Trump tells the UN Iran can have a deal after the US midterms or be annihilated, as his envoys talk to Iran through mediators

The rest of the day

39 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

1. 02

   UN chief gives his last opening speech

   Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, opened the General Assembly on Tuesday for the last time; his second five-year term ends on 31 December. [13] He said the world's crises come down to power, and warned against a split into two rival blocs with separate economies, technology and armies. [13] He told the biggest powers that their power 'isn't so super'. [2] He asked that life-and-death decisions never be handed to machines. [13]

   Why it matters — His critics say he spent more effort on climate and AI than on stopping wars, the UN's core job. [15] The Security Council is choosing his successor, and after three rounds of voting among eight candidates no favourite has emerged. [13]

2. 03

   Zelensky asks Trump for an energy truce

   Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky met Trump for 40 minutes in New York and said they discussed a ceasefire on strikes against energy sites and how to end the war. [18] He said Ukraine was ready for any form of energy truce, and that nobody asked Ukraine to stop hitting Russian refineries on its own. [18] He said intelligence showed Russia preparing a new massive attack, and that easing sanctions on Russia could not be discussed under that threat. [17]

   Why it matters — Russia has been hitting Ukraine's power grid and Ukraine has been hitting Russia's refineries, which has caused diesel shortages well beyond both countries. [16]

3. 04

   Drones hit a refinery in Samara

   Ukraine's special forces said drones struck the Kuibyshev oil refinery in Samara, a Russian city more than 1,000km southeast of Moscow, and started a large fire. [16][19] The regional governor said one person was killed and four wounded. [19] Russia's attack on Ukraine the same night used anti-ship, ballistic and cruise missiles and more than 200 drones, and killed four people in the city of Dnipro. [16]

   Why it matters — A Carnegie Europe report said attacks last month cut both countries' farm exports by two-thirds. [16] They have supplied about 30% of the world's wheat, and the report warns that several African countries are at risk of famine. [16]

4. 05

   Saudi king calls the Houthis terrorists

   Saudi Arabia's King Salman, who is 90 and rarely speaks on current affairs, called Yemen's Houthi movement a 'terrorist militia' at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. [20] He accused the Iran-allied group of repeatedly targeting Mecca, Islam's holiest city. [20] Last week Saudi Arabia said it shot down a Houthi drone heading there, and the Houthis called that a lie. [20] It was the first security alert in Mecca in nearly ten years. [20]

   Why it matters — The Houthis now hold Yemen's whole Red Sea coast, which Saudi Arabia had been using to ship oil around the closed Strait of Hormuz. [20] Last month Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed a pact treating an attack on one as an attack on all three. [20]

5. 06

   Saudi-led strikes kill six in Mokha

   Air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition on Mokha, a Red Sea port in Yemen, killed six civilians including two children, a Houthi news agency said on Tuesday. [21] The Houthis took Mokha in a fast offensive this month. [21] Yemen's war began in 2014 and had been mostly frozen from 2022 until it restarted in July. [21] The G7, a group of seven rich democracies, told the Houthis to stop firing and told Iran to stop arming them. [21]

   Why it matters — Britain and France have promised Saudi Arabia defensive help, but the US has turned down Saudi requests to rejoin the fight. [21][22] The New York Times reported that Trump called off strikes on the Houthis at the last minute on Sunday. [22]

6. 07

   US, Denmark and Greenland sign the Arctic deal

   Trump signed a security agreement with the leaders of Denmark and Greenland at the UN on Tuesday. [5][2] Greenland is a self-governing island that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. [23] The deal reaffirms its sovereignty but gives the US broad access to its airspace and land, including two new bases at Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig. [2][23] Greenland's prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said it was 'an agreement with us', not only about Greenland. [5]

   Why it matters — It closes a crisis inside NATO that began in January, when Trump would not rule out taking the island by force. [23] It is the first big increase in US military sites there since the Cold War. [23]

