Saturday, October 1st, 2022 

After the defeat in Lyman, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, calls on the Russian government to introduce martial law and use low-yield nuclear weapons in Ukraine. (Moskovskij Komsomolets) 

Ukrainian troops liberate Lyman after weeks of fighting for the city and one day after the annexation of the Donetsk People’s Republic to Russia. (The Guardian) 

The Ministry of Defence of Russia says that it has withdrawn troops from the town of Lyman due to “a threat of encirclement”. (BBC News) 

A civilian convoy of seven cars attacked by Russian forces is discovered in Kupiansk Raion in Kharkiv Oblast with 24 people being killed, including a pregnant woman and 13 children, according to local governor Oleh Synyehubov. (Ukrainska Pravda) 

Protests enter a fifteenth day as large crowds and strikes are held at Iran’s universities. (Iran International) 

Iranians around the world hold rallies in more than 160 cities in solidarity with protesters. (Euronews) 

Canada formally ends all COVID-19 border measures, including vaccination requirements, pre-arrival testing, and quarantine, allowing all travellers to enter the country unrestricted without needing to submit public health information through the ArriveCAN government mobile app. (Global News) 

Latvians head to the polls to elect members of the Saeima. (The Business Standard) 

Venezuela releases seven Americans from its custody, including five Citgo executives, in exchange for two nephews of Venezuelan First Lady Cilia Flores who had previously been convicted of drug smuggling in the United States. (Politico) 

The End

Friday,  September 30th, 2022 

Russian president Vladimir Putin signs accession treaties to annex the occupied Ukrainian territories to Russia. The new subjects are the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Lugansk People’s Republic, Kherson Oblast and Zaporozhye Oblast. However, the accession treaties must be ratified by both houses of the Russian Duma before becoming effective under Russian law. (Reuters) 

Russian forces launch 16 missiles at areas near the city of Zaporizhzhia, including a gathering point for civilians preparing to cross into Russian-occupied territory, where at least 25 people are killed and 50 others are injured. (NBC News) 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy requests fast-track NATO membership following the Russian annexation of Southern and Eastern Ukraine. (BBC News) 

Uzbekistan says that it will not deport Russians fleeing conscription. (Reuters) 

Nineteen people are killed and 32 more injured as separatist fighters attack a police station in Zahedan, Iran. (Al Jazeera) 

Twenty-six people are killed and 56 others are injured by a suicide bomber at a school in Dashte Barchi, Kabul, Afghanistan. (CNN) 

Junta leader Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba is removed from office in a coup d’état after gunfire occurs in the Burkinabé capital of Ouagadougou. Coup leader Ibrahim Traore imposes a curfew, suspends all political civil society activities as well as the Constitution, and closes all land and air borders.  (France24) 

Inflation in the Netherlands increases to 17% amid a substantial increase in energy and fuel prices. (Reuters) 

Hurricane Ian makes its fourth landfall in South Carolina, after devastating portions of Florida and Cuba. (National Hurricane Center) 

Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirms that the Mexican Secretariat of National Defense was hacked and that leaked data included information about the president’s health issues and other national security issues. (Proceso) 

Thursday, September 29th, 2022 

Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a decree recognizing the “independence” of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts, which were proclaimed yesterday. (The Guardian)

Russian President Vladimir Putin calls the Nord Stream gas leaks “an unprecedented act of international terrorism”. (RBK) 

Swedish authorities report a fourth gas leak from the Nord Stream pipelines. (Sky News) 

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announces that he will convene an urgent meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on September 30. (Ukrainska Pravda) 

Russian forces strike a residential neighborhood in Dnipro with a cruise missile, killing a family of four, including two children, and injuring 18 other civilians, according to local authorities. (Ukrinform)

Three people are killed and 12 others are injured by a Russian cluster munition attack on a bus stop in Mykolaiv, according to mayor Oleksandr Sienkievych. (Ukrainska Pravda) 

Finland announces that it will deny entry to Russian tourists beginning on Thursday night, thereby cutting off the last direct link between Russia and the European Union. (Reuters) 

Taiwan announces that it will end the mandatory quarantine of visitors on October 13 and will also restore temporarily suspended visa-free travel for countries that had a relevant agreement with the island. (The Straits Times) 

Indonesia grants approval for the first Chinese mRNA vaccine against COVID-19, the Walvax COVID-19 vaccine. (Reuters) 

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launches ballistic missiles at Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, killing nine civilians and injuring 32 others. The Iraqi Foreign Ministry says that it will summon the Iranian ambassador in response to the attacks. (RFE/RL) 

Bettina Muscheidt, the European Union ambassador to Nicaragua, is declared persona non grata, presumably due to her criticism of undemocratic policies of President Daniel Ortega. (Euractiv) 

