Summary
Closing summary
Our live coverage is ending now. In the meantime, you can find all of our live US politics coverage here. Here is a summary of the key developments from today:
World leaders met for the 80th United Nations General Assembly today in New York City. In his address to the body, which lasted almost an hour – more than three times the allotted length, Donald Trump issued a stunning indictment of immigration in European countries, clean energy projects, and the efficacy of the United Nations as an organization. French president Emmanuel Macron offered a dramatically different vision of the United Nations, calling for leaders to “restore the state of cooperation that prevailed 80 years ago” rather than “isolating ourselves”.
Trump held a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelenskyy at the United Nations, promising US support for Ukraine. When asked by reporters whether Nato countries should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter their airspace, the president said “yes, I do”. And in a social media post later Trump said that Ukraine is in a position to “fight and win back” all of the territory it has lost since the beginning of the 2022 Russian invasion. During a meeting of the security council later, secretary of state Marco Rubio said the president was open to levying “additional economic costs” on Russia and selling additional defensive weaponry and “potentially offensive weaponry” to Ukraine. Appearing on Fox News later in the day, Zelenskyy said he believes his relationship with Trump has improved and that Trump can take important steps to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump held a multilateral meeting with several leaders of Arab and Muslim countries, with a focus on ending the war in Gaza. Although Trump did not answer questions after the meeting ended, he opened the session by saying: “This is my most important meeting.”
The Secret Service said it had uncovered and dismantled a covert, high-tech operation in the New York area, which had the capability to disrupt cellular networks. Authorities revealed that the hidden communications system included over 100,000 SIM cards and 300 servers.
Ryan Routh, the man who attempted to assassinate Trump at the president’s Florida golf course last year, was found guilty in federal court today. Routh was convicted on five counts, including attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate and possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.
After promising to meet with Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, and House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, on Thursday, 25 September, Trump shared in a social media post that he would no longer meet with the top Democratic lawmakers. The negotiations had been intended to secure a government funding measure, before it expires at the end of this month.
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth decided to close a defense department advisory committee dedicated to recruiting and retaining women in the military. In a social media post announcing the closure of the defense advisory committee on women in the services a Pentagon spokesperson wrote: “The Committee is focused on advancing a divisive feminist agenda that hurts combat readiness, while Secretary Hegseth has focused on advancing uniform, sex-neutral standards across the Department.”
Polls in Arizona have closed in a special election to decide who will fill the state’s vacant seventh congressional district seat. Adelita Grijalva, the daughter of the late progressive congressman Raúl Grijalva, is expected to win the seat vacated when her father died this year.
California and Brazil signed a deal to ‘achieve their climate neutrality goals’ at a meeting during New York City Climate Week on the sidelines of the UN general assembly. The new agreement with Brazil comes ahead of the United Nation’s Global Climate Change Conference (Cop30), which Brazil will host in November.
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A former Daca recipient has died in Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (Ice) custody, according to an Ice statement. The incident is the 14th such case of a person dying in immigration detention since January.
Ismael Ayala-Uribe, 39, was a Mexican national who applied for and received immigration status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2012. Ayala-Uribe was detained by immigration officials on 17 August. According to an Ice statement, Ayala-Uribe was evaluated by an Ice medical provider on 18 September and transferred to a local hospital on 21 September. Ayala-Uribe died at the medical center while still in Ice custody in the early hours of 22 September.
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