United Nations General Assembly 81st Session Highlighted the Worsening Global Situation

Reforms needed within the august body as the threats of war and economic deterioration heightens international tensions and military conflict

By Abayomi Azikiwe

Editor, Pan-African News Wire

Tuesday September 29, 2026

Geostrategic Review

Midtown in New York City was the scene of the annual United Nations General Assembly debates and discussions over the future of the international community.

Nonetheless, since the gathering is held in the United States the government has sway over who is allowed to participate in this meeting.

For the second year in a row the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has been denied a visa to enter the country and represent his people in the UNGA. In addition to Palestine, the Republic of Sudan de facto leader, Sovereign Council Chairman General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, was denied an entry visa to attend the meeting in New York.

The reasons behind these denials are related to the imperialist foreign policy of the US which is continuing its effort to maintain global hegemony. It is successive administrations in Washington which have implemented policies that keep the peoples of Palestine, West Asia and the African continent in perpetual underdevelopment, impoverishment, destabilization and military conflict.

US President Donald Trump in his address issued threats against the Islamic Republic of Iran saying if Tehran does not accept his ever shifting program that he will destroy the country and its people. The unprovoked war waged by Israel and the US beginning on February 28 has not been able to overthrow the Islamic Republic while people in the international community are facing higher prices for fuel, food, fertilizer and other commodities.

President Masoud Pezeshkian refuted the claims made by Trump saying that the imperialists describe Iran as a “terrorist” state, yet Iran has been the victims of terrorism from the US and Israel. He held up a photograph of students in Minab killed as a result of the bombing of a primary school in the south of the country.

The bombing of the school which killed more than 150 people including school children has never been acknowledged by the Trump administration. Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and throughout the occupied territory are suffering from the lack of food, water, healthcare and housing. In neighboring Lebanon, the occupation forces from Tel Aviv have devastated areas in the south of the country and in the capital of Beirut. 

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu entered the UNGA hall to address the gathering, the overwhelming majority of delegates walked out of the room in disgust over the policies of the zionist state which has killed over 73,000 in Gaza, wounded more than 175,000 and displaced the entire population of 2.2 million. Despite a purported ceasefire, Palestinians are being routinely killed as the Israeli regime is still blocking adequate aid from entering the Gaza Strip.

Outside the UN headquarters itself, thousands demonstrated against the presence of Netanyahu calling for him to be arrested for war crimes. These events illustrate clearly the crisis of legitimacy of the UN as a viable institution. 

The fact that Netanyahu was allowed into the US to speak at the UNGA while representatives of the Palestinian Authority were not, points to the double standards of the Trump administration regarding foreign policy. Washington remains the major backer of the regime which has been occupying Palestine since 1948. 

According to one report, there were Jewish American organizations involved in the protests as well stating they were in opposition to the Netanyahu government and the occupation as a whole, noting that:

“Jewish advocacy groups held protests outside the United Nations in midtown Manhattan on Sept. 24, criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government for continuing the Gaza war.  Hundreds of people gathered for a demonstration organized by T’ruah, a group of U.S. rabbis and religious leaders focused on human rights and justice, advocating that Netanyahu has yet to take responsibility for the estimated 70,000 Palestinian deaths since the war began. Roughly 20,000 of those were children, according to the Israeli military’s latest count in January. ‘Bushah, bushah, shame, shame,’ chanted Rabbi Jill Jacobs, chief executive of T’ruah, as she denounced Israeli leaders and demanded an end to what she said is ethnic cleansing.” (https://www.nycitynewsservice.com/2026/09/28/jewish-advocacy-groups-protest-netanyahus-un-speech/)

Other reports on the demonstrations have recognized the high-profile people who were involved. The opposition to US policy towards Palestine and its occupiers has grown exponentially since the October 2023 Al Aqsa flood and the subsequent renewed phase of genocidal reaction which has shaken the conscience of the world.

The highest legal body within the UN, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), ruled at the aegis of the Republic of South Africa, that claims of genocide against the Palestinians were plausible under the Convention. This ruling was accompanied by demonstrations on higher educational campuses in the US raised the level of awareness about the Palestinian question.

In another article on the demonstrations in New York outside the UN, it emphasized:

“Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder were reportedly detained by the New York Police Department (NYPD) on Thursday after participating in a mass protest outside the United Nations headquarters in New York. The demonstration was held against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The protesters were protesting against him addressing the UN General Assembly, according to multiple media reports. Protesters staged a sit-in outside the UN complex, calling for an end to the war in Gaza. They also wanted an end to US military support for Israel. Local media reported that more than 100 demonstrators were taken into custody, although the NYPD did not immediately confirm the exact number of arrests. AP photographers captured Sarandon being escorted away by police officers. Separately, videos circulating on social media showed Hacks star Einbinder with her hands zip-tied behind her back as officers led her away from the protest.” (https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/susan-sarandon-hannah-einbinder-detained-update-on-anti-netanyahu-protest-arrest-outside-unga-101790293301058.html)

The Burgeoning Crisis in Sudan

With the US banning of Sudanese leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Foreign Minister Mohieldin Salim Ahmed Ibrahim represented the country at the UNGA 81. The Foreign Minister objected to the denial of an entry visa by the US saying it was a blatant violation of the charter governing UN operations. 

Ibrahim later went on to say that they will not allow foreign interests to impose a solution to the internal crisis inside the country. Since April 2023, a split within the military between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has resulted in a horrendous humanitarian crisis. 

Accusations of involvement by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in support of the RSF has been major cause of concern by the international community. Although the UAE has denied being a central player in the internal war in Sudan, the theft and marketing of gold from the country to Europe and other geopolitical regions has been well documented. (https://www.semafor.com/article/08/04/2026/uae-procured-100m-in-stolen-gold-from-sudan-investigation-finds)

The United Nations News Agency reported on the speech of the Sudanese Foreign Minister noting:

“The Sudanese Foreign Minister said repeatedly that ‘the terrorist militia’ was responsible for the civil war raging in the country since April 2023. He accused the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – former allies turned rivals of the de facto government – of attacks against civilians, medical centers and hospitals. He strongly condemned the international community for not recognizing the RSF as a terrorist organization, and for failing to cut the cross-border channels that supply it with weapons, ammunitions and mercenaries. ‘Silence regarding the atrocities committed by the terrorist militia in Sudan is not only shameful, unethical and complicit, it is a betrayal of the civilian victims,’ he said.” (https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/09/1168474)

The inability of Sudan and the regional organizations in Africa to resolve the war is major failure in diplomacy. Other internal conflicts are brewing in the Horn of Africa region particularly regarding the opposition alliance which has formed against the government in Ethiopia. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is the headquarters of the African Union (AU) which could be severely damaged in the event of a wider war between the Ethiopian government and the opposition Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), among others.

AU Members Demand Greater Role in the UN

For many years AU member-states have demanded at least one permanent seat on the UN Security Council. There are an estimated 1.4 billion people residing on the African continent which outstrips many of the other population groups now sitting on the UNSC. 

The Federal Republic of Nigeria, the most populous state on the continent, raised once again the need for reshaping the UN. President Bola Tinubu in his address emphasized that it was long past due that these changes are enacted.

An article published in the Nigerian Sun newspaper said of the situation:

“Tinubu specifically called for a radical reorganization of the UN, insisting that reforms must start with reconstituting the UNSC to grant Africa permanent seats, warning that Africa can no longer afford to fill the Council’s agenda from the margins. The President demanded at least two permanent seats for the Continent—including full rights, responsibilities, and veto power—along with a total of five non-permanent seats. ‘The reform of this institution must begin with the reconstitution of the Security Council, for the world of 2026 cannot remain captive to the distribution of power in 1945. Africa cannot continue to fill the Council’s agenda while remaining absent from its permanent membership’, he said.” (https://thesun.ng/africas-demand-for-unsc-permanent-seats/)

These remarks are indicative of the continued marginalization of the African people in international politics and economic affairs. Until these issues are resolved within the UNGA there cannot be any meaningful form of multipolarity in international affairs.

DR Congo’s Ebola Outbreak Tops 8,000 Confirmed Cases as Disease Remains Out of Control

4:28 PM EDT, September 28, 2026

BUNIA, Congo (AP) — The number of confirmed cases of Ebola virus in Congo has surged past 8,000, as the country runs out of health workers to contain the deadly disease, officials said Monday. The outbreak is the country’s 17th and its deadliest.

