Welcome to today’s daily update for Saturday, September 26, 2026. Here’s everything you need to know.
The Breakdown
The United Nations General Assembly is well underway, and it has been incredibly eventful so far. Let’s dive into the biggest speeches so far.
Of course, US President Donald Trump had one of the most notable speeches of the assembly, delivering a 37-minute address packed with warnings, threats, and dramatic rhetoric.
The most controversial part of his speech arrived during a rather passionate segment about Iran:
Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world? Or do I annihilate the Islamic republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?
His threat to “annihilate” Iran made global headlines soon after his speech, particularly after a mocking headline on an MS NOW broadcast.
Statements online condemned the president for his words, while memes praising the person who wrote the headline went viral online. One said, “Whoever wrote this banner deserves an award,” while others humorously referenced his campaign assertions of being “The Peace President” and mocked the false statement, “I have ended 7 wars in 7 months” – one of the many claims he made during his UNGA speech that were later confirmed to be false.
The day after Trump’s speech, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian blasted the United States and the United Nations a whole for threatening Iran and imposing a sort of unfair standard upon them. Pezeshkian asserted that the UN, which is largely controlled by Western nations, had created a negative narrative of Iran, particularly surrounding their nuclear program, while letting Israel walk scot-free for the atrocities committed in Gaza and allowing them to build their own nuclear arsenal in secret. Pezeshkian also criticized the US and Israel for targeting Iran in “cowardly attacks” and labeled the Iranian people as “victims of terrorism”.
On the topic of Israel, one of the other most significant speeches at this year’s assembly was that of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who practically spoke to an empty room. A large majority of the delegates at the UNGA walked out of the room as Netanyahu walked up to the podium, leaving a sparse set of Israeli allies sitting in their seats.
Netanyahu described US-Israeli efforts against Iran as a “battle against barbarians” and dismissed allegations of Israeli genocide against Palestinians as “the biggest lie.” He also called the diplomats who walked out “moral cowards” and labeled New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani an “antisemite” for speaking out against Israel’s brutal actions against Arab peoples in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, and other areas.
Many far-right Israelis have supported Netanyahu’s straightforward, aggressive approach towards international politics and state sovereignty, while others have argued that it simply increases negative sentiment against the Jewish community as a whole – particularly with the leader’s comment about Mamdani being an “antisemite”.
As a whole, various nations, including a collective push from dozens of African nations, called on the United Nations to implement reforms to de-Westernize the organization and make it more inclusive towards the Global South.
One of the issues, in particular, was the UN Security Council – the UNSC has five permanent members that possess ultimate veto power: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China. African nations, which actually make up more than a quarter of the UN, and other developing countries argued that this framework fails to include the Global South in international affairs.
Others highlighted failures on the part of the UN as a whole, which has remained largely ineffective on global issues over the last 10 years. While the organization continues to provide or assist impoverished or struggling communities with humanitarian aid, basic infrastructure, and health supplies, the UN has remained unable to guarantee collective security, de-escalate conflicts, advance towards solving climate change, protect workers from the spread of AI, or de-nuclearize the globe, among a host of other primary points.
Furthermore, the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will complete his second term on December 31, and it still remains unclear who will be chosen to lead the UN for the next five years. Seven key candidates have emerged as the primary competitors for the position, but no clear frontrunner has been revealed so far.
The Global Snapshot
The Supreme Court has allowed the Trump administration to launch a new database that would combine citizenship information like Social Security numbers to eliminate votes from non-citizens of the US. Ahead of the midterms, Trump has attempted to crack down on what he claims to be rampant issues with elections, particularly non-citizen voting. However, several studies have revealed that non-citizen voting has historically made up a very, very small portion of total votes, and the Supreme Court’s move to allow the usage of the database has worried Democrats that the administration could accidentally – or purposely – tamper with or discount the votes of actual American citizens.
TikTok has settled with the state of Alabama in a new development that will see the company pay them $100 million alongside a host of significant product changes. Alabama’s lawsuit against TikTok alleged that the company had developed algorithms that were intentionally designed to addict users, particularly teenagers and children. Part of the settlement will see TikTok impose a two-hour daily time limit on child accounts, along with several other adjustments – however, the changes will only take place in the state of Alabama, and it is the first time that TikTok has settled with a particular state.
According to a new study, this year’s Super El Niño could contribute to more than 450,000 heat-related deaths by February, concerning many over the other effects it may have. El Niño sees warmer temperatures and a drier climate across South and Southeast Asia, East Africa, and parts of South America while contributing to torrential rainfall in other parts of South America and strengthening hurricanes and typhoons in the Pacific. This year’s Super El Niño is expected to break records for one of the strongest, or even the strongest, on record – a trend that has persisted as global warming continues to ramp up.
Fact of the Day (The Fact Site): It is illegal to play a musical instrument in order to annoy other people in Northern Territory, Australia, carrying a fine of up to A$200.
Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps – we must step up the stairs. (Vance Havner)
Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Tactile (adj, TAK-tul) - Tactile typically describes something, such as a sensation or experience, relating to the sense of touch. It can also be used specifically to describe something that is perceptible by touch.
In a Sentence: With the introduction of haptics to smartphones, receiving a call from a friend became a much more tactile experience.
Image: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0
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