As SpaceX transforms the Gulf Coast towns near its Starbase launch site, Texas is fast becoming the capital of the private space industry. For locals, the excitement and innovation blend with concerns for the area’s unique ecosystem.

• Georgia early voting: Early voting opened Oct. 15, and at least 252,000 voters had cast ballots at early-voting sites by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, nearly double the 136,000 who participated in the first day of early voting in the 2020 election.
• Honorable discharges: The U.S. Department of Defense says more than 800 military personnel have seen their service records upgraded to honorable discharges after previously being kicked out of the military under its former “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
• Assisted dying in Britain: A new bill aiming to legalize assisted dying in Britain is set to be introduced in Parliament, marking the first time in nearly a decade that lawmakers will debate the topic.
• Nebraska voters: The state Supreme Court rules that the secretary of state had no authority to declare unconstitutional a state law that restored the voting rights of those with a felony conviction.
• Kashmir leaders sworn in: Leaders of Kashmir’s biggest political party are sworn into office. They will run a largely powerless local government for the first time after India stripped the majority-Muslim region of its special status five years ago.

Read these news briefs.

Warfare requires constant adaptation, both offensive and defensive, in tactics and technology. Often the trend lines in innovation point to modern sophistication, but sometimes older and simpler methods are the most effective.

In legislatures and on college campuses across the United States, the issue of giving admissions preferences to relatives of alumni or donors is heating up. California’s ban on the practice is further fueling a nationwide debate about how to create an even playing field for applicants.

Artificial intelligence fraud has popped up in elections around the world this year, including America’s upcoming presidential election. These deepfakes are often meant to amuse, but they also aim to sway elections and sow division.

As his new movie debuts, artist Titus Kaphar reflects on what it takes to arrive at forgiveness – and to share it with the world.

The world’s next climate summit, which starts mid-November, will take a new twist. It aims to find both solutions for and adaptations to global warming by focusing on peacemaking. Climate change has fueled many conflicts but, in some places, has also led to peace efforts to lessen its violent effects. Of the 15 countries most vulnerable to climate change, 13 are struggling with violent conflicts.

To make the point about the summit’s theme, host country Azerbaijan is considering whether to ask countries with conflicts to suspend hostilities during the 11-day conference. Similar requests have been made during the Olympics.

One country in particular – in fact, the world’s youngest – is already trying to foster reconciliation between warring groups after record floods, heat waves, and droughts over recent years. South Sudan, which became independent from Sudan in 2011, has been in a civil conflict between two ethnic groups, with international mediators trying to resolve differences. But in addition, the adverse weather has driven clashes between farmers and nomadic cattle herders forced to migrate into each other’s lands and compete for resources. Some three-quarters of the African nation’s 11 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. In March, schools were closed for two weeks because of extreme heat.

At the local level, many governors and civil society groups are bringing feuding clans to the table to negotiate an end to cattle theft and other abuses. Many of these peace initiatives are sponsored by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan. “Despite the difficult situation, people should strive for peaceful coexistence and unity,” said Paul Ebikwo, acting head of the organization’s field office in Malakal.

Some peace efforts are creative. U.N. peacekeepers from India, for example, bring warring clans together in the Greater Upper Nile by inviting them to bring in their cattle for checkups by Indian veterinarians. “When we care for animals, we care for each other, which is a powerful catalyst for peace,” said Lt. Col. Manoj Yadav, the deputy commander of the Indian peacekeeping battalion.

The peacekeepers’ motto: “Even in the darkest of times, the simplest acts of compassion and kindness can have a profound impact.” For a global climate summit with a theme of peace, that’s also a good motto.