Emphasizing that Iran is the primary source of conflict in the Middle East, Israel’s chief atomic energy commissioner warned this week that Israel cannot “tolerate” a nuclear-armed Iranian Islamic regime, Ynet News reports.

Authorities in Central and Eastern Europe say intense flooding that has swept parts of Central and Eastern Europe, including Austria, Poland, Romania, and the Czech Republic, has killed at least 22 people.

In the third year of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, and having sustained heavy losses, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered the size of his army to be increased by 180,000 troops to 1.5 million active servicemen, Reuters reports.

Pope Francis has come under fire from US Christian leaders after telling a group of young people in Singapore last week that “all religions are a path to God,” the Christian Post (CP) reports. The pontiff made his statement while addressing an interreligious meeting at a Catholic junior college last week, at the end of an 11-day visit to Asia, CP reports.

The city of Shanghai in China on Monday was struck by the most powerful typhoon it has experienced since 1949, with hundreds of thousands of people having had to evacuate their homes, the Associated Press reports.

The UK and the US are reported to be concerned that Russia shared nuclear secrets with Iran in exchange for ballistic missiles to use against Ukraine in the ongoing invasion, the Independent UK reports. During a summit in Washington on Friday (September 13), Britain’s Prime minister Keir Starmer and US president Joe Biden specifically discussed the increased military cooperation between Iran and Russia.

Three years after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan the ruling Islamic extremist Taliban have passed an expansive new morality law that severely restricts Afghan freedoms, and targets women especially harshly.

Central and Eastern Europe’s death toll climbed to at least 14 on Monday as Storm Boris, accompanied by heavy rainfall and related flooding, ravaged the region. Romania and Poland were among the heaviest-hit nations.

Russia and Ukraine say they have exchanged 206 prisoners of war in a deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates. The weekend exchange was welcomed by Ukraine’s embattled president, whose forces have struggled to halt the ongoing Russian invasion of his nation.

Dozens of people, including Americans, faced a tense Sunday after a military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) handed down death sentences to them over an alleged coup attempt.

Hungary braced on Sunday for the Danube River, Europe’s main waterway, to reach record levels as massive rainfall caused deadly flooding across Central and Eastern Europe, damaging homes and leaving many without power.

Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration demands two permanent seats for African nations in the United Nations Security Council and an elected seat for a small-island developing nation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned the West and members of the NATO military alliance that they will be “at war with Russia” if Ukraine is given the green light to use long-range missiles on targets inside his country.

Switzerland will likely implement a digital identity document (ID) by 2026 after both chambers of parliament approved the necessary steps despite voters rejecting a previous law enabling the scheme.

The United States Defense Department has ordered the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier to return home after it spent several weeks in the Middle East in case Israel needed to be defended from threatened attacks by Iran and its proxies, and to protect US troops, the Associated Press reports. The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier will remain in the area.