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The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft mission returns samples of asteroid Bennu to Earth.
- OSIRIS-REx was a NASA asteroid-study and sample-return mission that visited and collected samples from 101955 Bennu, a carbonaceous near-Earth asteroid. The material, returned in September 2023, is expected to enable scientists to learn more about the formation and evolution of the Solar System, its initial stages of planet formation, and the source of organic compounds that led to the formation of life on Earth. Following the completion of the primary mission, the spacecraft is planned to conduct a flyby of asteroid 99942 Apophis as OSIRIS-APEX. (more)
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The oldest known wooden structure, estimated to be at least 476,000 years old, predating Homo sapiens, is discovered at the Kalambo Falls.
- The Kalambo structure is a Lower Palaeolithic wooden structure, of which two pieces have been uncovered along with other wooden tools. Discovered at the site of Kalambo Falls, Zambia, it is currently the oldest known wooden structure, determined through luminescence dating to be at least 476,000 years old and predating Homo sapiens. (more)
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Waheeda Rehman receives the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for her work in Hindi cinema.
- Waheeda Rehman (born 3 February 1938) is an Indian actress. Regarded as one of Hindi cinema's most accomplished actresses, she has worked in more than 90 feature films, in a career spanning over five decades. Her accolades include a National Film Award and three Filmfare Awards. She was honoured with India's civilian awards; the Padma Shri in 1972 and the Padma Bhushan in 2011. In 2023, she was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest award in the field of cinema. (more)
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A fire at a wedding in Qaraqosh, Iraq, kills more than 110 people.
- On 26 September 2023, at around 22:45 AST, a fire broke out at the Al Haytham Wedding Hall during an Iraqi Christian wedding in Qaraqosh, Al-Hamdaniya District, Nineveh Governorate. It was caused by pyrotechnic flares released inside the hall. Out of the estimated 1,000 people present, at least 119 were killed, and at least 150 were injured.
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Former Italian president Giorgio Napolitano dies at the age of 98.
- Giorgio Napolitano (Italian: [ˈdʒordʒo napoliˈtaːno]; 29 June 1925 – 22 September 2023) was an Italian politician who served as the president of Italy from 2006 to 2015, the first to be re-elected to the office. Due to his dominant position in Italian politics, some critics have sometimes referred to him as Re Giorgio ("King Giorgio"). In office for 8 years and 244 days, he was the longest-serving and longest-lived president in the history of the Italian Republic, which has been in existence since 1946. Although he was a prominent figure of the First Italian Republic, he did not take part in the Constituent Assembly of Italy that drafted the Italian constitution; he is considered one of the symbols of the Second Italian Republic, which came about after the Tangentopoli scandal of the 1990s. (more)
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Tigst Assefa breaks the women's world record at the Berlin Marathon.
- Tigst Assefa Tessema (Amharic: ትእግስት አሰፋ; born 3 December 1996) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner and the female marathon world record holder. Her world record time of 2:11:53 was set during the 2023 Berlin Marathon. She is a former 800-metre specialist.
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland is accused of involvement in a cash-for-visa corruption scandal.
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The cash-for-visa scandal (Polish: afera wizowa, lit. 'visa affair') is an ongoing political scandal concerning alleged corruption in granting of travel visa by officials of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Polish consular service. The majority of recipients left Poland for other Schengen Area countries or for North America. According to critics, up to 350,000 visas may have been illegally issued in return for bribes. (more)
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More than 100,000 Armenians flee Nagorno-Karabakh after the region falls to an Azerbaijani offensive.
- In late September 2023, Azerbaijan initiated a military offensive against the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, leading to the surrender of the self-declared Artsakh and the disbandment of its armed forces. Prior to this offensive, Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but governed and populated by ethnic Armenians, had a population of nearly 120,000. Faced with threats of genocide and ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijan, over 100,400 ethnic Armenians, more than 80% of Nagorno-Karabakh's inhabitants, fled by the end of September 2023. This mass displacement has been described by several international experts as a war crime or crime against humanity, although Azerbaijani officials have rejected these accusations and responded by urging Armenians to stay in the region. (more)
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A suicide bombing kills more than 50 people in Mastung, Pakistan.
- On 29 September 2023, a suicide bombing occurred in Mastung town in Mastung District, in the province of Balochistan, Pakistan during the main procession of the Islamic holiday of Eid Milad-ul-Nabi commemorating the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad. The explosion, which took place near a mosque, resulted in a significant number of casualties, with at least 55 deaths and 50–70 injuries reported. Among the deceased was Mastung's Deputy Superintendent of Police, Nawaz Gashkori.
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Nigerien crisis (ongoing)
- On 26 July 2023, a coup d'état occurred in Niger, during which the country's presidential guard removed and detained President Mohamed Bazoum. Subsequently, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, the Commander of the Presidential Guard, declared himself the leader of a military junta, established the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland, after confirming the success of the coup. (more)
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Russian invasion of Ukraine (ongoing)
- On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in an escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War that began in 2014. The invasion is the biggest attack on a European country since the Second World War. It is estimated to have caused tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilian casualties and hundreds of thousands of military casualties. By April 2023, about 8 million Ukrainians had been internally displaced. More than 8.2 million had fled the country by May 2023, creating Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. Extensive environmental damage caused by the war contributed to food crises worldwide.
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timeline (ongoing)
- This timeline of the Russian invasion of Ukraine covers the period from 8 June 2023, as the 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive began, to the present day.
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Sudan war (ongoing)
- A war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), rival factions of the military government of Sudan, began on 15 April 2023, with the fighting concentrated around the capital city of Khartoum and the Darfur region. Later, a faction of the militant Sudan People's Liberation Movement–North (SPLM-N) led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu, also fought the SAF in regions bordering South Sudan and Ethiopia. As of 15 August 2023, between 4,000 and 10,000 people had been killed and 6,000 to 12,000 others injured, while as of 12 September 2023, over 4.1 million were internally displaced and more than 1.1 million others had fled the country as refugees. (more)