7. 08

   US holds back Sudan leader's UN visa

   The United States is holding back a visa for General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of Sudan's army and its de facto leader, days before he is due to speak at the UN on Thursday. [24] A Sudanese diplomat and a Western analyst told Reuters the visa seems to depend on him signing a 90-day ceasefire proposed by US envoy Massad Boulos. [24] Sudan's UN ambassador asked Guterres to step in, and the UN says it has raised it with US officials. [24]

   Why it matters — Under its deal to host the UN, the US is not supposed to refuse visas. [24] Burhan wrote this week that ceasefires in Sudan's war have failed because they were written about Sudan without Sudan. [24]

8. 09

   Sudan's pound loses most of its value

   Sudan's pound traded at about 7,500 to the dollar on the black market on Tuesday, against 4,100 in May and about 600 before the war began in 2023. [25] Sudan's central bank no longer updates the official rate. [25] In Omdurman, next to the capital Khartoum, a litre of cooking oil rose from 17,000 to 23,000 pounds in a week. [25] About 5 million of the 14 million people driven out by the war have come home, mostly to areas the army retook, and that has pushed prices up too. [25]

   Before the war600

   May this year4,100

   Tuesday, black market7,500

   Why it matters — Much of Sudan's gold, livestock and farm exports come from areas held by the Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary group fighting the army, so the army's side earns few dollars. [25] Officials reported 70 tonnes of gold mined last year, and only 14.7 tonnes exported. [25]

9. 10

   Jordan and Turkey call Israel a threat

   Jordan's King Abdullah told the assembly that Israel's military activity in southern Syria risks threatening Jordan directly, and called the Israeli government's 'expansionist appetite' a regional threat. [1] Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Gaza 'the most inhumane and shameful concentration camp of our time'. [1][26] Israel's delegation left the hall during his speech. [1] Qatar's emir said Israeli leaders were openly calling for Gaza's people to be moved out. [27]

   Why it matters — Jordan, Turkey and Qatar all work closely with the US, and they spoke on the same day that Trump mentioned Israel only once in his own speech. [1] Israel's prime minister speaks on Thursday. [9]

10. 11

    Lula says Brazil is nobody's backyard

    Brazil's president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, speaking just before Trump, said the UN's credibility has never been lower. [28] He warned of foreign interference in Brazil's election in October, where he seeks a fourth term against Senator Flavio Bolsonaro. [28] Flavio's father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence at home for an attempted coup, and the Trump administration has publicly backed the Bolsonaro camp. [28] 'Brazil is nobody's backyard,' Lula said. [28][29]

    Why it matters — Trump recently named two Brazilian gangs as terrorist organisations, and some Brazilian analysts and politicians say the aim is to paint Lula as soft on crime before the vote. [28]

11. 12

    Trump tells countries to quit the war crimes court

    Trump called the International Criminal Court, which tries war crimes and genocide, a 'rogue institution' and told every member country to resign from it immediately. [5] The US has never been a member, but many of its allies are. [5] His government has already sanctioned court officials over arrest warrants for Israel's prime minister and over a past inquiry into US troops in Afghanistan. [1] Reuters reported on Monday that sanctions on the whole court are ready. [1]

    Why it matters — Many of the court's members are close US allies, and they now have to decide whether to stay in a court the US government is working to undermine. [5]

12. 13

    Fourteen countries pledge sanctions on cartels

    Trump met leaders and ministers from 14 Latin American and Caribbean countries in the Shield of the Americas, an anti-cartel group his government launched in March. [29] He asked them to join the US in naming 24 drug gangs as threats and sanctioning them, and they later promised steps toward that. [29] Brazil and Mexico are not members. [29] Chile's president Jose Antonio Kast said his country's murder rate fell 11.5% in six months. [27]

    Why it matters — US strikes on boats it says carry drugs have killed more than 220 people since last autumn, and rights groups call them killings without trial. [29]

