On September 14th, several Saudi Arabian oil facilities were attacked, leading to an increase in global oil prices. On September 23, Britain, France, and Germany placed the responsibility with Iran at the U.N. General Assembly. The Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, said to reporters in New York, “Those who make the allegations must provide the needed proof. What is your evidence?”
Britain, France, and Germany expressed their desire for Iran to engage in peaceful dialogue and to stop disrupting the Middle East. The U.S. has continued its sanctions on Iran.
“Today, the U.S. imposed new sanctions against Chinese companies that transport Iranian oil contrary to U.S. sanctions. Denying the Iran regime revenues for destabilizing conduct at the expense of the Iranian people, ” said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a tweet on September 25.
Nearby, the United Arab Emirates celebrates as its first astronaut prepares to go to space. Set to travel to the International Space Station (ISS), Hazzaa Al Mansoori, age 35, will be only the third astronaut from an Arab country to go to space. Mansoori came out of an applicant field of over 1000, according to the BBC.
“This mission is a great milestone for me personally and for the United Arab Emirates," Mansoori told reporters in July.
The former fighter pilot will work alongside other astronauts on several experiments and take part in an Arabic language broadcast on his mission to the ISS.
A UAE flag and a family picture, among other small objects, will be brought by Mansoori on his eight-day mission. The UAE space program, partially motivated by the Apollo missions, plans to send unmanned spacecraft to Mars by 2021.
On September 23, Philippine police forces arrested six individuals with suspected links to ISIS. Police believe that these individuals were involved in the Isulan market bombing on September 7th which left seven injured.
According to Benar News, one of the arrested suspects, Hassan Akgun, is a Swedish national, while the others are Filipino.
An ISIS flag, bomb making supplies, and multiple firearms were confiscated by the police during the arrests. The arrests happened in Bagumbayan, a town in the southern province of Sultan Kudarat.
Westmincom (a division of the Philippine Military) commander Lieutenant General Cirilito Sobejana praised the involved intelligence agencies for their successful collaboration.
“Let us remain vigilant for there are still enemies out there who will always try to inflict havoc in the communities,” he said.
On September 24, China Tribunal, a human rights group, presented evidence to the U.N. Human Rights Council accusing the Chinese government of harvesting organs from religious minorities. Organs harvested include hearts, kidneys, lungs, and skin for medical and scientific purposes.
Business Insider noted that two groups, Uighur Muslims and adherents to the Falun Gong religious community, have been particularly targeted.
“Victim for victim and death for death, cutting out the hearts and other organs from living, blameless, harmless, peaceable people,” said China Tribunal lawyer Hamid Sabi, “constitutes one of the worst mass atrocities of this century.”
Sabi believes that there are hundreds of thousands of victims and urged the U.N. to investigate further in China’s treatment of religious minorities.