• Russia blocked an extension of the mandate of a U.N. panel investigating chemical weapons attacks in Syria. [The New York Times]

• Kenya’s Supreme Court agreed to hear a last-minute petition that may delay the rerun of the country’s presidential election scheduled for Thursday. [The New York Times]

• Alternative for Germany, the first far-right party to sit in the country’s legislature in decades, began its tenure by challenging the Parliament’s tradition of consensus. [The New York Times]

• Ksenia Sobchak, a Russian socialite, opened her presidential campaign by saying that she wanted to eradicate corruption, but she declined to elaborate on fund-raising, saying only that she has deep-pocketed financial backers. [The New York Times]

• The fallout from Harvey Weinstein’s decline after allegations of sexual harassment surfaced has also put the spotlight on Fabrizio Lombardo, an associate of the movie producer in Italy. [The New York Times]

• Albert Einstein’s handwritten theory of happiness sold for $1.3 million at an auction in Jerusalem. [Associated Press]