The annual gathering of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is taking place this week in the Chinese port city of Tianjin. There are 10 member states in the Beijing backed SCO - including China itself, Russia and India, Pakistan and Iran - and 16 dialogue partners and observers, including some, like Armenia and Azerbaijan, who aspire to be full members. Leaders of the 26 countries have been arriving in Tianjin for the summit. The summit itself is largely symbolic but will allow leaders to air common grievances and shared interests. The organisation was created by China, Russia and four Central Asian countries in 2001 as a countermeasure to limit the influence of Western alliances such as NATO. This year's gathering is the largest since the organisation was founded. For Tianjin, the summit has become a major event with banners and billboards promoting it throughout the northern port city.

The former speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, Andriy Parubiy, has been shot dead in the Ukrainian western city of Lviv. Police received reports of the shooting in the Frankivsk district of Lviv, western Ukraine, at around midday local time on Saturday. Unconfirmed reports suggest he was shot multiple times by a gunman dressed as a courier on an e-bike. Parubiy, 54, rose to prominence during Ukraine's Euromaidan movement, which advocated for closer ties with the EU and brought down pro-Russian former President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described it as a "terrible murder" and offered his condolences. Parubiy was a pivotal figure in the Euromaidan movement, which began after the Ukrainian government refused to sign an association agreement with the EU in late 2013. He later became secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, during a period when pro-Russian separatists began fighting in eastern Ukraine - and when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the annexation of the Crimea peninsula. Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Parubiy joined Ukraine's territorial defence. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described Parubiy as "a patriot and statesman who made an enormous contribution to the defence of Ukraine's freedom, independence and sovereignty". Sybiha added: "He was a man who rightfully belongs in the history books." Former President Petro Poroshenko said the killing of Parubiy was "a shot fired at the heart of Ukraine".

On Friday afternoon (29 August), the United Nations Security Council held an emergency open briefing on Ukraine   The meeting was requested by Ukraine in a letter it sent on Thursday (28 August) following large-scale Russian aerial attacks conducted overnight on Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine. Council members Denmark, France, Greece, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Slovenia, and the UK supported the meeting request. Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas Miroslav Jenča briefed the Council at the start of the two-hour meeting. Among the participants and speakers was the Ukrainian prime minister, Yulia Svyrydenko. Addressing the session, the Head of the EU Delegation to the UN, Ambassador Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis, said that the EU objective remains clear: the EU supports an immediate, full and unconditional ceasefire. We also welcome the efforts by the US to seek an end to Russia’s war of aggression and to stop the killing. As EU, we contribute to these efforts in order to achieve a just and lasting peace and long-term security for Ukraine and our continent. I urge all members of this Council to use their influence and maximize pressure on Russia to accept an immediate ceasefire and work towards a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.” He said that the EU will remain united in providing political, financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine, as it exercises its inherent right of self-defence. We will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine and in defence of the UN Charter and international law. I respectfully submit that this Council, without any wavering or any hesitation, do the same, at a time when Russia intensifies its killings and continues to pursue its illegal objectives, instead of peace.”

Women displaced by ethnic violence in Tambura, Western Equatoria, continue to live under a cloud of uncertainty, reports Africa News. Since conflict erupted there in 2021 between rival community-based armed groups, thousands of civilians, particularly mothers and widows, have been forced into makeshift camps, where basic safety, access to food and services, and hope for the future remain elusive.

Today (29 August) has been declared a day of mourning in Kyiv after Russia’s drone and missile attack the night before killed at least 23 people, including 4 children. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sharply condemned the strikes, declaring them a sign of Moscow’s rejection of diplomacy and a direct assault on the fragile efforts toward peace. President Donald Trump said he is “not happy but not surprised” with the attack. In contrast, European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Russia would "stop at nothing to terrorise Ukraine".

The Latin and Greek Orthodox Patriarchs of Jerusalem released a joint appeal for peace in Gaza on Tuesday, August 26, after their visit to the territory, saying there is no reason to justify “the deliberate and forcible mass displacement of civilians.” On Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV joined his voice to theirs : “Today I renew a strong appeal both to the parties involved and to the international community, that an end be put to the conflict in the Holy Land, which has caused so much terror, destruction, and death,” said the Pope. He also called for the safe entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and the protection of civilians. “I appeal for all hostages to be freed, a permanent ceasefire to be reached, the safe entry of humanitarian aid to be facilitated, and humanitarian law to be fully respected—especially the obligation to protect civilians and the prohibitions against collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations,” he added. After the Israeli government announced its security cabinet approved a plan to take control of Gaza City, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem have issued a joint statement, with the first line taken from Proverbs 12:28: “In the path of righteousness there is life, and in its pathway there is no death.”