WORLD BRIEFING: September 26, 2023
An explosion at a fuel depot in Nagorno-Karabakh has killed 20 people and injured hundreds more, local Armenian authorities say. Nearly 300 people were admitted to hospitals, with dozens of them "still in critical condition". It comes as the Armenian government said 13,350 refugees had crossed into the country from the enclave. The disputed region in Azerbaijan is home to a majority of some 120,000 ethnic Armenians. It is not yet clear what caused the explosion on Monday evening near the main city of Khankendi, known as Stepanakert by Armenians - BBC
Ukraine's military claimed that nearly three dozen officers with Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, including its top commander, were killed in a missile attack on the fleet headquarters last week. The claim could not be immediately confirmed, and Russia released markedly lower casualty figures from the September 22 attack in the Crimean port of Sevastopol. But the strike itself on the naval headquarters was the latest in a series of increasingly audacious attacks by Ukrainian forces on Russian ships and Black Sea facilities -- attacks that Western experts say may have drastically curtailed Russia’s naval operations in the region. In a statement issued on September 25, Ukraine’s special operations forces cited “new information about the losses of the enemy as a result of the special operation,” claiming that 34 officers, including the fleet commander, were killed when cruise missiles -- believed to be either British or French -- hit the Sevastopol building. At least 105 others were wounded, it said. The Ukrainian statement did not name the naval commander in its statement. The current top officer in the Black Sea Fleet is Admiral Viktor Sokolov - RFE/RL
Russia is seeking to rejoin the UN human rights council, according to a position paper seen by the BBC. Moscow was expelled from the body last April after its forces invaded Ukraine, but Russian diplomats are campaigning aggressively to rejoin the council. Diplomats at the UN general assembly in New York told the BBC's James Landale that Russia was offering small countries grain and arms in return for their votes, and that it was entirely possible for the country to regain its seat next month. Russia blames "the US and its allies" for it losing membership and argues the council increasingly "serves the political will of one group of countries". On Monday, an independent commission told the council there is continuing evidence of Russian war crimes, including torture, rape and attacks on civilians, in Ukraine
One of Thailand's most prominent political activists, Arnon Nampa, has been sentenced to four years in prison under the country's much-criticised royal defamation, or lese-majeste law. He was convicted by a court in Bangkok over comments he made during a protest in October 2020. Mr Arnon, a human rights lawyer, was the first activist to call publicly for a national conversation on the role of the monarchy in today's Thailand - BBC
Russia has called on the International Court of Justice to throw out a case brought against it by Ukraine. Kyiv accuses Moscow of falsely using genocide law to justify its invasion.
Almost 7% of US adults — nearly 18 million people — have struggled with lingering Covid-19 symptoms, according to a new survey from the National Center for Health Statistics. Around a million children have also been affected by long Covid, the survey found. This particular report defines long Covid as symptoms that last at least three months after a positive test or a doctor's diagnosis of Covid-19. In response to the need for a better understanding of the condition and treatment, the Department of Health and Human Services awarded $45 million in new grants last week to expand access to care and foster best practices for long Covid management - CNN