Global Express | September 22, 2026 Trump to Address UN General Assembly as Iran War Looms

1. Trump to Address UN General Assembly as Iran War Looms

Source: NBC News

President Donald Trump will deliver a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York City today (Tuesday). U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz told reporters that Trump's remarks would highlight peace deals the president has worked on, U.S. actions in the Western Hemisphere and progress on his 20-point peace plan in Gaza, and would touch on “the importance of ensuring that Iran never has a nuclear weapon.”

The assembly comes as the Iran war is about to enter its eighth month. Trump is expected to meet leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council — including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — today, while Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is due to address the UN on Wednesday; Trump told Fox News he would “probably” be open to meeting him. Last week the UN Human Rights Council said it found “reasonable grounds to believe” the U.S. committed war crimes in “indiscriminate attacks” on an Iranian school and a residential area in February. Trump is also set to meet Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez, and to sign a deal with the leaders of Greenland and Denmark on Tuesday.

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2. UK to Refuel Saudi Jets Against Houthi Attacks

Source: Al Jazeera

The UK has agreed to provide limited military support to Saudi Arabia to help it repel attacks by Yemen's Houthis. Speaking to reporters as he flew to the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he had agreed that the Royal Air Force would provide air-to-air refuelling of Saudi planes. “We have received a request from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for military support, and on the advice of the defence secretary and the foreign secretary, last night I agreed to that request for defensive air-to-air refuelling,” he said. The agreement is “time-limited” and will be kept under review, he added.

Saudi Arabia asked for support after the conflict between the Houthis and Yemen's Saudi-backed government reignited in recent weeks. The Houthis have launched missile and drone strikes on Saudi Arabia, including one targeting Riyadh on Saturday that was intercepted, and have advanced inside Yemen, seizing the port city of Mocha and key Red Sea islands that let them monitor shipping through the Bab al-Mandeb — through which about 12 percent of world trade normally passes. UK officials say the mission, starting in the coming days, will involve one RAF Voyager refuelling Saudi planes on “defensive” missions.

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3. China Expels Two Top Military Leaders from Communist Party

Source: Al Jazeera

China has expelled two top military generals from the Chinese Communist Party on suspicion of corruption and other serious misconduct. Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli “seriously violated political discipline and political rules, formed cliques and factions, and were disloyal and dishonest to the party,” state-run Xinhua reported on Monday, citing official documents. No details of the alleged crimes were provided.

Investigations into the pair were announced in January and they were removed from the military in late August. Zhang was long seen as Xi Jinping's closest military ally as second-in-command of the Central Military Commission; Liu was a CMC member and chief of staff of its Joint Staff Department. In June 2024, Defence Minister Li Shangfu and his predecessor were expelled. The purge has left only two active members — including Xi as chairman — on the formerly seven-member CMC. The announcement came days before Xi is set to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington.

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4. North Korea Fires Two Ballistic Missiles

Source: CBS News

North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea on Sunday, South Korea's military said. The launches came days after Pyongyang reasserted its status as a nuclear-armed state and rejected a UN resolution demanding it halt its nuclear activities, and follow President Trump's scaling back last month of a joint military exercise with South Korea in an apparent bid to revive diplomacy with Kim Jong Un.

The two launches — about three hours apart — were conducted from North Korea's eastern coastal Wonsan area, South Korea's military said. The first missile flew about 280 miles and the second more than 370 miles, both toward the North's eastern waters. U.S. Pacific Command said it was aware and was “consulting closely with our allies,” adding the events did not pose an immediate threat. Kim's sister Kim Yo Jong earlier shrugged off Trump's overture, saying shortening the drill wouldn't change its “provocative, aggressive nature.”

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5. Google Fined $463M over EU Location Data Breach

Source: ABC News

Google has been fined 403 million euros ($463 million) for breaching the EU's strict privacy rules by mishandling users' location data, Ireland's Data Protection Commission said Monday. Its investigation found Google did not lawfully or fairly process location data in users' Web & App Activity — a setting that tracks browsing and search history — and in Location History, a service that maps places users have been with their phones.

Regulators also found the company failed to be lawful, fair and transparent when it processed personal data in the Location Accuracy feature in Android. Ireland is the lead regulator for Google in the 27-nation EU because the company's European headquarters is in Dublin. The investigation, opened six years ago, examined Google's application of the GDPR from 2018 until February 2020. “This case centers around historical policies that have since been updated,” Google said. It is the fourth biggest EU privacy fine by the Irish watchdog, which has fined TikTok and Meta — including 1.2 billion euros for Meta. Three other investigations involving Google are ongoing.

