BEIRUT, Sept 22 (NNN-NNA) – The Lebanese Army Command said in a statement yesterday that, the army stopped 1,000 Syrians from illegally entering Lebanon, since the beginning of this week.

“Within the framework of combating people smuggling across land borders, army units thwarted, on various dates during the current week, attempts to infiltrate about 1,000 Syrians into Lebanon,” said the statement.

The army added that, it has prevented thousands of Syrians from informally entering Lebanese territories over the past weeks.

21 September 2023; MEMO: A fundraising effort with the goal of securing the release of the settler who killed the Palestinian Dawabsheh family in an arson attack in 2015 from prison has raised over NIS 1.2 million, reported The Times of Israel.

The effort to overturn his conviction, titled “Amiram also deserves justice,” made headlines this week when Limor Son Har-Melech, a far-right Otzma Yehudit MK, spoke at a fundraising gathering for the cause, referring to him as a “holy righteous man”.

TORONTO (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Canada to stay with his country to victory Friday as he went to the Canadian Parliament seeking to bolster support from Western allies for Ukraine’s war against the Russian invasion.

Zelenskyy flew into Canada’s capital late Thursday after meetings with U.S. President Joe Biden and lawmakers in Washington. He spoke at the United Nations’ annual meeting Wednesday.

MOSCOW, September 22. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkmen counterpart Serdar Berdimuhamedov intend to foster relations between the two countries, the Kremlin press service noted following a phone conversation between the two leaders.

"The mutual intention for the further comprehensive development of Russian-Turkmen ties in the spirit of the expanded strategic partnership was confirmed," the Kremlin noted.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine struck the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in a missile attack Friday that left a serviceman missing and the main building smoldering, according to military officials on both sides of the war and images from the scene in Crimea.

The Russian Defense Ministry initially said one servicemember was killed but then issued a subsequent statement saying he was missing following the attack in the port city of Sevastopol.

JAKARTA, Sept 22 (NNN-ANTARA) – Semeru volcano, located in the Indonesian province of East Java, erupted today, and local authorities have warned people to stay away from the area.

According to the Semeru Volcano Monitoring Post, the volcano exploded at 9:23 a.m. local time, launching hot ashes as far as 700 metres from the crater to the south-east.

“The volcano’s eruption spewed a column of thick, grey ash towards the south-east and south,” Yadi Yuliandi, an officer of the monitoring post, said in a statement, today.

SINGAPORE, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The complete phasing-out of fossil fuels is not realistic, China's top climate official said, adding that these climate-warming fuels must continue to play a vital role in maintaining global energy security.

China is the world's biggest consumer of fossil fuels including coal and oil, and its special climate envoy Xie Zhenhua was responding to comments by ambassadors at a forum in Beijing on Thursday ahead of the COP28 climate meeting in Dubai in November. Reuters obtained a copy of text of Xie's speech, and a video recording of the meeting.

21 September 2023; MEMO: The Welsh Government has announced that it is formally opposing Michael Gove’s anti-boycott bill, which grants special protection to Israel and recommended the Welsh Senedd withhold legislative consent. This follows months of campaigning by rights groups, including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), demanding the Welsh government and Senedd oppose the bill.

KYIV, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The first big ship carrying grain from a Ukrainian Black Sea port has set sail since Moscow quit a deal in July to allow exports, a Ukrainian deputy prime minister said on Friday, part of Kyiv's campaign to break Russia's de facto blockade.

The Aroyat "left the port Chornomorsk after loading 17,600 (metric tons of) Ukrainian wheat for Egypt," Oleksandr Kubrakov said on the X social media app, formerly Twitter.

He posted a photo of the ship at sea.

MOSCOW, September 22. /TASS/: Russia monitored the US’ meeting with Central Asian countries on the sidelines of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, but Moscow’s main focus remains to continue its own dialogue with the states of the region, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

RAMALLAH, Sept 22 (NNN-WAFA) – UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, will visit the Palestinian territories in October.

Guterres informed Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, of his upcoming visit, during a meeting on the sidelines of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

It will be Guterres’ first visit to Palestine since 2017, when he travelled to both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

EASTERN UKRAINE, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Ukrainian soldiers are vowing to take back the shattered city of Bakhmut but face a long, hard slog after encountering fierce Russian resistance while retaking two villages last week on strategic high ground nearby.

Bakhmut, captured by Russian forces in May, is Moscow's only big prize in more than a year of the war's bloodiest fighting, described by both sides as a meat grinder. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said this week that Kyiv would retake the city following the capture last week of Andriivka and Klishchiivka to the south.