Trump Addresses 81st UN General Assembly on Iran War and Gaza Plan as Approval Hits 32% in Reuters/Ipsos Poll
The president's address, previewed by his U.N. ambassador as covering Iran's nuclear program, the 20-point Gaza plan and U.N. overhaul, came a day after a Reuters/Ipsos poll put his job approval at a career-low 32%.
U.S.
White House Says Trump Will Meet Venezuela's Acting President Delcy Rodríguez in New York; She Arrived Monday for the U.N. Assembly
Rodríguez landed in New Jersey on Sept. 21 saying Venezuela would "defend its principles"; the White House announced on Sept. 18 that Trump would meet her on the sidelines of the General Assembly.
Comey Asks Court to Move Sept. 30 Arraignment to January and Oct. 21 Trial to February 2027; Justice Department Does Not Oppose
The former FBI director's lawyers say they need more time to prepare in the "86 47" seashell case, and prosecutors told the court they do not object while adding they would be ready on the current schedule.
Massie and Khanna Say 218 House Members Have Committed to a Second Epstein Files Discharge Petition
The pair say they have the commitments needed to force a vote on H.R. 9694, though the petition cannot be formally signed to 218 until the House returns from its pre-election recess in November.
Texas Tribune Profiles Five Texas ICE Detainees With No Criminal Convictions; DHS Disputes the "Noncriminal" Label
The Sept. 22 investigation follows immigrants from Mexico, China, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela, and cites federal data showing 31% of people ICE arrested nationally as of Aug. 6, 2026 had a criminal conviction; DHS says most arrestees are charged or convicted criminals.
N.C.
Carolina Journal Poll Puts Cooper at 49% and Whatley at 34% in NC Senate Race; Vance Rallies for Whatley in Greensboro
A poll released Sept. 17 by the conservative-funded Carolina Journal showed the widest Cooper lead in its own series, while other September surveys showed a gap closer to six or seven points; Vice President JD Vance campaigned for Whatley on Sept. 21.
National Weather Service Issued Flash Flood Warnings for Parts of Edgecombe, Halifax and Nash Counties on Sept. 21
The Raleigh forecast office reported 2 to 4 inches of radar-estimated rain near Tillery; the warning expired at 11:15 p.m., and by Sept. 22 the flood threat had shifted to the western Carolinas and the coast.
Lee County Approves Up to $46 Million in Tax Rebates for Unnamed $1 Billion Sanford Manufacturing Project
Commissioners backed a 12-year property tax rebate for a company identified only as "Project Paragon," a week after Sanford's city council approved about $39.5 million of its own.
Wake County Commissioners Vote 5-2 to Let WakeMed Merge Into Atrium Health
The Sept. 21 vote changes WakeMed's founding documents and shifts control to a 14-member joint board; the deal still faces federal antitrust review and a state attorney general review.
Daimler Truck's 573 Mount Holly Layoffs Were Filed in July 2025; Columbus McKinnon Closed Its Charlotte Duff-Norton Plant in September 2024
Both Charlotte-area manufacturing job cuts described as current are on the public record with earlier dates — Daimler's temporary layoffs ran through September 9, 2025, and Columbus McKinnon's plant shut on September 29, 2024.
Judge Finds Tailei Qi Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity in 2023 Killing of UNC Professor Zijie Yan, Orders Indefinite Commitment
Orange County Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour ruled on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, that Qi could not understand the wrongfulness of his conduct, dismissed the charges, and committed him to Central Regional Hospital in Butner.
Finance
10-Year Treasury Yield Trades Near 4.94% on Sept. 22, Below the 5.04% Peak It Hit Sept. 15, Its Highest Since 2007
The benchmark yield has slipped back under 5% after last week's high, as oil prices fell for a fourth session and investors waited on jobs data and a run of Federal Reserve speeches; the 30-year yield remains above 5%.
