World News

Pacific Defence Ministers Urge Caution on Military Response Group, Cite China Missile Test: September 26, 2026

SUVA — Pacific defence ministers wrapping up talks in Fiji signalled they will not rush to expand a regional military response group into civil-unrest “stabilisation” missions, while expressing “grave concern” over China’s ballistic missile test into the Blue Pacific, RNZ reported, citing ABC News.

The South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting — Australia, Chile, Fiji, France, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Tonga — agreed on a “phased approach,” consolidating the Pacific Response Group’s humanitarian and disaster-relief role before any stabilisation mandate. Australian Defence Force chief Adm. Mark Hammond said there must be “absolute consensus” and “due respect to sovereign constitutional processes,” noting some members face elections or recent cabinet changes.

Ministers said China’s recent ballistic missile test, conducted “without appropriate notice,” was the second such test in the region within two years and risked undermining the Pacific Islands Forum’s Ocean of Peace declaration. They used stronger language than Forum leaders adopted in Palau earlier this month.

Sources: RNZ / ABC News, The Post

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Taiwan Says Arming Island Remains Vital U.S. Interest After Trump-Xi Summit: September 26, 2026

TAIPEI — Providing weapons so Taiwan can defend itself and keep supplying semiconductors to the world is in the U.S. national interest, a senior Taiwanese diplomat said Saturday after a summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping ended with no major public breakthrough on the island, Reuters reported.

Deputy Foreign Minister Francois Wu asked whether concessions on Taiwan would serve U.S. interests, saying military sales that give Taiwan “sufficient capability to defend itself” and allow its chip industry to keep contributing globally are “important U.S. interests.” Xi told Trump in Washington on Thursday he hoped the United States would adhere to the “correct position” of opposing Taiwan independence. Trump has yet to approve a pending roughly $14 billion arms package he said in May he was holding in abeyance.

U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue told CNBC on Friday there has been no change in Taiwan policy, including under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act. China’s People’s Daily on Saturday reiterated that Taiwan is “the core of China’s core interests and the first unbreakable red line in China-U.S. relations.”

Sources: Reuters

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Iran Awaits U.S. Reply After Report Trump Rejects Hormuz Peace Plan: September 26, 2026

CAIRO — Iran on Saturday awaited an official U.S. response to its proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end fighting in the wider Middle East war after the Wall Street Journal reported that President Donald Trump had rejected the deal, Reuters reported.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Friday at the United Nations that the plan, transmitted via Qatari mediators, would trigger a seven-day countdown to reopening the strait and a pause in regional fighting if Washington lifts its blockade on Iranian ports, releases frozen funds and waives oil sanctions. The Journal, citing unnamed U.S. officials, said Trump is privately sceptical Iran would meet his demands and has told aides a renewed bombing campaign is likely after the November midterms.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that Tehran is ready for talks on its nuclear programme but will not accept “bullying or coercion.” Araqchi also briefed his Saudi counterpart on safe shipping routes in the strait. Early Saturday, Yemen’s Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted two Houthi ballistic missiles toward Khamis Mushait and two drones headed for Riyadh.

Sources: Reuters

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Congo Army Plane Crash Kills at Least 17, Including Two Generals: September 26, 2026

KENGE, Democratic Republic of Congo — At least 17 people, including two Congolese army generals, were killed when a military plane crashed into a residential area in southwest Congo on Friday, Al Jazeera reported, citing local officials and the army.

The aircraft was flying from Kikwit toward the capital, Kinshasa, when it developed a technical fault and tried to land at Kenge in Kwango province. “With no landing strip available in Kenge, the plane crashed into a residential plot,” Deputy Governor Remy Saki Bokinda said, adding that the aircraft caught fire. The death toll was revised upward Saturday to 16 adults and one baby after the fire was controlled.

The army said the dead included Lt. Gen. Joseph Mutombo, first president of the High Military Court, and Lt. Gen. Lucien-René Likulia, the military’s auditor general. President Félix Tshisekedi ordered a thorough investigation and extended condolences to victims’ families and the security forces.

Sources: Al Jazeera (with AP and Reuters)

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Seven Dead as Russia and Ukraine Exchange Strikes, Aerial War Intensifies: September 26, 2026

KYIV — Russian attacks killed four people across Ukraine on Saturday as the aerial war between Moscow and Kyiv intensifies, the Associated Press reported, while a Ukrainian drone strike in Russia’s Krasnodar region killed three more.

Two women died in Zaporizhzhia when they were trapped beneath rubble of their destroyed home, regional officials said. A separate Russian attack on Sumy killed two people. Drones also hit several districts in Kyiv, injuring four and damaging residential and office buildings, and sparked a warehouse fire in the Boryspil district. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its Kyiv attack damaged a data center that supported cellphone internet and Starlink systems.

“It is essential that our partners not forget: Russia is escalating every single day,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote Saturday, listing strikes on homes in Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia and the Odesa, Sumy and Kharkiv regions. In Krasnodar, regional Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev said a Ukrainian attack sparked fires at two industrial sites; Russian media later reported a local oil refinery was targeted.

