Catalan leader Artur Mas kicked off campaigning for a regional election billed as an indirect poll on independence from Spain by urging voters to determine their "political future".
Billionaire Donald Trump has extended his lead over the Republican presidential field, while Democratic overall frontrunner Hillary Clinton now trails underdog Bernie Sanders in the key early voting state of Iowa.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought Britain's cooperation to "turn back the tide of militant Islam" as he met Prime Minister David Cameron in London.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk criticised as "anti-Ukrainian and anti-European" a deal between Russia's energy giant Gazprom and several Western firms to build a second gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea.
Chancellor Angela Merkel won a hero's welcome as she visited a Berlin migrant centre, with Syrians cheering and taking selfies as Germany threw open its doors to thousands of refugees.
Karaganda native Olga Veldyaksova has successfully passed the first stage of the Russian Voice singing contest, Russian version of world renowned The Voice.
Around 450,000 refugees have arrived in Germany so far this year, including 37,000 in the first eight days of September, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel told parliament.
The lawyer for a Pakistani doctor who was jailed after helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden accused the government of deliberately delaying his appeal after the case was adjourned for the sixteenth time.
Tens of thousands of people were ordered to flee homes across Japan as heavy rain pounded the country, sending radiation-tainted waters into the ocean at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.
The comic book giant Marvel has added a Native American and a Korean-American teenager to its list of superheroes, pushing forth with its bid to diversify and smash racial boundaries.
Hundreds of migrants broke through police lines in Hungary near the Serbian border for a third day running, as the army began mobilising for a possible role in guarding the frontier.
Another fast-food job wouldn't seem like a great change, so Marisol was one of thousands around the country who lined up for an opening at a Chipotle restaurant.