1. EU ministers back migrant quota plan

    Deeply divided European Union ministers agreed on September 22 to relocate* 120,000 asylum*-seekers to ease the strain* on Greece and Italy, which are on the front line of the migrant flood.

    But four Eastern European countries — the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary — voted against the plan, and it’s unclear if they will even implement* it.

    2. Detained man is Bangkok bomber

    Thai police said on Saturday a foreign man detained* over last month’s deadly Bangkok attack was the main yellow-shirted suspect seen on CCTV leaving a rucksack* at a shrine* moments before the blast.

    Authorities said they were now “convinced” their first arrest, a man named as Adem Karadag, planted the bomb on August 17, which killed 20 people after weeks of an often confusing and contradictory police investigation. National police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri said further probing had revealed Karadag, whose nationality remains unconfirmed, was the bomber.

    3. Yemen president returns after exile

    Yemen’s President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi arrived in the southern port city of Aden on September 22 following nearly six months of exile in Saudi Arabia, airport officials and a statement from his office said.

    Hadi, who arrived in Aden under tight security, fled Yemen by sea in March as Shiite Houthi rebels and their allies moved on his last refuge in the south. Hours later, a Saudi-led coalition began launching airstrikes* aimed at pushing back the Houthis. The Houthis captured the country’s capital, Sanaa, last September and it remains in their control.

    4. Man builds ‘dog train’ for stray dogs

    Eugene Bostick, a retired Union Pacific railroad employee living on a farm in Fort Worth, Texas, the United States, with his wife and brother, has built a unique train to transport stray dogs* he has rescued over the years.

    The cars in Bostick’s makeshift* locomotive* are made of blue 55-gallon fiberglass* barrels mounted* on wheels and hooked up* to a John Deer riding lawnmower*.

    At least once a week, Bostick takes his pups down to a local watering hole, around some quiet streets or into the woods so they can experience the world.

    5. US Speaker of the House to step down

    U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, 65, who struggled with repeated rebellions* by conservatives during a five-year reign as the chamber’s top Republican, will step down from the speakership and leave the post at the end of October.

    U.S. Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the No. 2 House Republican, quickly became the leading contender to replace him.

    Boehner’s decision eased the threat of a government shutdown next week.

    6. Chinese-American launches Congress bid

    “I am not testing the water. I am fighting with full strength to win,” said Lindy Li, a 24-year-old Chinese-American in the northeastern U.S. state of Pennsylvania who is running for the U.S. Congress.

    Lindy, who was born in Sichuan Province in Southwest China and moved to the United States when she was 5, came to Los Angeles on Saturday from Pennsylvania to gain support for her bid for the U.S. Congress, the youngest woman who has ever done so in U.S. history.

    Li said she will knock on 700,000 doors together with her supporters to win the U.S. Congress election in 2016.(SD-Agencies)