Sources: Associated Press via ABC News

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EU Agrees to Release €6.6 Billion Linked to Ukraine Military Aid: September 26, 2026

BRUSSELS — European Union member countries have agreed to release €6.6 billion ($7.5 billion) in EU funds linked to military aid for Ukraine, foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Friday, Reuters reported.

The money comes from the European Peace Facility, which finances military aid to countries outside the bloc and reimburses EU governments for aid they have provided. Of the released funds, €900 million will go to the EU’s military assistance mission for Ukraine and €1 billion will fund new joint procurement of equipment, Kallas said. The remaining €4.7 billion will reimburse member states, some of whom have said they would channel their share to Ukraine.

“That’s good news for Ukraine and bad news for Russia,” Kallas said. “Moscow’s hybrid attacks try to intimidate Europe into scaling back its support for Ukraine. Europe is doing the opposite.” Funds related to Ukraine had been stuck for months, initially blocked by the previous Hungarian government under Viktor Orbán. Individual governments will decide how much of their refunds become fresh military aid for Kyiv.

Sources: Reuters

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Colombia Extradites Top Rebel Commander to U.S. in First Under New President: September 26, 2026

BOGOTA — Colombia on Friday extradited an alleged drug-trafficking leader from a FARC dissident faction to the United States, the first such transfer of a senior illegal-armed-group commander under President Abelardo De La Espriella, Reuters reported.

Geovany Andrés Rojas, known as “Spider,” is accused of leading the Border Commands faction of the National Coordinator of the Bolivarian Army, one of several groups formed by ex-FARC fighters who rejected or abandoned the 2016 peace deal. U.S. prosecutors accuse him of drug trafficking and criminal conspiracy tied to alleged operations in Colombia and Ecuador dating to 2017. He was arrested in February 2025 in Bogotá during activities linked to peace talks under former President Gustavo Petro.

De La Espriella, who took office in August, said his administration has carried out 94 extraditions to date. “Colombia will not be a refuge for drug traffickers wanted by international justice,” he wrote on X, pledging to pursue trafficking chains from cultivation to leadership. He has scrapped Petro’s negotiations with illegal armed groups and launched a military offensive to retake remote territory.

Sources: Reuters

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Lula Bans Online Betting in Brazil as Reelection Race Tightens: September 26, 2026

SAO PAULO — President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Friday announced a ban on online betting operations in Latin America’s largest economy and unveiled a new household debt-relief program, the latest measures ahead of next month’s election, Reuters reported.

The executive order takes immediate effect but must be approved by Congress within 120 days to remain in force. It comes less than two years after Brazil opened a legal framework for the industry. Finance Minister Dario Durigan called online betting “a public health issue,” saying app stores and network providers must block betting websites on October 6. Polls show Lula locked in a tight race with Senator Flavio Bolsonaro ahead of the October 4 first-round vote; Bolsonaro called the ban “populist, hypocritical and politically motivated.”

The Finance Ministry estimates Brazilian households spend about 60 billion reais ($11.6 billion) a year on online betting. Lula also said the government will hold a November auction to buy and restructure household debt, spending 15 billion reais to acquire up to 150 billion reais of delinquent loans at deep discounts.

Sources: Reuters

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Trump Sees No Urgency for Canada Trade Deal as Dispute Deepens: September 26, 2026

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration is comfortable maintaining its trade standoff with Canada even as new U.S. import bans on Canadian products take effect next week and Washington threatens 50% tariffs on Canadian autos, parts and steel from January, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Friday, Reuters reported.

“We’re comfortable with where we are. … There’s no urgency on our side,” Greer told CNBC, noting the United States is still receiving Canadian oil, gas and potash. The looming bans cover a broad range of Canadian goods including alcoholic beverages, motorcycles and dairy. Canada’s own retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods took effect earlier this month after the United States imposed 50% tariffs on some $20 billion of Canadian goods last month.

The breakdown has strained the longtime allies and cast doubt on the future of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Some experts say Washington may first seek a deal with Mexico to gain leverage with Ottawa. The Canadian Embassy in Washington did not immediately comment.

Sources: Reuters

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Nearly 1.5 Million Displaced in Haiti as Violence Spreads: September 26, 2026

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Nearly 1.5 million people are now internally displaced across Haiti as gang violence pushes families far beyond the capital, the International Organization for Migration said in a report released Friday.

Nearly 80 percent of those uprooted now live outside Port-au-Prince, with the sharpest recent increase in the Artibonite department, once seen as a refuge. Displacement there rose about 16 percent between May and August as insecurity forced new waves of movement, IOM said. Armed attacks in Kenscoff near the capital displaced more than 4,000 people, with reports of homes burned, kidnappings and killings.

Hundreds of thousands are living in informal settlements, collective sites or other precarious conditions during Atlantic hurricane season. “For families already displaced by violence, a major storm could trigger another humanitarian emergency,” IOM Haiti Senior Emergency Coordinator Elise Verron said. IOM is appealing for $60 million under its crisis response plan.

Sources: International Organization for Migration, Reuters via ThePrint

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