World News Roundup: Students rally as Iran protests enter third week; Somaliland lawmakers vote to extend president's term by two years and more

The protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old from Iranian Kurdistan, have spiralled into the biggest show of opposition to Iran's clerical authorities since 2019, with dozens of people killed in unrest across the country. Florida, Carolinas count the cost of Hurricane Ian Florida, North and South Carolina faced a massive clean-up on Saturday from the destruction wrought by Hurricane Ian, after one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the U.S. mainland caused tens of billions of dollars in damage and killed more than 20 people.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Somaliland lawmakers vote to extend president's term by two years

Lawmakers in Somalia's breakaway region of Somaliland have extended President Muse Bihi Abdi's current term of office by two years ahead of its expiry in November, the senate chairman said on Saturday. The region's electoral body said last month it had postponed a presidential election due in November to 2023 because of time and financial constraints, among other reasons.

Students rally as Iran protests enter third week

Students rallied at universities across Iran on Saturday and strikes were reported throughout the country's Kurdish region, as demonstrations ignited by the death of a woman in police custody entered their third week. The protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old from Iranian Kurdistan, have spiralled into the biggest show of opposition to Iran's clerical authorities since 2019, with dozens of people killed in unrest across the country.

Florida, Carolinas count the cost of Hurricane Ian

Florida, North and South Carolina faced a massive clean-up on Saturday from the destruction wrought by Hurricane Ian, after one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the U.S. mainland caused tens of billions of dollars in damage and killed more than 20 people. New images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed that several beach cottages and a motel building that lined the shores of Florida's Sanibel Island were wiped away by Ian’s storm surge. Even though most homes were still standing, they appeared to have roof damage, the images showed.

Deep underground, Mexican coal miners remember those who never came back

Each time Juan Briones descends deep into the ground of northern Mexico to dig for coal he knows he must balance earning a living and avoiding death. In August, his brother-in-law was one of 10 miners trapped in the nearby coal mine of El Pinabete as water broke through a shaft wall and flooded the tunnels the men were working in. Nearly two months later, their bodies have still not been recovered.

Flag raisings and burnings in Taiwan as some mark China's national day

Two small Taiwanese groups at far ends of the debate over relations with Beijing marked China's national day on Saturday with flag raisings and flag burnings, very opposite responses at a time of rising tension over the Taiwan Strait. Oct. 1 marks when Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China in 1949, with the defeated Republic of China government fleeing to Taiwan at the end of that year and where it remains to this day, neither recognising the other.

Superyacht linked to sanctioned Russian on sale for 29.5 million euros

A U.S.-based luxury yacht broker is advertising for sale a 168-foot (51-metre) superyacht linked to sanctioned Russian billionaire Igor Kesaev for 29.5 million euros (roughly $29 million), according to an email seen by Reuters. The proposed sale of the MySky yacht, which was disclosed in an advertisement emailed from the brokerage firm to undisclosed recipients on Sept. 14, comes amid concerns from Western governments and campaigners that billionaires like Kesaev have been able to work around a patchwork of international sanctions targeting their luxury assets such as yachts.

Defiant Putin proclaims Ukrainian annexation as military setback looms

A defiant Vladimir Putin proclaimed Russia's annexation of a swathe of Ukraine in a pomp-filled Kremlin ceremony, promising Moscow would triumph in its "special military operation" even as he faced a potentially serious new military reversal. The proclamation of Russian rule over 15% of Ukraine - the biggest annexation in Europe since World War Two - was roundly rejected by Ukraine and Western countries as illegal. The United States, Britain and Canada announced new sanctions.

N.Korea fires fourth missile in a week as South flexes military muscle

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea off its east coast on Saturday, hours before South Korea staged a large military show, displaying stealth fighters and its own missiles. Pyongyang's fourth launch in a week comes amid a flurry of military muscle-flexing by countries in the region, including joint anti-submarine exercises on Friday by the navies of South Korea, the United States and Japan.

Iraqis gather in Baghdad to mark anniversary of 2019 anti-government protest

Hundreds of Iraqis gathered in Baghdad's central Tahrir square on Saturday to mark the anniversary of anti-government unrest that erupted in 2019, amid tight security and prolonged political deadlock in the country. With concerns about the risk of street violence, security personnel deployed checkpoints across the city, closed off bridges and squares and erected walls across some of the bridges leading to the fortified Green Zone that houses government headquarters and foreign embassies.

Protests in Havana flare up for second night as blackouts persist

Cubans protested in the streets of Havana for a second night late on Friday over continued blackouts across several neighborhoods, in some of the largest single rallies in the city since widespread anti-government demonstrations last July. At least one of the protests in the western neighborhood of Playa swelled in size to several hundred people who chanted "turn on the lights," as well as anti-government slogans disparaging President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

(With inputs from agencies.)