice; decision for his sentencing was adjourned on 3 October. This is the first time since Singapore's independence where a politician has been convicted for such offence.(CNA) (Straits Times)

Politics and elections

Argentine President Javier Milei proposes an "agenda of freedom" with economic, social, and foreign policies that directly contradict the United Nations' "Pact for the Future", which he calls a model to "repress, restrict and curtail" humanity's freedom and ineffective at preventing conflicts. (Reuters)
Newly-elected Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake dissolves the Parliament and calls for snap elections on November 14. (Reuters) (AP)
Harini Amarasuriya is appointed the new Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. (Reuters)

Science and technology

Scientists from the University of Waterloo announce that they have positively identified bones found on King William Island in Nunavut, Canada, as those of James Fitzjames, captain of HMS Erebus during Franklin's lost expedition. (CBC News)
A Monash University-led study on the Ordovician meteor event provides evidence that rings may have existed around Earth approximately 446 million years ago. (Forbes)

Sports

The Lebanese Football Association suspends all football matches indefinitely amid Israeli airstrikes on the country. (Al Jazeera)