Comment on Lebanon holds first elections in 9 years

When thousands of pagers and other wireless devices simultaneously exploded across Lebanon and parts of Syria this week, killing at least 15 people and injuring thousands more, it exposed what one Hezbollah official described as the “biggest security breach” the Iran-backed militant group has experienced in nearly a year of war with Israel.

Central Europe has been plagued by intense flooding this week, killing at least 23 people, according to Reuters. While it’s difficult to draw a conclusive link between this event and climate change, experts say the most severe floods to hit the region in at least two decades fit into a broader pattern of extreme weather events.

BEIRUT — Explosions went off in Beirut and multiple parts of Lebanon in an apparent second wave of detonations of electronic devices, Hezbollah officials and state media said Wednesday, reporting walkie-talkies and even solar equipment detonating a day after hundreds of pagers blew up. At least one person was killed and more than 100 people wounded, the Health Ministry said. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Several blasts were heard at the funeral in Beirut for three Hezbollah members and a child killed by exploding pagers the day before, according to Associated Press journalists at the scene.

On Sept. 22, India’s controversial Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to address more than 10,000 Indian Americans in New York City. While Modi no doubt intends this visit to be a victory lap—akin to his 2019 Texas “Howdy Modi” event, hosted jointly with Donald Trump—it ought to be the opposite. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The Modi government’s virulent Hindu nationalist agenda, which enables violence against religious minorities, cost the Prime Minister in the recent election.

SRINAGAR, India — A three-phased election for choosing a local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir opened early Wednesday in the first such vote since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped the disputed region of its special status five years ago. Authorities deployed thousands of additional police and paramilitary soldiers in the region’s seven southern districts where over 2.3 million residents are eligible to cast their votes and chose 24 lawmakers out of 219 candidates in the first phase of the polling. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Wearing riot gears and carrying assault rifles, troops set up checkpoints and patrolled the constituencies in the districts as locals lined up to cast their votes in villages and towns. The second and third phases are scheduled for Sept.

Former President Donald Trump said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans to meet with him next week—the latest visit from a foreign leader or official as nations grapple with the possibility of the Republican returning to power after November’s election. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “He happens to be coming to meet me next week, and Modi, he’s fantastic,” the Republican presidential nominee said Tuesday during a town hall in Flint, Michigan, as he revealed the visit during a winding answer that touched on free trade and protecting U.