Tehran (AFP) – Protests have broken out in Iran over the death of a young woman who had been arrested by the “morality police” that enforces a strict dress code. Her death has reignited calls to rein in morality police actions against women suspected of violating the dress code, in effect since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Geneva (AFP) – The spokesperson for the acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reads a statement on Mahsa Amini’s death in custody after she was arrested by Iran’s “morality police” and the violent crackdown on protests over her death.
Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – McDonald’s re-opens a restaurant in Ukraine for the first time since Russia’s invasion. The highly-anticipated relaunch has been seen by many Ukrainians as a symbolic show of support, with the chain remaining shuttered in Russia. Seven more restaurants are expected to re-open in Kyiv, followed by restaurants in other cities in the west of the country.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warns international leaders of a looming “winter of global discontent” in a world beset by multiple crises from the Ukraine war to a warming climate. “Trust is crumbling, inequalities are exploding, our planet is burning,” Guterres says as he opens the annual General Assembly.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urges wealthy nations to tax fossil fuel companies and use the proceeds to compensate for damage from climate change and provide relief over rising prices. “Let’s tell it like it is — our world is addicted to fossil fuels. It’s time for an intervention. We need to hold fossil fuel companies and their enablers to account,” Guterres says in an address to open the UN General Assembly.
New York (AFP) – Images of the United Nations headquarters among the Manhattan skyline as the 77th UN General Assembly week kicks off in New York.
Hong Kong (AFP) – Mourners around the world paid their respects to Britain’s late Queen Elizabeth II on the day of her state funeral.
Mexico City (AFP) – A powerful earthquake struck western Mexico on Monday, leaving at least one person dead in Manzanillo and sparking panic hundreds of kilometres away in Mexico City on the anniversary of two devastating tremors. Mexico sits in the world’s most seismically and volcanically active zone, known as the Ring of Fire, where the Pacific plate meets surrounding tectonic plates.
Tokyo (AFP) – Thousands rally in Tokyo to protest the Japanese government’s plan to hold a $12 million state funeral for assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Abe was shot dead on the campaign trail in July, and the government expects dozens of current and former heads of state to pay condolences at the September 27 service in Tokyo.
Hong Kong (AFP) – A thundering thrash metal riff reverberates through a Hong Kong bar but the music is being live-streamed from a studio across town to obey pandemic rules that have outlawed small gigs for more than 650 days. Coronavirus restrictions decimated live performances around the world, especially in the first 18 months of the pandemic, but nowhere has that hardship hit longer than in Hong Kong.
Bavaro (Dominican Republic) (AFP) – Dominicans repair power lines and the roofs of makeshift houses in after the passage of Hurricane Fiona. The storm made landfall on the eastern edge of the Dominican Republic early Monday, packing winds of 90 miles per hour (144 kilometers per hour), the US National Hurricane Center said.
Nongoma (South Africa) (AFP) – Young women, known locally in the KwaZulu-Natal province as “maidens”, participate in a traditional “reed dance”, an age-old annual ceremony in celebration of sexual purity and promotion of sexual abstinence among young girls. It is the first time the dance is taking place since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
