Ukraine war: Russia postpones referendum in occupied region
The Russian occupation authorities in Ukraine's strategic southern city of Kherson have postponed a referendum on joining Russia, on security grounds.
"This is being paused because of the security situation," said Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-appointed administration there.
He said heavy Ukrainian shelling had made a key Kherson bridge impassable.
Ukraine says its forces have recaptured Vysokopillya, a small town some 167km (104 miles) north of central Kherson.
China puts 65m people into semi-lockdown ahead of party summit
Offices, schools and shops to close before congress at which Xi expected to get third presidential term
Verna Yu
China has intensified its efforts to rein in outbreaks of Covid-19 ahead of a major political meeting by placing about 65 million people under semi-lockdown, according to local media reports.
The Chinese Communist party will begin its 20th congress on 16 October, with party chief Xi Jinping widely expected to be reinstated as president for a third term.
According to a report on the business portal Caixin, 33 Chinese cities – including eight major provincial and municipal centres – have been placed under China’s lowest “static management” tier of lockdown, disrupting the lives of an estimated 65 million residents.
‘Winter is coming’: Iran tempts Europe with promise of cheaper gas in exchange for nuclear deal
Experts caution it would be years before Iran’s gas could get to Europe
Tehran teased a Europe agonising over an impending winter without access to Russian energy with the prospect of Iranian gas exports should Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers be restored and sanctions lifted.
“Winter is coming,” Iran’s state-backed Mehr news agency has proclaimed, needling European nations over the prospect of cold temperatures, strained heating-gas supplies, and the ensuing political fallout.
Tehran’s offer came as fears continued to grow across Europe of a desperate winter ahead, as Moscow uses its control of gas supplies to exert pressure on capitals across the continent in retaliation for sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine.
'Famine at the door' in Somalia, UN warns
This would be Somalia's second famine in just under a decade. The UN's humanitarian chief said that this year's famine could be more severe than that of 2011, when 260,000 people died.
The United Nations warned on Monday that parts of Somalia would be hit by famine this year.
It would be Somalia's second famine in just under a decade.
What did the UN say?
"Famine is at the door," UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said at a news conference in Mogadishu.
"The unprecedented failure of four consecutive rainy seasons, decades of conflict, mass displacement, severe economic issues are pushing many people to... the brink of famine," he said.
Al Jazeera's Shireen Abu Akleh: pioneering Palestinian reporter
Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot dead in May while covering clashes in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was widely hailed for her bravery and professionalism.
Her killing, which her employer the Al Jazeera network, eyewitnesses and Palestinian authorities blamed on Israeli forces, sparked widespread grief and outrage which were compounded when Israeli security forces beat mourners at her funeral.
Israel's army on Monday conceded for the first time that there was a "high possibility" that she was shot dead by an Israeli soldier who mistook her for a militant.
'Doomsday glacier,' which could raise sea level by several feet, is holding on 'by its fingernails,' scientists say
Updated 1500 GMT (2300 HKT) September 5, 2022
Antarctica's so-called "doomsday glacier" -- nicknamed because of its high risk of collapse and threat to global sea level -- has the potential to rapidly retreat in the coming years, scientists say, amplifying concerns over the extreme sea level rise that would accompany its potential demise.
They found that at some point in the past two centuries, the base of the glacier dislodged from the seabed and retreated at a rate of 1.3 miles (2.1 kilometers) per year. That's twice the rate that scientists have observed in the past decade or so.
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