13. 14

    Trump meets Venezuela's interim leader

    Trump met Delcy Rodriguez, who has run Venezuela since US forces seized Nicolas Maduro in January, at a reception during the assembly. [30][11] It was her first trip to the US since taking office. [30] Trump told the assembly 'to the victor belong the spoils' about the oil deal his government signed with Venezuela last month. [30] He also claimed the two countries hold more than 60% of the world's oil; AP's fact-check puts it at about 22%. [8]

    Share of world oil Trump said the US and Venezuela hold60%

    Share AP's fact-check found22%

    Why it matters — More than 50 Venezuelans protested outside the UN, asking for elections, which critics say the US has stopped pressing for in exchange for oil deals. [30]

14. 15

    Cuba's delegation walks out on Trump

    Cuba's diplomats left the assembly hall when Trump called the island 'an absolutely failed state' that 'will fall'. [5][27] He said Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is Cuban American, is deep in negotiations with Cuba's leaders. [29] Cuba's foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez called the speech falsehoods, and said the US blockade, including on energy, is collective punishment. [27]

    Why it matters — The US has not said what change it wants in Cuba. [12] The same speech held up the capture of Venezuela's leader as proof of what US military power will do in the region. [5]

15. 16

    Macron's last UN speech attacks empires

    France's president Emmanuel Macron, in his last UN speech as president, urged countries to stand firm against abuse of power by empires he did not name. [31] He called for a pause on attacks on energy sites and civilians in the Russia-Ukraine war, and on ships in the Black Sea. [31] He said Gaza is 'a spectacle that shames us all', because the ceasefire has not opened up aid deliveries. [31]

    Why it matters — He also proposed an open-source model for advanced AI, independent of China and the US, hours after Trump rejected global rules for AI. [31] France elects his successor in 2027. [35]

16. 17

    AI companies to brief the Security Council

    Trump told the assembly that US government documents will now call artificial intelligence 'super intelligence', because the word 'artificial' makes it sound fake. [14] He said the US will encourage it, not rein it in. [5] On Wednesday the Security Council meets on AI and security, and China's DeepSeek is among the companies invited to brief it, two sources told Reuters. [32] OpenAI's Sam Altman plans to speak, and senior people from Anthropic are expected. [32]

    Why it matters — Guterres asked for life-and-death decisions never to be left to machines, and Trump turned down new limits in the same session. [13][5]

17. 18

    NATO commander warns Putin is taking more risks

    A senior NATO commander, deputy supreme allied commander Stringer, told AP that Russia's president Vladimir Putin is becoming more careless and open to risk. [33] Russian sabotage, arson and influence incidents in Europe rose from 59 in March 2025 to more than 210, AP's tracking map shows. [33] Estonia's prime minister Kristen Michal said a regular Russian attack on Europe is still improbable. [33]

    Why it matters — Poland's prime minister has said Russia might hit NATO countries on purpose and call it an accident. [33] Many saboteurs are hired online without knowing who they work for, which makes blame hard to prove. [33]

18. 19

    US diesel hits a record $6.53

    Diesel cost $6.53 a gallon in the US on Tuesday, up more than 70% since the US and Israel first struck Iran in February, the motoring group AAA said. [34] A growing number of Republican lawmakers from farm states want Trump to ban diesel exports. [34] Iowa senator Chuck Grassley said high prices were killing farmers' income. [34] A White House official said a ban was not on the table 'at this time'. [34]

    Why it matters — Europe relies heavily on American fuel, so a US export ban would push prices up there too, where protests over fuel costs have already begun. [34]

19. 20

    France asks the EU to delay a methane rule

    Macron asked the European Commission to delay by a year new rules, due on 1 January, that make oil and gas sellers to the EU measure and check methane leaks. [35] Methane is the second-biggest cause of global warming after carbon dioxide. [35] More than a dozen EU members, including Germany, had already asked for a delay. [35] He also wants fuel quality rules loosened for now, which French refiners say could raise their output by 5% to 20%. [35]

