China's meteorological authority has upgraded the level of warning for super typhoon Usagi, which may become the strongest typhoon to hit the country this year.

Usagi is now catagorized as a Super Typhoon.

It's expected to hit the eastern coast of Guangdong some time between Sunday afternoon to Monday Morning. 

In neighboring Fujian, authorities have returned nearly 23,000 fishing boats to ports to take shelter.

Shipping services in Fujian to some of Taiwan's regions have been halted.

Syria 'submits chemical weapons data' to Hague watchdog

Syria has begun sending details of its chemical weapons to the Hague-based chemical arms watchdog.

It's part of a Russia-US brokered deal to make them safe.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says it expects more details from Syria in the coming days and has postponed a meeting planned for Sunday.

Syria was given a Saturday deadline to give a full list of its chemical arms.

An OPCW spokesman says Syria's submission is an "initial declaration".

The Russia-US brokered deal aims to have inspectors on the ground in Syria in November, when they will make an initial assessment and oversee the destruction of certain equipment.

The United States has threatened military action over a chemical attack in Damascus last month, which the UN called a war crime.

 

Obama to attend UN GA

US President Barack Obama is expected to call on the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution on Syria's chemical weapons at the UN General Assembly next week.

The White House says Obama is to focus his address to the General Assembly on the Middle East and North Africa, laying out the U.S. approach and policy forward.

He is also expected to call for a peaceful resolution to Iran's nuclear issue through diplomacy. 

On the sidelines of the GA, the U.S. President is to meet with Palestinian, Nigerian and Lebanese leaders.

 

20 feared dead in Nigeria Boko Haram attack

20 people are feared dead in a fresh attack by members of the Boko Haram group in northeast Nigeria.

A top security source in Borno State says gunmen attacked a bullion van belonging to a bank on Friday.

Three policemen and 17 civilians were killed in the attack.

Boko Haram activities have recently been on the increase in Borno.

On Tuesday, state authorities claimed they picked about 87 corpses from nearby bushes and highways after the insurgents attacked the Benisheik area. 

Boko Haram is seeking to enshrine the Islamic sharia law into the constitution and has declared war against the Western education.

 

40 children killed in measles outbreak in Nigeria's Kaduna State

Staying in Nigeria. 

At least 40 children have been killed in a fresh outbreak of measles across the 23 local government areas in the northwest Kaduna State.

Local media say this year alone, the state recorded at least 1,000 cases of the disease resulting in the high number of deaths.

Officials have decided to to carry out a measles immunization program in the state in early October. 

Children between nine months and five years old are particularly susceptible to the disease.

 

Merkel appeals to German citizens for votes on eve of election

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been appealing to voters for votes as latest polls suggest a highly suspenseful election on Sunday although she looks on track to win a third term.

Merkel sent letters to about five million voters on Friday to appeal for their votes.

The polls indicate that Merkel's conservative CDU party and their Bavarian CSU sister party are set to win the largest share of votes, but she may have to find a new coalition partner.

 

22 injured in train crash in Barcelona

22 people have been slightly injured in a train crash in Barcelona, Spain.

Two trains were involved in the crash at one of the main stations of Barcelona.

Local media quoted an official as saying the signaling system was old due to lack of investment.

The accident came after the country suffered the worst train crash in 40 years on July 24 in the north-western region of Galicia which killed 80 people and injured more than 150.

 

NASA announces an end to Deep Impact comet mission

The U.S. space agency NASA has announced an end to the eight-year Deep Impact mission after being unable to communicate with the spacecraft for more than a month.

Deep Impact was most traveled comet research mission in history, going about 7.6 billion kilometers. 

It has retunred some 500,000 images of celestial objects. 

Launched in January 2005, the spacecraft first made worldwide headlines six months later when it released an impactor to collide with comet Tempel 1.

The impact gave scientists their first-ever view of pristine material from inside a comet.