Protests over the death of a woman in police custody in Iran last week intensified on Wednesday as unrest spread to dozens of cities.
Driving the news: Mahsa Amini, 22, died after being arrested by Iran's morality police for allegedly violating a religious law requiring women to wear a headscarf.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a special tribunal should be created to punish Russia during his recorded speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.
Driving the news: Russia should face punishment for "the crime of aggression" and for violations of territorial integrity until the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine are restored, he said.
U.S. mediators are engaged in indirect negotiations between Israeli and Lebanese officials in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in an attempt to reach a deal on the maritime border between the countries, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in a briefing with reporters.
Why it matters: The talks between the parties have entered crunch time and the fact that both the Israelis and the Lebanese are in New York allows opportunities for more intense talks.
Over 1,300 people have been detained for holding protests on Wednesday against Russian President Vladimir Putin's "partial mobilization" of reservists for the invasion of Ukraine, according to OVD-Info, a Russia-based human rights organization that monitors political persecution in the country.
Why it matters: Hundreds of people organized demonstrations in at least 38 Russian cities, including Moscow and Saint Petersburg, against the order in violation of Russia's anti-protest laws, which outlaw unsanctioned rallies.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry wants to conduct a public opinion poll in Ukraine in order to assess whether Israel’s image in the country has been damaged in the months since Russia launched its invasion, Israeli officials say.
Why it matters: Some Israeli Foreign Ministry officials are very concerned about the attitude of the Ukrainian public toward Israel while others think the disagreements are mainly at the political level and haven’t percolated to average Ukrainians.
Ukraine asked Israel to share intelligence on any support Iran is giving to the Russian military in the war, senior Israeli officials told Axios.
Driving the news: Russia in recent days attacked several Ukrainian military positions with “Kamikaze drones” that Ukraine's military said were repainted Iranian Shahed-136 drones.
President Biden condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine during his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, saying it "is about extinguishing Ukraine's right to exist as a state — plain and simple."
Why it matters: Biden's remarks come after Putin doubled down on the invasion of Ukraine by ordering a "partial mobilization" of Russian reservists with military experience and issued a veiled threat about using nuclear weapons.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin said he's signed a decree on a "partial mobilization" of Russian citizens from Wednesday and vowed to use "all the means at our disposal" to protect Russia, nearly seven months into his invasion of Ukraine.
The latest: Putin's veiled nuclear threat was "dangerous and reckless" but also not new, "as he has done it many times before," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with Reuters Wednesday.
The World Health Organization warned in a report Wednesday that most countries are "far off track" in their efforts to reduce premature deaths from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), such as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
Driving the news: Chronic diseases are responsible for about 74% of deaths worldwide, with low- and middle-income countries disproportionately affected, according to the WHO. The organization estimates that chronic diseases claim one person's life every two seconds.
