Armed conflicts and attacks

• Israel–Hezbollah conflict
  • 2024 Lebanon pager explosions
    • The death toll from yesterday's walkie-talkie explosions in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah militants increases to 25, with more than 600 others injured. A total of 37 people have been killed and more than 3,000 others injured in explosions over the last two days. (The Independent)
    • United States officials report that U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was pre-warned by Israel about the military operation in Lebanon occurring later that day, and claim that they received no prior details about the nature of the attack. (AP)
  • The Israeli Air Force strikes more than 100 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, destroying multiple rocket launch systems and weapons depots. Lebanese security forces say the raids are the most intense since the conflict began. Israeli fighter jets are also reported over Beirut. (Reuters)
  • Two Israeli soldiers are killed and eight others are injured in Hezbollah drone and anti-tank missile attacks on the Israel–Lebanon border. (The Times of Israel)
• Israel–Hamas war
  • Israeli incursions in the West Bank during the Israel–Hamas war
    • Six Palestinians are killed and 18 others are injured in an Israeli military raid in the city of Qabatiya in the West Bank. (Reuters)
  • Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
    • A United Nations human rights committee accuses Israel of severe violations of the international Convention on the Rights of the Child treaty through its military's actions in the Gaza Strip. (Reuters)
• Colombian conflict
  • Colombian peace process
    • Colombia suspends peace negotiations with the National Liberation Army (ELN) insurgent group after the ELN detonated explosives on a military base, killing two soldiers and wounding more than two dozen others. (DW)
• 2024 New Caledonia unrest
  • Two New Caledonian independence activists are killed by police during an operation in Saint-Louis over their alleged involvement in the ongoing riots. (AP)

Arts and culture

• A previously unknown piece composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ganz kleine Nachtmusik, is discovered at a library in Leipzig, Germany. The seven miniature movements for a string trio were probably composed in the 1760s when Mozart was in his early teens. (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024 South American wildfires
  • 2024 Peru wildfires, Landmarks destroyed or damaged by climate change
    • Out of control and deadly wildfires in Peru have reached at least seven archaeological sites and have begun to burn near the indigenous Shipibo-Conibo community. (Reuters)
• 2024 European floods
  • Ongoing severe flooding generated by Storm Boris causes more than $2.2 billion worth of damage and at least 26 deaths in Central Europe. (BBC News)

Law and crime

• One person is killed and another is severely injured in a stabbing attack near the Erasmusbrug bridge in Rotterdam, Netherlands. (AP)
• A 10-year-old Japanese student is killed in a stabbing near his school in Shenzhen, China. (BBC)

Politics and elections

• 2024 Venezuelan political crisis
  • International reactions to the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election
    • The European Parliament recognizes Venezuelan exiled presidential candidate Edmundo González as the country's president. (Politico.eu)
• 2000 Fijian coup d'état
  • Fijian coup leader George Speight is released from prison after obtaining a pardon from President Wiliame Katonivere. Speight was imprisoned in 2002 for his role in the 2000 coup d'état in which ethnic Fijian nationalists attempted to overthrow Indo-Fijian Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry. (RNZ)
• Iranian interference in the 2024 United States elections
  • The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation and two other American agencies announce that Iranian hackers sent unsolicited emails to people associated with the Joe Biden presidential campaign that included material that was stolen from Donald Trump's campaign. (NBC News)

Sports

• In baseball, Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani becomes the first Major League Baseball player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a single season. (Reuters)

September 20

• 1498 – A tsunami caused by the Meiō earthquake washed away the building housing the statue of the Great Buddha (pictured) at Kōtoku-in in Kamakura, Japan; the statue has since stood in the open air.
• 1792 – The French Army achieved its first major victory of the War of the First Coalition at the Battle of Valmy.
• 1967 – L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, announced the story of Xenu in a taped lecture sent to all Scientologists.
• 1997 – Hurricane Erika, the strongest and longest-lasting hurricane of the 1997 Atlantic hurricane season, dissipated after causing flooding and power outages throughout Puerto Rico.