Warning issued for Mecca city as Iran threatens to expand war

France’s top-selling newspaper to cut jobs

Gaza board proposes $2.45 bln blueprint

EU lifts duties on Armenian imports to counter Russian curbs

Global backlash at UN underscores Israel’s deepening isolation

Pakistan confirms strikes on Afghanistan

Tigray rebels in ‘full-blown’ war with govt

Tigray rebels in Ethiopia told AFP on Sept. 24 that they were in a state of “full-blown war” with the federal government, with heavy artillery attacks reported in neighboring regions.

US judge blocks White House ban on journalists

The Trump administration must immediately reinstate White House access for CNN, MS NOW and Politico, a U.S. federal judge ordered on Sept. 24, after their reporters were banned from the premises.

Kiev residents brace for harsh winter amid increased attacks

The first days of autumn chill have only barely set in over Kiev, but winter is already dominating conversations among residents, who are making plans in case Russian strikes once again knock out the energy system.

Iran holds to conditions after talks with US envoys

Iran rejected suggestions on Sept. 23 that it had dropped its preconditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz after three hours of talks with U.S. officials mediated by Qatar on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

6 arrested in UK protest against migrant boat

U.K. police said they arrested six protesters after an anti-immigration demonstration in southern England “became hostile towards officers,” as a boat carrying migrants spent 36 hours crossing the Channel from France.

Black Sea drone strikes endanger Turkish sailors

They’d just had breakfast when a huge blast brought the crew of the Turkish fishing boat racing out onto main deck, where they were standing when the second strike hit.

El Nino-driven heat ‘could cause nearly 500,000 more deaths’

This year’s powerful El Nino and the record global heat it’s driving, along with severe droughts, wildfires and shrinking water supplies, could lead to nearly half a million more deaths worldwide by the end of February, according to a research report released on Sept. 23.

Azerbaijan pardons Frenchman after EU lifts sanctions on oligarchs

Azerbaijan’s president on Sept. 23 pardoned Martin Ryan, a Frenchman jailed since 2023 on espionage charges, following the European Union’s removal of two Russian billionaires from its sanctions list.

Tigray rebel forces seize Ethiopia regional airport

Tigrayan rebel forces in northern Ethiopia have seized control of the airport in the regional capital, security and local sources told AFP on Sept. 23, at a time of rising tensions with the federal government.

Macron’s UN speech draws rebuke from Israeli leaders

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have rejected French President Emmanuel Macron’s criticism of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and settler violence in the occupied West Bank.

Gunmen kill 11 in South African township

Gunmen stormed a homestead in a township in South Africa's eastern port city of Durban, killing 11 people, the head of the provincial government and police said on Sept. 23.

Russian strike on cargo ship in Ukraine's Odesa region kills captain: authorities

A Russian attack on a commercial cargo ship in Ukraine's southern Black Sea port of Odesa killed its captain, Ukrainian authorities said on Sept 23.