September 1: Singapore Former Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam was elected President of Singapore with 70.4% of the votes. After several profile scandals, including a graft probe and resignation of senior lawmakers, the People’s Action Party’s landslide victory shows that the general public still trusts the ruling party (Reuters).
September 5: United States
Enrique Tarrio, leader of the radical right political group the Proud Boys, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy by a Federal District Court in Washington, D.C., the longest sentence yet for a defendant convicted for their role in the January 6 insurrection. Under direct planning and plotting from Enrique Tarrio, the Proud Boys played an integral role in breaching the US capitol building (CNN).
September 6: US, Ukraine
The U.S. sent armor-piercing depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine for the first time. Depleted uranium ammunition, a byproduct of the uranium enrichment process used to make nuclear weapons, is known for its ability to piece armor and ignite on impact. Concerns regarding the environmental impact of the ammunition started when the U.S. first used ammunition en masse during the Gulf War. The Department of Defense and the Veterans Affairs Administration claim that these health effects are negligible, but the long term environmental effects could be significant (CBS News).
September 6: Mexico
The Mexican Supreme Court decriminalized abortion nationwide, ruling that laws prohibiting the procedure violate women’s rights. The landmark decision extends the trend of widening access to abortion in Latin America (Associated Press).
September 1011: Libya
Two aging dams in Derna, Libya, collapsed following the landing of Storm Daniel, which unleashed a torrent of water on the city, submerged large parts of the area, and cut off roads into it. More than 5,000 people died from storm damage in the city neglected by the Libyan authorities (New York Times).
September 12: United States
House Speaker Kevin Mc Carthy announced an impeachment inquiry into President Joseph Biden, yielding to mounting pressure from Former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies. McCarthy claimed that the House of Representatives investigations into Biden’s family have uncovered a “culture of corruption” that needs to be further investigated. Planning to have the chairmen of the House Judiciary, Oversight and Ways and Means committees to lead the inquiry, McCarthy claimed that allegations include the abuse of power, obstruction, and corruption. The White House called the efforts “extreme politics at its worst” (Associated Press).
September 14: China
China became the first country to appoint an ambassador to Taliban controlled Afghanistan. Despite this development, no country recognizes the Taliban government due to human rights concerns, especially the violation of women’s rights. Analysts believe this is part of China’s plan to grow influence within this region, central to Beijing’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative. China has previously expressed interest in Afghanistan’s estimated $1 trillion of natural resources, including copper, lithium, and gold (BBC).
September 14: United States
Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son, was indicted on three offenses relating to possession of a gun while using narcotics by federal prosecutors in Delaware. Biden was charged with two counts of lying about drug use while purchasing a revolver in 2018. Biden was also accused of possessing a firearm while using a narcotic (NBC News). September 15: United States United Auto Workers, an American labor union, went on strike against three Detroitbased automakers: Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis. Roughly 10% of unionized American auto workers participated in the strike, with the objective of exerting unique pressure on the companies through the simultaneous strikes at all three of them. President Biden supported the strike and sent acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and Senior Aide Gene Sperling to Detroit to help negotiate a beneficial contract for everyone (Associated Press).
September 16: Iran
Iranian police cracked down on protests in Kurdish areas and arrested Mahsa Amini’s father, Amjad Amini, on the one year anniversary of her death in police custody, allegedly for flouting the mandatory dress codes. Her murder incited some of the worst political unrest in Iran in four decades. On the one year anniversary, police defended their arrests by claiming protesters were “trying to organize unrest and sabotage” and accused people of being “counter revolutionaries” and “terrorists.” Large Scale protests were successfully dispersed, but sporadic confrontations continue to be reported (Reuters).
September 1920: Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan invaded the self declared breakaway state Artsakh, part of the disputed region of Nagorno Karabakh. The Artsakh government has close ties to Armenia, but is not recognized by any country. Armenia, which claims that its forces are not present in Karabakh, said its border with Azerbaijan is stable. Russia, the broker of the 2020 peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, claimed it received little advance notice of Azerbaijan’s operation (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation).
September 24: United States
NASA completed the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security– Regolith Explorer (OSIRISREx) mission. The return capsule landed at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range. It returned from a seven sample collection mission from the asteroid Bennu, a primitive carbonaceous nearEarth asteroid formed in the earliest days of the solar system. The samples will allow scientists to better understand the solar system’s formation and organic compounds (NASA).