WORLD BRIEFING: September 15, 2023
Today marks 569 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine
Aid teams are battling to help survivors and locate the dead five days after devastating flooding hit eastern Libya. Thousands of people were killed when two dams burst in the wake of Storm Daniel, washing away whole neighbourhoods in the city of Derna. Top UN official Martin Griffiths says the disaster is "a massive reminder" of climate change and the challenge it poses. Figures for the number of dead vary from around 6,000 to 11,000 - and with thousands still missing, the city's mayor says the total could reach 20,000. Survivors have described terrifying escapes and people being swept away in front of their eyes. Most of the deaths could have been avoided if warnings had been issued, the UN's World Meteorological Organization says - BBC
Rosh Hashana — the Jewish New Year — starts Friday night, beginning a 10-day period of prayer, self-reflection and repentance. Many American Jews will observe the holiday by attending services, hearing the sounds of a shofar (ram's horn), lighting candles and eating symbolic foods, among other traditions. And a considerable number are also sending New Year's well-wishes to a single stranger thousands of miles away: Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been imprisoned in Russia since March. Gershkovich, the son of Jewish parents who emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1979, was raised in New Jersey and had been living and working in Russia for six years at the time of his arrest on espionage charges that he denies - NPR
A NASA astronaut on her inaugural spaceflight and two cosmonauts launched aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft toward the International Space Station Friday, marking the first time Russia has launched astronauts to the orbiting outpost in nearly a year. The Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:44 a.m. ET and began a quick, three-hour trajectory to rendezvous with the space station. The crew on board includes NASA’s Loral O’Hara, a former research engineer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts who was selected to the NASA astronaut corps in 2017. Flying alongside her are two Russian colleagues, Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub.
Ukraine has claimed multiple victories in its ongoing counteroffensive against Russian forces as its president prepares for a meeting next week with U.S. President Joe Biden that could prove influential in mustering international support for Kyiv as it battles Russia's 18-month-old invasion - RFE/RL
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to visit Washington next week as Congress continues to debate $21 billion more in aid to Ukraine to support its fight against Russia. U.S. lawmakers are increasingly divided over whether to provide Ukraine with more aid as its battle against the Russian invasion continues. President Joe Biden is seeking $13 billion in military aid and $8 billion in humanitarian aid. But some Republican lawmakers oppose sending more aid to Ukraine. Zelenskyy is expected to meet with Biden next week at the White House after the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York - VOA
Finland said that all vehicles with Russian license plates will be banned from entering the country as of September 16.