Congo announced an outbreak on May 15, caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which has no known treatment or vaccine, and has struggled to contain it.

The latest data from Congo’s health ministry released Sunday showed that 8,067 cases have been confirmed, with 3,901 deaths as of Sept. 26 across 63 health zones in seven of the country’s 26 provinces, with a fatality rate of more than 48%.

“The continuously high crude case fatality ratio, and especially the continuously high rate of deaths occurring in communities, highlights the seriousness of the disease and the persistent challenges in timely case detection and access to early and adequate patient care,” the World Health Organization said in its latest report.

It means that a large percentage of those infected were dying, without taking into account factors like delays in seeking help or hidden cases.

Official of ruling party attacked for defending Ebola measures

An official of Congo’s ruling party UDPS, Marie-Célestin Karondwa, was attacked by unknown suspects Sunday for defending the government’s measures against Ebola on a radio program and was in critical condition, according to the UDPS.

Karondwa is the acting president of the party’s federal executive in Butembo in North Kivu province, one of the hot spots of the outbreak. He was attacked “by alleged troublemakers from his neighborhood, Vulindi,” the party said. The party called on the government to investigate the attack.

The rapid spread of Ebola has been aided from the onset by widespread skepticism among locals who have dismissed the disease as a hoax, even attacking health workers and health facilities on multiple occasions.

Ebola measures impacting other health services

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Monday that the outbreak has begun to have an impact on other essential services in the hot spots as resources are mobilized toward fighting Ebola. According to OCHA’s report, routine primary healthcare services fell by 13% between April and June in Ituri province alone.

“The indirect impact of the outbreak reflects both reduced health service availability — as a result of staffing and operational pressures — and reduced demand, as fear of infection and isolation discourages care-seeking,” OCHA said.

Last week, WHO said that Congo was running out of health workers to contain the disease. Health workers have complained about delayed or missing payments, triggering several strikes. According to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 50 health workers have died since the outbreak was announced.

Some areas have shown signs of improvement, with fewer confirmed cases in the past several weeks, including in Ituri province and Haut-Uele, but officials say the disease is spreading further in other areas, expanding its geographical reach.

According to data from the Africa CDC, the current outbreak has outpaced the two-year West Africa regional outbreak in terms of spread in the same time. By week 19, the regional outbreak between 2014 and 2016 recorded 3,781 cases, while the current outbreak recorded 7,840. WHO said that it’s on track to surpass the regional outbreak, which killed 11,000 people.

Containment efforts have also been hamstrung by insecurity, displacement, a health workers’ strike and intense population movements.

Morocco’s King Appoints the Country’s First Woman Prime Minister

By AKRAM OUBACHIR

1:26 PM EDT, September 29, 2026

CASABLANCA, Morocco (AP) — Morocco’s King Mohammed VI on Tuesday named Urban Planning Minister Fatima Zahra Mansouri as the country’s prime minister, making the 50-year-old attorney the first woman to hold the position in the Muslim kingdom.

Mansouri, who until her nomination also was the mayor of Marrakech, was tasked with forming a new government, the Royal Palace said in a statement. The announcement came four days after results of parliamentary elections were announced, with Mansouri’s centrist Authenticity and Modernity Party, or PAM, the highest vote-getter.

Mansouri, the second woman to serve as prime minister in the Arab world after Najla Bouden in Tunisia, is expected to build a coalition in coming days to form a government. Morocco’s electoral system makes it difficult for a single party to win an absolute majority.

Her government is expected to make billions of dollars in investments linked to the 2030 FIFA World Cup, while seeking to deliver on promises to fight inflation, raise wages and create jobs.

The Moroccan Constitution gives the king, who is the country’s highest authority, the power to appoint the prime minister, but he must choose from the party that wins the most seats in parliamentary elections. That was a change successfully pushed by Arab Spring protesters in 2011. Before that, the king could name the prime minister without any such restriction.

Mansouri joined PAM upon its creation in 2008 by Fouad Ali El Himma, a childhood friend and close adviser to the king. A law graduate from the University of Montpellier in France, Mansouri became one of the party’s top leaders in 2024. She twice served as mayor of Marrakech and was a member of parliament.

Mansouri is the daughter of the “pasha of Marrakech” Abderrahmane El Mansouri, a senior local official who was also Morocco’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. He headed Marrakech’s bar association and was a landowner.

Mansouri faced accusations of conflict of interest after a group of unidentified hackers claimed she had used her position for personal gain regarding land transactions in Marrakech. Mansouri denied the allegations, called them defamatory and took legal action.

One million of the 15.8 million registered voters in last week’s election voted for the Authenticity and Modernity Party, marking its first win since its creation. The election was the first since the Ceuta migration crisis last July and deadly youth-led protests last year.

After the royal nomination, the focus shifts to the coalition that will form the next government. PAM has expressed its willingness to work with all parties, but some, including the moderate Islamist Justice and Development party and left-wing Federation of Democratic Left, have announced they will remain in the opposition.

Nigerian Billionaire Eyes US Investors Ahead of Groundbreaking for $16B Kenya Refinery

By EVELYNE MUSAMBI

1:09 PM EDT, September 29, 2026

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Nigerian billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote said on Tuesday that American investors would participate in a planned $16 billion East African oil refinery, while insisting that the project remain African-led.

Dangote was speaking in Kenya ahead of Wednesday’s groundbreaking ceremony for the refinery in the coastal city of Lamu. The facility is expected to process 700,000 barrels of crude oil a day.

American investors “will definitely come,” Dangote told journalists, pointing to U.S. backing for his previous projects.

He cited a proposed refinery in Brownsville, Texas, tied to what U.S. President Donald Trump called a $300 billion energy deal, as evidence of continued interest in the oil industry. The figure covers a long-term supply and product-distribution arrangement rather than solely the refinery’s construction cost.

He said three East African countries — Kenya and two others he declined to identify — would acquire a combined 30% stake in the Lamu refinery, which is expected to create 60,000 jobs.

The facility is expected to process crude from Uganda and other African producers that currently export their oil. Kenya does not produce oil commercially but plans to resume exploration in the country’s north in December.

Dangote cautioned against allowing Africans to lose control of major projects. He cited the public offering of shares in his Nigerian refinery, which he said was intended to give ordinary people an opportunity to own part of the business.

The Lamu project comes as Dangote Group plans to invest nearly $50 billion across Africa by 2030 under a strategy intended to put Africans at the forefront of the continent’s development.

Dangote said Africa needed foreign capital but argued that Africans must invest first, develop the continent’s resources and demonstrate the opportunities available to international partners.

He also called for greater use of technology to raise productivity while protecting employment, saying: “AI is not going to displace people.”

He said Africa must process more of its raw materials domestically and retain the resulting jobs and economic value, particularly as younger generations demand greater benefits from the continent’s natural resources.

The refinery is already facing local obstacles. A court this week ordered that the “status quo” be maintained at the site pending resolution of a lawsuit filed by residents claiming ownership of the land.

Dangote told investors that the groundbreaking ceremony would proceed and that his company was “ready” to respond to legal challenges.

EVELYNE MUSAMBI

Musambi is an Associated Press reporter based in Nairobi, Kenya. She covers regional security, geopolitics, trade relations and foreign policy across East Africa.

Burundi Says it Will Accept Migrant Deportees from the United States but Details are Vague

Burundi's President Evariste Ndayishimiye speaks during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)

2:50 PM EDT, September 29, 2026

NGOZI, Burundi (AP) — Burundi has agreed to accept people deported by the United States who have no previous connection to the East African country, a spokesperson for the country’s president said Tuesday.

Nancy Ninette Mutoni said Burundi would accept only people who were not facing prosecution and had no links to terrorism. She spoke during an event attended by government officials in Ngozi.

Mutoni did not say when the deportees would arrive or how many people Burundi had agreed to receive. She said preparations were underway to provide accommodations and help the deportees live in local communities.

“Receiving them requires serious planning — where they will stay, what they will eat and how they will live alongside the local population,” Mutoni said.

The Trump administration has expanded third-country deportations as part of its immigration crackdown, sending people to countries where they are not citizens and may never have lived. The United States has sent deportees to several African countries, including Eswatini and South Sudan.

