World Briefing: October 11, 2024

Lebanon's health ministry says Israeli air strikes on Thursday in central Beirut killed at least 22 people and injured 117 others. BBC reporters heard loud explosions echoing from the site of a strike in Bachoura, a small Shia area in the city. Local media reports suggest the apparent target was Wafiq Safa, Hassan Nasrallah's brother-in-law and one of Hezbollah's high-ranking security officials. The group's media office has not yet commented. Meanwhile, Israel said Hezbollah fired more than 190 projectiles from Lebanon into Israel yesterday - BBC

Florida residents were continuing to repair the damage from Hurricane Milton and figure out what to do next Friday after the storm smashed through coastal communities and tore homes to pieces, flooded streets and spawned a barrage of deadly tornadoes. At least eight people were dead, but many expressed relief that Milton wasn’t worse. The hurricane spared densely populated Tampa a direct hit, and the lethal storm surge that scientists feared never materialized. Arriving just two weeks after the devastating Hurricane Helene, the system knocked out power to more than 3 million customers, flooded barrier islands, tore the roof off the Tampa Bay Rays ' baseball stadium and toppled a construction crane. - AP

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is not expected to attend a Russian-hosted BRICS summit later this month, according to the Kremlin, which said the world's biggest oil exporter would be represented by the kingdom's foreign minister. The BRICS group originally consisted of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and has expanded to include Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates and others. President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, said that nine of the 10 BRICS member states would send their leaders, though Saudi Arabia would send its foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, to the summit in the Russian city of Kazan. He did not give a reason for the expected absence of the crown prince, known as MbS. Russia has invited Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to attend the summit, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said last month. - Reuters

Other Topics of Interest

Consumer Goods Giant Unilever Finally Exits Russia

While strongly condemning Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, Unilever initially joined other multinationals that decided to maintain operations in Russia, triggering widespread criticism.

At least four civilians, including a teenager, were killed and 10 others were wounded early on October 11 in a Russian ballistic-missile strike on Ukraine's southern region of Odesa, Governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram. "A two-story building where civilians lived and worked was destroyed," Kiper wrote. "Four people were rescued from under the rubble, but three others were found dead -- a 43-year-old woman, a 22-year-old man, and a 16-year-old girl," Kiper said, adding that a fourth victim, a woman, later died from her injuries. Four other people remain in serious condition in the hospital, he said as reported by RFE/RL. Earlier, three foreign-flagged ships were struck by Russian missiles in the Odesa region over the course of four days

Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who had gone missing in Russian-occupied territories, has been confirmed dead while in Russian captivity, Ukrainian authorities say. the circumstances surrounding Roshchyna’s death remain unclear and are still under investigation. Roshchyna, a freelance journalist who had previously worked with RFE/RL and other prominent Ukrainian media outlets, had been missing since early August 2023. She had traveled from Ukraine to Poland on July 27 last year before heading toward the Russian-occupied territories in eastern Ukraine, according to her father, Volodymyr Roshchyn. Her last known communication was on August 3, 2023. - RFE/RL

TD Bank will pay approximately $3 billion in a historic settlement with U.S. authorities who said Thursday that the financial institution’s lax practices allowed significant money laundering over multiple years. Canada-based TD Bank pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, the largest bank in U.S. history to do so, Attorney General Merrick Garland said. “TD Bank created an environment that allowed financial crime to flourish,” Garland said. “By making its services convenient for criminals, it became one.” High-level executives were alerted to serious problems with the bank’s anti-money laundering program, but failed to correct them as employees openly joked about how easy it seemed to be for criminals to launder money there, Garland said. The bank is the 10th largest in the United States, and its CEO said the company takes full responsibility and has been cooperating with the investigation. It’s been taking steps to fix its U.S. anti-money laundering program, including appointing new leadership and adding hundreds of new specialists, said TD Bank Group CEO Bharat Masrani. - AP

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