THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — People have been killed in two shootings Thursday at a university hospital and a nearby home in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, police said, but they did not immediately announce the number of victims.

Rotterdam police said on X, formerly Twitter, that they were informing next of kin before releasing any more details. A suspect had been arrested after the shootings at the Erasmus Medical Center and the nearby apartment.

Fire also broke out at both locations, local authorities said.

28 September 2023; MEMO: Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged the establishment of the strategic Zangezur corridor in order to accelerate the territorial connection between Turkiye and Azerbaijan, as well as the Nakhchivan exclave of the latter.

LONDON (AP) — A 16-year-old boy was arrested Thursday in northern England in connection with what authorities described as the “deliberate” felling of a famous tree that had stood for nearly 200 years next to the Roman landmark Hadrian’s Wall.

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Three people were killed overnight in separate incidents in Sweden as a feud between criminal gangs escalated, making September the deadliest month on record for gun violence in the country.

Two gangs are reportedly fighting over drugs and weapons, and this month has seen a sharp increase in fatal shootings in the northern European country, which has a relatively low crime rate and is considered a very safe place to live.

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Taiwan unveiled its first domestically developed submarine on Thursday, a major step in a project aimed at strengthening the island's defence and deterrence against the Chinese navy, though it won't enter service for another two years.

Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has made the indigenous submarine programme a key part of an ambitious project to modernise its armed forces as Beijing stages almost daily military exercises to assert its sovereignty.

26 September 2023; MEMO: A massive ammunition depot was found in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, the Taliban claimed on Tuesday, Anadolu Agency reports.

Khalid Zadran, a spokesman for Kabul police, said that a huge cache of heavy and light weapons and ammunition was recovered during the construction of a road in Kabul.

An old weapons depot was discovered during the construction of a road in Kabul city, Zadran wrote on X.

DHAKA, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese firm will build a solar power plant in Bangladesh, a Bangladeshi cabinet meeting approved the proposal on Wednesday.

The plant would be a joint venture with China's Fujian Yongfu Power Engineering Company Ltd. The joint venture will construct a 70 MW plant in the hilly southeastern Bandarban district at a cost of 24.86 billion taka.

Bangladesh's power generation capacity reportedly stands at 23,871 MW. Of the amount, 1,194 MW comes from renewable energy sources.

PUTRAJAYA (Malaysia), Sept 28 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysian King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah Thursday calls on the people to emulate the Prophet Muhammad’s noble character in speaking the truth, being honest and avoiding slander and lies. 

Al-Sultan Abdullah said words in the forms of insults, lies and slander only undermine the country’s stability and harmony. 

27 September 2023; MEMO: Georgetown University in Qatar plans to hold an international conference on Saturday to explore the root causes of the rising anti-Islamic sentiments, Anadolu Agency reports.

Themed “Global Histories and Practices of Islamophobia”, the two-day event will bring together a host of scholars, activists, policymakers and journalists.

Sept 28 (Reuters) - Beijing and Washington are paving the way for Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Both sides are discussing a trip to Washington by Xi’s top economic-policy aide, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, the report said citing people briefed on the matter.

KIEV, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian state-run energy company Ukrenergo has attracted more than 1 billion U.S. dollars from foreign countries and organizations to restore the energy infrastructure, the Ukrinform news agency reported Thursday, citing an official.

"We have already financed most of our needs," said Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, chief executive officer of Ukrenergo.

MOSCOW, September 28. /TASS/: Russia will support South Sudan in addressing its internal political challenges and ensuring security, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir.

"Of course, we are aware that further development is associated with ensuring security, with the settlement of all those problems and difficulties that you inherited from the old times. So, we will do everything to support you in this area as well," Putin said.