What the rest of the world is reading today.

A digest of top world and technology headlines, pulled from a handful of publisher feeds once a day and stored here. Every link goes straight to the original story.

September 22, 2026

80 stories published this day.

Around the world

Australia news live: ABC watchdog criticises ‘culture of secrecy’ and factchecking at Four Corners

The Guardian

Follow the day’s news liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAssistant treasurer maintains ‘appropriate protections’ needed on big techDaniel Mulino, the assistant treasurer, maintained the government plans to put in place “appropriate” protections on big tech after warnings from the White House against any “censorship” of protected speech.We have stressed that at the heart of our policy response is choice, that we’ve said that people should have the right to opt out of the algorithms, but that on the policies that we’ve put forward in their current form, that the default would be for those algorithms to be what would apply, but that people would have choice.I would expect … that we would apply this to digital platforms no matter where their origin is, and that’s the right position to take when it comes to regulating technology in a way that is achieving the right policy outcomes. Continue reading...

Trump defends actions in Iran and Venezuela in UN General Assembly address amid rising tensions with allies – live

The Guardian

Trump threatens to ‘annihilate’ Iran and ‘drive them into Hell’ if there isn’t a deal, while also underscoring US policy on Cuba, Mexico, Greenland and AISign up for US Breaking News emailsTrump is arriving at the UN HQ right now.After very brief doorstep comments – almost exclusively mocking CNN - he answers a reporter’s very loud question by saying his message to Putin is: “settle the war.” Continue reading...

California and New York sue over Trump push to halt wind energy projects

The Guardian

US officials have begun to buy back wind leases as president seek to block renewables in favor of fossil fuelsDemocratic attorneys general from California and New York have sued the Trump administration over its plans to buy back offshore wind leases as Donald Trump seeks to discourage the expansion of wind energy in favor of fossil fuels.California attorney general Rob Bonta said he was suing over removal of a project off his state’s coast planned by Chicago-based Invenergy. The Trump administration said in June it was buying back the company’s US offshore wind leases for four wind projects on the east and west coasts. Continue reading...

Iran and US hold talks on sidelines of UN summit, says Trump

The Guardian

Senior Iranian official indicates willingness to reopen strait of Hormuz if US takes steps to ease pressure on TehranIranian officials held three hours of talks with US special envoy Steve Witkoff on the sidelines of the UN general assembly, Donald Trump disclosed on Tuesday.He said there would a further meeting in the very near future. Continue reading...

Hats, pencils and baby pacifiers: Yellowstone staffers retrieve record amount of trash from hot springs

The Guardian

The park is the most highly visited and strong winds make trash problem worse, with gusts blowing away itemsHold on to your hats – Yellowstone national park staffers have removed a record-setting 20,100 pieces of trash from hydrothermal areas around the geyser-filled park so far this yearThe most commonly found items include 280 hats, 54 camera lens caps, 47 hair ties, 42 pencils, 36 pairs of sunglasses, 20 hotel key cards and 17 baby pacifiers. Continue reading...

Trump made over 1,000 July stock trades worth up to $270m, filings reveal

The Guardian

President made more than 440 purchases and 700 sales despite voter anger over elected officials trading stocksDonald Trump made over a thousand stock sales and purchases worth between $79m and $270m in July, according to a Guardian analysis of his latest financial disclosure released Tuesday.His two largest sales were of Amazon and Microsoft stock, selling between $5m and $25m each on 20 July. That same day, he also sold up to $5m worth of Oracle and Costco stock, $500,000 to $1m in Nvidia, and bought up to $5m worth of shares in Intuit and Salesforce, among dozens of other transactions. Continue reading...

Trump praises relations with Burnham despite tensions over AI and Iran

The Guardian

US president calls UK prime minister ‘a natural businessperson’ as leaders meet at UN assembly in New YorkDonald Trump has asserted his relationship with the UK is “more up” with Andy Burnham than under Keir Starmer despite tensions between the two countries on a range of thorny issues including regulation of artificial intelligence, the Chagos islands and the war in Iran.At their first face-to-face meeting, the US president praised Burnham, who sat nervously alongside him, as a “natural businessperson”, saying he thought he had “lots of assets on his side” and would be a “great” prime minister. Continue reading...

Choosin’ Texas unseats All I Want for Christmas as longest-running No 1 song on Billboard Hot 100

The Guardian

Ella Langley’s record-breaking song has spent 23 weeks at the top, surpassing Mariah Carey’s holiday anthemElla Langley’s hit song Choosin’ Texas has made Billboard Hot 100 history, spending 23 weeks on the chart and breaking the record for the longest-running No 1 song in the chart’s 68-year old history.The track, which was released last October as the lead single on the 27-year-old singer and songwriter’s album Dandelion, has surpassed Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You, which topped the charts for 22 weeks. Continue reading...

