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MIDDLE EAST WAR | Day 213.

• After U.S. President Donald Trump rejected Iran's proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume negotiations over the weekend, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that while his country is "ready for diplomacy," it is "fully prepared for the war to be resumed." [more]
• Reports say Qatari mediators are expected to hold separate talks with Iranian and U.S. negotiators today in New York City as part of continuing efforts to reach a diplomatic end to the Middle East war. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1,675 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Ukrainian officials say at least eight people were killed in numerous Russian airstrikes across Ukraine yesterday, including on a data center in Kyiv and port infrastructure in Odesa. [more]
• South Korea has called for an official apology from Ukraine after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the U.N. General Assembly last week that Ukraine had recently sent two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea after capturing them on a Ukraine-Russia battlefield in early 2025. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung accused Zelenskyy of violating a non-disclosure agreement about the transfer, while Ukraine denied making such a deal. [more]

U.S. GUN VIOLENCE | Police in Macon, Georgia, say 12 teenagers were wounded early yesterday morning when two groups of people shot at each other during a birthday party being held at a city park. Investigators say they are still trying to determine how the two groups were related to each other and what prompted hostilities and note that no arrests have yet been made in connection with the incident. [more]

MORE U.S. GUN VIOLENCE | Three people were killed, and four others were wounded, early Sunday morning when gunfire broke out following an altercation at an after-hours strip club in Detroit, Michigan. No arrests have yet been made in connection with the incident. [more]

U.S. GOVERNMENT SPENDING | The White House announced late Friday that it plans to cancel some $810 million in congressionally mandated spending in the Trump administration's second use of a so-called pocket rescission, which is characterized by the president notifying Congress shortly before the end of the fiscal year that it doesn't wish to spend funds that lawmakers have appropriated, and which the Government Accountability Office has previously determined to be illegal. [more]

U.S. AUTO REGULATION | The Trump administration is expected to announce plans today for new fuel economy standards that would relax regulatory requirements for automakers to control pollution from gasoline-powered cars and light trucks. President Donald Trump suggested in a social media post Saturday that the new standards would "take the waste out of building cars" and save families thousands of dollars on new vehicles. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | In the latest of what the White House has characterized as "public service announcements," the Trump administration began airing a television ad over the weekend that features content from Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and warns of a "final battle" against "globalists" and "warmongers," and includes a notice that it was "Paid for by the U.S. Government." Reports note that lawmakers of both parties have criticized recent ads from the White House as inherently political in nature and questioned the use of taxpayer funds for their distribution. [more]

U.S. SOCIAL MEDIA | In settling a 2025 lawsuit, social media company TikTok agreed last week to pay the state of Alabama at least $100 million and to implement numerous safety features in its platform for teens in the state. Alabama had claimed in its lawsuit that TikTok's addictive properties were harmful to children and that the company had knowledge of those harms. [more]

U.S. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | AI giant OpenAI says it has paused the training of its latest artificial intelligence models following the disclosure of several incidents in which the company's AI agents acted in unexpected ways when interacting with federal government websites. [more]

GEORGIA | Two giant pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, arrived in Atlanta, Georgia, yesterday as part of an agreement between the United States and China announced during Chinese leader Xi Jinping's state visit to the U.S. last week. The pandas will be quarantined for about a month before being available for viewing at Zoo Atlanta. [more]

U.S. AND CHINA | Following Chinese leader Xi Jinping's state visit to the United States last week, the U.S. and China today released reciprocal lists of products worth about $30 billion each that will see tariff reductions, with most of the products seeing tariff rates reduced to "most-favored-nation" levels. [more]

U.K. | British police arrested five men yesterday near RAF Fairford, a U.K.-owned base operated by the U.S. Air Force, on suspicion of explosives-related offenses and on suspicion of preparing an act of terrorism. Reports cite authorities as saying it remains unclear if the incident was a planned state-backed attack but that potential links to Iran, Russia, or non-state groups are being investigated. Late this morning, British authorities announced that the five men arrested would be released on bail but with "stringent conditions on their movement and contact with others." [more]

ISRAEL AND UAE | Israeli media reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to the United Arab Emirates over the weekend for meetings in which he reportedly asked Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the UAE, to deny reports that the Emirati leader delivered a warning to Netanyahu about a planned attack just days ahead of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. [more]

CONGO | Government health officials say the number of confirmed cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo's ongoing Ebola outbreak has surpassed 8,000 and that 3,901 deaths had been attributed to the disease as of September 26 – a fatality rate of about 48%. [more]

AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN | Amidst ongoing border tensions, Afghanistan's ruling Taliban said yesterday that Afghan forces killed 28 fighters and captured 32 others who crossed the border from neighboring Pakistan near Nuristan. Pakistan has denied that its security forces or intelligence agencies were involved in the incident. [more]

INDIA | Authorities in India's northern Uttar Pradesh state say at least 62 people have died in flooding brought on by several days of heavy rain. Schools remain closed in multiple areas of the state today as damage assessments and search and rescue operations continue. [more]

SOUTH AFRICA | At least 28 people were killed in two mass-shooting incidents in South Africa over the weekend. Authorities say 17 people were killed, and several others were wounded, in the first shooting, which took place at a tavern in the Johannesburg-region township of Wedela. The second incident, in which 10 people were killed and 11 others were wounded, took place about four hours later in Lwandle township, near Cape Town. No arrests have yet been made in either incident. [more]

PAKISTAN | Authorities say three police officers were killed, and three other people were wounded, today when suspected militants opened fire on a vehicle carrying traffic police in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but reports note that suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, which has been known to operate in the region. [more]

COLLEGE FOOTBALL | Following weekend games, Texas remains at No. 1 atop the AP Top 25 college football poll, followed by Georgia, Notre Dame, Miami, and Ohio State. [full poll] [more]

GOLF | Overcoming a multi-day deficit, the U.S. Presidents Cup golf team rallied yesterday to beat the International team and claim their 11th straight victory in the event. [more]

ENTERTAINMENT AWARDS | Receiving the inaugural Artist Director Honors award and the video of the year award for “The Fate of Ophelia” at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards last night, Taylor Swift became the most-awarded artist in VMA history. Swift was previously tied with Beyoncé with 30 VMAs each. [full list of VMA winners] [more]

WEEKEND MOVIES | "Avengers: Endgame: Encore" topped the North American box office over the weekend with an estimated $26 million in receipts, followed by "Resident Evil" and "Heart of the Beast." [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1928, Scottish medical researcher Alexander Fleming revolutionized the field of medicine through his discovery of penicillin, the first broadly effective antibiotic. [more history]