LIVE: Israel has begun "targeted ground raids" in Lebanon in a significant escalation in its battle against Hezbollah.

Follow our free-to-read blog for the latest news, updates and analysis https://bloom.bg/3zGu4eS

📷: Itani/AFP/Getty Images

Infrastructure fund: South Africa’s infrastructure development agency has restructured its pipeline of planned projects to make them more attractive to the private sector, as state officials court investors in the UK. https://bloom.bg/3BCk6M7

Walking a tightrope: Kenya’s National Assembly will receive an impeachment motion against Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, a process that could potentially destabilize an economy that's barely recovered from months of anti-government protests. https://bloom.bg/47NgzH4

Back to Africa: Benin, from where more than a million people were shipped to the Americas at the height of the slave trade, has approved a law that makes their descendants eligible for citizenship in the small West African nation. https://bloom.bg/3TOQ0vj

Sign up for our twice-weekly newsletter on where sub-Saharan Africa stands now — and where it’s headed at https://bloom.bg/3OsOf3y. Next Africa publishes every Tuesday and Friday

The Israeli military on Tuesday said that Iran had fired more than 100 missiles directly at the country, a severe escalation in the battle between the Middle Eastern rivals fought mainly so far through proxies.⁣
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The launch comes after Israeli forces moved into southern Lebanon as part of a campaign against Tehran-backed Hezbollah. The US earlier in the day warned of an imminent attack by Iran. Read the latest updates here: https://bloom.bg/47Roine
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📷: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images

Samsung is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce global headcount by thousands of jobs. Read more here: https://bloom.bg/4gJMTyt

📷: Jean Chung/Bloomberg

🎙 Democratic VP candidate Tim Walz lived in China as a young man and experienced more of the country than most.

Today on the Big Take Asia Podcast, his ties with China and how they could influence foreign policy. https://link.podtrac.com/jxfy2rhy

Green shoots: Sentiment about South Africa has improved since the formation of a coalition government but the nation needs to be cautious about complacency, according to CEOs at two of the nation’s biggest financial-services companies. https://bloom.bg/4eP8DYe

Rainy day fund: Zambia will set up a sovereign wealth fund next year to shield the country from financial shocks and support key sectors including health and education. https://bloom.bg/47S3Djh

Longer terms bid: Kenyan lawmakers proposed revising the nation’s constitution to lengthen presidential and parliamentary terms, joining a growing trend in East Africa where similar amendments have enabled other leaders to extend their rule. https://bloom.bg/3zQfjpR

Sign up for our twice-weekly newsletter on where sub-Saharan Africa stands now — and where it’s headed at https://bloom.bg/3OsOf3y. Next Africa publishes every Tuesday and Friday

Singapore's ex-transport minister S. Iswaran sentenced to 12 months in jail after pleading guilty to bribery and obstruction of justice. More here: https://bloom.bg/3NdAtS5

📷: Hester Tan/Bloomberg

🎙 Where are all the 3-bedroom apartments?

This week Rebecca Jones and Swati Pandey discuss why Sydney faces a surprising shortage.

Follow our new Bloomberg Australia Podcast as we lift the lid on the stories shaping the country's place in global business https://bloom.bg/3ZE5WEl

Historic pact: Britain struck a deal to cede sovereignty over the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius, while keeping control of a strategically important UK-US military base for another century. https://bloom.bg/47TY3N7

Virus outbreak: Rwanda’s first recorded infections of the Marburg virus, an Ebola-like hemorrhagic fever, is another sign that outbreaks of dangerous animal-borne diseases will become more frequent in an increasingly connected world. https://bloom.bg/3XPoFu4

Fraud sentence: Steinhoff’s former Chief Financial Officer Ben la Grange was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of fraud related to the manipulation of the group’s financial statements. https://bloom.bg/4dwjODS

Sign up for our twice-weekly newsletter on where sub-Saharan Africa stands now — and where it’s headed at https://bloom.bg/3OsOf3y. Next Africa publishes every Tuesday and Friday

As Australia grapples with a once-in-a-generation housing crisis, baby boomers looking to downsize from their large family homes are increasingly asking the same question: Where are all the three-bedroom apartments? Read more: https://bloom.bg/3zIKofk

