Today Biden will host the first-ever in-person leaders’ summit of the Quad—America, Australia, India and Japan—at the White House.

In March its leaders met for the first time, virtually, and agreed an initiative to expand vaccine manufacturing for South-East Asia. Now they will discuss cooperation on the pandemic, the climate crisis, emerging technologies and “a free and open Indo-Pacific”.

🔴 Multiple deaths reported in Somali capital after suicide car bomb blast near presidential palace checkpoint, says police official.

China broadened its war on #cryptocurrencies, outlawing all transactions with the digital coins and banning “mining”.

- Overseas exchanges, such as Coinbase and Binance, are barred from serving mainland investors.
- Following the announcement of the ban, the value of bitcoin fell by 8%.

Serbian military bring armored vehicles and jets near border as tensions rise between #Kosovo and #Serbia. Kosovo’s PM Albin Kurti accused Serbia of "encouraging and supporting" attacks on the state of Kosovo.

The Serbian Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff inspected units in southern #Serbia placed in advanced combat readiness against #Kosovo.

❗4 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in occupied West Bank.
The Israeli army killed the Palestinians during confrontations in Jenin and Jerusalem.

Mali has asked Russian private companies to boost security in the conflict-torn country, Moscow confirmed as the Malian leader accused France of abandoning Bamako by preparing a large troop drawdown. [Al Jazeera]

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said private Russian military contractors have a “legitimate” right to be in Mali because they were invited by the country’s transitional government.

The reasons behind the #French discontent. https://drmjournal.org/2021/09/26/drm-update-why-the-us-excluded-france-from-aukus/

#Germany’s federal election delivered a close result, with the left-leaning Social Democrats winning 25.7% of the vote and the centre-right Christian Democratic Union—the party of Angela Merkel, the current chancellor—and its Bavarian partner, the Christian Social Union, with 24.1%. Protracted coalition-building negotiations loom: both sides will woo smaller parties to try to muster a majority. The hand of Olaf Scholz, the SPD’s leader, looks stronger than that of Armin Laschet, his CDU rival.

A Syrian ministerial delegation will visit Jordan on Monday to discuss economic cooperation.

Meetings between the Syrian delegation - which includes Damascus' energy, water, agriculture, and transport ministers - will meet with their Jordanian counterparts in Amman over the next two days. (The New Arab)

Teachers across #Iran, including Eastern #Kurdistan, took to the streets on Saturday protesting low wages and the right to teach Kurdish in schools.

Saturday marked the first day of the academic year, where teachers marched in front of the education ministry and government offices in the cities Tehran, Kermanshah, and Shiraz including 37 others and where many female teachers were present.

Protesters are asking the government to implement the "80% ranking plan” regarding the teachers’ salaries.

#Iran and #Iraq have come to an agreement on the export of electricity and gas from Iran to Iraq during a meeting while attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Saturday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and his Iraqi counterpart, Fuad Hussein, discussed the bilateral deal made between the two countries during the Iraqi prime minister's visit to Tehran earlier this month.

- Armoured vehicles of the Serbian Army near the Jarinje border crossing.

The Brnjak crossing was also blocked, due to the decision of the Government of Kosovo to ban the entry of vehicles with Serbian license plates, which must be replaced by temporary registrations of Kosovo.

#KFOR troops appeared today near the Jarinje crossing, where members of the Kosovo Police Special Forces have been stationed for eight days, and international peacekeepers say they have "increased the number and duration of routine patrols throughout Kosovo, including the north" and "they are closely monitoring the situation throughout Kosovo."

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama attacked Serbia after meeting with #Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti in Pristina.

He accused #Serbia of "making theatrical manoeuvres in the north of Kosovo", reports Gazeta Express.

"There is no doubt that in the first place, and above all, Serbia must recognize this irreversible reality, and it is really unfortunate that instead of concrete progress in dialogue towards mutual recognition and final reconciliation with the past, today we are witnessing Serbia's theatrical military manoeuvres on the border with the sovereign state of Kosovo", Rama said.

According to him, "these manoeuvres do not actually protect the Serbs in the north of Kosovo, as the official Belgrade leadership claims, with the support of some ghosts of generals of the defeated army on the battlefield, more than 20 years ago, who seems to have come out of the grave claiming to protect the integrity and the security of Serbian citizens in Kosovo".

He referred to the actions of Serbs in the north theatrical manoeuvres, while he also mentioned that the Government of Kosovo paid for electricity for Serbs in the north.

According to the TASS report, almost 16,000 people were killed as a result of crimes in Russia in eight months, and more than 22,000 were injured. https://tass.ru/obschestvo/12514355

The Turkish-made Bayraktar #TB2 drones, belonging to the army of #Turkmenistan, were presented for the first time at the parade held as part of the Independence Day celebrations in the capital of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat.

About 2,000 Tunisians rallied in the capital on Sunday to protest against President Kais Saied's recent steps to tighten his grip on power, labelling it "a coup d'état".

https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20210926-thousands-of-tunisians-rally-against-president-saied-s-growing-grip-on-power

#Kosovo: The gathered Serbians, who will spend the eighth night in Jarinje in protest of the decision of the Pristina’s government on car license plates, set up another and bigger tent today, reports Kosovo online.

American, Polish and Canadian soldiers of the KFOR mission arrived near the Jarinje crossing.

U.S. Spent Billions on Afghanistan and Failed to Build a Sustainable Economy https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-spent-billions-on-afghanistan-and-failed-to-build-a-sustainable-economy-11632735001?mod=hp_lead_pos5

An energy shortage in north-eastern #China intensified, prompting the governor of Jilin province to call for an urgent resupply of imported #coal to keep thermal power plants running. Nine other provinces are experiencing shortages. Analysts at investment banks blamed emissions restrictions as well as coal prices, advising that year-on-year growth in September may be hindered by 4% or more.