This roundup summarises the most important news stories around the world in the last month (September/October 2024).

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Across Lebanon, hundreds of coordinated pager explosions, for which Israel is said to be involved, killed dozens and injured many more. Reports alleged that Israel rigged the pagers with tiny explosive material and a switch before they were delivered to Lebanon. Days later, hundreds of walkie-talkies and solar devices detonated in a second round of explosions. Hezbollah vowed retribution, as the exploding devices marked a significant escalation in 11 months of conflict.

This was followed by hundreds of Israeli airstrikes against alleged Hezbollah targets – in the area’s deadliest day of attacks since Israel’s war with Hezbollah militants in 2006 – and culminated in the assassination of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. In response, Iran fired about 180 ballistic missiles at Israel. Weeks later, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, also the architect of the October 7 attack on Israel, was identified and killed in Gaza.

Global geopolitical conflicts

Canada and India expelled each other’s diplomats over the 2023 murder of a Sikh activist, which Canada has accused Indian officials of being involved. Following a decades-long dispute, the United Kingdom (UK) agreed to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. This was the UK’s first territorial concession since its1997 Hong Kong handover.

In Asia, China held large-scale air and sea military drills surrounding Taiwan, after the Taiwanese president reasserted his country’s sovereignty in a speech. Separately, as the world’s second-largest economy, China will raise its retirement ages over the next 15 years, with men expected to retire by 63 (instead of 60) and women to do the same by 55 (instead of 50).

Laws and judicial conflict

In Brazil, after a decision affirmed by the country’s supreme court, citizens were momentarily blocked from accessing the social media site X (formerly known as Twitter). In Hong Kong, former editors of a pro-democracy news outlet were found guilty of sedition. Italy passed a law barring citizens from seeking surrogacy abroad, and the Mexican senate approved an ostensibly anti-corruption overhaul, which requires judges to run for election.

Europe’s top court upheld a decision that Apple had been granted illegal tax benefits, and that Google has abused its dominant position in online search. Both rulings are final and cannot be appealed. And some good news from Thailand, where same-sex marriage was formally approved. The country’s landmark marriage equality bill was officially written into law, which makes it the third country in Asia, after Nepal and Taiwan, to allow same-sex marriage.

Electoral and political developments

In Germany, with just a year before the next federal election, the Alternative for Germany became the first far-right party in the country to win a state election since 1945. In Indonesia, protestors rallied against a government plan to amend eligibility rules on candidates, which would have allowed the president’s son to contest in Central Java and block a government critic to seek office in Jakarta. In Japan, the governing Liberal Democratic Party elected a former defence minister to become the country’s next prime minister.

In Sri Lanka, following a years-long economic crisis, the left-wing candidate won the presidential election. And in Venezuela, after a presidential election which still remains contested, the former opposition candidate – widely seen around the world as the election’s winner – fled to Spain after being granted asylum. He had an election-related arrest warrant against him.

In France, politically too, thousands protested after the president appointed a centre-right politician as the new prime minister, following an inconclusive election.

Domestically, a French trial involving a husband who is accused of drugging his wife and enlisting dozens of strangers to rape her over a decade shocked the country, leading to demonstrations in support of the wife and all rape victims. On a more positive note, the Paralympics came to a close, after a record 4,400 athletes from over 160 countries competed in 22 sports.

In other news

• Cuba: A power plant failure due to technical issues led to a nationwide blackout, leaving roughly 10 million residents without power.
• Sudan: The army launched air-strikes and drone attacks in the country’s capital, marking its first offensive there against the Rapid Support Forces militia in months.