• Shia insurgency in Yemen
  • Fierce battles between army and Houthi rebels continue for third day in the Yemeni capital Sana'a, killing 123 people and forcing hundreds to flee their homes. (AJE)
• Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
  • The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that ISIL militants have captured 60 villages near the Kurdish town of Kobani on the border with Turkey. (ABC Australia)
  • The Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu says that 49 Turkish hostages taken after the fall of Mosul have been released. (AP)

• An Indian TV news anchor at public service broadcaster Doordarshan is fired after she referred to Chinese President Xi Jinping as 'Eleven' Jinping, apparently confusing Xi's name with the Roman numerals XI. (The Hindu)
• Bishop Blase Cupich of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane is appointed by Pope Francis to succeed Cardinal Francis Eugene George, O.M.I., 77, who is ill with a recurrence of cancer, as Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. (New York Times)

• Tropical Storm Fung-wong (2014)
  • Tropical Storm Fung-wong heads towards Taiwan after leaving five people dead and 200,000 displaced in the Philippines. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)

• Two high-visibility U.S based law firms Bingham McCutchen of Boston, Massachusetts and Philadelphia's Morgan Lewis & Bockius, have decided to merge, according to a Reuters report relying on confidential sources. (Reuters).

• New Zealand general election, 2014
  • Voters in New Zealand go to the polls for a general election. (AP via ABC News America)
  • On preliminary counts, the National Party, led by John Key, wins a majority of 61 seats in the new 121-seat 51st Parliament. It is the first time a single party has held a majority since New Zealand switched to the Mixed Member Proportional voting system in 1994. Official results are expected to be released on 4 October 2014. (NZ Herald)
• Slovenian MEPs of the European People's Party announce that they will vote against the new line-up of the European Commission on 22 October unless former PM Alenka Bratušek is replaced as Slovenia's commissioner. (Slovenia Times)

• In motorsport, 16-year-old Cole Custer wins the NASCAR Truck Series event at New Hampshire International Speedway, becoming the youngest driver ever to win a race in a NASCAR national series. (AP via ESPN)
• In Australian rules football, Hawthorn advance to the AFL Grand Final against Sydney Swans by defeating Port Adelaide by 3 points in the second preliminary final at the MCG in Melbourne. (The Age)