World, in brief

The Pentagon does not plan to renew the deal that pays and trains Iraqi Kurdistan's Peshmerga forces, four sources told the BBC. [1]

The deal expires on 30 September. That is the same day the last coalition troops leave Iraq. [1]

The Peshmerga has about 180,000 troops. It received $61m this year for weapons, training and pay. [1]

The money comes from the Pentagon's counter-Islamic State programme. The argument for cutting it is that Islamic State was defeated. [1]

The danger the Peshmerga faces now is a different one. Iran and Iran-backed militias fired 158 missiles or drones into Iraqi Kurdistan by late May. [1]

The last US base in Iraq, in the Kurdish capital Irbil, closes next month. [1]

Less than a year ago the US opened its largest consulate in the world in that same city. It cost $800m. [1]

Iraq's prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, says 1 October leaves Iraq free of any foreign military presence. [1]

Washington says it is open to a bilateral security agreement with Iraq. Nobody has said whether Iraqi Kurdistan would be inside it. [1]

James Jeffrey, who ran the anti-IS coalition in Trump's first term, called the Peshmerga money well spent. [1]

The war that left the Kurds exposed is six months old and has killed an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people. [2]

Why it matters. Watch whether Washington signs the bilateral security agreement with Iraq it says it is open to, and whether Iraqi Kurdistan is named anywhere in it. [1]

Icelanders voted on Saturday on whether to restart EU membership talks, in a country of under 400,000 people. Polls ran from 09:00 to 22:00 GMT, with the result due early Sunday. [9][10][14]

Why it matters. The vote was brought forward after Trump's moves on Greenland, but the campaign was fought over fishing and sovereignty, not security. [11][9]

A Gallup poll this week put No ahead at 51.6% against 48.4%. An earlier survey by the pollster Maskina had Yes ahead at 51.3%. [12][13]

Why it matters. Iceland already sits inside the single market and Schengen, so a yes would mainly add the customs union and, eventually, the euro. [9]

Sustained gunfire and explosions were heard across Niger's capital from about 1am on Saturday, around Diori Hamani airport, Base 101 and the presidential palace. [15][17]

Why it matters. Niger's junta took power in 2023 promising security, and is still fighting insurgents linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State. [16][18]

A security source said attackers were neutralised and others fled. Reuters could not verify that, and the government did not comment. [15][16]

Why it matters. Last week Niger reallocated uranium permits seized from France's Orano to state-backed companies. [16]

Russia, China and Iran's leaders join India's Narendra Modi and Pakistan's Shehbaz Sharif at a summit chaired by Kyrgyzstan's Sadyr Japarov. [19]

Why it matters. Putin and Xi hold a separate meeting on Monday, days after CIA director John Ratcliffe made a rare trip to Moscow. [20][19]

A Gallup Korea poll of 1,001 people found 65% think South Korea should have nuclear weapons and 30% disagree. [7]

Why it matters. It followed Trump's sudden order to cut back joint drills with Seoul, which the South Korean government said caught it off guard. [7]

The city government plans to convert the 13,000-square-metre Yaesu car park near Tokyo Station, adding blast-proof doors and supply shelving. [8]

Why it matters. The survey alone runs to next March, so what exists today is a plan rather than a shelter. [8]

Ukrainian intelligence says Moscow has decided to conscript 300,000 this year and 300,000 in 2027, after a collapse in volunteers. [21]

Why it matters. Ukraine's General Staff puts total Russian losses since February 2022 above 1.4 million killed and wounded. [21]

In his Friday evening address Zelensky told his army to raise long-range drone strikes from about 300 a day to at least 1,000. [22]

Why it matters. Kyiv says strikes on Russian arms plants and oil sites are working, including a refinery 1,000km from the front. [22]

Kyiv moved reinforcements to defend Sloviansk, one of the cities in the eastern belt that includes Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka. [25]

Why it matters. Sloviansk anchors that belt, and Russia has mounted renewed efforts to take it. [25]

Zelensky's top adviser said negotiations on the war would happen very soon but would be technical, with no quick agreement. [23]

Why it matters. Zelensky also said Washington passed Kyiv information about a run of meetings in Moscow. [24]

Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace envoy, warned the ceasefire risks collapse. Gaza's health ministry says 1,303 Palestinians have been killed since it took effect. [26]

Why it matters. Hamas says it approved his 15-point roadmap; Netanyahu publicly rejected it, leaving the plan's status contested. [26]

Israeli strikes killed at least five Palestinians on Friday, including three of the Abdeen family near Khan Younis. Four had been killed the day before. [27][28]

Why it matters. The UN found rats and other pests at 80% of displacement sites, where families have now spent months. [28]

A drone hit a car in the occupied West Bank city. Medics said Israeli troops raided the site and briefly detained them. [29]

Why it matters. Israel named one man as a militant; Islamic Jihad claimed him, Hamas did not. [29]

Local committees running shelters asked parents to stop children flying kites, after Israel warned it would react strongly to incendiary kites. [33]

Why it matters. In 2018 kites and balloons from Gaza burned hundreds of acres of Israeli farmland, so a toy now carries a military meaning. [33]

Naim Qassem called the framework agreement illegitimate and humiliating, and rejected the pilot zones and any verification system. [30]

Why it matters. The deal signed in late June requires Hezbollah to disarm as Israeli forces pull back. A new round of talks has no date. [30]