Montenegro expels six Russian diplomats, whom the country accuses of spying. In response, the Russian embassy in Montenegro announces that its consular section will suspend its services beginning on Friday and “until further notice”. (Reuters)

The Supreme Court of India strikes down a portion of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act that forbade unmarried women from having an abortion, thus legalising the procedure for all women until the 24th week of pregnancy. The ruling also notes that forcing a woman to carry the child could constitute marital rape, which is not, however, recognised as an offence in India. (Al Jazeera) 

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda begins the trial of Félicien Kabuga, one of the richest Rwandan businessmen in the 1990s who is implicated in the Rwandan genocide. Kabuga pleads not guilty and does not appear on the first day of the proceedings. (BBC News) 

The European Commission sues Malta in the European Court of Justice, seeking to end the country’s “golden passport” scheme, which is the only such scheme still active in the EU. This scheme allows large investors to be granted Maltese citizenship, and by extension, citizenship of the European Union. (Bloomberg) 

Aung San Suu Kyi, the ousted leader of Myanmar, is sentenced to a further three years’ imprisonment for “violating the state’s secrets act”. She is already serving 20 years on other charges. (AP) 

A section of the Sanibel Causeway in Florida, United States, collapses following damage from Ian, blocking access to the islands of Sanibel and Captiva. (Tampa Bay Times)

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announces that the state has launched efforts to rescue people stranded from their homes by flooding from Ian. Additionally, President Joe Biden declares Ian a major disaster. (Politico) 

The End 

Wednesday, September 28th, 2022 

An Iranian drone is claimed as shot down by US forces in Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. (CENTCOM) 

Nine people are killed and 24 others are injured as Iran launches missiles and drones against the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan’s offices in Koye, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. Iran accused the group of being involved in the ongoing protests in the country (Al Jazeera). One Iranian drone is shot down by US forces in Erbil. (CENTCOM) 

A mobile draft centre is built on the Torfyanovka checkpoint, the busiest on the Finland–Russia border, to prevent people who are fit to serve from fleeing the country. As of midday, the centre is not yet open. (The Insider) 

The Russian-installed heads of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Oblasts’ occupation administrations, as well as Leonid Pasechnik, leader of the breakaway Luhansk People’s Republic, officially request that they be annexed to Russia, following a referendum, widely seen as fraudulent, conducted in those regions of Ukraine. Donetsk People’s Republic’s leader Denis Pushilin has not yet submitted such a request but has gone with Pasechnik to Moscow for talks about the annexation, and is expected to send a request shortly. (The Guardian)  

North Ossetia–Alania, the republic which contains the only border crossing with Georgia-controlled territory, bans all Russian cars that do not have the licence plate of the republic, with the exception of tourists to the region. This comes as those fleeing the draft overwhelm the border. (Reuters) 

Four Palestinians are killed and 44 others are injured when Israeli soldiers storm a refugee camp in Jenin, West Bank. The brother of the 2022 Tel Aviv shooting’s perpetrator is among those killed. (Al Jazeera) 

The Bank of England buys 65 billion pounds of bonds in a bid to stabilise the UK economy. (NBC News) 

Hurricane Ian makes landfall near Englewood, Florida, United States, as a high-end Category 4 hurricane. (CNBC)

Former Guinean military leader Moussa Dadis Camara and ten others go on trial for their alleged involvement in a massacre of anti-government demonstrators in 2009. (Al Jazeera) 

Jonathan Dowdall and his father Patrick plead guilty to facilitating the Killing of David Byrne in 2016. (The Journal) 

Six people are shot and injured near several high schools and alternative schools in Oakland, California, United States. (KGO-TV) 

Russ Kun becomes the President of Nauru, succeeding Lionel Aingimea. (RNZ) 

A person is killed and two other people are wounded as a gunman opens fire against Chinese people at a dental clinic in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. All the victims were in their 70s and resided in the country and worked for the clinic for 40 years. (BBC) 

Authorities in Cameroon ban “undeclared meetings and manifestations” in Bamenda, capital of the Northwest Region, after separatists announced a manifestation to commemorate the declaration of independence of Ambazonia, the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. (Xinhua) 

Hurricane Ian makes landfall near Englewood, Florida as a high-end Category 4 hurricane. (CNBC)

Over 200,000 customers are left without power throughout Florida due to Hurricane Ian. (Sun Sentinel) 

A restaurant fire kills 17 people and injures three others in Changchun, Jilin, China. (AP) 

