New attacks after deadly day in Lebanon

Plus, China's central bank unveils most aggressive stimulus since pandemic.

Sign up for Reuters newsletters  Daily Briefing Daily Briefing By Edson Caldas With four months left in office, Biden will address the U.N. General Assembly for the last time as president. Also in New York, Zelenskiy is trying to shore up support for Ukraine, and Tuvalu will push for permanent recognition of its maritime boundaries. But first, we cover overnight attacks in the Middle East after Lebanon suffered its deadliest day in decades. Today's Top News   Smoke billows over southern Lebanon as pictured from Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, on Sept 24. REUTERS/Karamallah Daher Middle East Israel struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, while the Iran-backed group attacked military facilities in northern Israel overnight. The new attacks come a day after Israel carried out airstrikes against the armed group which Lebanese authorities said killed over 500 people and sent tens of thousands fleeing for safety. As tensions ratchet up, the US has said more troops will be heading to the Middle East. But Correspondent Phil Stewart tells the Reuters World News podcast that the lack of detail is unusual for such an announcement. U.N. General Assembly US President Joe Biden will look to burnish his foreign policy legacy in a speech today. He steps up to the green-marbled lectern to address world leaders with wars in the Middle East and Ukraine posing dilemmas likely to outlast his presidency. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is also in New York for the United Nations meeting, already held talks on the sidelines with German, Indian and Japanese leaders trying to shore up support for Kyiv's war efforts. Tomorrow, world leaders are scheduled to hold a meeting on sea-level rise. Tuvalu's Prime Minister Feleti Teo will seek support for his country's campaign to have its maritime boundaries recognized as permanent. His nation is running out of time. Elections around the world The outcome of US elections usually rests on a handful of places – the battlegrounds. This year, seven states are regarded as such, and all of them have experienced demographic changes that may influence the results, our graphics team explains. Sri Lanka's new president won this weekend's vote decisively, but his toughest task still lies ahead as he seeks to balance promises to aid the nation's poor against the need to keep crucial supplies of cash flowing from the International Monetary Fund. Bangladesh's army chief vowed to back the country's interim government "come what may" to help it complete key reforms after the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, so that elections could be held within the next 18 months. Business & Markets   China's central bank unveiled its biggest stimulus since the pandemic to pull the economy out of its deflationary funk and back towards the government's growth target, but analysts warned more fiscal help was vital to hit these goals. Here are the key measures announced today and this is how investors are reacting. A goal to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030 and cut fossil fuel use is within reach, the International Energy Agency said in a report, but will require a huge push to unlock bottlenecks such as permitting and grid connections. Boeing made a "best and final" pay offer to thousands of striking workers, but its largest union declined to put it to a vote, saying the planemaker had refused to bargain over the proposal that fell short of members' demands. Facebook owner Meta Platforms is planning to announce this week that it has secured deals with actors including Judi Dench, Kristen Bell and John Cena to give voice to its Meta AI chatbot, a source familiar with the company's plans told Reuters. A hearing to determine control of Rupert Murdoch's television and publishing empire has concluded, though the outcome remained unclear. Murdoch is attempting to change the terms of the family's trust to ensure that, upon his death, his media companies remain under control of his eldest son, Lachlan Murdoch. Why West Africa is now the world's terrorism hotspot   A migrant from Mali, who escaped the war in his country, speaks to a Reuters journalist in Barcelona. REUTERS/Horaci Garcia Overshadowed by wars in Ukraine, the Middle East and Sudan, conflict in the Sahel, a vast arid region stretching across sub-Saharan Africa south of the Sahara Desert, rarely garners global headlines. Yet it is contributing to a sharp rise in migration from the region towards Europe at a time when anti-immigrant far-right parties are on the rise and some EU states are tightening their borders. Diplomats and experts told Reuters the swathes of territory under jihadist control also risk becoming training grounds and launchpads for more attacks on major cities such as Mali's capital Bamako, or neighboring states and Western targets. Read more And Finally... Researchers uncover remains of Ice Age mastodons. Handout via REUTERS The fossilized remains of three mastodons from the Ice Age have been uncovered in the Peruvian Andes, raising questions as to how the behemoths arrived in the area. One of the specimens is nearly complete, and could be the most preserved mastodon in all of Peru. Read more Sponsors are not involved in the creation of newsletters or other Reuters news content. Advertise in this newsletter or on Reuters.com Reuters Daily Briefing is sent 5 days a week. 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