Itamar Ben Gvir rejected Netanyahu's demand that his party merge with Bezalel Smotrich's, drawing a sharp reply from Likud. [31]

Why it matters. A new party led by former general Ofer Winter draws 69% of its support from Netanyahu's own bloc. [31]

British public bodies hold contracts worth billions with firms a UN report ties to illegal Israeli settlements, including 1.7bn pounds through Motorola's Airwave. [32]

Why it matters. This is public money moving through five corporate groups a UN human rights report has already named. [32]

Sudan's military-led government ended the curfew and state of emergency in the capital, 18 months after retaking it from the RSF. [34]

Why it matters. Two million of the five million who fled have returned, to looted buildings and constant blackouts. [34]

About 60 soldiers were taken to Niger and exchanged for Inkinane Ag Attaher and people said to be linked to al-Qaeda's JNIM. [35]

Why it matters. Niger's government oversaw the swap directly, which is a quiet piece of business between a junta and an armed group. [35]

The transitional authorities hold a referendum on a new constitution on 30 August. The main opposition party, the PAIGC, is calling for a boycott. [36]

Why it matters. The PAIGC says the vote continues the coup of 26 November, and that the no campaign has not been allowed to campaign. [36]

Nearly 200,000 people were forcibly returned to Haiti in eight months, a UN official told the Security Council, at least 20,000 more than last year. [37]

Why it matters. It lands on a country where gang conflict has killed more than 21,000 people since 2022. [37]

President Abelardo de la Espriella ordered police to start deporting foreign nationals living in Colombia without papers, beginning this week. [38]

Why it matters. About 95% of Colombia's migrants are Venezuelan, and roughly 500,000 of the 2.8 million there lack permission to stay. [38]

An executive order gives the interior secretary 30 days to work with the Board on Geographic Names on renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America. [39]

Why it matters. It lands in a tariff fight: Washington put 50% duties on nearly $20bn of Canadian goods, and Ottawa answers on 8 September. [39]

Three days after a glacier collapse on the Nepal-China border, more than 600 are confirmed dead and 2,478 are missing. Bodies are being recovered downriver in India. [40]

Why it matters. Nepal's foreign minister says the country needs technical help, not more search teams, and eight countries have offered. [41]

China's parliament stripped Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli of their Central Military Commission posts, seven months after they were put under investigation. [42]

Why it matters. The commission is meant to have seven members. Two are now publicly accounted for: Xi and his anti-corruption chief. [42]

The GJ-21 stealth attack drone has been flight-testing this month while the Type 076 assault ship Sichuan, built to launch it, runs final sea trials. [43]

Why it matters. The ship is the one built to launch the drone, and it is in its final trials, so the pair arrives together. [43]

Hanoi demanded an immediate end to foreign activity in the archipelago after satellite images showed new installations on Yagong Island. [44]

Why it matters. Analysts said the structures could be the start of an early-warning radar station. [44]

Nearly 200 countries wrapped up UN desertification talks in Ulaanbaatar without deciding whether to create a binding global drought agreement. [45]

Why it matters. Up to 40% of the world's land is degraded, and the decision has now been deferred twice. [45]

The conservative and Social Democrat groups in the Bundestag called for stronger European protection against unfair competition, plus help for carmakers. [46]

Why it matters. The document never names China, though officials said Chinese overcapacity is what it is about. [46]

Two officials said climate and artificial intelligence will feature heavily in the Commission president's 16 September State of the Union address. [47]

Why it matters. Cabinet chiefs pitched their departments' priorities for the speech at a post-summer meeting on Friday. [47]

Washington objects to Mexico's trade deal with the EU, which protects names such as Parmigiano Reggiano, feta and manchego. [48]

Why it matters. The US says those names are generic; the EU says they are not. A whole negotiation is stuck on it. [48]

The election commission rejected an opposition lawmaker's proposal for a public vote on introducing caning, calling it cruel and against human dignity. [49]

Why it matters. Taiwan was under martial law until 1987 and still has the death penalty, so the line it drew here is a chosen one. [49]

The Islamabad High Court asked whether a petition to extend the visas of 87 Afghan students can even be heard. [50]

Why it matters. The judge asked how they were allowed in at all, saying Pakistan is at war with the Afghans. [50]

The defence ministry dropped the requirement to consult other ministries before exporting non-lethal defence items to most countries. [51]

Why it matters. Safeguards stay for sensitive destinations. It is a bid to get Indian firms into foreign tenders faster. [51]

ChangXin Memory Technologies, China's biggest maker of memory chips, sued to get off the US list of companies said to aid Beijing's military. [52]

Why it matters. The listing triggers contracting restrictions. The Pentagon would not comment on the case. [52]

The Treasury proposed severing the Emirati branches of Banque Misr from the US financial system, calling it a lifeline for Tehran. [4][5]

Why it matters. It stops short of full sanctions, which signals Washington's care with big trading partners that still deal with Iran. [4]

The Revolutionary Guard said it keeps firm control of the strait, while the US enforces a blockade there. More than a fifth of the world's oil and gas used to pass through. [3][2]

Why it matters. Both sides claim the same water, and the fight over it has already triggered a global oil supply crisis. [2]

Six months into the war, Gulf states are moving from buying protection to building it, after a joint defence pact signed in Mecca this month. [6]

Why it matters. It is the same reflex as Seoul's and Reykjavik's: work out what happens if the American guarantee is not there. [6][7][13]