September 26th: Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in the panhandle of Florida. The hurricane caused 226 deaths and between 15 billion and 100 billion dollars in damage. Damage was especially severe in North Carolina, where significant acute flooding occurred. (Reuters, New York Times)
September 27th: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an airstrike by the Israeli armed forces in a suburb of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. Nasrallah has led the militant group for over a decade, which has fired rockets on Israel in support of Hamas and Gaza. (NYT, Associated Press)
September 29th: The 2024 Austrian Legislative Elections resulted in the far-right Freedom Party gaining a plurality of seats—57 out of a total 183. The previous majority center-right party, The Austrian People’s Party lost 20 seats, only retaining 51 representatives. (Politico)
October 1st: Iran launched 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, likely in retaliation for the killing of Nasrallah. Iranian military leaders executed the attack with only hours of warning. The attack widened the nature of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, shifting the faction warring against Israel from militant proxies of Iran to Iran itself. Two casualties and four injuries were sustained (Cable News Network)
October 1st: The U.S. Vice Presidential Debate took place at the CBS Studio in New York, and featured Democrat Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota and Republican Senator JD Vance of Ohio. This debate was the only planned debate between the two vice-presidential candidates between the major parties. (NYT)
October 6th: Independent Kais Saied of Tunisia was elected to his 2nd 5-year term as president, winning 91% of the vote. Before the election, many of Saied’s prominent opponents, including Conservative Abir Moussi and Islamist Rached Ghannouchi were imprisoned on a variety of charges; critics say this was a deliberate move by Saied to stifle dissent. The election had remarkably low voter turn-out – only 28.8% of eligible voters participated- due in part to opposition parties’ boycotting the election (National Public Radio).
October 9th: Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida. Milton was the fastest ever storm to turn into a Category 5 hurricane in recent history. Milton resulted in 150 tornado warnings, and knocked out power for 3 million residents across the state. The total material damage caused by the hurricane is estimated to be 50 billion dollars. (AP)
October 14th: NASA launched Europa Clipper, a mission meant to investigate Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons. Europa is covered with icy oceans, and has the possibility of harnessing life beneath the solid surface. (NASA)
October 16th: Yahya Sinwar, de facto leader of Hamas, is killed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in a shootdown. As the figurehead of the terrorist organization, Sinwar is widely believed to have orchestrated the October 7th attacks, which precipitated the ongoing conflict. (NYT)
October 20th: Moldovan citizens headed to the polls to vote on the first round of the Moldovan Presidential Election. Maia Sandu, the incumbent independent candidate captured a plurality of the vote, but failed to garner a majority receiving 42.49% of the vote. Sandu will face Socialist Alexandr Stoiangolo in the second round of voting (NYT, AP)
November 5: Donald J. Trump was elected as the 47th President of the United States, winning with 312 electoral votes, beating incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris by 86 votes. (AP)
November 12: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected to ask for a vote of confidence in his government on Dec. 16, preparing for the upcoming parliamentary election. The expected vote comes well ahead of original plans, representing a compromise with Sholz’s party, the Social Democrats, and center right Conservatives. (AP)
November 5 to Present: Since winning the presidential election, President Donald Trump as announced his intention to appoint a number of Republican politicians to his cabinet. He has ignited some controversy by nominating Former Floridian House Representative Matt Gaetz, who is currently under investigation for sexual misconduct, to the position of Attorney General. (NYT).