A U.S. appeals court ruling last week threw the program into question. Lawyers for immigrants said a flight carrying about 70 people had been scheduled to travel from Louisiana to Burundi, Rwanda and the Central African Republic but was canceled.

The ruling did not prohibit third-country deportations but required that people facing removal have a meaningful opportunity to raise concerns about possible persecution or torture. The Trump administration has defended the policy as necessary when deportees’ home countries refuse to accept them.

Inside Mamdani’s Fraught Effort to Rein in the NYPD Unit He Pledged to End

The mayor has quietly required the NYPD to seek his office’s permission before the unit conducts arrests.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani attends a news conference at the headquarters of the NYPD on January 06, 2026 in New York City. Mamdani, who was joined by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, discussed crime statistics and safety, including a historic drop in shootings in New York City last year. | Spencer Platt/Getty Images

By Chris Sommerfeldt

09/29/2026 04:53 PM EDT

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani suggested on Monday that he didn’t approve of the NYPD’s decision last week to deploy a controversial protest response unit to arrest scores of demonstrators, including several of his own political allies.

What Mamdani didn’t say: His office could have easily stopped the deployment.

Under a previously unreported directive issued by Mamdani in the early days of his administration, the NYPD must get City Hall’s permission before it sends the Strategic Response Group to conduct arrests at protests, a police department spokesperson confirmed to POLITICO.

The directive shows Mamdani sought to exert significant influence over a core function of the police department. Its existence also calls into question why the mayor hasn’t more frequently used that authority to stop the SRG from being deployed at protests — since he promised as a candidate to disband the specialized unit, which is primarily focused on responding to terrorist attacks and tumultuous protests.

The unit — which has long weathered criticism for its heavy-handed protest responses — just last week arrested activists protesting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s appearance at the United Nations General Assembly. Several politicians allied with Mamdani were among those put in handcuffs.

When asked about those arrests, the NYPD spokesperson revealed the pre-approval policy to POLITICO, confirming that the mayor’s office has the final say whenever the department wants to deploy SRG to detain protesters.

“We communicate with City Hall on this topic as we do on a host of things related to the department,” the spokesperson said.

The police spokesperson declined to comment on when exactly the mayor first instituted the SRG pre-clearance process. But a person familiar with the timing, who was granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue, said the policy was put in place during the first few months of Mamdani’s term.

The mayor signaled at a press conference Monday that he didn’t see a justification for using the SRG in last week’s arrests outside the U.N. “I’ve been clear that my vision is for the disbanding of the SRG,” he told reporters when asked if he thought it was an appropriate use of police resources.

A Mamdani spokesperson declined to comment Tuesday on why the mayor didn’t use his power to call back the SRG last week if he didn’t think its deployment was justified. The spokesperson also would not say if the mayor has ever used his authority to reject a request from the NYPD for SRG intervention.

Amanda Jack, The Legal Aid Society’s policy director for criminal law reform, laced into the Mamdani administration after being informed of the existing policy.

“It is deeply troubling that City Hall has the authority to stop SRG deployments, yet continues to approve them at demonstrations, including at the protests outside the United Nations last week where the mayor himself acknowledged that the deployment was an inappropriate use of police resources,” said Jack, whose group has long advocated for abolishing the SRG. “This further confirms that regulating SRG deployments isn’t the solution. City Hall must finally make good on Mayor Mamdani’s campaign promise to disband SRG for good.”

The future of the SRG is one of several sources of friction between Mamdani and Jessica Tisch, his politically moderate NYPD commissioner. It’s also an issue that the mayor risks disillusioning his leftist base with the longer he keeps dragging his feet on fulfilling his 2025 campaign pledge.

Tisch has defended use of the unit, saying it’s a key tool in the department’s network of crime-fighting strategies.

But Mamdani — a democratic socialist who, before launching his 2025 mayoral bid, supported calls to defund the NYPD — has long said the unit should be dismantled. Since taking office, he’s said he’s in active conversations with Tisch about finding a way to break up the unit, but those talks haven’t resulted in any tangible action nine months into his term.

Founded in 2015, the SRG was initially just tasked with counterterrorism work. The group’s responsibilities have since come to include responding to protests that turn chaotic or violent.

In arguing for abolishing the unit, Mamdani and other police reform advocates have pointed to SRG officers racking up disproportionately high rates of misconduct claims while responding to protests.

The SRG was subject to a court settlement in 2023 that put new guardrails around how the unit could be deployed during protests. But Mamdani and like-minded voices have contended that’s not enough and that the SRG should be broken up so it can return squarely to its original counterterrorism function.

In his remarks on Monday, Mamdani reaffirmed that view.

“I have made that promise, I will fulfill that promise,” he said. “The only question is the timeline of it.”

The Trump Brand Has Tanked. The G.O.P. May Pay the Price.

Sept. 29, 2026

NYT

Ms. Anderson, a contributing Opinion writer, is a Republican pollster and a moderator of Opinion’s series of focus groups.

In 1992, James Carville’s famous refrain — “It’s the economy, stupid” — compressed into four words what it might have taken a political scientist 400 words to explain: When family budgets feel tight, voters often go shopping for a new party to run things.

So as we approach the 2026 midterm elections, it’s hardly a unique insight for a pollster like me to say the election will hinge on the issues of our fragile economy and the high cost of living. Arguably, pocketbook issues led Donald Trump back to the White House for a second term: Poll after poll in 2024 showed the economy as the top issue and tended to show him with a significant advantage on who was more trusted to handle it.

Today, President Trump and Republicans haven’t merely lost that advantage; they’re underwater on the cost-of-living issue by an eight-point margin. And this year a second issue has been rising in my polling, ranking below the cost of living but ahead of other concerns. It’s not just the economy: “It’s the corruption,” too.

Voters don’t think the economy is working for them, and they think it’s being rigged more and more in favor of a precious few who are cozied up to our nation’s leaders. The combination of these two worries is putting Mr. Trump and Republicans in a terrible position on the eve of an election.

It’s also eating away at the winning brand that Mr. Trump cultivated over many years.

When Gallup asked Republicans back in 2016 what made Mr. Trump appealing, one in six alluded to his experience as a businessman. This was a product of his years in the public eye as a real estate mogul and as the star of “The Apprentice.” The top response? Mr. Trump was an “outsider.” A decade ago, that branding was understandable: He had never held elected office and was quite obviously not beloved by the G.O.P. establishment. His brand was so strong that in 2023, more than six years after he first took the oath of office, he was still considered an “outsider” by nearly seven in 10 Republicans.

Some of his voters are wondering if that’s still true. Robert, one of the Trump-voting Texas swing voters in a recent Times Opinion focus group for which I was a moderator, put it this way: “You used to think that you could count on the Republicans to be able to help out with the economy.” Now, he said, it feels as if “it’s going to be the top class or the certain friends that are getting the benefit of the economy, not the general folks.”

In my own polling, nearly two-thirds of voters say “most politicians are corrupt or just looking out for their own interest.” To borrow a phrase Mr. Trump used to be particularly fond of, voters think there’s a swamp that needs a lot of draining. Republicans howled, rightly, when President Bill Clinton was alleged to have traded stays in the Lincoln Bedroom for campaign contributions. They raised hell over Hunter Biden’s unseemly income streams during his father’s vice presidency.

For years, Mr. Trump got a lot of mileage out of his supporters thinking of him as a singular figure — a tycoon who put his glitzy life on hold in order to fix a broken Washington. Today, they see headlines about memecoin scams, inexplicable pardons and the enormous wealth that the president’s family and close associates are accumulating, and some of them are beginning to draw a different conclusion.

It would be one thing if Americans thought Mr. Trump were focused on fixing the economy and just hadn’t had enough time to deliver results. Sometimes voters give points for effort: In 2012, my research on young voters found that though they felt President Barack Obama’s economic record was lackluster, they still gave him credit for “trying.”

In January 2025, I asked voters what they hoped Mr. Trump would focus on in his second term, and they were clear that they wanted to see efforts to lower the cost of living and secure the border. By November 2025, more than seven in 10 said he had given a lot of attention to the latter, but only 43 percent said he had made reducing the cost of living one of his highest priorities. Today, that figure is down to four in 10, fewer than the number who think he has prioritized projects such as building a White House ballroom or renovating the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Even among Republican voters, only six in 10 think he has made the cost of living a top priority.

