Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab made history at the Venice Film Festival, continuing the rise of Palestinian cinema on the world stage, writes William Mullally, Arts & Culture Editor of the UAE newspaper, The National. The Oscar-nominated Tunisian director's latest effort received a record-setting 24-minute standing ovation on Wednesday (3 September), before winning the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize on Saturday (8 September). The film, which The National's review said “will break you”, reconstructs the death of five-year-old Palestinian Hind Rajab, who was killed in Gaza city last January alongside four cousins, her aunt and uncle, and two paramedics who attempted to rescue her after the family's car came under fire from Israeli forces. Hind was trapped for hours in the vehicle while on the phone with the Palestinian Red Cross. When paramedics finally reached her, both she and the rescuers were dead. Reports later concluded an Israeli tank had likely fired more than 300 bullets into the vehicle. Hind's voice recording from the call is used in the film. Shooting the project over three weeks in Tunisia last November with Palestinian performers, Ben Hania first went to Hind's mother to seek permission to use the voice recording rather than dramatise it, she tells The National. “Hind’s mother told me something about the voice of her daughter: 'It should be heard, and not be forgotten,'” she recalls. While critics have questioned the ethics of using the girl’s plight for dramatic purposes, with Variety accusing Ben Hania of “tear-jerker tactics”, the filmmaker makes no apologies for using Hind’s own voice, rather than that of an actress. “The voice of this little girl can make people uncomfortable. I can totally understand it, and that’s why I’m doing this movie. I’m not doing this movie to make people comfortable because Gazans are not having a comfortable life,” she says. The movie has garnered international attention to a level that few productions reach, with major Hollywood figures getting behind the project to amplify its message.   Both Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara, who signed on to the film as producers after the fact to help boost its reach, along with several other major names, walked the red carpet with the filmmaking team, holding up a photo of Hind as cameras flashed. As Ben Hania said in her acceptance speech on Saturday: “We all believe in the force of cinema. It is what gathers us here tonight, and what gives us the courage to tell stories that might otherwise be buried.” The film is not the only Palestinian effort to garner international attention of late, as Israel's aggression in Gaza continues to turn the eyes of the world to Palestinian stories. this week, as 1,300 major names in the film community worldwide, including Mark Ruffalo, Olivia Colman and Josh O'Connor, are making permanent pledges to boycott working with Israeli film institutions that are “complicit in genocide”. Palestinian cinema has reached one major milestone after another, and as support grows, that streak should continue long into the future.

Legislators toppled France’s government in a confidence vote on Monday 8 September, a new crisis for Europe’s second-largest economy that obliges President Emmanuel Macron to search for a fourth prime minister in 12 months. Prime Minister Francois Bayrou was ousted overwhelmingly in a 364-194 vote against him. Bayrou paid the price for what appeared to be a staggering political miscalculation, gambling that lawmakers would back his view that France must slash public spending to rein in its debts. Instead, they seized on the vote that Bayrou called to gang up against the 74-year-old centrist who was appointed by Macron last December.

Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital on Sunday morning (7 September)  hitting the building of the Cabinet of Ministers. There are a number of civilian casualties Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenco has officially confirmed that the Cabinet building in Kyiv was damaged in the Russian attack early this morning - the first time the building has been hit. The BBC, citing the Ukrainian air force, said that a record number of drones and missiles were launched by Russia in the latest nightly attack. Ukraine's air force says Russia launched 805 drones and 13 missiles in its overnight attack. Of those, 751 were shot down, the air force says. Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenco wrote on social media: "The enemy terrorizes our people across the country every day"  The BBC says it is very rare for Russian missiles and drones to hit right in the city centre like this, because of the concentration of air defence in the area. This time, it seems they were overwhelmed.

Next year’s parliamentary elections in Armenia will not focus on the economy or other domestic issues, but rather on the country’s place in the surrounding region and relations with its neighbours. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, down but not out following military defeat and political upheaval, has staked his future on reaching what would prove to be a historic peace agreement with Azerbaijan. But with public trust at an all-time low, disillusionment among the electorate could make this the most unpredictable vote since independence was declared in 1991. Armenia will hold parliamentary elections on 7 June 2026, its first regularly scheduled national vote since April 2017. In this analysis for commonspace.eu, Onnik James Krikorian argues that "ten months before the vote, the outcome still remains difficult to predict. Though it still seems most likely that the incumbent will win, a great deal will also be determined during the official campaign period itself, and new developments on the ground. If peace with Azerbaijan is finally within reach, and there are signs that this is the case, it will be difficult for voters to reject stability instead of insecurity and the further risk of war. Ultimately, the 2026 election will determine not just who governs Armenia, but whether the country can finally emerge from decades of conflict and semi-regional isolation, or if it is destined to remain trapped by it." He adds, "that might prove enough to sway even reluctant support for Pashinian at the ballot box. The opposition has still yet to offer any viable alternative – or even one at all."

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, held on August 31–September 1, 2025, in Tianjin, China, brought together leaders of the 10 member states, as well as representatives from over 20 countries and 10 international organisations. The summit resulted in the adoption of the Tianjin Declaration and the SCO Development Strategy until 2035, outlining key directions for cooperation and security. Armenia officially announced its intention to join the SCO on July 3, 2025, emphasising its commitment to the organisation’s core principles, territorial integrity, non-use of force, and inviolability of borders. Azerbaijan submitted its application later, in August. Currently, the process of admitting Armenia and Azerbaijan to the SCO is in the preliminary co-ordination stage, involving the attainment of partner status with the prospect of transitioning to full membership in the future.

A massive military parade in Beijing, a tough speech by leader Xi Jinping, and an audience led by the leaders of like minded countries, including Russia, Iran and North Korea, was how China on Wednesday, 3 September, marked the 80th anniversary of its victory over Japan in WWII. President Xi welcomed North Korea’s Kim Jong Un with a long handshake, then moved on to greet Russia’s Vladimir Putin before all three walked together to watch the parade. This event was not just a display of troops and weapons  but also of friends and allies. This was the first time all three leaders have been seen in public together. The parade was a choreographed spectacle of precision, power and patriotism.  The choir stood in perfectly even rows, the troops goose stepped past in unison and each strike of the ground echoed through the stands of 50,000 guests in Tiananmen Square.  In his address, Xi called on Chinese people to remember the victory in WWII.  He added "humanity rises and falls together" and that China is "never intimidated by bullies."