UNITED STATES: Black trade union legend William “Bill” Lucy passed away at his home in the capital Washington on Wednesday, aged 90.

Mr Lucy was one of the organisers of the landmark 1968 Memphis sanitation workers’ strike. He went on to become the founding president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists in 1972 and was a long-serving secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.  

PAKISTAN: Security forces killed eight militants in an overnight raid in a former Pakistani Taliban stronghold in the volatile north-west bordering Afghanistan, the military said today.

Troops also seized weapons and ammunition from the insurgents’ hideout in North Waziristan, a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: The Tanzania-based East African Court of Justice opened proceedings today in a case filed by Congo against neighbouring Rwanda, accusing it of violating the former’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by sending troops to help rebels in the country’s east.

Congo alleges that Rwandan forces have been involved in aggression and war crimes in the east. In July, United Nations experts estimated that between 3,000 and 4,000 Rwanda government forces were deployed in eastern Congo.

UNITED STATES: Strikes planned by dockworkers across 36 east coast and Gulf of Mexico ports from October 1 are expected to hit the flow of goods between the US, the European Union and Britain. 

The International Longshoremen’s Association is demanding sizeable wage increases for its members as well as protection from job losses through automation. The union says its strike will involve up to 45,000 dockworkers and affect some 60 per cent of all US shipping.