📹 🇷🇺 WATCH footage of Sevastopol citizens enthusing about the referendums in the LPR and DPR, as well as in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹 🇨🇳 There was no visible security presence in Beijing on Saturday, a week before China celebrates the founding of the People’s Republic, a Sputnik reporter said.

📌 Unconfirmed media reports suggested this week that the Chinese military was plotting a coup during the so-called Golden Week of public holidays that precede China’s National Day on October 1.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️ Future of the world order being decided today, Lavrov says at UNGA

📌 WATCH LIVE: Lavrov speaks at UN General Assembly in NYC

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️ The formation of sovereign states, ready to defend their national interests, leads to the emergence of an equal, socially oriented and sustainable multipolar architecture, Lavrov says at UNGA

❗️ Having proclaimed victory in the Cold War, Washington elevated itself almost to the rank of God's messenger on Earth, which has no obligations - only "sacrosanct" rights to act with impunity, Lavrov says at UNGA

Russian FM Sergey Lavrov gives another history lesson for those who accused Moscow of escalating situation in Ukraine by reminding the leaders at the UN General Assembly, that there was a coup d'etat at Maidan in Kiev in 2014, deposing the elected President Yanukovich, which paved the road to Kiev-led violence against Russian-speaking population in Donbass. Lavrov said that 'the West shrugged and watched in silence' as members of the coup bombed Donbass.

⚡️ Russophobia has acquired unprecedented and grotesque proportions in the West, Lavrov says

🚀 The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said on Saturday it once again postponed the launch of Artemis 1 unmanned moon mission, scheduled for Tuesday, as tropical storm Ian is edging toward the US coast.

💭 "NASA is foregoing a launch opportunity Tuesday, Sept. 27, and preparing for rollback, while continuing to watch the weather forecast associated with Tropical Storm Ian," the statement said.

▪️ According to the US National Hurricane Surveillance Center, tropical storm Ian formed over the Caribbean Sea on Saturday. It is expected to cross the central part of the Caribbean Sea and move through the southwestern part of Jamaica on Sunday. On Monday night, the storm will pass near the Cayman Islands and approach the western part of Cuba.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📍 WATCH: Lavrov holds press conference after his speech at UNGA

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📊 Inhabitants of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and the areas of the regions of Kherson and Zaporozhye controlled by pro-Russian administrations are holding status referendums September 23-27, with residents of each of the four territories asked whether they would prefer to become part of Russia or stay part of Ukraine.

▪️ Overwhelming majorities of residents in the DPR, LPR and the Russian-controlled areas of Kherson and Zaporozhye plan to vote in favor of joining the Russian Federation, a poll has found.

▪️ The survey, conducted on September 23 by Russia-based market research company INSOMAR, showed that between 94 and 97 percent of residents of the Donbass republics, and between 83 and 84 percent of the inhabitants of Kherson and Zaporozhye were in favor of joining Russia.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📌 Large or overwhelming majorities of those polled in each territory also confirmed their intention to take part in the plebiscites.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Sergey Lavrov just reminded reporters at his UN news conference how the US was meddling in UA elections in 2013-2014, quoting the leaked phonecall of Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland who allegedly used an F-word when taking about concerns of the EU.

Lavrov to a Western reporter, in English: don't judge from your office [about situation in Ukraine]. "Go to Crimea, go to Donbass, see for yourself what's going on".

💊🇫🇷Emergency contraception, also known as the morning-after pill, will be made free of charge to all women in France, regardless of age, as part of a program of new sexual health initiatives announced by the county's minister for health Francois Braun.

The minister of health said he intended to make contraception easier to access and also wanted to increase screening for sexually transmitted infections, or STI, after a 30 percent decline in screenings, partly caused by the pandemic, saw a rise in cases between 2020 and 2021.

Previously, emergency contraception had only been free for minors without a prenoscription or those up to 26 years of age, provided they had one.

"We have to fight against women's difficulties in getting access to contraception," Braun said in the interview. "We know that the efficiency of emergency contraception is maximum in the 24 hours that follow intercourse."

