Reuters World News - US-Iran talks at UN, Trump-Zelenskiy meet and Nigeria deaths

Episode Date: September 23, 2026

US President Donald Trump threatened Iran with annihilation at the UN and then confirmed his team had talks with the Iranian delegation. Trump also met with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy but made no new promises on Ukraine. Half a million children return to school in Gaza for the first time in three years. And Nigerians are demanding answers after 37 young men died in custody. Podcasts, breaking news, and video analysis from the source. ⁠⁠Download the Reuters app now.⁠⁠ Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, I'm Kim Vinal in Wanganui, New Zealand. It's Wednesday, September 23rd. Today, Washington and Tehran talk on the sidelines of the General Assembly. AI executives take their warnings to the UN. Half a million children go back to school in the rubble of Gaza. And Nigeria grapples with shocking allegations of young men killed in detention. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. Don't you wish you could just hit skip on the worst parts of your life?

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Stream a new episode of North of North Tuesdays on CBC Gem. Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again. President Donald Trump opening this year's UN General Assembly with a blunt message, isolate Iran. In a combative speech, Trump called for cutting the country off from the world. But he also held open the possibility of a deal.

Then, just hours after his speech, confirmation that Washington and Tehran had lengthy talks on the sidelines through mediators. They had a very good meeting and we'll see how it turns out. But certainly it's to their advantage to make a deal. And if we can do that, it's preferable, I guess. For more on that, here's White House National security reporter Graham Slattery, who's in New York.

That was a little bit of a surprise. We knew it could happen. It did happen. It implies that there's perhaps some resumption of a serious attempt at diplomacy after the two sides had really been sort of walking away from the negotiating table or not engaging much in that respect over the last several weeks. Trump also met with Ukrainian president, Vladimir Zelensky. Trump renewed his promise to end Russia's war in Ukraine.

and once again said Russian President Vladimir Putin is on board. He'll meet. He's willing to meet. He'd like to see the war. But Graham says there were no new promises of support from the U.S. Since the last year in General Assembly, Trump has seemed to have a relatively cordial relationship with Zelensky, but has been willing to make relatively few concrete commitments to help Ukraine fend off Russia's invasion. And I think that it seems that we're sort of in a similar pattern here. You know, they would discuss Patriot licenses for Ukraine, Patriot being an important missile defense system, but no commitments were made. Trump was asked

if he would use some of the authorities that he was granted in a recent piece of legislation to sanctioned buyers of Russian oil. He kind of deflected on that. So cordial but non-committal. Those countries leading this technological revolution must share information on emerging safety risks, cooperate on testing and evaluation, and work towards common safeguards that protect us all. That's UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, using his final General Assembly address to call for global guardrails on AI. And that's on the agenda for today, Open AI's Sam Altman and Anthropics Dario Amode, plus one of the co-founders of Hugging Face, are set to brief the UN Security Council.

Their briefing comes as warnings grow that AI technologies could soon improve themselves and slip beyond human control. President Trump's trip to the United Nations is also putting the spotlight on his fight with the media. After being barred from the White House, CNN, MS Now and Politico are still covering the president this week in New York,

and Trump took notice. I'm surprised that CNN is here covering me. You should be here. You should not be here covering me. The three outlets are challenging the administration's White House ban in court, arguing the ban violates First Amendment protections. French President Emmanuel Macron used his UN address, his last before he leaves office, to criticize Trump's Gaza efforts,

saying, despite claiming to have secured peace, not a single humanitarian corridor has been opened in the enclave. Finishing with long-lived the UN. This week in Gaza, more than half a million students are returning to school for the first time in nearly three years. But school looks very different. Some classes are being held in tents. Others in damaged buildings or bare rooms with little more than mattresses and a blackboard.

Still, after years of war, displacement and remote learning, being back in a classroom feels like a milestone. Moyad Abu Mustafa is going to class in Khan Yunus. He says despite his classroom being a tent with no desks and few supplies, the new school year is a moment of joy. and hope. And he says he carries the memory of friends lost during the war. According to UNICEF, 98% of Gaza's schools were destroyed or damaged during the conflict. Markets are digesting news of possible increased Saudi oil supply with the Kingdom restarting operations at its East-West pipeline, according to sources who spoke to Reuters. For more on that, here's Mike Dolan from

our sister podcast Morningbid. We had considerable optimism in the oil market all of a sudden over the last 24 hours. Much of that is related to what's happening in New York at the General Assembly, possibilities of a meeting between President Trump and the Iranian president. And also we saw last night that US officials and Iranian officials, mediated by the Qataris, were meeting in the sidelines. So there is potentially some negotiation afoot and some possibility of a breakthrough. But in the backdrop, we did also get this news that Saudi is reopening that East-West pipeline.

It mattered to markets a lot because people thought it would be several weeks and it may now be operable as soon as Saturday. The oil market is back below $100 a barrel. We've held there this morning and it's in the slowest in about two weeks. We're waiting for news from New York. You can catch morning bid wherever you get your podcasts. Back in Washington, federal officials say there are a whole. halting or reviewing Obamacare coverage for more than three quarters of a million people.

The Trump administration says it's about cracking down on fraud. Vice President J.D. Vance says the move could save taxpayers about $2.2 billion. So far, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services have cancelled more than 300,000 plans, and officials are reviewing hundreds of thousands more over questions about eligibility and missing documentation. To Nigeria now, and a warning, this story contains some graphic details. President Tibola Apeh Tenibu has ordered an investigation. After allegations that prison guards sprayed a substance into a crowded prison cell, then ignored cries for help as one by one,

37 young men and teenagers locked inside died. That's according to survivors, including Ademort. Reuters was shown the bodies of the youngsters, which we won't show here, lined up, surrounded by grieving families. Two other survivors corroborated Atomu's account, which Reuters could not independently verify, and authorities have not given a cause of death. Reuters was also unable to determine what substance was sprayed into the cells or why. The group had been rounded up as part of a cause of death. crackdown on suspected illegal gold mining.

And as Nigeria Bureau Chief, MacDonald Zero Thui explains, the incident is raising fresh questions about conditions in detention facilities. Nigeria has a notorious history when it comes to detentions. And human rights groups have saved this time and again that some of these detention facilities are unfit to be inhabited by citizens, by human beings, And I think this kind of incident did, you know, shock Nigerians. But, you know, how can 37 people, including, you know, teenagers, and some of them, you know, really children could die in the custody of, you know,

a paramilitary agency. And obviously, yes, Nigerians do want answers. For more on any of the stories from today, as well as more analysis about news shaping our world, check out Reuters.com and the Reuters app. There's a link in the description to download it and start getting pure news straight from the source. Don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast player. If you're listening on a smart speaker,

just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back later with an update.