September 25, 2026

MIDDLE EAST WAR | Day 210.

• In a rare public statement, Saudi Arabia's top cleric, Grand Mufti Sheikh Saleh al-Fawzan, called yesterday for Saudi soldiers to be ready to defend their country against attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels. [more]
• The U.S. Senate voted, 49-50, yesterday to narrowly reject a war powers resolution that would have required President Donald Trump to seek congressional approval for future military action in Iran. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1,672 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here is your update:

• Steelmaker ArcelorMittal announced today that it is suspending production at Ukraine's largest steel ​plant, saying it is unable to ensure safe and sustainable operations after being targeted four times in five weeks by Russian airstrikes. [more]

U.S. IMMIGRATION | The Trump administration filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday, seeking to overturn an appeals court ruling earlier in the week that blocked the deportation of illegal immigrants to countries other than their own. [more]

U.S. ELECTIONS | Forty days before November's mid-term elections, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the nation's cybersecurity agency, released its election infrastructure security plan yesterday. Reports cite numerous state election officials as saying the plan, which was originally projected to come out in mid-August, according to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, comes too late in the election cycle and appears to be inadequate in various ways. [full CISA plan] [more]

U.S. POLITICS | Multiple members of Congress, including both Republicans and Democrats, have questioned the use of federal funds to pay for a recent television advertisement that touts advances under the Trump administration and restates claims commonly associated with President Donald Trump. In a statement, the White House said the ad, which included a notice that it was "paid for by the U.S. government" and featured background music with singers repeating the phrase “love me" while displaying images of the president, was "educational and unapologetically patriotic." [more]

U.S. MORTGAGES | According to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac, the weekly average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate home loan in the U.S. rose to 7.03% this week – up from 6.95% last week and from the year-ago average of 6.3%. [more]

NEW YORK | In a lawsuit filed yesterday, the State of New York sued prediction market Polymarket, alleging that the company's platform operates an unlicensed gambling operation and asking a judge to block the company from operating in the state. Reports note that New York has previously filed similar lawsuits against other platforms, including Kalshi, Coinbase, and Gemini, using similar arguments. [more]

CALIFORNIA | The California Supreme Court yesterday ordered Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to return approximately 650,000 ballots from a November 2025 special election on statewide congressional redistricting that he seized as part of investigations into unfounded allegations of voting improprieties. In its order, the Court said the ballot seizures were "unlawful" and that California law requires ballots to remain in the custody and control of election officials, even during a criminal investigation. [more]

HAWAII | The U.S. National Hurricane Center warns that Hawaii's Big Island and portions of Maui could see as much as 15 to 30 inches of rain through tomorrow from Hurricane Nolo, bringing threats of major flooding. [more]

U.S. AND CUBA | The Associated Press cites unnamed U.S. officials and an internal State Department document as indicating the Trump administration is considering new restrictions on Cuban officials who travel to the United Nations in New York City ahead of a planned U.N. vote next month on the decades-long U.S. economic embargo on Cuba. [more]

GLOBAL SEA LEVELS | The United Nations General Assembly adopted its first-ever resolution on sea-level rise yesterday, emphasizing the need to strengthen disaster risk reduction and build resilience through improved data availability, risk assessments, early warning systems, and long-term planning and adaptation, and calling for "stronger international cooperation and urgent, coordinated action" amidst rising water levels. [press release] [full resolution] [more]

ISRAEL AND GAZA | Speaking before the U.N. General Assembly yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his country's military actions in Gaza following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. Netanyahu dismissed allegations of Israel having orchestrated a genocide against the Palestinian people, calling such accusations "the biggest lie of the century." [more]

ITALY | Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s conservative government, in a move characterized as strengthening immigrant integration in Italy, approved a decree yesterday placing a limit on the number of students in each school classroom who have only limited Italian language skills and banning face-covering Islamic veils in schools. [more]

CONGO | Officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Tanganyika province say at least 41 people died yesterday when the boat on which they were traveling from Tanzania to Congo capsized on Lake Tanganyika. The cause of the incident remains under investigation. [more]

ARGENTINA | Government data released yesterday indicates that Argentina’s poverty rate rose to 32.3% in the first half of 2026 – up from 28.2% in the second half of 2025. Extreme poverty, according to the country's national statistics agency, rose from 6.3% to 7.5% over the same period. [more]

COFFEE INDUSTRY | Coffeehouse giant Starbucks announced plans yesterday to close 250 North American stores later this week. The move follows the closing of 627 stores in North America and Europe last September. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1789, the first United States Congress adopted 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution and sent them to the states for ratification. Ten of the amendments were ratified in December 1791 and became the Bill of Rights. [more history]