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨A suspect who was fleeing from police in South Carolina fatally fell off the top level of a balcony at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, according to authorities. The Cayce Police Department said an officer approached a car with two individuals at Guignard Park after the park closed for the day early Saturday morning.

As the officer walked toward the vehicle, the suspects sped away from the scene, eventually causing a single-car crash at the Convention Center. Police said officers did not pursue the suspect because they were providing aid to the other individual in the car.

"Our officer responded in accordance with his training by calling for additional officers and first checking on the other individual from the single car accident," Cayce Police Chief Chris Cowan said. "There was no foot chase initiated." While running from police, the suspect fell from the top of the upper-level balcony at the Convention Center to the lower level, causing his death.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚁A Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF) helicopter has crashed in Fort Portal west of the country. The UPDF confirmed the accident, saying the helicopter likely suffered a mechanical malfunction.

The MI-24 helicopter crashed just half a kilometer from the airfield into mud and wattle house near Saaka Airfield at 9 a.m. According to an eyewitness, three helicopters had just taken off from Saaka airfield, but one of them crashed into the house. The eyewitness says that the occupant of the house, an elderly woman, only identified as Peruce Kabarwani, was rushed to the hospital.

Major Peter Mugisa, the Mountain Division Spokesperson said that the helicopter being manned by two UPDF soldiers was on an operation when it developed a mechanical problem. He says that investigators will inquire into whether human error or environmental factors contributed to the crash.

Subscribe to @Sputniklnt

🌨 🌊Powerful storm Fiona, which was downgraded from a hurricane to a post-tropical cyclone, lashed into eastern Canada on Saturday, cutting power supply to thousands and washing houses into the sea as it pummeled the area with fierce winds and rains “like nothing we’ve ever seen”, police say.

As of midday, some 500,000 homes were left without power across the region as the storm pummeled a wide area, felling countless trees and ripping roofs from buildings.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted: “I want you to know that we’re here for you … Our government stands ready to support the provinces with additional resources.” Canada had issued severe weather warnings for swaths of its eastern coast, advising people to lay in supplies for at least 72 hours.

Subscribe to @sputniklnt

✝️Pope Francis on Saturday called for the world to abandon fossil fuels while speaking in the town of Assisi in central Italy. The hill town, located in the region of Umbria, is the birthplace of Saint Francis of Assisi, from whom the pontiff-born Jorge Mario Bergoglio took his papal name.

"Now is the time for new courage in abandoning fossil fuels to accelerate the development of zero- or positive-impact sources of energy," Francis said. "There are many people, businesses and institutions that are making an ecological conversion. We need to go forward on this road and do more," he added.

Pope Francis spoke to a gathering of around 1,000 young people organized by the Economy of Francesco initiative. Among the people attending the gathering were young economists and people involved in startups geared toward helping the environment.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚡️🌎An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.1 struck in the Pacific off southern Chile on Friday, but there were no early reports of damage. The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter was 10 kilometers (62 miles) below the surface, about 142 kilometers (6.2 miles) below the surface, and about 142 kilometers (88 miles) west of Ancud, a town 1,120 km (966 miles) south of the Chilean capital Santiago.

The National Emergency Office said in a tweet that authorities were checking for any “possible damage to people, alteration of basic services or infrastructure.’’

The Chilean navy’s Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service ruled out the possibility of a tsunami. Chile sits along the so-called “Ring of the Fire” of the Pacific, and it has frequent earthquakes.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Summing up Sergey Lavrov's bilaterals in New York, it's safe to say that those who wanted to hold negotiations with him, have done so. There were also those who cancelled meetings. Here is Russia's top diplomat commenting on some presumably Western nations' failure to show up at the talks: "As I have told you, they have prohibited the President of Cyprus from coming to talks. One representative was from one of “the five” [nuclear] states, the other one was also from a well-respected country – they have also contacted us. They have been asking timidly or even conspirationally for a confidential meeting. I said – sure, but they didn’t come. Same story with another prime minister. So, let’s not be calling us quitters.”