Trump rejects Iran’s conditional ceasefire proposal, WSJ reports, as Saudi coalition intercepts projectiles

Politics & Policy
Published Sat, Sep 26 2026
8:39 AM EDT, Updated 36 Min Ago
Azhar Sukri

Key Points

• Trump rejected Iran’s proposal and has told aides he views renewed U.S. bombing after the midterm elections as likely, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing U.S. officials.
• Iran offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restart nuclear talks within seven days if the U.S. meets conditions including ending what Tehran calls “acts of aggression.”
• Saudi-led coalition forces said they intercepted two Houthi drones headed toward Riyadh and two ballistic missiles aimed at the Khamis Mushait region.

No Diagnosis or Conspiracy are Necessary, Mr. Carlson: The Facts About Trump Are Frightening Enough

September 25, 2026

By Mars Strangelove Jr. and The Greek Courier

Something more frightening than the rhetoric surrounding Carlson's account lies beneath it, because the underlying facts require no psychological diagnosis or conspiracy theory

Carlson asserts that just days before the onset of the Iran war, he warned President Trump about its potential consequences, to which Trump supposedly responded, “Yes, you're right. But in the end we all die anyway, so it doesn't matter.” The private conversation remains unverified. But Carlson has put the allegation on the record, and NPR asked the White House about it. The White House did not specifically deny either the meeting or the quotation. That does not establish Carlson's account as fact. It does, however, make it a serious question that deserves scrutiny.

The Supreme Court Bets That Trump and GOP States Will Follow the Law on Voter Purges. Uh-Oh.

By Shirin Ali 

Sept 25, 20265:38 PM

With one of the most consequential midterm election cycles ever just about five weeks away, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday decided now would be as good a time as any to issue a bombshell decision granting the Trump administration permission to aggressively vet states’ voter rolls for noncitizen voting. 

I’m an Israeli who watched ‘Naza.’ And I am shook.

The backlash against Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor shows how a society learns not to see what it’s doing in Gaza

By Libby Lenkinski

September 24, 2026

I have seen NAZA and I am shook. Not simply because of what the film reveals about how Israel is waging the war in Gaza, but because of what it reveals about how a society becomes capable of doing this at all. And as I’ve watched the reaction in Israel since the film’s premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, I’ve come to see that the reaction itself reflects the very systems the film exposes.

Saudi reports fresh Houthi attacks as France offers military support

25 Sep 2026 09:38 AM 

(Updated: 25 Sep 2026 09:52AM)
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia intercepted Houthi ballistic missiles on Thursday (Sep 24) after issuing warnings for several regions, including Mecca, as France vowed to send "military means" to help shield the key Saudi oil terminal of Yanbu.

The Boy Whose Past Returns to the Future

By Mars Strangelove Jr.

September 24, 2026

A 16-year-old boy can retrieve his own past with astonishing precision. But the real mystery is not how much he remembers. It is why his memories seem to be waiting just beneath the surface of the present.

For most of us, the past is like a distant ship, ever retreating into the horizon, continually drifting further from our reach. Faces disappear first. Then voices. A room we once knew perfectly becomes an impression of a room. A birthday, a vacation, a conversation, an ordinary Tuesday afternoon — all eventually dissolve into fragments, leaving behind a story we can tell ourselves in recollection. Human memory is not a recording. It is reconstruction. 

Then there is KCL.

Is Nepal's flood a harbinger of what's to come in the Himalayas?

The Nepali Army conducts a search-and-rescue operation on Sept. 10 inside the Chilime Hydropower Station tunnel days after the deadly flash floods and mudslides in Nepal's Rasuwa district in August. In the wake of the disaster, concerns are being raised about the impact of the construction of hydropower plants and dams in the Himalayas. Skanda Gautam/AFP/via Getty Images

September 23, 2026 7:48 AM ET

By Mamita Bhandari, Diaa Hadid

KATHMANDU, Nepal — On a recent September day, Sumana Shrestha Amatya stood alongside other protesters in the Nepali capital, urging the government to work faster to find their loved ones, trapped inside hydropower plants since flash floods devastated miles of a river valley in late August.

Republicans’ Cash Blitz Meets a $5-Gas Election

MAGAZINE

COLUMN

GOP groups are spending big as rising gas prices fuel Republicans’ panic ahead of the midterms

By Jonathan Martin

09/22/2026 05:00 AM EDT

Republican polling has so deteriorated this month that the only uncertainty remaining ahead of the midterms is the depth of the party’s losses. With early or mail ballot voting beginning in nearly half the country this week, that question will mainly be determined by which money matters more: the massive cash infusion from GOP groups into every competitive race or the price of gasoline soaring toward $5 a gallon.