📷: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg

Peace talks: Daniel Chapo, the ruling-party candidate in next week's Mozambique presidential election, says in an interview he favors talks to end a deadly Islamic State-backed insurgency that's delayed massive natural-gas investments. https://bloom.bg/3Y6EIFb

State graft probe: Kenya has asked the International Monetary Fund for an in-depth assessment of how corruption and mismanagement of state resources drain its public finances. https://bloom.bg/3ZMrnDl

Sports rights: SA Rugby, which oversees the reigning world champion Springboks team, said its member unions will on Oct. 17 vote on the sale of a 20% stake in a newly created commercial rights company to Ackerley Sports. https://bloom.bg/4gPfv9D

Sign up for our twice-weekly newsletter on where sub-Saharan Africa stands now — and where it’s headed at https://bloom.bg/3OsOf3y. Next Africa publishes every Tuesday and Friday

Dyson has confirmed it's cutting staff in Singapore. With Samsung and Shein also laying off workers, what does it mean for the city's manufacturing ambitions?

Read more in this week's Singapore Edition newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3zUfRLq
📸: Bryan van der Beek/Bloomberg

A vast China-funded high-speed rail network is heading toward Singapore, and saddling Southeast Asian nations with debt along the way: https://bloom.bg/3TZtdwL

📸: Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images

Coachella is scrambling to find its headliners for next year after both Rihanna and Kendrick Lamar pass on offers to perform. Take a look inside the struggles of the biggest music festival in North America: https://bloom.bg/47Ur6QM

📷: Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NARAS

Apple is inching away from its annual product upgrade cycle, a move that could lead to more frequent releases and fewer jarring delays.

Read more, including the latest on when Apple Intelligence and M4 Macs will launch, in Mark Gurman's free Power On newsletter: https://bloom.bg/4fbGtqz

📷: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Heat stress: The searing heat felt living in South Africa's shantytowns exposes another disparity in the world's most unequal nation. https://bloom.bg/4ezieCu

Middle East conflict: One year later, the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas is still reverberating across the globe. https://bloom.bg/3NgHYYs

Conflict minerals: Congo is planning to clamp down on companies that buy or source minerals from its war-torn eastern region, where smuggling is fueling one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. https://bloom.bg/4exemBZ

Sign up for our twice-weekly newsletter on where sub-Saharan Africa stands now — and where it’s headed at https://bloom.bg/3OsOf3y. Next Africa publishes every Tuesday and Friday

China stocks surge 11% as markets reopen after a week-long holiday. Follow our live blog for the latest news and analysis: https://bloom.bg/4gYsYfc

📷: Bloomberg

No water: Zimbabwe’s second biggest city of Bulawayo is planning to extend water cuts to almost 5 1/2 days a week after closing a third of its six supply reservoirs amid the worst drought in 40 years. https://bloom.bg/4gXY9ri

Rate cuts: Kenya’s central bank is set to cut interest rates at a second straight meeting for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic spurred an easing cycle four years ago. https://bloom.bg/4dAsklj

Reelected: Tunisian President Kais Saied won a second term in a low turnout election, as discontent rises over his authoritarian style of governance. https://bloom.bg/3A1v7Gp

Sign up for our twice-weekly newsletter on where sub-Saharan Africa stands now — and where it’s headed at https://bloom.bg/3OsOf3y. Next Africa publishes every Tuesday and Friday

The US Justice Department considers recommending to a federal judge that Google sell off parts of its business in what would be a historic breakup. Read more here: https://bloom.bg/4gVf3GV

📷: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Former Singapore Transport Minister S. Iswaran — who once roamed the Formula 1 paddocks and took a billionaire’s private jet to Qatar — now has to adjust to a more grueling lifestyle: sleeping on a straw mat on the floor of an unairconditioned prison cell.

Read more about what life is like inside the city-state's infamous Changi Prison: https://bloom.bg/3YgyToK

📷: Singapore Prison Service

A new HBO documentary about the origins of Bitcoin suggests that Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of the original cryptocurrency, is likely Canadian software developer Peter Todd https://bloom.bg/3NjasRe

📷: Warner Bros Discovery