Monday is the first anniversary of the October 7th attack, in which Hamas militants crossed over from Gaza into Israel and killed over 1,100 people, taking a further 251 hostage. Israel will mark the occasion with sombre memorial events—and high-level meetings to determine how the war with Iran will proceed.

On October 6th two Israeli brigades encircled Jabalia, just to the north of devastated Gaza City, where Hamas has re-established a presence after being driven out by the Israel Defence Forces. To the north, troops destroyed tunnels in Lebanon used by Hizbullah, an Iran-backed militia, to fire on Israeli border communities. But foremost on the mind of Israel’s leaders is retaliation against Iran for the 181 ballistic missiles launched towards Israel on October 1st. Potential targets include Iranian nuclear sites and oil infrastructure. The war has already become a regional conflict. The scale of Israel’s vengeance will determine how much further it will escalate.

America’s Supreme Court justices return from their summer holiday on Monday. The new term brings a slate of contentious cases, even as ethics scandals, internal leaks and weak public support have led to mounting calls for reform.

Regulations of ghost guns—untraceable weapons assembled from kits—are on deck for October 8th. The next day brings the question of whether Oklahoma must put Richard Glossip to death despite no longer wanting to because, as officials acknowledge, prosecutors withheld critical evidence during his trial. Rules policing water pollution face a challenge—from left-wing San Francisco, of all places—the following week.

Vape flavours that appeal to children, proof-of-age laws to gain access to online pornography and bans on medical care for transgender children are on the docket, too. And in the coming weeks, the justices could also be embroiled in election disputes—particularly if Donald Trump seeks to overturn another loss at the ballot box. That would put them under greater scrutiny than ever.

Mohammed Muizzu, the president of the Maldives, met Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, for talks in Delhi on Monday. Mr Muizzu was elected in November on a promise to reorient the archipelago away from India and strengthen ties with China. He kept his word to begin with. After the election Mr Muizzu travelled to China before India, breaking a long-standing custom, and has signed a defence co-operation deal with China. Indian soldiers stationed in the Maldives have withdrawn.

But Mr Muizzu appears to have changed tack. This is his second visit to India since taking office, having attended Mr Modi’s swearing-in ceremony in June. His government is again courting Indian tourists, many of whom have opted to holiday elsewhere amid rising diplomatic tensions. During his trip, Mr Muizzu is expected to seek a bailout from India in order to avoid a default. He seems to have realised, belatedly, that two big friends are better than one.

Gulf economies want to move away from fossil fuels. Their sheikhs and princes have ploughed billions into infrastructure, hoping to attract travellers and their appetite for swanky restaurants and hotels. Abu Dhabi National Hotels, an operator of high-end global hotel chains, opened the public offering of shares in its catering arm on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange on Monday. The company disclosed a price range that implies a market capitalisation of as much as $588m when it lists. The success of the IPO could give oil-rich rulers some idea of whether their strategy is working.

Global firms certainly see an opportunity. IHG, another hotel operator, announced it will open the “tallest all-hotel tower in the world” in Dubai next year. Marriott International, an American hotelier, plans to open 40 hotels in Saudi Arabia. Fitch Ratings, a rating agency, expects the tourism sector’s contribution to the GDP of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a group of six countries, to increase from $130bn to more than $340bn. That would be equivalent to more than 10% of regional GDP.

Since 1945 governments have added fluoride to drinking water to improve dental health. The immediate effect was impressive: children had, on average, two fewer decayed teeth than before. But a new meta-study says that water-fluoridation schemes may be getting long in the tooth.

The review analysed 157 different studies and found that the fluoride in toothpaste in high-income countries was now doing most of the work fluoridated water used to. Its benefit has been chipped away to just a quarter of a tooth.

That will give critics of fluoridation reason to smile. They argue that too much of the chemical can be poisonous and that it is best applied topically. Proponents counter that fluoridation is cheap and that the water reaches parts of the tooth that brushing does not. The study may give policymakers considering the cost and feasibility of new fluoridation schemes something to chew on as the partisans gnash their teeth.