UNITED STATES: Celebrated author and activist Gloria Steinem, who became one of the most potent voices of the women’s movement and a fierce advocate for feminist causes throughout her life, has died. She was 92.

She passed awy on Wednesday at her home in New York, according to her foundation’s social media pages.

“Gloria’s greatest gift was her ability to listen to others, to make others feel seen and heard,” the posts said.

HAITI: Mourners attended funerals on Wednesday at a church where gangs recently executed more than 30 people in an attack that shook the troubled country.

The funerals were held for two brothers and three of their cousins at a church in Kenscoff, nestled in the mountains above the capital Port-au-Prince.

On the night of August 23, gangs attacked the once peaceful farming community, killing 47 people and kidnapping more than 50. It was one of the largest mass kidnappings in Haiti in recent years.

SERBIA: The body of former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic, who died last week while serving a life sentence for genocide and other atrocities during the Bosnian war in the 1990s, was flown to Serbia today.

President Aleksandar Vucic said Mr Mladic’s family would announce funeral plans in the coming days. He predicted that the deceased’s admirers would attend in large numbers.

SOMALIA: Renewed fighting erupted today between government forces and militias on the outskirts of the south-western city of Baidoa.

The Defence Ministry said the military had responded to an attack by fighters loyal to former South West state president Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen and al-Qaida-linked extremist group al-Shabab.

Hostilities had stopped by the early afternoon, but there was no official information on casualties or the extent of the fighting.