Police investigating 2 Ole Miss students' deaths after kratom found

School officials urged students not to speculate as the probe continues
By Ivan Pereira, September 24, 2026, 2:11 PM

Local officials are looking for answers after two Ole Miss students were found dead in separate incidents in Oxford, Mississippi, this week, police said. Despite "packaged Kratom" being found during both investigations into the students' deaths, officials asked students not to speculate as the police conduct their probe.

Mamdani allies arrested at anti-Netanyahu protests outside United Nations

Some of those detained by the NYPD were elected officials

By Molly Reinmann and Chris Sommerfeldt

09/24/2026 01:21 PM GMT-7

NEW YORK — Roughly 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators — including several politicians close to Mayor Zohran Mamdani — were arrested in Manhattan this afternoon while protesting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s appearance at the United Nations.

CNN, MS NOW and Politico back at the White House, hours after judge ordered Trump to lift ban

By JOCELYN NOVECK, HALLIE GOLDEN and LAURIE KELLMAN
Updated 9:37 AM PDT, September 24, 2026
NEW YORK (AP) — Reporters from three news outlets banned from the White House by President Donald Trump were back on the grounds Thursday afternoon, hours after a federal judge ordered the administration to reinstate their access.

Hitler's possible role in niece's death under scrutiny after documents raise questions about alibi, report says

World

Updated on: September 24, 2026 

10:49 AM EDT / AFP

Newly unearthed records in a Munich archive have cast doubt on Adolf Hitler's whereabouts at the time of his niece's suspicious 1931 death, according to news magazine Der Spiegel.

Hitler's unusually close and controlling relationship with his niece, Geli Raubal, has long been the subject of speculation and rumor, and newspaper reports at the time suggested that Hitler may have played a role in her death.

Surviving AI: Trump and Xi Jinping Negotiate the Terms of Rivalry, Not Global Governance

The AI Race Is Global. Its Rules Are Still Being Written

September 24, 2026

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived at the White House on Thursday for his first state visit to Washington in more than a decade, greeted by President Donald Trump with the full machinery of a state occasion. The pageantry was impressive, but the substance is considerably harder. The two leaders are confronting a relationship that has moved beyond the old vocabulary of tariffs and trade deficits. Artificial intelligence, advanced semiconductors, critical minerals and national security are now intertwined, while Iran has added a live geopolitical crisis to an already dangerous relationship. Trump has said AI will be a “big topic” of the talks, but also indicated that he wants the existing situation left largely intact.

Tech leaders to UN: For the sake of humanity, please control the AI technology we created

By SETH BORENSTEIN and JENNIFER PELTZ
Updated 9:46 PM PDT, September 23, 2026
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The heads of major artificial intelligence firms pleaded with the United Nations on Wednesday to save the world or at least its people — by somehow regulating the fast-expanding technology that they have been designing.

Carney says he studied risk of US.-led military action in New York Times interview

1h ago • 2 min read • September 23, 2026

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney says he studied the possibility of U.S.-led military action in Canada. In a lengthy New York Times interview published Wednesday, Carney declined to discuss in detail what that examination involved, but he suggested it would be irresponsible not to prepare for what he called "extreme tail risk."

Bessent ‘inadvertently’ failed to report at least $100K of JPMorgan stock

An inspector general review found no 

"knowing violation" of federal ethics law

By Michael Stratford

09/22/2026 05:38 PM GMT-7

Updated: 09/22/2026 05:56 PM GMT-7

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent failed to disclose at least $100,000 worth of JPMorgan Chase stock owned by his husband John Freeman, an omission that sparked an inspector general inquiry this summer that ultimately cleared him, according to ethics documents obtained by POLITICO.

We Will Never Surrender

September 23, 2026

UNGA Coverage

NEW YORK — Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian used his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday to answer President Donald Trump’s threats with a message of defiance — while leaving the door to diplomacy open. After nearly seven months of war with the United States and Israel, Pezeshkian said Iran would not “bend the knee” under sanctions, military pressure or  "bullying". But he also said Tehran was prepared for a diplomatic solution, provided its conditions were addressed.

Astronomers Detect Radio Signals Coming Directly From an Exoplanet For The First Time

There's no proof of other life beyond Earth yet, but scientists are constantly looking out and listening for signs that we're not actually alone in the Universe.

22 September 2026

By David Nield

Now, a team from the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian and the University of Oregon has announced an important first: A radio signal coming directly from an exoplanet (a planet outside the Solar System).