Russia and Ukraine swapped accusations of deadly drone strikes on civilian areas of their countries Monday as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy anticipated "a very intense week" of diplomacy at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, where the Security Council was expected discuss the more than three-year war.
Zelenskyy has tried to give momentum to a U.S.-led peace effort, offering a ceasefire and a summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Moscow has taken issue with some of the proposals, however, and an end to the bloodshed appears no closer.

World leaders begin convening Monday at one of the most volatile moments in the United Nations' 80-year history, and the challenges they face are as dire as ever if not more so: unyielding wars in Gaza and Ukraine, escalating changes in the U.S. approach to the world, hungry people everywhere and technologies that are advancing faster than the understanding of how to manage them.
The United Nations, which emerged from World War II's rubble on the premise that nations would work together to tackle political, social and financial issues, is in crisis itself. As Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said last week: "International cooperation is straining under pressures unseen in our lifetimes."

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Moscow will adhere to nuclear arms limits for one more year under the last remaining nuclear pact with the United States that expires in February, and he urged Washington to follow suit.
Putin said that the termination of the 2010 New START would have negative consequences for global stability and could fuel proliferation of nuclear weapons.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.3 rocked the San Francisco Bay Area early Monday, waking up many people, with more 24,000 saying they felt it, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The earthquake was just east-southeast of Berkeley, the survey said. It happened shortly before 3 a.m. PDT.

Russia denied on Monday that its aircraft were violating NATO airspace and warned that countries making such accusations risked "escalating tensions".
"We consider such statements empty, unfounded, and a continuation of the country's utterly unstoppable policy of escalating tensions and provoking a confrontational atmosphere," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about Estonia accusing Russia of airspace violations.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says he still has good memories of U.S. President Donald Trump and urged Washington to drop its demand the North surrender its nukes as a precondition for resuming long-stalled diplomacy.
Speaking to Pyongyang's rubber-stamp parliament on Sunday, Kim stressed that he has no intention of ever resuming dialogue with rival South Korea, a key U.S. ally that helped broker Kim's previous summits with Trump during the American president's first term, according to a speech published by state media on Monday.

Outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba 's ruling party opened official campaigning Monday to find his replacement who can restore political stability and voter support for the beleaguered Liberal Democrats.
Five candidates are vying for the Liberal Democratic Party's top job ahead of a highly unpredictable vote in early October. The race has a slogan: "Change, LDP."

Major European airports including Brussels, Berlin and London's Heathrow were Saturday hit by "cyber-related disruption" affecting automated check-in and baggage drop systems and causing delays.
"We have become aware of a cyber-related disruption to our MUSE software in select airports," airport service provider Collins Aerospace said.

The United Nations Security Council voted Friday to reimpose deep economic sanctions on Iran over its resurgent nuclear program after Britain, France and Germany called for action which Tehran called "unlawful."

A moment of truth: that's how French President Emmanuel Macron sees the recognition of a Palestinian state by France and other Western nations, with the hope to make it a landmark step in his push for peace in the Middle East as the devastating war in Gaza continues.
Weakened and unpopular at home, Macron is more than ever taking center stage in international talks. He is to formally declare France's recognition of a Palestinian state on Monday in New York at a United Nations conference co-chaired with Saudi Arabia, as the U.N. General Assembly starts.
