Monday briefing: Nepal and Tibet’s floods are a warning for the future

• Iranian Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf stated that the old United States-led global order has collapsed and called for Islamic nations to implement a new one. • Ghalibaf noted that Tehran's specific messages and conditions regarding this shift were explicitly conveyed to the U.S. through intermediaries.

• Global leaders are meeting in New York this week for the UN General Assembly to discuss the Middle East crisis, the war in Ukraine, and artificial intelligence risks. • President Donald Trump will address the assembly, while Chinese President Xi Jinping will not attend the event.

• World leaders gathered at the UN General Assembly to address escalating conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East alongside risks from artificial intelligence. • The assembly focused on managing global instability and the regulatory challenges posed by emerging AI technologies.

• Ed Sheeran's current United States tour has drawn the global pop music industry into a public debate regarding art, activism, and Palestine. • The situation highlights a culture clash as artists face increasing public pressure to take political stands on polarizing global conflicts.

• A top Iranian official announced on September 19 that the country has provided specific conditions to mediators to facilitate talks with the United States. • The US State Department notified Congress of a determination approving a possible foreign military sale to Ukraine for air defense development upgrades and related services.

People are increasingly crossing paths with the wild animals as homes ring the outskirts of forests, sparking a new era of coexistenceEvery year, as summer draws to a close and fall begins, California’s bears get hungry.Black bears have long roamed the state, hunting for acorns, ants and pine nuts by the bucketload to pack on calories before hibernation. But increasingly, for every berry and root, there’s an even greater temptation: our trash and the detritus of human existence. Continue reading...

US president on Truth Social claims his new plan for the 250ft arch comes at the ‘strong request’ of the US militaryDonald Trump is proferring a new argument for building his triumphal arch in Washington DC: it will be converted into a “top grade military complex” replete with drone and ammunition storage space and customised sniper facilities on the roof and plaza.In a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday morning, Trump claimed that his new plan came at the “strong request” of the US military. He said the 250ft structure would be able to “house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large quantities of sniper ammunition in storage”. Continue reading...

Unit1 hopes to offer cheaper version of shows such as Abba Voyage, showcasing living and dead artists in any venueThe former chief executive of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s entertainment group has obtained a near-£15m investment for his UK music tech startup that hopes to recreate classic concerts by manifesting musicians as digital avatars.Unit1 was set up last year by Barney Wragg, an entertainment executive who ran Lord Lloyd-Webber’s Cats-to-Evita empire for five years from late 2011. It has secured the $20m in funding from a group of investors, including tech backer Balderton Capital through its partner Daniel Waterhouse, who made early investments in Spotify. Continue reading...

Data raid comes amid targeting of lifeboat charity by far-right agitators who object to migrant boat rescuesSupporters of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) have been warned that their personal information could have been stolen by hackers amid targeting of the charity by far-right agitators.In a letter accompanying the autumn copy of its Lifeboat magazine, the charity warned members that their “name, contact details and records of interactions with the RNLI” could have been breached in the raid on a company it uses for customer relationship management. Continue reading...

Charles lands at Heathrow with just two bags and nowhere to go as a result of Brexit and Stockholm’s hardline immigration positionDoubled over a Heathrow baggage trolley, the former British business director is sobbing uncontrollably, exhausted emotionally and physically after being deported from Sweden.Hours earlier the 65-year-old had been marched on to a plane in Stockholm, separated from his home and his Swedish wife after a five-year battle to stay in the country after Brexit came to an end. Continue reading...

Michelle Bachelet drops out after support collapsed in security council straw poll, leaving seven candidates in contestMichelle Bachelet, a former president of Chile, has withdrawn her candidacy to become the next secretary general of the ⁠UN, ending a ⁠bid ​that had struggled to gain traction among security council members.Bachelet, 74, announced ⁠her decision in a video posted on Instagram on Saturday, saying: “I will now continue, with the ⁠same determination as always, my international work.” Continue reading...

Rabid goats at a North Carolina petting zoo and a diseased beaver attacking a Maryland boy have set the public on edgeRecent unusual incidents involving humans and rabid animals and a subsequent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory have prompted concerns about rabies, but it’s not clear if there has actually been an increase in cases of the deadly disease in the United States, experts say.In recent months, rabid beavers have attacked three people in Maryland, and hundreds of people were exposed to goats with rabies at a petting zoo in North Carolina, according to news reports. The CDC issued a health advisory on 10 September “in response to recent reports of increases in human exposures to rabid or possibly rabid animals”. Continue reading...