The End Wednesday 

Tuesday,  September 27th, 2022 

According to the results released by Russian occupation authorities in Ukraine, the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Luhansk People’s Republic, as well as occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Oblasts overwhelmingly vote in favour of annexation, with 99.23%, 98.42%, 93.11% and 87.05% of support respectively. Turnout exceeded 75% in each region and was over 97% in Donetsk Oblast. The voting is widely dismissed as a sham referendum. (RIA Novosti)  

Valentina Matviyenko, Speaker of the Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, expects the annexation to be formalised by 4 October. (Reuters) 

Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of Vladimir Putin, publicly admits for the first time that he founded the Wagner Group, a private military company accused of war crimes in places where they had been deployed. Prigozhin had previously denied any involvement with the organization. (The Guardian) 

Three separate spills are detected in the Baltic Sea following explosions in the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines in what appears to be acts of sabotage. (Euronews) 

Norway raises its “emergency preparedness” in response to sightings of “unidentified drones” near its offshore oil and gas facilities in the North Sea, and is coordinating with its armed forces, police, and oil and gas industry operators, according to energy minister Terje Aasland. (S&P Global) 

Leaders from Poland, Norway and Denmark hold a ceremony to open the Baltic Pipe natural gas pipeline that will transport natural gas from the Norwegian shelf via Denmark to Poland. (Euronews) 

Russia and the Taliban sign a provisional deal for Russia to supply Afghanistan with gasoline, diesel, gas and wheat. (Reuters) 

Kazakhstan says around 98,000 Russian civilians have entered the country by land and air since Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered a military mobilization. (Huff Post) 

Latvia announces a state of emergency over the influx of Russian citizens fleeing mobilisation. Special measures are taken in the border regions of the country as well as at all ports of entry. (ERR) 

Hurricane Ian makes landfall in Western Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane while residents in and around the Tampa Bay area of Florida, United States, are ordered to evacuate. (Reuters) 

Two people are killed by a fire at a PKN Orlen plant in Poland. (Euronews) 

The Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo formally declares an end to the latest outbreak of Ebola. (Reuters) 

The state funeral of assassinated former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is held. (NPR) 

Monday,  September 26th, 2022 

Spontaneous protests against the mobilization continue in Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria. (Radio Liberty) 

A police officer is killed and another is injured during a shooting and bomb attack near a police station in Mersin, Turkey. Both the attackers are killed. (Reuters) 

A 150-vehicle convoy carrying supplies to Djibo is ambushed by Islamist militants in Gaskindé (Pobé-Mengao), Soum Province. (Reuters) 

The pound sterling falls to its record lowest level against the U.S. dollar. (BBC News) 

Inter-American Development Bank chief Mauricio Claver-Carone is fired by the bank’s board of governors after an external investigation, started because of a whistleblower complaint, found that Claver-Carone had an undisclosed intimate relationship with his subordinate and committed several ethics violations in connection with her. (Reuters)  

The death toll from an Ebola virus outbreak in Mubende District, Uganda, increases to 23, with a total of 36 confirmed and suspected cases. (CNN) 

The death toll from the cholera outbreak in Syria increases to 29, with a total of 338 cases reported, the majority of whom are in Aleppo Governorate. (Al Jazeera) 

The Colombia–Venezuela border re-opens for commerce and trade after a 7-year closure. (Bloomberg) 

Kazakhstan says that it will not recognize the results of the ongoing annexation referendums in Russian-occupied Ukraine. (Reuters) 

A man kills 17 people and injures 24 others in a mass shooting at a school in Izhevsk, Russia, before killing himself. (BBC News) 

The United States Forest Service seizes equipment from the Pacific Gas and Electric Company as part of a criminal investigation launched into the company for its role in the Mosquito Fire. (Reuters) 

President Vladimir Putin signs a decree granting Russian citizenship to American whistleblower Edward Snowden. (The Guardian) 

The referendum is approved in Cuba, granting, among other things, broader rights for the LGBT community, including marriage. (Time) 

NASA’s DART spacecraft successfully impacts Dimorphos at 23:16 UTC, becoming the first spacecraft to impact an asteroid. (CNN) 

The End Tuesday 

Monday,  September 26th, 2022 

Spontaneous protests against mobilization continued today in Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria. (Radio Liberty) 

The pound sterling falls to its lowest level against the U.S. dollar since decimalisation was introduced in 1971. (BBC News) 

The death toll from the cholera outbreak in Syria rise to 29, with a total of 338 cases, the majority of whom are in the Aleppo Governorate. (Al Jazeera) 

Kazakhstan says that it will not recognize the results of the ongoing annexation referendums in Russian-occupied Ukraine. (Reuters) 

At least 13 people are killed and 21 others are injured during a shooting at a school in Izhevsk, Russia. The perpetrator kills himself. (BBC News) 

The End