Thursday got away from me. I got up, turned around, and it was evening. One of those days when nothing goes as planned. Meanwhile, a lot of remarkable things happened on this wonderful planet. Of course, not all is good. But most importantly, not all is bad.

Africa

The UN General Assembly is considering a Togo-led resolution promoting equal-area world maps instead of the Mercator projection, which greatly exaggerates the relative size of northern countries. All 55 African Union members support the initiative.

South Africa

Survivors and relatives of victims of the 1961 Sharpeville massacre are suing the South African government, seeking damages over the police shooting. Ninety-one people were killed, according to the current claim.

Nigeria

Nigeria opened six youth-friendly health centres in Kwara State on September 3, providing services designed specifically for adolescents and young adults. Yobe State University Teaching Hospital also reported spending ₦360 million annually on free dialysis treatment.

UNFPA is calling for sanitary-pad banks in Nigerian schools. It says lack of menstrual products, adequate toilets and water contributes to girls missing classes and examinations.

Nigeria

Pollution from upstream gold mining is threatening the Osun River and the UNESCO-listed Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove. Heavy-metal contamination is creating health concerns because devotees continue to drink and bathe in water considered sacred.

Africa — Health

Health ministers from 10 African countries signed a cross-border agreement on September 3 covering information-sharing, preparedness and joint responses to disease outbreaks.

Asia

Nepal — Two men alive after nine days

Rescuers pulled Sanjay Shah, 30, and Kabir Maharjan, 45, alive from a hydropower tunnel on September 4, nine days after the Nepal floods. One survivor told rescuers that other workers were alive inside. Search operations continue.

India

A fire at a hospital in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar prompted the evacuation of all 58 patients, including nine newborn babies in intensive care. No deaths were reported.

India

A 35-year-old man with disabilities who wandered away from his Jharkhand home nine years ago was recognized by his family after appearing briefly in an Instagram video filmed at the Kerala facility where he had been living. Arrangements were made for his return home.

India

A passenger ferry developed mechanical trouble near Mumbai’s Gateway of India. All 34 passengers and four crew members were brought safely ashore.

China

A Chinese man who survived a serious childhood illness is now working alongside the surgeon who saved his life 19 years ago. He says the experience led him to pursue medicine himself.

Japan

Reina Serikyaku, 30, is campaigning for greater recognition of fibromyalgia after spending more than a decade without a diagnosis. Japan is estimated to have about two million patients; a specialist society lists only about 130 medical institutions with appropriately trained doctors.

Australia & Pacific

Australia

More than 3,700 elderly Australians who are medically ready to leave hospital remain there because appropriate aged-care places are unavailable, up from about 2,500 a year ago. Queensland reported one patient who has remained in hospital for more than 1,000 days.

Australia

Doctors in regional Victoria say shortages of GPs are pushing patients who could be treated in primary care into hospital emergency departments instead.

Australia

The federal government stopped new enrolments in a graduate diploma after concerns it was being used by some international students to move between institutions while retaining student visas.

Pacific

Pacific Islands Forum leaders failed to agree unanimously on condemning China’s July ballistic-missile launch into Pacific waters. The final communiqué expressed concern but did not name China.

New Zealand

New Zealand regulators approved MDMA for treatment of severe PTSD under tightly controlled conditions. It may be prescribed only by specifically authorized psychiatrists and administered during supervised therapy.

Middle East

Lebanon

Israel released a Lebanese detainee and transferred him back to Lebanon, the first such handover since the Israel-Hezbollah conflict began six months ago.

Russia & Ukraine

Ukraine

A Russian drone struck the headquarters of Ukraine’s Security Service in central Kyiv on September 4, injuring at least seven people. The building is across from the UNESCO-listed St Sophia Cathedral.

Scandinavia & Nordic / Arctic

Finland

More than 2,000 people took part in Finland’s largest civil-defence exercise since the end of World War II, testing civilian and government responses to major emergencies.

Denmark

Denmark, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Greece are advancing plans for a migrant-return centre outside the EU. Denmark says transfers could begin by the end of 2027.

No Sweden, Norway or Iceland item was added simply to fill the section.

Europe

Great Britain & Ireland

France’s Bayeux Tapestry is being loaned to the British Museum, the first time the medieval work has left France in centuries. The loan is part of a wider Anglo-French cultural exchange.

Germany

The car manufacturer Volkswagen announced plans to cut 100,000 jobs by 2030, about 15% of its workforce, and substantially reduce its vehicle lineup in the largest restructuring in the company’s history.

France

France has cut €40 million from a programme intended to protect schools from extreme heat through measures such as insulation and cooling improvements.

Austria

Austrian Sign Language has entered the upper-secondary curriculum as a second modern language. Students are expected to be able to take it as a Matura examination subject from 2029.

Malta

A jury acquitted businessman Yorgen Fenech of masterminding the 2017 assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. People involved in carrying out the bombing have previously been convicted.

Romania

Romanian prosecutors formally indicted Andrew Tate and his brother on charges including trafficking; prosecutors also allege crimes involving minors and money laundering.

Serbia

EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos cancelled a planned visit to Serbia after authorities arranged official honors following the death of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić. His body was returned to Serbia on a government aircraft.

South America

Brazil

São Paulo’s MASP opened a major exhibition spanning five floors and including artists from every Latin American country. Works are organized around shared regional experiences rather than national boundaries.

Chile

The age of Monte Verde, a site central to understanding the earliest human settlement of the Americas, is again under scientific debate. Two new papers defend its approximately 14,500-year chronology following a recent challenge.

Argentina

President Javier Milei has intensified Argentina’s claim to the Falkland Islands, including threats of stronger measures against British oil interests.

Canada

Health

Canada is preparing for the coming respiratory-virus season amid concern about influenza, COVID-19 and RSV pressure on hospitals.

Rare epilepsy

A new Canadian agreement will expand support surrounding stiripentol treatment for Dravet syndrome, a rare and severe form of childhood epilepsy.

Rail

Canada committed C$4.7 billion for 313 new VIA Rail passenger cars to be built domestically, bringing large-scale passenger-car manufacturing back to Canada.

Good News

United States — Hawaiʻi

Nearly $1.2 million in grants announced September 3 will support threatened Hawaiian forest birds through captive breeding, predator control, habitat restoration and watershed protection.

Rwanda

Rwanda named 22 mountain gorillas born during the past year at its September 4 Kwita Izina ceremony. The wild mountain-gorilla population across the Virunga and Bwindi ecosystems now exceeds 1,060.

Kenya

Kenyan school-feeding advocate Wawira Njiru, founder of Food4Education, was named the 2026 recipient of the German Africa Prize for work providing school meals while supporting local farmers and employment.