    Why it matters — EU governments agreed these rules themselves in 2023, and some now want them rolled back because the Iran war has made fuel scarce. [35]

20. 21

    Japan asks the UN to drop 'enemy state'

    Japan's prime minister Sanae Takaichi used her first UN speech to ask that the words 'enemy states' be removed from the UN's founding charter. [36] Clauses written after the Second World War still describe Japan and Germany that way, though all members voted in 2005 to remove them. [36] A complicated amendment process has kept them in. [36] China has recently used the wording to criticise Japan after their ties broke down over Taiwan. [36]

    Why it matters — A label written about a war that ended 81 years ago is being used against Japan today, and the process to change it has not worked in 21 years. [36]

21. 22

    Netanyahu goes to the UN without a Trump meeting

    Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the UN on Thursday, little more than a month before an election in which polls show his side short of the 61 seats needed to govern. [37] Trump is not expected to meet him, and will be in Washington that day for talks with China's Xi Jinping. [9] On Tuesday Netanyahu released a video attacking New York's mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has accused him of genocide and threatened to arrest him. [37]

    Why it matters — Netanyahu has boasted of his close ties with Trump, and a meeting could have helped him with voters. AP reports their relationship appears to be getting worse as the Iran war drags on. [9]

22. 23

    Israel moves to bar an Arab party leader

    Israel's attorney general Gali Baharav-Miara said there appeared to be enough evidence to consider barring Sami Abu Shehadeh, leader of the Arab party Balad, from the coming election. [38] The case rests on an article he wrote the day after the 7 October 2023 attack; he denies supporting violence. [38] A Channel 12 poll on Tuesday gave Gadi Eisenkot's opposition bloc 54 seats and Netanyahu's coalition 50, with the Arab parties on 12. [39]

    Eisenkot's opposition bloc54

    Netanyahu's coalition50

    Arab parties12

    Why it matters — Eisenkot backed the bid to bar Abu Shehadeh, though the same poll shows his side cannot form a government without the Arab parties. [38][39]

23. 24

    33 miners die in a Nigerian cell

    Thirty-three detained miners died in a crowded, airless cell run by Nigeria's Security and Civil Defence Corps in Minna, a city in Niger state, last week. [40] Survivors told the BBC and Reuters they begged guards for water and were ignored as people died one after another. [40] The men were small-scale miners arrested in a crackdown on unlicensed mining. [40] Twenty-four of the agency's officers, including its suspended state commander, are in custody, and a committee has two weeks to find who was responsible. [40]

    Why it matters — The agency has still not said how many people it was holding or who they were, so the survivors' accounts are most of what is known. [40]

24. 25

    South Sudan changes its election law

    South Sudan's president Salva Kiir signed changes to the election law that drop the need for a permanent constitution and a census before the vote. [41] The election is set for 22 December and would be the first since independence in 2011. [41] The main opposition coalition rejected the changes. [41] Kiir's long-time rival Riek Machar has been under house arrest since March 2025 and is on trial for treason, which he denies. [41] Voter registration has not begun. [41]

    Why it matters — The new law keeps the sitting president in office with full powers through the campaign, and last week Kiir replaced the head of the election commission without giving a reason. [41]

25. 26

    Latvia resists lifting sanctions on two billionaires

    Latvia's prime minister Andris Kulbergs said his country cannot accept removing Alisher Usmanov and Fridman, two Russia-linked billionaires, from the EU's sanctions list as the price of extending it. [42] France and Slovakia pushed to lift sanctions on Usmanov, and Luxembourg then asked the same for Fridman. [42] Three European diplomats said France acted under pressure from Azerbaijan, which has detained at least two French citizens; Azerbaijan denies this. [42]

    Why it matters — EU ambassadors restarted talks on Tuesday morning to break the deadlock. [42] Fridman is claiming $16 billion from Luxembourg, which argued that lifting sanctions on Usmanov could weaken its own case. [42]