Many of Mr. Trump’s supporters grumble that he’s out chasing pet projects and feeding his ego, busy renaming buildings and bodies of water. As Pam, another of my focus-group participants, put it: “Those things to me are a waste, instead of spending time on what’s going on here in the U.S. and the fact that people are struggling.”

On its own, an economy that feels like it is leaving people behind would be a political problem for any incumbent. But add to it the gold leaf and vanity projects, and you wind up with a politically perilous one-two punch.

Some of the people who’ve believed in Mr. Trump over the past decade seem to be coming to the conclusion that the outsider businessman they voted for is just another typical politician. And while there are surely plenty of disillusioned Trump voters who wouldn’t dare cast a ballot for a Democrat, there’s no guarantee that they’ll bother to turn out on Election Day if they feel their own side is behaving poorly. Come November, that’s a slice of their coalition that Republicans can’t afford to lose.

OpenAI Ignored Employees Who Warned It Wasn’t Doing Enough About Security

Employees and security researchers said that they had cautioned the company on safely testing its A.I. models and strengthening its corporate infrastructure, but that OpenAI did not listen.

Sheera Frenkel reported from San Francisco, and Dustin Volz and Dylan Freedman from Washington.

Sept. 29, 2026

New York Times

6:53 p.m. ET

Months before OpenAI’s artificial intelligence went rogue, two employees raised an alarm with top executives. They were ignored.

In emails, the employees said they worried that OpenAI’s newest artificial intelligence models were not being appropriately monitored during testing to gauge the technology’s sophistication and to secure the models, according to messages viewed by The New York Times.

In response, OpenAI executives told the employees that the tests needed to move forward as quickly as possible to release the A.I. models on time. No additional security protocols were instituted, said the workers, who were not authorized to speak publicly on sensitive matters.

OpenAI’s models later broke out of their testing environments and attacked the A.I. start-up Hugging Face and other organizations, setting off a global debate about A.I. safety.

The exchanges between OpenAI employees and executives — which have not been previously reported — were part of a pattern where the San Francisco company did not prioritize security, according to employees and independent security researchers. That approach not only was evident with the testing of A.I. models, they said, but also showed up in other areas of the company, which makes the ChatGPT chatbot.

Independent security researchers said they found bugs in recent months that allowed them to view the internal communications of OpenAI employees. They also found other vulnerabilities that would enable them to see the company’s internal computer code and view the chat logs of ChatGPT users. When the researchers contacted OpenAI about their findings, they said, the company initially disregarded them.

“OpenAI’s security seems to be about what you’d expect from a research lab that scaled at a blistering pace over four years and focused more on beating its competitors than securing its infrastructure,” said Joshua Saxe, the chief technology officer of the A.I. security firm Abundant Security.

OpenAI employees said that many of the day-to-day decisions about security were made by Greg Brockman, the company’s president, and Dane Stuckey, the chief information security officer. Sam Altman, the chief executive, is not closely involved in security, they said.

OpenAI is not the only company that has recently disclosed A.I. security incidents. Google, Meta and Anthropic have also revealed that their most advanced A.I. technology escaped testing environments and autonomously attacked other computer infrastructure without their knowledge.

But OpenAI’s handling of security is under particular scrutiny because its A.I. models have been involved in the biggest known number of instances of what the company has called “concerning” behavior — and in instances that experts have said were the most troubling.

What you should know about anonymous sources. The Times makes a careful decision any time it shields the identity of a source. The information the source supplies must be newsworthy, credible and give readers genuine insight.

Learn more about our process.

In a dozen or so incidents, OpenAI’s systems hacked or tried to breach organizations, including the websites of U.S. government agencies; the technology also hid its mistakes, made up data, tried to message other chatbots and moved files onto the open internet without permission. In all of these cases, the A.I. acted without being instructed to do so.

“In some sense, this is an OpenAI-specific problem in that it seems like they had very bad security, and also sloppy model training practices that led to the models having this sort of propensity,” said Daniel Kokotajlo, a former OpenAI employee who has criticized the company’s safety and leads a research nonprofit called the AI Futures Project, though he added that other A.I. companies were not much better.

Drew Pusateri, an OpenAI spokesman, said the company was committed to safety and took any security reports or concerns seriously. The lab has internal channels for reporting safety issues, he said, and took immediate action on flaws brought up by independent security researchers.

“As frontier models have become more capable, we continue to evolve our security practices, but recognize a need to move faster,” Mr. Pusateri said. He added that OpenAI had slowed some A.I. development and was making changes to strengthen security in research and testing.

Two OpenAI employees said workers had raised concerns for months about potential safety issues with testing A.I. models, including not enough monitoring. Employees also asked about vulnerabilities in the type of software the company was using to manage day-to-day safety, according to messages viewed by The Times. Each time, their questions were brushed aside or acted on too slowly, they said.

Security researchers said they had been met with a similar reception when they told OpenAI about other vulnerabilities.

In July, researchers at the security company Hacktron said they told OpenAI about how they had found a way to break into the company’s systems with the help of an A.I. model created by its rival Anthropic. OpenAI initially took issue with their approach, they said.

In a shared channel on the messaging platform Slack, Mr. Stuckey of OpenAI wrote that it was “pretty sad” that Hacktron’s researchers had gone to such lengths to demonstrate the company’s vulnerabilities, according to copies of the communications seen by The Times.

“We just felt like they were angry at us,” Mohan Pedhapati, a Hacktron researcher, said of OpenAI. He added that the company appeared to still be using the security practices of a start-up, leveraging the software services of others for critical infrastructure instead of building its own tools.

“Why are you using Slack to build your nuclear Manhattan projects?” Mr. Pedhapati asked. Hacktron’s hack could have granted him full access to the Slack messaging platform to see what OpenAI employees were saying, he said.

Mr. Stuckey later apologized to Hacktron, and OpenAI awarded the researchers $6,500 for disclosing the flaw.

“We thank the researchers for contacting us and sharing their findings,” Mr. Pusateri said.

In September, researchers at the Objective-See Foundation, a nonprofit that studies security and privacy risks, including those posed by A.I. agents, reported a bug to OpenAI that would give people access to a ChatGPT user’s entire private chat logs on a compromised device and allow them to invisibly interact with the user’s browser sessions.

Patrick Wardle, a software analyst at the Objective-See Foundation, said that when his team initially submitted what it found to OpenAI’s official bug bounty program — where researchers report bugs or vulnerabilities they find in exchange for recognition or financial rewards — its report languished. The research was escalated to the appropriate engineering unit only when Mr. Wardle reached out directly to friends at the company and Mr. Stuckey, who were all responsive, he said.

OpenAI gave $500 to the group for its work, which Mr. Wardle said was low compared with what he would expect from other companies given the severity of the flaw. OpenAI fixed the bug, he said, and acknowledged it this week in its public software release notes without disclosing details.

It was “not the mature security program you’d expect from a security-centric company,” Mr. Wardle said.

OpenAI employees said that more such disclosures were probable. The company is not only reviewing actions taken by its new models during testing but is still receiving warnings from hackers about open security vulnerabilities, they said.

On Friday, an independent report released by a group of engineers and researchers revealed new alarming behavior from the Hugging Face incident, including instances in which OpenAI’s agents tried to message Anthropic’s Claude and use other A.I. models to beat anti-robot protections on a website.

OpenAI also revealed last week that new safeguards had failed to prevent its latest A.I. model from breaking through them to gain access to the internet. A retrospective review found other instances of unauthorized internet access that had gone undetected. OpenAI announced that it was pausing training for its most advanced models and was engaged in an extensive review of unexpected behavior by the technology.

On Monday, the company went even further. It said it would not release its newest A.I. model, GPT-6.1 Astra, because of security concerns raised by its researchers.

Sheera Frenkel is a Times reporter based in the San Francisco Bay Area, covering defense and surveillance technology.

Dustin Volz writes about cybersecurity and intelligence for The Times. He is based in Washington.

Dylan Freedman is the A.I. projects editor for The Times, investigating a range of topics. He has experience as both a reporter and a machine-learning engineer.

ICE Plans 5,000 New Hires to Help With Deportation Drive

A similar surge last year resulted in undervetted officers initially being let in and then removed as the agency skipped basic checks for new recruits.

