UK

London (AFP) – Member of Northern Irish rap group Kneecap Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh leaves London’s Woolwich Crown Court after it throws out a terrorism case against him. The performer, who goes by the stage name Mo Chara and had been accused of displaying a flag of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah at a gig, but judge Paul Goldspring ruled the “proceedings against him were instituted unlawfully and are null”. “This entire process was never about me,” Ó hAnnaidh says outside the court. “It was always about Gaza. About what happens if you dare to speak up.” AND SOUNDBITE

Beijing (AFP) – China says it hopes the United States will provide “open and fair” treatment for TikTok and other Chinese companies investing in the country, after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on a proposed deal for a US version of the app that would see Chinese ownership reduced to 20 percent.

Mexico (AFP) – A truck burns in front of a military barracks in Mexico City during a demonstration over the disappearance and presumed murder of 43 students a decade ago. Hooded men reversed the truck into the gates and then set it on fire during the protest to mark the 11th anniversary of the disappearance of the students, who had been training to be teachers, from the southern town of Ayotzinapa. IMAGES

Nuuk (AFP) – Denmark has apologised to the victims of a forced contraception programme that ran in Greenland for more than three decades. Between the late 1960s and 1992, around 4,500 women forcibly received contraceptive devices in an effort by Danish authorities to reduce the birth rate of the autonomous territory’s Inuit population. “It’s indeed a special day,” says Tida Jette Ravn, for whom the apology, delivered in Nuuk by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, marks “a day of grief.”

Rome (AFP) – Italy’s Defence Minister says the “situation is worrying” for the Gaza-bound aid flotilla, after organisers reported several of the ships had been targeted by drones off the Greek coast. Speaking to the Italian parliament, Guido Crosetto says no country can “guarantee safety” for the flotilla, which departed Barcelona this month with the aim of breaking the Israeli blockade of Gaza and delivering humanitarian aid. Crosetto also describes as “totally unacceptable” the alleged attacks on civilian vessels.

“Humans must always retain authority over life-and-death decisions,” says UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, arguing that AI systems cannot be allowed to run free in the military field. Speaking at the United Nations in New York, Guterres adds that “humanity’s fate cannot be left an algorithm.”

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy says he will sleep in prison with his “head held high” after being sentenced to five years in jail for criminal conspiracy over a scheme to find funding for his 2007 campaign from Libya’s then-leader Moamer Kadhadi. Speaking outside a Paris courtroom after the verdict, Sarkozy asserts his innocence, describing the ruling as “a scandal” that has “humiliated” not him, but France.

Denmark says it believes a “professional actor” is behind drone flights over multiple airports in a “hybrid attack” designed to “create fear”. “We are not ruling out anything at this time in terms of who is behind it,” Denmark’s Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard tells a press conference. The drone flights follow similar incidents in Poland and Romania and the violation of Estonian airspace by Russian fighter jets, and come as Denmark announced it will acquire long-range precision weapons as Russia would pose a threat “for years to come”.

Manila (AFP) – As another storm barrels towards the Philippines, public anger is growing over alleged corruption in flood control projects believed to have cost taxpayers billions of dollars. Thousands recently took to the streets across the country to demand accountability.

Bangkok (AFP) – A portion of a busy road in the Thai capital Bangkok caved in leaving a massive 50-metre-deep hole in front of Vajira Hospital and police station and forcing people nearby to evacuate.

Kiew (AFP) – People in Kyiv and Moscow react to statements made by US President Donald Trump that Ukraine could win back all of its territory from Russia, in an astonishing turnaround on the war after meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky. “I would like more help, more action, and not just words, because Ukraine is really suffering,” says Svitalna Fetisoava in Kyiv.

Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher (AFP) – Beauval Zoo in central France welcomes a new arrival, Bahis (pronounced Bahisse), a female rhino calf born on September 14 after 16 months of gestation. The Indian rhino, classified as vulnerable and believed to weigh 45 kg on initial observations, is seen alongside her mother Saati in their indoor enclosure. The birth has brought the number of Indian rhinos at Beauval Zoo to three, with another cow expected to give birth in 2026.