World
The 81st UN General Assembly opened its general debate in New York on September 22, with President Donald Trump using his address to defend the war with Iran and call for the country's complete economic isolation until it stops supporting armed groups. He said the United States Navy has escorted more than a billion barrels of oil out of the Strait of Hormuz, and he praised a Security Council resolution condemning attacks on commercial shipping. Trump also criticised what he called the UN's globalist agenda, opposed the International Criminal Court and global taxation, and said he wants artificial intelligence rebranded as superintelligence. The Cuban delegation walked out after he described Cuba as a failed state. Gaza, Ukraine and climate finance are also on the week's agenda.
Al Jazeera, CBS News, NBC News
Politics
The White House has barred CNN, MS Now and Politico from routine press access, a step the administration links to what it calls unfair coverage. Correspondents for the three outlets have been excluded from briefings and pooled events since September 21, according to reports, and the organisations say they are still reporting from outside the building. Three news companies are now suing the administration, arguing that naming individual outlets violates the First Amendment. On Capitol Hill, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee is demanding documents and answers about how the ban was decided. Lawmakers also say they were not briefed before the administration announced a new AI Force, and want details on its size, mandate and budget before any funding moves.
Democracy Now, Politico, ABC News
Business
The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point on September 16, lifting the target range to 3.75% to 4% in a unanimous 12-0 vote. It was the first increase in more than three years and the first policy move under Chair Kevin Warsh, and the September dot plot signals one more hike this year. Energy is the main driver: Brent settled at $107.63 a barrel on September 10, West Texas Intermediate settled at $102.48, and diesel hit a record $5.94 a gallon. Higher fuel costs flow into trucking, rail, air cargo and warehouse operations, and logistics firms report that customers are already asking to renegotiate annual contracts.
CNBC, Axios, Fortune, Reuters
Technology
OpenAI's Project Camellia, announced in July, puts a 1,441-acre data centre campus at the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub in Effingham County, Georgia, near Rincon. The plan calls for four buildings and 3.2 gigawatts of power under a 25-year agreement with Georgia Power, delivered in phases between 2028 and 2032. The disclosed initial investment is at least $20 billion, and the company's vice president of compute strategy has said the full build-out will exceed $30 billion. It is the first campus OpenAI designs, builds and operates itself. The schedule highlights the real bottleneck: model releases keep arriving while power, land and chip supply do not arrive until 2028 at the earliest.
Bloomberg, Axios, Build Fast with AI
Science
The AnWj antigen was identified in 1972 and named after two patients, Anton and Wj, but nobody could say which gene produced it. Researchers at NHS Blood and Transplant's International Blood Group Reference Laboratory in Bristol, with the University of Bristol and international partners, have now found the answer on the MAL gene. That created MAL, the 47th blood group system, registered as ISBT 047 and ratified in the society's 2026 terminology report alongside ER, CD36 and ATP11C. AnWj-negative people do not carry the full-length Mal protein on their red cells. The practical gain is a genetic test that helps reference laboratories find compatible blood faster for patients who would react to AnWj-positive transfusions.
University of Bristol, ScienceDaily, ISBT
Sports
Paramount Skydance settled the antitrust lawsuit 12 states brought over its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, according to reports on September 21. California Attorney General Rob Bonta led the group, which sued in July to block the $110.9 billion deal, and a trial had been set for March 2027. The settlement removes the last major legal obstacle and avoids a ticking fee of roughly $7 million a day that was due to start on October 1. Concessions include independent editorial boards for CNN and CBS, extra production spending and the sale of cable channels. The merger combines TNT Sports and CBS Sports, two of the largest portfolios of live rights in the United States.
Front Office Sports, Sports Business Journal, The Hollywood Reporter
Health
A study published on September 21 finds that chronic inflammation, the low-grade kind tied to stress, lifestyle, mental health and socioeconomic conditions, may change the heart long before symptoms appear. People with the highest inflammation levels faced a 43% greater risk of heart attack and related cardiac events, which suggests risk builds quietly over years rather than starting on the day a patient reaches an emergency room. The work lands alongside other findings this month: eight common preservatives in processed foods were linked to higher rates of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, and a review of more than 153,000 adults found calcium and vitamin D supplements do little to prevent fractures or falls.
ScienceDaily, Journal of the American Medical Association
Environment
Forecasters expect a historic super El Nino to peak between November 2026 and January 2027, and aid agencies are already planning for the consequences. The International Rescue Committee warns the pattern could quickly worsen food security across Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, where subsistence farmers depend on a short rainy season. Conflict-disrupted shipping has also pushed up the cost of imported food, fuel and fertiliser, leaving households with less room to absorb a failed harvest. Meanwhile Indonesia is fighting its most intense fire season in 11 years, with Malaysia sending assistance, and China put August disaster losses at 36.03 billion yuan, about $5.38 billion.
Reuters, IRC, China应急管理部