Sept. 23, 2026 - Daily News Digest
On this day in 1932, by royal decree the dual kingdom of the Hejaz and Najd, along with its dependencies, was unified under the name of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
QotD: “I’m ready. I said it, I’m ready anytime when all the sides will be ready. I think we all need to move as quickly as possible,” Ukrainian President Zelensky said about the possibility of trilateral talks with Russia and the US.
US/IRAN/UN/NY – First US-Iran talks in months raise hopes for progress despite no concessions.
he first shuttle talks between the United States and Iran for months raised hopes on Wednesday that the adversaries could make progress towards ending the Middle East war, although neither side spelled out any change in its position.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner communicated through mediators on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, the first such contacts since an interim ceasefire agreement collapsed in July.
"Steve and Jared had a very productive meeting today with mediators of Iran," US President Donald Trump said. "I think there's a lot of momentum for them to make a deal. It's what we're hearing from everybody."
Iranian sources told Reuters the delegation had been ordered not to meet the Americans face-to-face by the Supreme National Security Council, a body that includes figures selected by Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the supreme leader, who has yet to appear in public since replacing his father killed on the war's first day.
One Iranian journalist covering the visit told Reuters that some hardliners viewed the trip to New York itself as an insult to the memory of the slain leader, Ali Khamenei.
IRAN/HOUTHIS – Iranian advisers helped Houthis seize Yemen’s seize Yemen’s Red Sea coast in less than 48 hours, sources tell AP.
https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthis-iran-war-red-sea-battle-e32ed78eb9b528642d043d4303192927
It took Houthi rebels less than 48 hours to seize Yemen’s Red Sea coast from pro-government forces in a resounding blow to U.S. interests and Washington’s regional allies.
But the Houthis didn’t do it alone. Iranian Revolutionary Guard advisers were in the field helping direct the battle, people familiar with the offensive told The Associated Press, marking Iran’s most direct intervention in favor of its longtime ally since Yemen’s civil war erupted in 2014.
The intervention shows how Iran has built the Houthis into a major regional partner able to open a new front in the wider war with the U.S. The rebels’ biggest land grab in years, along with the closure of a key Saudi pipeline, strengthened their ability to choke off Saudi Arabia’s oil exports, pushing up global fuel prices and giving Iran greater leverage. The United States has seemed reluctant to help its ally Saudi Arabia, even as the Houthis have gained momentum in Yemen’s revived civil war.
OECD/WORLD/ECON – Growth ‘resilient’ despite Middle East warm OECD says.
https://www.dw.com/en/oecd-says-growth-resilient-in-2026-despite-middle-east-war/a-79386625
The OECD group of industrialized countries on Wednesday lifted its global growth forecast for 2026 despite the war in the Middle East.
It put the figure at 2.9%, an increase of 0.1 percentage points over June's estimates.
The 38-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is a Paris-based forum for industrialized nations.
The OECD said growth remained "resilient" in 2026, and that "broader financial conditions remain supportive."
It added that the impact of the Middle East war was being softened by other factors.
"Sizeable oil inventories, additional supply from outside the Gulf economies and discretionary government support measures all helped to cushion the impact on the global economy," the group said.
It said investments in artificial intelligence could result in "stronger growth than projected," but warned that growth could still slow if investments do not pay off as expected.
EU/PHILIPPINES – EU reaches initial free trade deal with Philippines in pivot to Asia.
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/eu-philippines-agree-free-trade-deal-2026-09-22/
The European Union and the Philippines have reached an initial free trade agreement as part of the bloc's broad pivot to Asia Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic said on Tuesday.
"The key parameters are there, they are approved by the political level and now what it means is that we have to translate these numbers, these key agreements into the legal text," Sefcovic told reporters.
The initial "substantial agreement" would lead to a full deal in coming months, the European Commission said.
The Philippine deal comes as the EU has turned to Asia and more specifically Southeast Asia to find new markets for its goods and services and places to invest in a bid to offset the impact of US President Donald Trump's tariffs.
US/CHINA/DIPLOMACY – Trump plans grand spectacle for potentially tense Xi talks.
US President Donald Trump welcomes Chinese President Xi Jinping to Washington on Wednesday for a three-day visit where the superpowers' tensions over trade, technology and Tehran will play out against a backdrop of pomp and ceremony.
For the Chinese leader's first trip to the US in nearly three years, Trump will greet Xi and his wife on the tarmac when they arrive Wednesday evening at the Maryland military base that hosts Air Force One.
The fanfare was due to include a state dinner with tech luminaries, a White House military ceremony including jet flyovers and a visit to the National Archives where the original Declaration of Independence and Constitution are housed.
Despite their deep disagreements, both sides pressed ahead with the summit, which analysts said seeks to project stability between the world’s biggest factory and its biggest consumer.
Expectations for a breakthrough during Xi's visit were slim.
GREENLAND/MIL – Greenland welcomes US military pact but trust still shaky.