A group of masked men with riot gear faces the frame. They have yellow ERO labels on their ballistic bullet vests.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Newark, N.J. in May. The agency has staffed up drastically since President Trump took office, growing by about 8,000, to reach 29,000 employees as of July, according to federal data.

By Alexandra Berzon and Hamed Aleaziz

New York Times

Sept. 29, 2026, 11:23 a.m. ET

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is preparing for another hiring surge to support President Trump’s deportation campaign, with a goal of bringing on 5,000 new employees by the end of the year, according to four people familiar with the plans.

The hiring would expand the agency’s work force by around 17 percent and draw on substantial new funding provided by Congress. The agency had already staffed up drastically since President Trump took office, growing by about 8,000, to reach 29,000 employees as of July, according to federal data.

Most of the recruits are expected to be deportation officers, who participate in a variety of enforcement activities, from arresting targets to case management.

ICE has sharply ramped up its enforcement in the past few months with an aggressive arrest campaign bolstered by an infusion of more than $100 billion from Congress. Amid the campaign, agents have been under pressure to work seven days a week, and ICE offices have assigned more agents to immigration enforcement.

Last year’s hiring effort drew criticism for its size and speed, as officers were let into the agency with limited or no initial vetting. By the spring, hundreds of those new hires had been removed.

This time, the agency plans to employ stricter standards for checking out new hires, one person familiar with the procedures said. But it is unclear if ICE can adequately vet and hire an onslaught of new applicants or will run into some of the same concerns.

“Adequately vetting people takes time,” said Deborah Fleischaker, a former acting chief of staff at ICE under the Biden administration. “It’s more important to get it right than do it fast.”

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said the newest hiring efforts were an outgrowth of the new funding allocated to D.H.S. and unrelated to attrition from the previous surge in hires. The agency said it planned to maintain rigorous standards.

Federal law enforcement agencies have historically struggled to fill positions rapidly and under pressure without letting in people with problematic pasts, said Daniel Altman, a former U.S. Customs and Border Protection official who oversaw internal investigations for the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility.

“Over time we tend to see an increase in excessive force and other types of misconduct that can happen when you hire someone not suitable for a position.” Mr. Altman said.

The agency is still digging itself out of a vast backlog in vetting the backgrounds of officers and others who were brought on last year. Nearly 7,500 people are still waiting for the extensive background checks required for their positions, with an ability to work on a limited basis in the meantime, according to two people familiar with the process who were granted anonymity to be able to speak freely.

While it is not unusual to be in training or even sometimes put to work before a full background check, the number of hires still needing to be checked is far more than is typical, the people said.

The extensive checks are aided by third-party contractors but analyzed and reviewed by federal employees, who determine whether the person can continue working. There is intense pressure to get the checks done while the new hires are still in a probationary period, when they are easier to fire.

Normally, new hires receive preliminary checks before a full background check, which can take months. But last year, the agency began to make the initial determinations on recruits without completing a full security form, fingerprints or any polygraph testing.

The New York Times reported earlier this month that a high-level official who oversaw preliminary vetting in August 2025 filed a whistle-blower complaint with the inspector general at the Department of Homeland Security raising concerns about the practices. He wrote that the Trump administration was giving final job offers without proper preliminary vetting or any at all, violating the law and fast-tracking unqualified, “improperly vetted” candidates into ICE’s ranks, exposing the agency to “grave national security risks.”

Such concerns have come to the fore amid actions from some of the recruits hired last fall. Among them are David Brouillette, a new officer whose ex-wife identified him as the person who fired the fatal shots that killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian immigrant, in Biddeford, Maine, on July 13.

The Homeland Security Department did not make Mr. Brouillette available for an interview. In a statement, the department criticized efforts to publicly identify ICE officers.

Albert Sun and Michael Gold contributed reporting. Sheelagh McNeill contributed research.

Alexandra Berzon is an investigative reporter covering American politics and elections for The Times.

Hamed Aleaziz covers the Department of Homeland Security and immigration policy for The Times.

Supreme Court Allows Rapid Third-Country Deportations, for Now

The court also announced it would hear arguments in December on the legality of the Trump administration policy to swiftly deport immigrants to countries not their own.

A wide view of Boys Town Junction in Monrovia, Liberia. There are open-air markets and trucks on a dirt road.

Boys Town Junction in Monrovia, Liberia. The U.S. deportation deal with Liberia is one of the largest third-country deportation agreements struck by the Trump administration.Credit...Carielle Doe for The New York Times

By Abbie VanSickle

Reporting from Washington

Sept. 29, 2026

6:20 p.m. ET

The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave President Trump a temporary victory on a central piece of his mass deportation agenda, agreeing the administration can, for now, resume rapidly deporting immigrants to countries other than their own.

Although the justices cleared the way for the policy to continue, they also announced that the court would fast-track the case and hear oral arguments about it in December, setting up a final ruling on the issue next year and a new test for presidential power at the court.

The one-page emergency ruling was unsigned and gave no vote count, as is typical in such cases.

On the line in December will be Mr. Trump’s policy of sending people to countries where they have no ties, including nations that have faced allegations of human rights abuses. Among the countries migrants have been sent to are Liberia, Equatorial Guinea, Costa Rica, Honduras and the Central African Republic.

The court’s three liberal justices noted that they would have denied the government’s request to resume the deportations.

The justices asked the lawyers for the administration and the immigrants who challenged the policy to focus their briefing for the December argument on whether the lower court judge who had paused the swift deportations had the authority to do so, and whether the policy violated the Constitution and international protections against torture.

James Percival, the top lawyer at the Department of Homeland Security, celebrated the court’s ruling. In a statement, he called it a “victory.”

“A bad day for criminal illegals and open borders activists alike,” he said. “It’s not too late to get $3,000 and a flight home.” He ended his statement with a link to department instructions for immigrants on how to self-deport.

Trina A. Realmuto, a lawyer for the National Immigration Litigation Alliance and part of the team representing the immigrants, called the emergency decision “a devastating result.” The court, she said in a statement, “has allowed the administration to resume sending people to third countries where they face persecution or torture.”

But she pointed out that the court had agreed to hear full argument in December, saying that Tuesday’s decision “does not decide that the policy is lawful.”

The deportations had been blocked recently after a federal court ruled the administration could not deport migrants to third countries unless they were given an opportunity to contest their removals, including to voice concerns that they might be persecuted or tortured abroad.

The justices’ ruling means that the administration can, for now, continue its program and conduct rapid deportations including to countries like Equatorial Guinea, where U.S. deportees were hooded, bound and beaten by the police, according to reporting by The New York Times.

The justices had weighed in previously on the administration’s efforts to send immigrants to third countries.

In May 2025, the Trump administration asked the justices to step in and clear the way for third-country deportations after a federal judge in Massachusetts temporarily blocked the administration from sending people to countries not their own — in that case South Sudan — without the chance to object.

In a one-paragraph ruling, the court’s conservatives allowed the administration to continue the deportations over the noted dissents of the three liberals.

Since then, the Trump administration has continued to deport immigrants under the program, including to authoritarian countries with histories of human rights abuses. So far, the administration has sent more than 25,000 people to third countries as part of its mass deportation efforts, according to a social media post by Mr. Percival.

Some immigration and human rights experts have asserted that the third-country deportations may be part of a broader strategy by the Trump administration to encourage undocumented immigrants to leave on their own, rather than face the fear of being sent to a country where they have no ties.

In his brief, Solicitor General D. John Sauer characterized the third-country deportation program as “an essential tool to remove certain aliens, including some of the worst criminal aliens.”

Mr. Sauer wrote that the appeals court ruling had “created substantial logistical problems with ongoing removal operations,” including canceled deportation flights and disrupted delicate diplomatic negotiations with other countries.

Lawyers for a group of immigrants challenging their removals said in a brief that the Trump administration had ignored “the significant harm resulting from deporting thousands of longtime U.S. residents, many with no criminal history, to third countries without regard to the persecution or torture they face there.”

They argued that the Trump administration could avoid any delays in its deportation program simply by “providing the notice and opportunity to be heard that the law requires.”

Abbie VanSickle covers the United States Supreme Court for The Times. She is a lawyer and has an extensive background in investigative reporting.

