Li Chenggang at a press conference in Madrid, Spain, 15 September 2025. (Keystone/EPA/Fernando Villar)

🇨🇳‘Unhinged’ or savvy? Meet Li Chenggang, who leads China’s trade talks with the US. Beijing’s former ambassador to the World Trade Organization is described by his counterparts as a skilful diplomat in defending his country’s objectives in the multilateral trade arena.

📸The UN blues photographed. Geneva-based photographer Mark Henley captures the United Nations’ main political command post as it grapples with an unprecedented financial – and credibility – crisis.

💵US freezes aid to Somalia over dispute on destroyed WFP warehouse. Last week, the US accused Somali officials of illegally seizing food aid – an allegation denied by the government and the UN food agency. The halt comes amid broader political tensions, including the Trump administration’s crackdown against Somali migrants and unease about a push in the US to recognise breakaway Somaliland.

😷Face masks ‘inadequate’ and should be swapped for respirators, WHO is advised. Experts have urged the UN health agency to update its guidelines about what health workers should wear to protect themselves from airborne infections like Covid and the flu.