While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Sept 5, 2026

UN adopts new world map showing true scale of continents; only US votes against itThe United Nations General Assembly voted on Sept 4 for a resolution spearheaded by several African countries to adopt a map that makes their continent bigger while shrinking North America and Europe - aiming at “a more accurate representation” of world geography.The resolution was backed by 164 countries while the United States voted against it and six other states abstained.The new map - known as the Equal Earth cartographic projection - “offers a more accurate representation of the sizes of continental landmasses and to this end is a relevant option for improving the accuracy of the cartographic representation of the world,” the resolution says.It urges member states to adopt the new map in place of the traditional Mercator projection, which was designed for maritime navigation by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569.READ MORE HEREUS midterm elections begin with chaos over mail-in voting crackdownPHOTO: BLOOMBERGAmerica’s midterm elections opened on Sept 4 in a fog of confusion over mail-in voting, with ballots already going out as President Donald Trump presses courts to let him impose sweeping new restrictions on how they are handled.North Carolina became the first state authorised to begin sending out ballots, formally launching an election season that culminates on Nov 3 and will determine control of Congress for the final two years of Trump’s term.Yet voters and election officials still do not know what rules may govern millions of mail-in ballots, as Trump asks the Supreme Court to revive curbs blocked by a federal judge and as states scramble to prepare for changes that could come after voting has begun.READ MORE HERETrump says envoys Witkoff, Kushner heading abroad to discuss Ukraine peacePHOTO: REUTERSUS Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, are heading abroad to attempt to forge a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, the US president told reporters on Sept 4.During comments in the Oval Office, Trump suggested the US had a fresh concrete proposal aimed at ending the war, which is now in its fifth year.He did not, however, elaborate on what that proposal would be, nor did he say if Witkoff and Kushner would be travelling to Ukraine, Russia or both nations.READ MORE HEREEU to help cities clamp down on tourist rentalsPHOTO: REUTERSThe EU is set to lay out rules helping European cities to curb short-term rentals such as Airbnb in a bid to tackle rising house prices, according to plans seen by AFP on Sept 4.The European Commission is expected to unveil next week a legal proposal setting out the conditions under which authorities can restrict the provision of short-term tourist lets.Such rentals have increasingly come into the crosshairs of local authorities in tourist hotspots such as Florence and Barcelona, as residents complain about being priced out by visitors.READ MORE HEREAir India A320 issued stall warning when seatbelt signs off, injuring 24, investigators say PHOTO: REUTERSAn Air India A320 flying from Phuket to New Delhi in August issued a stall warning when seatbelt signs were off, while a rapid pitch up and then down threw passengers and cabin crew against overhead bins and injured 24 people, Indian investigators said.The Airbus plane, cruising at 36,000ft, initially ascended 372 feet (113m) and then fell to 292 feet (89m) below it, according to a preliminary report released on Sept 4.The two-second stall warning came after the flight control system detected the loss of all three of the aircraft’s hydraulic systems within four seconds, disengaging the autopilot and setting off a continuous cockpit alarm.READ MORE HERE