"I am incredibly relieved and think the outcome is very sensible. We can be satisfied," Naaja Nathanielsen, a Greenlandic MP in the Danish parliament, told Reuters.
The agreement allows the US to expand its military presence on Greenland, reopening Cold War-era bases in the settlements of Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig, with a prospect of renewed spending and employment potential.
But it stopped short of Trump's unsettling previous demand that the US annex Greenland to head off the growing Arctic presence of Russia and China.
"There has previously been a significant American presence in Greenland, so this is nothing new," added Nathanielsen. "However, in light of the unrest over the past few years, there is likely greater scepticism in Greenland, and consequently, work needs to be done to reassure the local population."
The US first built military bases in Greenland during World War Two. During the Cold War, it maintained 17 military installations and more than 10,000 personnel to monitor Soviet forces. Today only Pituffik Space Base remains, with some 150 U.S. military personnel.
ETHIOPIA/TIGRAY/MIL – Tigrayan leaders say new war with Ethiopian government has begun as fighting erupts.
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ethiopian-airlines-suspends-flights-tigray-region-2026-01-07/
Forces from the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray launched a major offensive against the federal government on Wednesday, a senior Ethiopian official said, shattering a four-year-old peace deal and threatening a wider regional conflict.
Tigray's leaders said in a statement they had entered a "defensive" war to counter aggression by the federal government.
The new hostilities follow months of growing animosity between the two sides, capped by Sunday's announcement that the TPLF had formed an alliance with six other armed groups from across Ethiopia aimed at overthrowing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government.
Regional diplomats and analysts have warned for months that a resumption of the conflict in Tigray could quickly escalate into a wider war, overlapping with fighting in neighbouring Sudan and further roiling the volatile Red Sea region.
In the 2020-2022 Tigray war, Ethiopia's neighbour and historical adversary Eritrea backed the government militarily against the TPLF.
But relations between the two countries have soured since then. Abiy's spokesperson, Billene Seyoum, told Reuters on Monday that members of the newly announced alliance had been collaborating for a while with Eritrea's financial backing.
RUS/EU/SANCTIONS – EU drops sanctions for Russian oligarchs Usmanov and Fridman.
https://www.dw.com/en/eu-sanctions-alisher-usmanov-mikhail-fridman/a-79381048
The European Union on Tuesday reached a compromise to prolong sanctions for around 3,000 Russian individuals, entities and companies — but it also resulted in the lifting of sanctions on two Russian oligarchs, Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman.
France was one of the countries demanding the removal of Russian-Uzbek billionaire Usmanov from the sanctions list.
Officials in Paris explained the decision as having to do with "national security" concerns. The French government has not provided any additional details.
According to AFP, diplomatic sources say the demand was linked to a potential prisoner release deal involving French nationals held in Azerbaijan, whose regime is close to Usmanov.
Meanwhile, Fridman's sanctions exemption was put forth by Luxembourg.
Sources say the move comes as Fridman sues Luxembourg for €15 billion ($17 billion) over his frozen assets, due to EU sanctions.
UKR/MIL – Ukraine’s army seeks to give frontline commanders more authority.
Despite innovating its way through more than four years of war to hold back a bigger, better-armed enemy, Ukraine’s military has faced criticism for heavy losses in some units and poor treatment of some troops — factors blamed by some for discouraging men from joining the military.
Expectations are high that the new commander-in-chief, 43-year-old General Mykhailo Drapatyi, will deliver on his pledge to promote better command practices and prioritise soldiers’ lives.
Run by the Military Institute of Kyiv National University and partly financed by charity Come Back Alive, the Captain’s Course has trained more than 1,200 officers since it was launched during the first year of the war.
With Ukraine struggling to draft frontline troops, the emphasis is on preserving manpower, said Artem Chukharev, a 23-year-old sergeant in the Territorial Defence Forces. This is in stark contrast to Russian infantry assaults that have come at a high human cost.
"We simply cannot afford to treat them the way our age-old enemy does," Chukharev said, praising the course for encouraging commanders to take informed decisions. "I finally realised what an officer is, and what he should be like."
MORE – Zelensky says Ukraine ready for ‘energy ceasefire,’ calls for trilateral meeting with Putin, Trump.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/23/ukraine-war-zelenskyy-putin-trump-russia.html
In a post Monday on Truth Social, the U.S. president said Russia had “unfortunately lost control” of its diesel oil industry due to the war.
“I think the most important move President Trump can make – he can organize a trilateral meeting where the leaders can raise all the sensitive issues and try to end the war,” Zelenskyy said.
Asked whether his comments mean he’s prepared to meet directly with Putin and Trump to bring an end to the war, Zelenskyy replied: “I’m ready. I said it, I’m ready anytime when all the sides will be ready. I think we all need to move as quickly as possible.”
CNBC has contacted a White House spokesperson and Russia’s embassy in London for comment and is awaiting a response.
A meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy before expert-level discussions have taken place would be a waste of time, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday, according to Russia’s state-run news agency RIA Novosti.