Wednesday 23 September 2026

Threats and attacks by the Conquering Self-Defense Forces of the Sierra Nevada (ACSN) bring Santa Marta, Magdalena Department, Colombia, to a standstill, closing businesses and public transport. The group orders the shutdown after security forces kill 13 ACSN members.

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski and Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov meet at the United Nations General Assembly, making it the first meeting between Poland and Belarus in a decade.

The United States Central Command says that the U.S. military has redirected 115 commercial vessels since the reinstatement of its blockade on July 14.

Iran reopens schools and universities after months of closures caused by the war. About 16.5 million schoolchildren begin the new academic year, with reopening ceremonies held across the country.

Acting United States Navy secretary Hung Cao reports that eight sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln have attempted suicide during its long deployment including during the Iran war.

The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) seizes several airports in Tigray, while clashes are ongoing in the nearby regions of Afar and Amhara. The TPLF says that it has started a "defensive war" against the federal government of Ethiopia.

Russian drone and missile attacks across Ukraine kill at least eight civilians, including six agricultural workers in Kharkiv Oblast and two people in Kyiv, while strikes also hit Odesa. Ukraine says it intercepts or suppresses 119 of 161 drones.

Fifteen people, including a village head, are killed in an armed ethnic clash in Bagudo, Kebbi State, Nigeria. Six suspects are arrested following the attack.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that Ukraine transferred two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea after capturing them in Kursk Oblast, Russia, in January 2025.

Poland deploys fighter jets into its airspace after a Russian helicopter intruded near Braniewo, Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship.

Islamic State militants kill at least 20 gendarmes in an ambush near Abala and Filingué in Tillabéri Region, Niger.

The United States and African Union hold the first joint Quad-Quintet talks at the United Nations General Assembly sidelines in a effort to end the ongoing civil war in Sudan.

Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev pardons a French national who served a 10-year prison sentence for espionage, and orders his release as one of 20 pardoned prisoners.

Taiwan's coast guard increases patrol capacity around the disputed Pratas Island in the South China Sea by stationing a new 100-tonne patrol boat and regularly deploying larger vessels, citing increased China Coast Guard activity near the Taiwan-controlled outpost.

The Philippine Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, rules that only senator-judges able to participate count toward the conviction threshold in vice president Sara Duterte's trial, reducing the required votes from 16 to 14.

The United Kingdom establishes a National Centre for Information Defence to detect and counter foreign disinformation, including AI-generated content. Prime Minister Andy Burnham says the centre will address disinformation attacks to states such as Russia.

Moroccans vote to elect all 395 members of the House of Representatives.

Congresswoman Margarita López Pérez reports that, since 2021, Searching Mothers have found around 1,600 milk teeth, among other skeletal remains, in a mass grave in Zacapu, Michoacán. The state prosecutor's office denies having reports on the case.

Human Rights Watch reports that women held as political prisoners in Myanmar face torture, sexual violence, and inadequate medical care. The group says more than 6,600 women and 640 children are among over 30,000 political prisoners detained since 2021.

The Atacama Desert in Chile reports blossoms of flowers amidst the ongoing El Nino event in the Pacific.

Croatia joins the U.S.-led Artemis Accords, becoming the 74th country to do so.