Negatively Perceiving Ethiopia’s Pursuit of Legitimate Sea Access Problematic: African Affairs DG

Addis Ababa, September 28, 2026 (ENA) — Negatively perceiving Ethiopia’s legitimate pursuit of dependable access to the sea is problematic and reflects malicious concerns against the country, Director General for African Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Zerihun Abebe, said.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, Ambassador Zerihun emphasized that Ethiopia’s peace, development, prosperity, resilience, and renaissance are a blessing to the Red Sea region, rather than a threat.

Historically, Ethiopia has consistently contributed to efforts to counter terrorism and piracy, while working with neighboring countries to build their capacities and strengthen regional cooperation. 

"Our track record clearly shows we have been a force for peace, a force for development in the region," Ambassador Zerihun stated, highlighting Ethiopia's significant sacrifices in support of regional peace and stability, including in Sudan and Somalia.

The director-general pointed out that Ethiopia has legitimate maritime, security, demographic, political, and economic interests that underpin its pursuit of reliable access to the sea. 

 These interests are not exclusive to Ethiopia and can complement the interests of neighboring countries, contributing to broader regional stability. 

Ambassador Zerihun noted, "When we stand together in a region which is volatile, with various contending powers, it will help us come together and address our common challenges."

The ambassador also noted the shared security challenges facing countries around the Red Sea and its basin, including piracy, terrorism, and other security threats. 

Such common challenges should encourage countries in the region to strengthen cooperation. 

"For us, we are together, and we are destined to live together, and we share common interests", Ambassador Zerihun emphasized.

He added that perceiving Ethiopia's legitimate interest in a distorted manner is very problematic and clearly shows malicious interest against Ethiopia.

The director-general elaborated that Ethiopia’s quest for dependable, secure, and reliable access to the sea is based on economic, political, and security considerations. 

"So, perceiving Ethiopia's legitimate interest in a different way is very problematic, and it clearly shows the malicious interest against Ethiopia. But for Ethiopia, its quest for access to the sea is legitimate; and it has economic foundations, political foundations, security foundations."

Ethiopia’s Army Chief Accuses Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt of Supporting Tigray Rebels

By AMANUEL GEBREMEDHIN and SAMUEL GETACHEW

1:59 PM EDT, September 28, 2026

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — The head of Ethiopia’s army suggested that neighboring Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt were supporting rebel troops who have captured several strategic towns in renewed fighting in the north, drawing denials as the threat of a widening regional conflict grew on Monday.

Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, the chief of the general staff of the Ethiopian National Defense Force, on Friday accused Eritrea of mobilizing financial support for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF.

He said that Eritrea and the TPLF would need support from Sudan and Egypt, insinuating external interference, but without explaining further.

The TPLF and Ethiopian federal troops waged war between November 2020 and November 2022, when a peace deal was signed in Pretoria, South Africa. A caretaker administration seen as loyal to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was installed in Mekelle, the Tigray capital. But tensions remained, with the TPLF maneuvering for political control in Mekelle.

Over the weekend, TPLF fighters captured the key strategic town of Erebti in the northern Afar region, a commander told The Associated Press on Monday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak with the media.

An official with the Tigray Peace Force, a breakaway faction of the Tigray rebels now allied with federal forces in Afar, confirmed that the rebels took control of the town, although he denied that heavy fighting had taken place.

Doctors Without Borders, better known by its French acronym MSF, on Monday said that there had been a surge in the number of wounded receiving treatment in the north.

The number of patients in the Korem and Alamata hospitals rose from around 180 to more than 420 in 48 hours. MSF said that 300 wounded had arrived at northeastern Suhul Hospital last week.

Valerie Browning, the co-founder of the Afar Pastoralist Development Association, told The Associated Press about 150,000 people had been displaced.

Ethiopian federal authorities accused the TPLF of seeking to build an alliance with neighboring Eritrea to destabilize Ethiopia. Abiy’s push for sovereign access to the Eritrean seaport of Assab has reignited tensions with Eritrea, which shares a border with Tigray. Abiy also angered Somalia by trying to negotiate access to the sea via the territory of Somaliland.

Eritrea accused Ethiopia of shifting blame for the ongoing conflict. Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Meskel wrote on X that Ethiopia’s pursuit of access to the sea had rattled Eritrea and Somalia, while its move to host militia training in support of Sudan’s militia had put Ethiopia at odds with its neighbors.

A spokesperson for the Sudanese armed forces, in a statement, rejected Ethiopia’s accusations, saying that Ethiopia was offering support to militias fighting the Sudanese military, an apparent reference to the Rapid Support Forces, which have been battling Sudan’s army since 2023.

Eritrean troops fought alongside Ethiopian forces against the TPLF in the 2020-2022 Tigray conflict. The civilian death toll was estimated by Ghent University researchers to be 500,000, including from violence, famine and the collapse of health services.

Foreign Minister Lavrov Confirms Russia Will Block German Membership in UN Security Council

World » Europe

Russia has formally rejected Germany's ambitions to obtain a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, citing Berlin's failure to adhere to international agreements and its current military trajectory.

Sergei Lavrov

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org by Foreign and Commonwealth Office is licensed under OGL v1.0

Sergei Lavrov

The position was detailed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a briefing in New York following the 81st session of the UN General Assembly. Lavrov stated that Russia will block any attempt to grant Germany permanent membership in the Security Council, noting that such a move requires the consensus of all existing permanent members.

Lavrov linked this refusal to Germany's role in the Minsk agreements. He asserted that because Germany and France failed to fulfill obligations endorsed by the Security Council-effectively using them to gain time-Berlin demonstrated a lack of respect for the institution it now seeks to join.

Furthermore, Moscow argues that the Security Council should not be expanded to include more Western states, as the U. S., UK, and France already provide sufficient representation for that bloc. Russia maintains that any reform should exclusively benefit developing nations from Asia, Africa, and Latin America that maintain independent foreign policies. According to Lavrov, adding a member that aligns strictly with U. S. directives would render the reform meaningless.

Lavrov also criticized Germany's current military buildup. He argued that aspirations to possess the strongest army in Europe evoke the history of the Third Reich, suggesting that current German leadership has ignored the lessons of the Nuremberg trials.

This diplomatic friction follows a 20-minute meeting between Lavrov and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadeful, the first face-to-face contact between the two nations' foreign ministers since 2022. The meeting, initiated by Berlin, yielded no practical results.

During the talk, Wadeful called for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and proposed a mutual ceasefire in the Black Sea to ensure the safe passage of civilian vessels. The German side also raised allegations regarding explosive drones at Leipzig airport, which Berlin attributes to Russian intelligence services.

Lavrov dismissed these proposals and denied the accusations of sabotage, describing the encounter as an attempt to secure unilateral concessions from Russia in exchange for the mere resumption of contact.

Russian officials have pointed to the 1990 Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany (the "Two Plus Four" Treaty), which limits the German army to 370,000 personnel and stipulates that only peace shall emanate from German soil. Moscow contends that Berlin's recent military spending and modernization efforts violate the spirit of this treaty and the UN Charter's provisions regarding states that were adversaries in World War II.

Russian Researchers Find Potential Alternative to Conventional Jet Fuel

Science » Technologies and discoveries

Standard aviation kerosene relies on aromatic compounds that increase both carbon emissions and acoustic pressure during combustion. This chemical bottleneck makes aircraft loud and carbon-heavy. To bypass this, researchers from the Institute of Thermophysics SB RAS, Tomsk Polytechnic University, the South Russian State Polytechnic University, and chemists from Ufa developed a method to synthesize Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) from wood processing waste and agricultural residue.

An airplane smiling

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org by Piergiuliano Chesi, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

An airplane smiling

The engineering shift focuses on feedstock: instead of food crops, which compete with food security, the team used pine sawdust and sunflower husks. These materials are processed into a bio-kerosene that lacks the aromatics found in petroleum. This structural change alters the combustion process, reducing the sound pressure level during takeoff and flight.

From Biomass to Combustion

The production process creates a closed carbon loop. Plants absorb carbon dioxide during growth, which is then released during fuel combustion, preventing the addition of new carbon into the atmosphere. The team verified the fuel's stability through a three-stage test sequence: chemical composition analysis, evaluation of atomization and evaporation, and live firing tests in small-scale gas turbine units.