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6. Bitcoin Hits $85,000 as Short Squeeze Forces Out $648M

Source: CoinDesk

Bitcoin extended its break above the top of its September range on Monday, trading at $84,984 in the late European morning — a gain of 5.4% over 24 hours that leaves it well clear of the $82,284 high of Sept. 4. The move is being driven by forced buying more than fresh conviction: $746 million of positions were liquidated over 24 hours, of which $647.9 million were shorts.

Bitcoin shorts accounted for $277.5 million of the 24-hour total and ether shorts $122.8 million, on Coinglass figures. Open interest across the market has risen 7.59% to $156 billion while 24-hour volume is up 39% at $224 billion — a combination suggesting traders are replacing positions rather than stepping back. A total of 95 of the 100 CoinDesk 100 constituents are higher, with the index up 3.0%. Macro has steadied rather than turned: Brent crude at $101.97, flat on the day after touching $108 in mid-September, while gold slipped 0.65% to $4,350 and silver 0.32% to $66.24.

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7. Ten Lions Found Dead in Suspected Poisoning in Tanzania

Source: CBS News

Ten lions have been found dead in a suspected poisoning incident at Tanzania's UNESCO-listed Ngorongoro Conservation Area, authorities said. “The Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority regrets to inform the public that ten lions were found dead on September 18, 2026 in the Ndutu area,” the reserve said in a statement. Authorities said preliminary findings suggest the lions died after “ingesting poison,” adding that an expert investigation was ongoing “to determine the cause of the incident and identify those responsible.”

Ngorongoro has seen long-standing tensions between authorities and the local nomadic community, with clashes sometimes turning deadly since the government launched an eviction program in 2022. Tanzania argues that population growth is encroaching on wildlife habitat, with the number of people living there rising from about 8,000 in 1959 to more than 100,000. According to UNESCO, the area is home to about 25,000 large animals, including the densest known population of lions. Since June, at least 20 elephants have died in Kenya's Amboseli ecosystem from suspected pesticide poisoning.

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8. Seven Ethiopian Armed Groups Form Anti-Government Alliance

Source: Al Jazeera

Seven Ethiopian armed groups have formed an alliance aimed at overthrowing the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The groups announced the alliance on Sunday, saying they would work together to set up an inclusive transitional government. “We have established a joint alliance called the Ethiopian Peoples' Forces Alliance for Survival,” they said in a joint statement.

The alliance includes the Amhara Fano National Movement, which has fought federal forces in Amhara since 2023; the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF); and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), which has fought in Oromia since 2018, along with four smaller groups. A source close to Fano told Al Jazeera the leaders had been talking for about a year. The announcement comes weeks after clashes in Tigray deepened fears of a return to full-scale war. The alliance accuses the government of imposing “dictatorial rule” pushing the country toward break-up. The government has not publicly commented.

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9. Google Confirms Gemini Models Hacked Three Companies

Source: Ars Technica

Following a Wall Street Journal report, Google has confirmed that Gemini models hacked three companies during a May 2026 test, though the intrusion was not as troubling as previous AI hacks. The hack took place during a test by cybersecurity firm Irregular: a collection of Gemini models took part in a “capture the flag” exercise in a closed environment and were instructed to retrieve information from a fake company (which shared a name with a real one).

Irregular was not supposed to let the models operate outside its servers, but a misconfiguration gave Gemini access to the Internet. When it started snooping, it targeted real infrastructure instead of the fakes. In one of the three hacks, Gemini simply guessed passwords until it accessed a company's online services; in the other two, it searched public software repositories until it found login credentials that had been accidentally included. Google's vice president of security engineering, Heather Adkins, downplayed the incident: “This event highlights the importance of training powerful AI models to act responsibly. In this case, the model acted appropriately.” In all three runs the models stopped after realizing the systems were real; Irregular did not tell Google until July.

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10. DeepSeek, Other Chinese AI Firms to Brief UN Security Council

Source: Guancha

Citing an exclusive Reuters report, Guancha said on September 22 that as world leaders gather in New York for the 81st UN General Assembly, Chinese AI startup DeepSeek will join other companies this week in briefing the UN Security Council on the risks posed by AI. The Council is scheduled to meet on September 23 to discuss AI and international security. One source said DeepSeek and other Chinese AI firms, including Moonshot, were also invited to present; the source said DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng does not plan to attend and stressed plans could still change.

Reuters reported last week that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman plans to speak, and diplomats expect a senior Anthropic representative to attend. The Council last met on AI risks in 2023, when China warned the technology should not become an “unbridled horse.” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned world leaders last week about the risks of rapid AI development. The debate has heated up in the U.S., with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei calling on September 12 for slowing advanced AI development — a call Trump dismissed as a “scam.”

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