Russia

• The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russia's most senior military officer, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, and its former Defense Minister (and current Security Council member) Sergei Shoigu. The warrants are symbolic since - like Pres. Putin, who also has an outstanding ICC arrest warrant - Gerasimov and Shoigu will make sure to avoid travel to any ICC member state that would enforce them.
• Separately, Russia announced a ban on 81 EU media outlets - including several EU-wide outlets like Politico and EU observer, as well as fairly mainstream national media from 25 of 27 EU member states (Le Monde, Der Spiegel, Irish Times, El Pais, etc.) - in retaliation for EU bans on some state-linked Russian fake-news organizations.
• European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova retorted that "propaganda outlets funded by Russia to spread disinformation as part of Russia's military doctrine are not the same as independent media," and most of the now-banned outlets seemed to relish their censorship as a sign that their reporting offended the Kremlin's insecurities.

• The EU formally launched membership talks with Ukraine (and Moldova) yesterday - although it will be years before either country officially joins the EU.

• China retrieved Earth's first-ever sample of soil from the far side of the moon when a capsule sent from its Chang'e-6 lunar lander floated to the ground in Inner Mongolia yesterday.
• Previous lunar missions observed clumpier soil on the far side of the moon (compared to soil on the side we see from earth); the Chang'e-6 sample will seek to confirm any differences.
• Chinese space officials called the Chang'e-6's mission "a complete success."

• There's a new strain of mpox (fka monkeypox) spreading through DRC's eastern provinces and worrying health experts - one of whom called this "the most dangerous strain yet." The WHO has logged 7,500 cases and 400 deaths due to mpox in DRC so far this year.
• Mpox is preventable with vaccines, but regional insecurity has complicated vaccination drives in eastern DRC.

• Niger's junta declared three days of national mourning for 20 soldiers and one civilian killed by jihadists in Tillaberi yesterday.
• The government blamed "a coalition of terrorist groups" - and there are indeed multiple terrorist groups active in the Tillaberi region, including affiliates of both Al Qaeda and Islamic State (IS) - but this attack was probably the work of IS affiliates avenging the death of a senior leader, Abdoulaye Souleymane Idouwal, in an army raid in Tillaberi last Friday.

• South Korea reported that North Korea launched a hypersonic missile early this morning, but assessed that the missile exploded early in its flight - just 155 miles (250 km) from its launch site.

Haiti

• The first contingent of a Kenyan-led, UN-backed police force arrived in Haiti. Its 400 officers are the beachhead for a force that will grow to 2,500.
• Incidentally, 2,500 is also the number of Haitians estimated to have died in just the first half of 2024 from the gang violence that these 2,500 police are now supposed to stop. Gang violence has killed an estimated 7,500 Haitians since Oct. 2022, when the country's leadership first called for international help.
• After decades of failed interventions in Haiti, the U.S. is reluctant to officially get involved, but it supported this mission behind the scenes as the main organizer.
• Besides Kenya, 15 other countries are lending personnel or funding to the mission: Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Canada, France, Germany, Jamaica, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, and the UK.
• PM Conille cautiously celebrated the peacekeepers' arrival, saying they would work with Haitian police to wrest the country from gang control "slowly, without major fights unless necessary."

• Meanwhile back in Kenya, thousands of protesters marched against a new prososed tax on basic provisions. Pres. Ruto deployed police to quell the "treasonous" demonstrations, and they did so with force, killing at least 13 protesters so far. Ruto hasn't signed the bill yet and could still demand revisions to it - though heavily indebted Kenya needs the extra tax revenue.
• NATO confirmed that outgoing Dutch PM Rutte will be its next Secretary-General. Rutte will replace SecGen Stoltenberg on Oct. 1.