Former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet on Sept. 19 said via social media she has withdrawn from contention for the next UN secretary-general. The selection process, which began in November, originally included eight candidates. The UN Security Council held a third round of indicative, closed-door voting on Sept. 18; results are not officially recorded or published. Media leaks from the polls indicate Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan, current UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) secret

Since ticket sales opened on Sept. 23 for the Mid‑Autumn and National Day holidays, China Railway’s 12306 platform has used big‑data and risk‑control technology to detect and curb malicious ticket‑grabbing. It targets registered accounts repeatedly buying on behalf of others, payment accounts repeatedly settling non‑owner orders, and terminal‑device spoofing that mimics user operations. Technical measures place suspicious 12306 accounts into a slow queue and refuse ticket issuance for flagged payment accounts; affected users see waiting prompts during booking or purchase‑failure at payment. Since sales began, 12306 has placed 7.117 million transactions into slow queues, refused ticketing for 1.023 million transactions and blocked issuance of 1.331 million tickets.

Sky News reports the UK's largest steelmaker is seeking new government funding support.