These tests measured a significant drop in pollutant output. Sulfur emissions fell by 90% and nitrogen oxides by 70%. Carbon monoxide emissions were reduced by 50%. From an acoustic standpoint, the noise level dropped by 10 dB.

Metric Bio-kerosene Result

Sulfur Dioxide Emissions -90%

Nitrogen Oxide Emissions -70%

Noise Level -10 dB

Engine Thrust -10%

System Limits and Deployment

The primary trade-off is a 10% reduction in engine thrust. While the engine remains stable and safe within operational norms, this loss of power is the current performance bottleneck. However, the fuel is chemically compatible with existing gas turbine engines and complies with ICAO environmental standards, meaning it requires no structural modifications to aircraft for deployment.

The current limit is economic. While the raw materials-sawdust and husks-are cheap and abundant in Russia's forestry and agricultural regions, the cost of synthesis may initially exceed that of traditional kerosene. The viability of the technology depends on scaling these regional production hubs and the potential introduction of carbon taxes on petroleum fuels.

Alexandar Vucic Calls the Kremlin Before Resigning as Serbia’s President

World » Europe

Serbia's president has decided to leave office in order to participate in the upcoming parliamentary election. His call to Moscow before resigning points to particular expectations

Aleksandar Vučić

Vučić's Kremlin call set the price of gas for Serbia

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has resigned and is now able to participate in the parliamentary election scheduled for October 25. Before doing so, he called the Kremlin and apparently sought assurances that he would remain loyal to Russia in his new role as prime minister.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today that Russia expects constructive cooperation with Serbia to continue in full, since "interstate ties are fundamental in nature and do not depend on changes in specific individuals holding senior positions.” This argument has not always held up, but there have also been cases pointing in the opposite direction, such as Syria, where Damascus's dependence on oil and food supplies played a decisive role.

Serbia also purchases Russian oil and gas, as well as weapons. As Vučić himself said, Belgrade expects to retain a preferential price for Russian gas of $318 per 1,000 cubic meters instead of the market price of $868, which he presented as a key element of stability for the Serbian economy ahead of the election. Recent Serbian reports put the preferential gas price at about €318 per 1,000 cubic meters, compared with €868 on the TTF market.

Kosovo and Metohija remain a central issue for Serbian voters

But the position of Serbian voters is also crucial. A large majority of Serbian society opposes recognizing Kosovo's independence, while Russia is formally opposed to the transfer of Kosovo and Metohija to Albanian control. Vučić's party declares its support for this position, while the "Student Union” has not clearly stated its position.

According to opinion polls, formal recognition of Kosovo's independence remains a major taboo in Serbian society, with only 8% to 13% of citizens supporting it. If the question is framed as "recognizing Kosovo in exchange for accelerated accession to the European Union,” support rises only slightly, ranging from 13% to 21%, depending on the sample and the year of the survey. Around 77% of Serbs are categorically opposed to such a deal.

This position also allowed Vučić to preside over the burial of General Ratko Mladić with military honors. Mladić remains a national hero to many Serbs, who view him as someone who defended the Serbian people and the country's territorial integrity. Vučić himself did not attend the funeral, but his son Danilo, Defense Minister Bratislav Gašić and Justice Minister Nenad Vujić went there in a conspicuous show of support. This once again highlights Vučić's ability to balance relations between Moscow and Brussels.

Milan Knežević, chairman of Montenegro's Democratic People's Party, said today in Belgrade that if the "students” win the election, the destruction of Serbia will begin.

According to the latest opinion polls as of September 2026, the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) would receive 48.6% of the vote, while the "Student List” would receive 37.1%.

The figures come from a Faktor Plus poll conducted from September 16 to 20 among 986 respondents. The survey put the Vučić-led "United Serbia” list at 48.6% and the Student List at 37.1%.

What Serbia's loyalty means for Russia

Brussels is expected to respond with strong criticism and accusations if Vučić's party wins the election. Serbia's EU integration process, which has already been slowed by Belgrade's position on sanctions against Russia and Kosovo, could be formally put on hold, potentially leading to another serious diplomatic crisis between Belgrade and the EU.

For Russia, Serbia's continued alignment is a strategic interest in Europe, providing what can be described as a "window into Europe” and limiting NATO's ability to establish complete control over the Balkans. Serbian airline Air Serbia is one of the few European carriers that continues to operate direct flights to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan and Sochi, connecting Russia with the rest of the world.

Gazprom-linked structures own the refinery in Pančevo, while the United States regularly grants temporary authorizations for its operations. This has taken place amid Vučić's efforts to balance Serbia's relationships with multiple sides, including Moscow, Brussels and Washington.

The duties of Serbia's president have temporarily passed to parliamentary speaker Ana Brnabić, a longtime ally of Vučić. Early presidential elections must be held by the end of December. Serbia's government confirmed that Brnabić would serve as acting president for no more than three months and that the presidential vote must take place within that period.

Russian Strikes Hit Ukrainian Data Processing Centers, Energy Facilities

The Russian Armed Forces also struck infrastructure and facilities at the Vasilkov military airfield in the Kiev Region

© Alexander Polegenko/TASS

MOSCOW, September 28. /TASS/. Overnight, the Russian Armed Forces continued to carry out strikes with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on logistics and communications centers, port infrastructure facilities, and marine vessels used in the interests of the Ukrainian armed forces, the Russian Defense Ministry reporte

TASS has compiled the key information on the strikes’ results.

Defense Ministry’s statement

- Overnight, the Russian Armed Forces continued to launch UAV strikes against logistics and communications centers, port infrastructure facilities, and marine vessels used in the interests of the Ukrainian armed forces, the ministry reported.

Targets of strikes

- According to the ministry, a data processing center of the Ukrtelecom company was hit in Kiev.

- It is a major company providing fixed-line and mobile communication services, as well as high-speed Internet, to the Ukrainian armed forces.

- In addition, Russian forces hit a data processing center of the Dreamline company in Kiev.

- It is a major provider of high-speed Internet services for the Ukrainian armed forces, including intelligence data storage.

- Fuel infrastructure facilities used by the Ukrainian military were also hit in Kiev.

- The Russian Armed Forces also struck infrastructure and facilities at the Vasilkov military airfield in the Kiev Region.

- A Nova Post logistics center that was storing military cargo was struck in Odessa.

- Russian forces also struck a dry-cargo vessel with military equipment and dual-use cargoes for the Ukrainian armed forces at the Cherrnomorsk port.

- In addition, the infrastructure of the Dunaisudoservis plant, a major shipbuilding and ship repair enterprise engaged in the restoration and modernization of vessels, maintenance and reconfiguration of patrol boats, was struck at the port of Izmail.

- A base of a Ukrainian State Border Service unit was also hit on the plant’s premises.

- In addition, the Russian Armed Forces struck a dry-cargo vessel at sea that was delivering military cargoes to the Odessa port.

Situation in Ukraine

- A warehouse of the German company Karcher was destroyed in Ukraine as a result of an explosion, the company’s press service reported on Facebook (banned in Russia; belongs to Meta Corporation, recognized as extremist in Russia).

- It added that the company was proceeding to Plan B that envisages the use of alternative supply routes for its products to Ukraine.

- Several gas stations were damaged in Kiev’s Obolonsky district, Vitali Klitschko, the Ukrainian capital’s mayor, reported on Telegram.

Russian Troops Liberate Two Communities in Ukraine Operation Over Past Day — Top Brass

Russia’s Battlegroup North is tightening the encirclement of Ukrainian troops in the northeast of the Kharkov Region

© Alexey Konovalov/TASS

MOSCOW, September 28. /TASS/. Russian troops liberated two communities in the Sumy Region and the Donetsk People’s Republic over the past 24 hours in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported.

"Battlegroup North units took control of the settlement of Ulanovo in the Sumy Region through decisive operations. <…> Battlegroup Center units liberated the settlement of Novovodyanoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic through active operations," the ministry said in a statement.

Kiev loses 1,350 troops along engagement line in past day - latest figures

The Ukrainian army lost roughly 1,350 troops in battles with Russian forces in all the frontline areas over the past 24 hours, according to the latest data on the special military operation in Ukraine released by Russia’s Defense Ministry.

