Days before Germany's federal elections, Facebook took what it called an unprecedented step: the removal of a series of accounts that worked together to spread COVID-19 misinformation and encourage violent responses to COVID restrictions.

The crackdown, announced Sept. 16, was the first use of Facebook's new "coordinated social harm" policy aimed at stopping not state-sponsored disinformation campaigns but otherwise typical users who have mounted an increasingly sophisticated effort to sidestep rules on hate speech or misinformation.

The latest in a series of U.S. satellites that has recorded human and natural impacts on Earth's surface for decades was launched into orbit from California on Monday to ensure continued observations in the era of climate change.

Landsat 9 was carried into space aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket that lifted off from foggy Vandenberg Space Force Base at 11:12 a.m. The satellite successfully separated from the rocket's upper stage more than an hour later.

The Taliban banned barbershops in a southern Afghanistan province from shaving or trimming beards, claiming their edict is in line with Shariah, or Islamic, law.

The order in Helmand province was issued Monday by the provincial Taliban government's vice and virtue department to barbers in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital.

Pressure grew for a quick start to talks on Germany's next government as newly elected lawmakers held their first meetings on Tuesday and tensions simmered in outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel's bloc, which declined to its worst-ever result in the country's election.

The narrow winners of Sunday's parliamentary election, the center-left Social Democrats of Olaf Scholz, underlined their hopes of a quick start to talks with the likely kingmakers in a new government. And several prominent figures in Merkel's center-right Union bloc questioned an initial push by election loser Armin Laschet to lead a new administration.

Animal rights groups on Tuesday welcomed the South Korean president's offer to look into banning consumption of dog meat.

Dog meat is neither legal nor explicitly banned in South Korea. Restaurants that serve it are a dwindling business here as younger people find dog meat a less appetizing dining option. But some people oppose a ban as a surrender to Western pressure.

Arab citizens of Israel are seeking to raise awareness about the spiraling rate of violent crime in their communities under the hashtag "Arab lives matter," but unlike a similar campaign in the United States, they are calling for more policing, not less.

The Arab minority, which makes up around 20% of Israel's population, has been convulsed by violent crime in recent years, with a rate in killings that far exceeds its share of the population and is driven by criminal gangs and family disputes.

A Lebanese man who was critically injured in the massive explosion at Beirut's port last year has died, nearly 14 months after the blast, his family said Tuesday.

Ibrahim Harb, a 35-year-old accountant, was at his downtown office near the port when the explosion occurred, wiping out the port and devastating nearby neighborhoods. He died at his parents' home on Monday night, his brother, Mazen Harb, told The Associated Press.

The top diplomat of Yemen's internationally recognized government said Monday his conflict-torn country needs millions more coronavirus vaccines to ensure some of the world's poorest are not left behind.

In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak said the roughly 1 million doses Yemen was given are not enough to vaccinate even the most vulnerable portions of its population.

A military drone whose manufacturer says it can cruise for 20 hours at 15,000 meters (50,000 feet) was among Chinese warplanes, missiles and other weapons technology shown in public for the first time Tuesday at the opening of the country's biggest air show.

The Chinese space program planned to unveil a rocket for crewed space flight capable of carrying a 25-ton payload to lunar orbit at the 13th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, an official newspaper said. The event, which runs through Sunday, was postponed from late 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The United States and Russia will hold their second round of strategic talks later this week as the two sides attempt to resolve myriad differences ranging from nuclear weapons to cyberspace, the State Department said Monday.

The department said the Biden administration's second-ranking diplomat would lead the U.S. delegation to the talks with Russia in Geneva, Switzerland on Thursday. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will head an interagency delegation to the gathering, which follows an initial meeting in July at which little progress was made. The first meeting took place after Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin agreed at a summit in June to restart talks.