Israel strikes heart of Beirut

Plus, thousands in the US still without water after Helene's destruction.

Sign up for Reuters newsletters  Daily Briefing Daily Briefing By Edson Caldas Israel says it killed 15 Hezbollah militants in south Lebanon, and the Houthis are warning shipowners in a new phase of their Red Sea campaign: Prepare to be attacked. Elsewhere, we cover the latest on the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and a major drone attack on Ukraine. Plus, a "ring of fire" solar eclipse over Easter Island and Patagonia.  Today's Top News   Smoke rises over Dahieh in Beirut's southern suburbs on Oct. 3. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh Middle East Israel's military said it killed 15 Hezbollah militants in south Lebanon today and bombed Beirut after its forces suffered their deadliest day on the Lebanese front in a year of clashes with the Iran-backed group. Follow our live coverage. Israel's foreign minister said that he was barring United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering the country. Our U.N. Bureau Chief Michelle Nichols tells the Reuters World News podcast what this means – listen now. The Houthis, who have carried out nearly 100 attacks on ships crossing the Red Sea since November, have been sending increasingly menacing emails to at least six Greek shipping companies since May, industry sources said. Environment Tens of thousands of North Carolina residents remain without running water days after Hurricane Helene carved a destructive path through much of the US Southeast, killing more than 180 people. As families piece together their lives, few will be able to rely on federal flood insurance to help them rebuild. At least 26 people died in floods across central Europe last month. The flooding left a trail of destruction from Romania to Poland, leaving families to pick through debris after their homes were washed away. See our photo essay. In other news Russian forces launched a major drone attack overnight on 15 Ukrainian regions, causing damage to energy infrastructure and residential buildings. The Ukrainian air force said it had shot down 78 out of 105 drones during the assault. Hundreds of thousands of Argentine students protested in the streets against sharp spending cuts at public universities by President Javier Milei's libertarian government. The protests were organized after the administration threatened to veto a law Congress passed weeks ago to guarantee university funding. Business & Markets   Workers stand outside Columbia Container Services on strike in New Jersey. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton Long lines of container ships are queueing up outside major US ports as the biggest dockworker strike in nearly half a century enters its third day, preventing unloading and threatening shortages of everything from auto parts to hamburgers. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has raised $6.6 billion from investors, which could value the company at $157 billion and cement its position as one of the most valuable private companies in the world. Euro zone business activity slipped back into contraction last month although the downturn was not as steep as initially thought, according to a survey that also showed inflationary pressures had eased. Japan's new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said the country is not in an environment for an additional rate increase, in an apparent effort to shake off his reputation as a monetary hawk, after a meeting with Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda. For a sense of the challenges Ueda faces in weaning the world's fourth-largest economy off monetary stimulus, look no further than his birthplace. Makinohara exemplifies the disparities between Japan's struggling rural areas and its bustling mega-cities. The Wider Image   Tokyo expands underground "temple" complex to counter climate change rains. REUTERS/Issei Kato A huge underground chamber called the "cathedral" just north of Tokyo and its vast network of tunnels have an important job: they prevent a vulnerable river basin in the metropolis from flooding. But as global warming causes more severe weather, authorities are having to give the system a major upgrade. View our photo essay And Finally... Solar eclipse shines a 'ring of fire' over Easter Island and Patagonia. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado The moon blotted out most of the sun across the Pacific Ocean yesterday, giving just a few specks of land an impressive annular "ring of fire" eclipse. Only Easter Island and a small area near the southern tip of Chile and Argentina witnessed the annular eclipse. 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. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here. Want to stop receiving this email? Unsubscribe here. To manage which newsletters you're signed up for, click here. Terms & Conditions and Privacy Statement © 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. 3 Times Square, New York, NY 10036