26. 27

    Britain borrows more than forecast

    Britain's government borrowed 18.3 billion pounds ($24.5bn) in August, more than any economist in a Reuters poll expected, the Office for National Statistics said. [43] Borrowing for the year so far is running above official forecasts. [43] Finance minister John Healey presents his first budget on 28 October. [43] Prime Minister Andy Burnham has ruled out raising income tax, VAT, company tax or social security contributions. [43]

    Why it matters — Britain's borrowing costs have risen since the Iran war pushed up oil and gas prices, because the country imports much of its energy. [43]

27. 28

    Sri Lanka convicts 14 over Easter bombings

    Sri Lanka's High Court convicted 14 of 24 men accused of direct roles in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, which killed 279 people. [44] Three judges gave the verdict on Tuesday after a five-year trial. [44] Nine men were acquitted and one was found guilty on only some charges. [44] The charges included murder and conspiracy to commit terrorism, and sentencing comes later. [44]

    Why it matters — A court has now named 14 men as guilty, seven years after the attacks. [44]

28. 29

    South Korea cuts an ex-first lady's sentence

    An appeals court in South Korea cut the prison term of Kim Keon Hee, wife of former president Yoon Suk Yeol, from seven years to five, for taking bribes during his presidency. [45] A lower court found in June that she accepted luxury goods in return for political favours. [45] She denies it and will appeal to South Korea's Supreme Court. [45] Yoon was impeached over his failed declaration of martial law in December 2024 and later sentenced to life in prison. [45]

    Why it matters — The courts are still working through what happened while Yoon held power, nearly two years after he tried to put the country under army rule. [45]

29. 30

    UN experts blame Nicaragua for deaths in custody

    UN human rights experts said Nicaragua's government, led by co-presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, is responsible for at least eight deaths in custody since its crackdown began in 2018. [46] One was Brooklyn Rivera, a leader of the Indigenous Miskito people, who died in May after 32 months in prison. [46] Nicaragua's government said he died of complications from an earlier COVID infection. [46] No autopsy was ordered, and an outside medical review called the explanation not medically coherent. [46]

    Why it matters — The experts counted at least 161 people made to disappear since 2018, and asked for news of 29 whose whereabouts are still unknown. [46]

30. 31

    Belgium and Rwanda restore ties

    Belgium and Rwanda said on Tuesday they are resuming diplomatic relations and will reopen their embassies soon. [47] They fell out over the war in eastern Congo, where the M23 rebels hold large areas including Goma and Bukavu, the region's two biggest cities. [47] The UN and Western governments say Rwanda backs M23, and Rwanda denies it. [47] Qatar helped arrange the first meeting in June 2025. [47]

    Why it matters — Belgium's foreign minister said restoring ties does not mean dropping Belgium's support for Congo's borders. [47] Congo and Rwanda are both former Belgian colonies. [47]

31. 32

    Moroccans vote after a year of youth protests

    Moroccans vote on Wednesday for the 395 seats in the House of Representatives. [48] King Mohammed VI appoints the prime minister from the party that comes first, and he chairs the council of ministers that makes the biggest decisions. [48] The vote follows youth protests that began in September 2025 over jobs, health care and living costs, after which more than 2,400 people were prosecuted. [48]

    Why it matters — About 60,000 people crossed into Ceuta, Spain's small city on Morocco's coast, in late July, and at least 100 died. [48] The IMF estimates youth unemployment was 37.3% last year. [48]

32. 33

    Cambodia hosts a summit against scam centres

    Cambodia's prime minister Hun Manet opened a two-day international conference on online fraud in Phnom Penh on Wednesday, saying his country will never be a safe haven for scams. [49] Gangs, mostly Chinese-led, have run compounds in Southeast Asia where trafficked people are forced to carry out romance and fake-police scams. [49] Reporters toured shut centres this week, one of which held up to 20,000 workers. [49]

    Why it matters — The US estimates Americans lost more than $10 billion to scammers in the region in 2024. [49] Cambodia says it has raided hundreds of compounds; analysts say the politically connected people who protected them have not been touched. [49]

