Morning Briefing: Sept. 25, 2024

ANKARA

Here is a rundown of all the news you need to start your Wednesday with, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's address to the 79th UN General Assembly, Sri Lanka's dissolving of its parliament with general elections scheduled for Nov. 14 and the latest developments in Gaza and Lebanon, with tensions rising and the situation drawing international attention.

TOP STORIES

• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the international community to stop Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as it did generations ago with Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

"Israel's attitude has once again shown that it is essential for the international community to develop a protection mechanism for Palestinian civilians," Erdogan said in his address to the 79th UN General Assembly meeting in New York.

"Just as Hitler was stopped by the alliance of humanity 70 years ago, Netanyahu and his murder network must be stopped by the alliance of humanity."

• Sri Lanka's newly-elected President Anura Kumara Dissanayake dissolved the 225-seat parliament and called for general elections on Nov. 14.

A notification by the presidential office said nominations for the new parliament would be from Oct. 4-11.

The outgoing parliament was elected in 2020 and new elections were due by the following August.

Known as AKD, the Marxist-leaning Sinhalese politician defeated outgoing President Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa in last weekend's elections and took the oath of office Monday as Sri Lanka’s ninth executive president.

NEWS IN BRIEF

• China launched at least eight new satellites into space from sea, state media reported.
• Severe floods have wreaked havoc across Central and West African countries, including Nigeria and Niger, affecting hundreds of thousands of people and causing widespread destruction.
• New Caledonia marked the 171st anniversary of its annexation by France amid ongoing violence sparked by delayed electoral reforms proposed by Paris, which have stirred tensions for weeks.
• Nearly five million people in Somalia are facing heightened food insecurity due to insufficient rainfall, according to the UN's Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report.
• Sri Lanka’s newly elected President Anura Kumara Dissanayake appointed Harini Amarasuriya as the island country’s new prime minister amid a debilitating state of economy.
• At least 12 more Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, taking the overall death toll since last Oct. 7, to 41,467, the Health Ministry in the battered territory said.
• TikTok has banned accounts associated with Russian media groups for engaging in "covert influence operations" ahead of the US presidential elections.
• The death toll from Israel’s ongoing airstrikes in Lebanon has surged to 558 people, Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad said.
• At least 708 people, mostly civilians, were killed during demonstrations against the rule of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said Bangladesh's transitional government.
• The Israeli army hit 1,500 targets in airstrikes in Lebanon since Monday morning, according to Israeli media.
• Ukraine said that at least three people were killed and over 30 injured due to a Russian airstrike on the country’s northeastern city of Kharkiv.
• The Lebanese group Hezbollah said that it launched tens of rockets on an Israeli military base and three settlements in response to Israel's ongoing assault on Lebanon.
• The Israeli army said it assassinated Ibrahim Qabisi, the commander of Hezbollah’s missile and rocket system, in an airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs.
• At least 51 Palestinians, including children, have been killed and several more injured in Israeli airstrikes targeting homes, vehicles and crowded areas.
• Lebanon's Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib announced that the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) is approaching half a million due to ongoing Israeli strikes, indicating a significant increase in the country's displacement crisis.
• UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that 700 troops are being deployed to British bases in Cyprus to support a possible evacuation of British nationals from Lebanon amid rising tensions in the region.

SPORTS

• Real Madrid defeated Alaves 3-2, closing the gap on Spanish La Liga leaders Barcelona.

Spanish full-back Lucas Vazquez capitalized on Vinicius Jr.'s assist with a left-footed shot from the center of the box to the bottom left corner in the first minute at Santiago Bernabeu.

Real Madrid are in second place with 17 points, trailing leaders Barcelona with 18 points, while Alaves is in 8th place with 10 points.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

• Housing prices in the world's largest economy, the US, rose 4.5% in July on a yearly basis, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced.

On a monthly basis, housing prices also saw a slight increase of 0.1% in July, the agency added.

"For the nine census divisions, seasonally adjusted monthly price changes from June 2024 to July 2024 ranged from -0.7 percent in the South Atlantic division to +0.9 percent in the East North Central and New England divisions," it said.

"The 12-month changes were all positive, ranging from +1.6 percent in the West South Central division to +7.5 percent in the East North Central division."

Anju Vajja, the agency's deputy director, said US housing prices showed little movement for the third consecutive month, adding that gradually declining mortgage rates and relatively flat house prices may improve housing affordability in the country.

• Global crude steel production posted a decline of 6.5% year-on-year in August to 144.8 million tons, the World Steel Association (worldsteel) announced.

China led the top 10 crude steel producers with 77.9 million tons in August, down 10.4% year-on-year, followed by India with 12.3 million tons, up 2.6%.

The US produced 7 million tons of crude steel, up 0.7%, while Japan produced 6.9 million tons, down 3.9%, and Russia 5.8 million tons, down 11.5%.

South Korea produced 5.5 million tons, Germany 2.9 million tons, Türkiye 3.1 million tons, Brazil 3 million tons and Iran 1.4 million tons in the past month.

Africa produced 1.9 million tons last month, down 7.2%, while Asia and Oceania produced 107.1 million tons, down 8%.

The EU produced 9.1 million tons, up 2.2%; the Middle East produced 3.4 million tons, down 3.2%; North America produced 9 million tons, down 3.8%; Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States and Ukraine produced 7 million tons, down 8.7%; and South America produced 3.6 million tons, up 0.8%.