US and China Announce AI Incident Notification Proposal and Say Trade Board Is Operating, After Eight-Hour New York Talks
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met September 20 in Manhattan; both sides said the trade body agreed in May is now running, and the AI proposal goes to Trump and Xi at their September 24 Washington summit.
AutoZone Reports $56.05 Quarterly EPS and 1.6% Domestic Same-Store Sales; KB Home Reports After Tuesday's Close
AutoZone's fourth-quarter results beat Wall Street's profit estimate but showed slower store-level sales growth, while KB Home's third-quarter report lands after the market closes on September 22.
Bitcoin Trades Above $84,000, Up About 4%, Two Weeks After Its 50-Day Average Crossed Above Its 200-Day
The crossover signal that traders call a "golden cross" printed on the Sept. 8 close, and U.S. spot bitcoin ETF flows have swung between large daily inflows and outflows this month.
Fed's Bowman Previews Stress-Test Changes and Releases Initial Findings of Outside Review of SVB's 2023 Failure
In two London speeches on Sept. 18, 2026, the Federal Reserve's top bank regulator outlined changes to annual stress tests and said an outside review found supervisors knew or should have known of Silicon Valley Bank's weaknesses by March 2022.
Brent and WTI Fall About 2% as Kpler Data Puts Saudi Crude Exports Just Above 4 Million Barrels a Day So Far in September
Tanker-tracking estimates show Saudi exports rebounding from a decade low of 2.4 million barrels a day in August, though the figure remains below pre-war levels and the East-West pipeline is still offline.
World
UNICEF Reports Nine Children Killed in Gaza in Recent Weeks; Israel Says Hamas Committed 14 Ceasefire Violations Sept. 4-15
A UN humanitarian report relays a UNICEF count of child deaths during the October 2025 ceasefire, while the Israeli military reports its own tally of Hamas violations, days before President Trump addresses the UN General Assembly.
Pezeshkian Departs for U.N. General Assembly; Trump Says Iran Faces Being "Wiped Out" or Economic "Rot" Without a Deal
Iran's president left Tehran on Sept. 22 to address the 81st U.N. General Assembly, about seven months into the war with the United States and Israel, with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz still disrupted.
UN Spokesman Says the UN Would Investigate Sudan Chemical Weapons Claims If Given a Mandate
Stéphane Dujarric said on Sept. 21 that the UN stands ready to probe allegations against Sudan's army, which denies them, as Washington pushes to widen the arms embargo on Sudan.
Taiwan's Labor Minister Attends APEC Meeting in Nanjing, First Cabinet-Level Trip to China Under Lai
Hung Sun-han flew to Nanjing on Sept. 20 for an APEC human resources meeting; both governments say the visit followed standard APEC practice, while a pending U.S. arms package remains unresolved.
AfD Takes 38.2% in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Die Linke 25.7% in Berlin; Merz's CDU Falls Below the 5% Seat Threshold in the Northeastern State
Two German states voted on September 20, 2026; the CDU finished second in Berlin and won no seats in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Chancellor Friedrich Merz called the results a "disaster."
United Russia Takes 57.83% of Party-List Vote in Russia's First Duma Election Since the 2022 Invasion
Russia's Central Election Commission reported a preliminary 355 of 450 seats for the ruling party and 59.32% turnout, after the OSCE was not invited to observe and the one anti-war party was struck from the federal ballot.
Analysis
Unbiased, evergreen deep-dives on the bigger questions — not breaking news.
What Fauci's Released Diary Documents About the U.S. COVID-19 Response — and What It Leaves Unresolved
A 1,141-page personal diary released by Sen. Rand Paul's committee is roughly one-third routine administrative logging; a minority of entries bear directly on contested questions, and a few conflict with contemporaneous public statements.
Eight Months of Mamdani: What New York's Record Actually Shows, and What It Cannot Yet Show
A claim-by-claim audit of what Zohran Mamdani has delivered, how New Yorkers judge it, and what the evidence does and does not license anyone to conclude about the rest of the country.