33. 34

    Haze makes 175,000 Indonesians ill

    About 175,000 people in Indonesia have had breathing illnesses since August, and more than 40,000 of them are toddlers, the health ministry said. [50] Forest fires on Borneo and Sumatra have spread smoke to Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. [50] A forest monitor has counted about 734,000 fire hotspots this year, more than 30% above 2019, one of the country's worst fire seasons. [50] More than 54,000 officials are fighting the fires. [50]

    Why it matters — An unusually strong El Nino has dried the region out this year. [50] Groups in West Kalimantan are suing Indonesia's government for failing to stop fires that come every year. [50]

34. 35

    Hurricane Polo grows to Category 4

    Hurricane Polo strengthened into a Category 4 storm in the Pacific off Mexico, with winds of 130 mph (215 km/h), and could reach Category 5. [51] It is forecast to stay just offshore, but heavy rain could bring floods and landslides to Guerrero and Michoacan through Thursday. [51] In the Atlantic no hurricane has formed yet this year, a record for the longest start to a season without one. [51]

    Why it matters — Forecasters say this year's El Nino is breaking up Atlantic storms before they grow. [51] The same El Nino is behind the dry season fuelling Indonesia's fires. [50]

35. 36

    Student opens fire near a Turkish school

    A student fired a shotgun near a vocational high school in Turgutlu, in western Turkey's Manisa province, on Tuesday. [52] Officials told AP 11 people were wounded, two seriously; Al Jazeera reported eight. [52][53] He was arrested, and his parents and grandfather, who owned the gun, were detained. [52] Prosecutors are looking into claims he had been bullied. [52]

    Why it matters — Turkey had no history of school shootings before April, when two attacks killed nine people. [53][52] Turkey's government had just tightened gun rules and school security for the new school year. [53]

36. 37

    India's free payment network starts charging

    UPI, India's phone payment network used by more than 500 million people, stops being free on 15 October. [54] Shops will then pay a 0.4% fee on payments above 2,000 rupees ($21). [54] The broker Bernstein estimates the fee will bring payment apps up to $1.1 billion a year by March 2028. [54] PhonePe, backed by Walmart, and Google Pay together handled 80% of UPI payment value last month. [54]

    Why it matters — Because the two biggest apps will take most of the fees, the change could make it harder for smaller rivals to catch up. [54]

37. 38

    EU and the Philippines agree a trade deal

    The European Union and the Philippines announced a free trade deal on Tuesday, covering nearly 30 billion euros (about $35bn) of trade a year. [55] The EU sells aircraft, pork and medicines to the Philippines and buys its computer chips and machinery. [55] The Philippines is the third Southeast Asian country, after Vietnam and Singapore, to sign such a deal with the EU. [55]

    Why it matters — The EU is signing trade deals from Australia to Argentina as its dealings with China, Russia and the US have grown harder. [55]

38. 39

    China's factories squeeze Europe's

    China's commerce minister Wang Wentao said China backs its carmakers investing in Europe, as they look for factory sites before expected EU rules that favour local production. [56] Chinese plug-in hybrids are not covered by the EU's extra tariffs of up to 35.3% on Chinese electric cars. [56] The same day the European Central Bank said China is pushing European firms out of world markets in machinery and vehicles. [57]

    Why it matters — Germany's exports look more like China's than any other big EU country's, so its car and machine makers lose most as China moves into the same products. [57]

39. 40

    Two North Koreans at the Asian Games seek asylum

    Two members of North Korea's 180-strong team at the Asian Games in Japan want asylum there, South Korea's Monthly Chosun magazine reported, citing a Japanese intelligence official. [58] It said they would rather stay in Japan than go to South Korea, and do not intend to go home. [58] Their names and roles were not given. [58] The Games opened on Saturday in Aichi and Nagoya. [58]

    Why it matters — Japan's government could not be reached on a public holiday, so the report is not yet confirmed. [58]