Middle East crisis: Trump says Iran will make a deal after US midterms – as it happened

The Guardian

This live blog is now closed.Tehran appears to have relaxed its preconditions for reopening the strait of Hormuz, saying it is prepared to do so within seven days so long as the US takes reciprocal steps to ease the pressure on Iran.Previously Iran had set seven onerous pre-conditions for lifting the blockade including “an end to war on all fronts” and a commitment by the US to cease all aggressive actions against Iran including sanctions. Continue reading...

Hurricane Polo, rapidly intensifying from strong El Niño patterns, rages off coast of Mexico

The Guardian

Polo, with sustained winds of 165mph, is churning 215 miles south of Zihuatanejo but is unlikely to directly hit MexicoA tropical storm off the south-west coast of Mexico has intensified into a category 5 monster in fewer than 24 hours, fueled by stronger than usual El Niño weather patterns in the Pacific Ocean.Hurricane Polo was sending out maximum sustained winds of 165mph (266km/h) on Tuesday as its center churned about 215 miles (346km) south of the coastal city of Zihuatanejo, in Guerrero state. Continue reading...

In tech

Rabbit’s new AI agent doesn’t need an R1 to run

The Verge

Rabbit, the company behind the underwhelming R1 device, is rolling out a standalone AI agent that you don't need its hardware to use, as reported earlier by Wired. The startup says its new OS3 "agentic operating system" runs in the cloud but operates locally across Windows, Mac, and Linux devices. According to Rabbit, you can […]

Saudi Arabia’s new Exobot EVs make the Cybertruck look normal

The Verge

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is mostly known for its global dominance over petroleum production and oil reserves - not necessarily cars and auto manufacturing, and certainly not electric vehicle production. So it was a little surprising on Monday when a Saudi startup called Ceer unveiled a pair of hyper-angular, spaceship-like EVs, with plans to […]

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 comes in an Extreme version too

The Verge

Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, this year joined by the 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 too. The company describes both new phone chips as flagships, and the spec differences are relatively minor, mostly limited to improved AI processing, video capture, and gaming performance on the Extreme model. Both Gen 6 chips […]

Motorola’s wild-looking Signature 27 runs Qualcomm’s new Extreme chipset

The Verge

Motorola is the first company to announce a phone running Qualcomm's top-end Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chip. The Signature 27 looks set to be Motorola's most advanced flagship in some years, though we're still waiting for the full specs, price, and release date. Any prospective buyers will first have to get over the […]

Apple clarifies that Texture and Grain controls are exclusive to the latest iPhones’ cameras

The Verge

Apple's new texture and grain controls for stylizing photos will be more limited on older phones than initially expected. A confusingly worded press release from Apple indicated that the new features, announced alongside the iPhone 18 and 18 Pro earlier this month, would be "available" on older devices like the iPhone 16 and iPhone Air […]

Score free Pixel Buds 2A when you preorder a Googlebook at Best Buy

The Verge

The Android-powered Googlebooks are coming soon, with familiar brands and specs that rival Windows Copilot machines. For anyone eager to get their hands on any the new laptops, there’s a preorder perk you may want to know about lasting until October 25th, 2026. When you add a Googlebook to your cart at Best Buy, a […]

Save $30 on Apple’s Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and a numpad

The Verge

Until the end of the day on September 22nd, 2026, Best Buy and Amazon have the black Apple Magic Keyboard on sale for $169.99, a $30 discount from the usual price. This is the souped-up version of Apple’s full-size, wireless keyboard, with a Touch ID button, numerical pad, arrow keys, plus additional function keys. The […]

San Francisco sues Trump Media for selling early access to Trump posts

The Verge

San Francisco is suing the Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company behind Truth Social, for selling early access to President Donald Trump's posts on the social media site. The lawsuit, filed today in California state court, alleges that the Truth API feed is a "corrupt business scheme" that violates both California's Unfair Competition […]

Apple is reportedly working on a Whoop-like fitness tracker

The Verge

Apple is working on a new fitness tracker with a screenless design, similar to the one made by Whoop, according to a report from Bloomberg. A prototype of the device reportedly has "a thin fabric band with a sensor-equipped computing module." The device is in an early stage of development and likely wouldn't arrive before […]

Andreessen Horowitz is launching an ‘academy’ with no homework and partnerships with Palantir, Google, and Meta

The Verge

Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is creating an "academy" positioned as a pipeline for young people to build or join a Silicon Valley startup. The "Horowitz Andreessen Academy" will launch with 10 partners, including Anduril, Anthropic, Coinbase, Google, Meta, Nvidia, OpenAI, Palantir, Replit, and Stripe, along with $42 million in funding led by a16z. […]

Rabbit Is Back, This Time With an AI Agent App

Wired

Two years after trying to sidestep mobile apps with dedicated AI hardware, Rabbit is launching OS3, a cross-platform agent that lives on the screens you already use.

The UK Government Faces a Reckoning Over Palantir

Wired

Andy Burnham once kept Palantir out of Greater Manchester. His first test as prime minister is whether to cut the company’s £330 million NHS contract—and risk a rupture with Big Tech and Washington.