The latest figures show that the Ukrainian army lost over 285 troops and an armored combat vehicle in the responsibility area of Russia’s Battlegroup North, more than 210 troops and an armored combat vehicle in the responsibility area of the Battlegroup West and over 190 troops, a US-made armored personnel carrier and four armored combat vehicles in the responsibility area of the Battlegroup South.

During the last 24-hour period, the Ukrainian army also lost roughly 460 troops and three armored combat vehicles in the responsibility area of Russia’s Battlegroup Center, about 180 troops and four armored combat vehicles in the responsibility area of the Battlegroup East and around 25 troops and eight motor vehicles in the responsibility area of the Battlegroup Dnepr, the latest figures show.

Russia’s Battlegroup North tightens encirclement of Ukrainian troops in Kharkov Region

Russia’s Battlegroup North is tightening the encirclement of Ukrainian troops in the northeast of the Kharkov Region and fighting for the liberation of four communities in that area, the ministry reported.

"Battlegroup North units are tightening the ring of encirclement of Ukrainian armed formations in the northeast of the Kharkov Region and expanding the external area of control. In the surrounded area, they are engaged in battles for the communities of Nesternoye, Lukashovo, Grachevka and Rublenoye in the Kharkov Region. They are also destroying enemy formations in areas near the settlements of Varvarovka, Chyornoye, Nefyodovka and Kupino in the Kharkov Region," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army lost roughly 60 troops, two all-terrain vehicles and a ground robotic vehicle in the encircled area in the Kharkov Region over the past 24 hours, it specified.

In their operations to expand the external area of control in the Kharkov Region, Battlegroup North units continue battles for the settlement of Prikolotnoye, it said.

In addition, over the last 24-hour period, Battlegroup North units "inflicted losses on manpower and equipment of three heavy mechanized brigades, two mechanized brigades, two motorized infantry brigades, an assault regiment of the Ukrainian army, a territorial defense brigade and a National Guard brigade in areas near the settlements of Slatino, Liptsy, Pitomnik, Tsupovka, Zhukov Yar, Veliky Burluk, Mikhailovka, Kutuzovka and Shestakovo in the Kharkov Region," the ministry reported.

In the Sumy direction, Battlegroup North units struck enemy manpower and UAV control posts of two mechanized brigades and an airmobile brigade of the Ukrainian army in areas near the settlements of Kiyanitsa and Khoten in the Sumy Region and the city of Sumy, it said.

Overall, the Ukrainian army lost more than 285 personnel, an armored combat vehicle, 21 motor vehicles, a field artillery gun and three electronic warfare stations in the areas of responsibility of Russia’s Battlegroup North over the past 24 hours, it specified.

Russia’s Battlegroup West inflicts over 210 casualties on Ukrainian army in past day

Russia’s Battlegroup West inflicted more than 210 casualties on Ukrainian troops and destroyed an enemy armored combat vehicle in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.

"Battlegroup West units improved their forward positions and inflicted losses on manpower and equipment of two mechanized brigades of the Ukrainian army, a marine infantry brigade, a territorial defense brigade and a National Guard brigade in areas near the settlements of Volchy Yar, Bogorodichnoye, Sidorovo, Donetskoye, Lozovoye and Raigorodok in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Kovalevka, Osinovo, Grushevka, Maleyevka, Chervony Oskol and Shevchenkovo in the Kharkov Region," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army lost more than 210 personnel, an armored combat vehicle, 12 motor vehicles and an artillery gun in that frontline area over the past 24 hours, it said.

Russia’s Battlegroup South inflicts over 190 casualties on Ukrainian army in past day

Russia’s Battlegroup South inflicted more than 190 casualties on Ukrainian troops and destroyed a US-made armored personnel carrier and four enemy armored combat vehicles in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.

"Battlegroup South units gained better lines and positions and inflicted losses on formations of three mechanized brigades, a mountain assault brigade, a motorized infantry brigade, two airmobile brigades of the Ukrainian army and a marine infantry brigade in areas near the settlements of Vysokoivanovka, Druzhkovka, Slavyansk, Nikolayevka, Kramatorsk, Chervonozoryanoye, Krasny Molochar and Nikonorovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army lost more than 190 personnel, a US-made M113 armored personnel carrier, four armored combat vehicles, 23 motor vehicles, a field artillery gun and a Grad multiple rocket launcher in that frontline area over the past 24 hours, it specified.

Russia’s Battlegroup Center inflicts 460 casualties on Ukrainian army in past day

Russia’s Battlegroup Center inflicted roughly 460 casualties on Ukrainian troops and destroyed three enemy armored combat vehicles in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.

During the last 24-hour period, Battlegroup Center units "inflicted losses on manpower and equipment of three mechanized brigades, an assault brigade of the Ukrainian army, a marine infantry brigade and three National Guard brigades in areas near the settlements of Belozerskoye, Sergeyevka, Yuryevka, Novofyodorovka, Novogrigorovka, Roganskoye, Maryevka, Pervomaiskoye and Vesyoloye Pole in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Novopavlovka and Novolozovatovka in the Dnepropetrovsk Region," the ministry said.

In Dobropolye in the Donetsk People’s Republic over the past 24 hours, assault groups of the 51st Army of the Battlegroup Center advanced in the western direction in the town’s northeastern, central and southern parts. Marine infantry units operated in the eastern part of Dobropolye and destroyed an enemy stronghold. During the last 24-hour period, Battlegroup Center units liberated 70 buildings and destroyed up to 30 Ukrainian troops in Dobropolye, the ministry reported.

Overall, the Ukrainian army lost an estimated 460 personnel, three armored combat vehicles, 14 motor vehicles and a Grad multiple rocket launcher in the responsibility area of Russia’s Battlegroup Center over the past 24 hours, it specified.

Russia’s Battlegroup East inflicts 180 casualties on Ukrainian army in past day

Russia’s Battlegroup East inflicted roughly 180 casualties on Ukrainian troops and destroyed four enemy armored combat vehicles in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.

"Battlegroup East units continued advancing deep into the enemy’s defenses and inflicted losses on manpower and equipment of a mechanized brigade, an airmobile brigade, two air assault brigades and an assault regiment of the Ukrainian army in areas near the settlements of Omelnik, Vasinovka, Mirolyubovka, Kiyevskoye, Obshcheye, Golubkovo and Samoilovka in the Zaporozhye Region, Orly, Dibrova, Vsesvyatskoye and Podgavrilovka in the Dnepropetrovsk Region," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army lost an estimated 180 personnel, four armored combat vehicles, 10 motor vehicles and two artillery guns in that frontline area over the past 24 hours, it specified.

Russia’s Battlegroup Dnepr eliminates 25 Ukrainian troops in past day

Russia’s Battlegroup Dnepr eliminated roughly 25 Ukrainian troops and destroyed eight enemy motor vehicles in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.

"Battlegroup Dnepr units improved their forward positions and inflicted losses on formations of a mechanized brigade, a mountain assault brigade, an assault regiment of the Ukrainian army and a territorial defense brigade in areas near the settlements of Preobrazhenka, Yurkovka, Kirovo, Orekhov and Yulyevka in the Zaporozhye Region and the city of Zaporozhye," the ministry said.

"Up to 25 Ukrainian military personnel and eight motor vehicles were destroyed," it said.

Russian troops strike Ukrainian UAV assembly workshops over past day

Russian troops struck Ukrainian UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) assembly workshops and enemy deployment sites over the past 24 hours, the ministry reported.

"Operational/tactical aircraft, attack unmanned aerial vehicles, missile troops and artillery of the Russian groups of forces struck workshops producing and sites storing unmanned aerial vehicles and their components, and also temporary deployment areas of Ukrainian armed formations and foreign mercenaries in 151 locations," the ministry said.

Russian air defenses intercept 442 Ukrainian UAVs, 10 smart bombs over past day

Russian air defense forces intercepted and destroyed 442 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles and 10 smart bombs over the past 24 hours, the ministry reported.

"Air defense capabilities shot down 10 guided aerial bombs and 442 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles," the ministry said.

Tally of Ukrainian army’s losses

Overall, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 674 Ukrainian combat aircraft, 284 helicopters, 247,289 unmanned aerial vehicles, 672 surface-to-air missile systems, 31,058 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,783 multiple rocket launchers, 36,581 field artillery guns and mortars and 73,082 special military motor vehicles since the start of the special military operation, the ministry reported.