Sunday, September 27, 2026
World Brief Now

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9 PM CT update·Sunday, September 27, 2026

Trump expects Iran talks as early as Monday; Anthropic’s Amodei dines at White House; Starship eyes first orbit at dawn

Bessent says Iran’s China oil lifeline nearly dry; SCOTUS third-country deportation response still due Monday 4 p.m. EDT; DOT still set Monday for ~34.5 mpg CAFE.

9 PM CT video brief · 1:42Presenter voice and image generated with AI tools.
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I'm Nora Vale with your 9 PM World Brief for Sunday, September 27. Trump expects Iran talks this week; mediators eyed Monday. Bessent: Iran oil lifeline to China nearly dry. Russia hits Kyivstar HQ; Moscow claims Vodafone data-center strike. Zelenskyy: Kyiv data center hit twice. Anthropic CEO Amodei set for private White House dinner with Trump after Pentagon supply-chain-risk ruling. SpaceX still targeting Starship Flight 14 Monday from Starbase — first orbital try; 26 Starlink V3 satellites. In national weather, from the National Weather Service: Hurricane Nolo, with top winds near 130 mph, may bring impacts to parts of Hawaii. A round of heavy rain and embedded thunderstorms associated with the meandering Nor'easter is forecast to impact southern New England to the northern Mid-Atlantic through tonight and into Monday. Our opinion. Iran needs real enrichment limits in writing. Ukraine needs an endgame. Win the AI race. Full stories and sources are at WorldBriefNow.com. I'm Nora Vale. Thanks for watching.

In this update

  1. Update: Trump expects more Iran talks this week; Qatari mediators eyed Monday as Bessent says oil lifeline nearly dry
  2. Update: Russia hits Kyivstar headquarters; defense ministry claims Vodafone Ukraine data-center strike
  3. Update: South Africa police arrest first Wedela tavern suspect in Limpopo; eight still sought
  4. Update: DOT still set Monday to finalize ~34.5 mpg CAFE target, ending Biden EV push
  5. Update: Pocket-rescission clock still runs toward Wednesday fiscal-year end
  6. No new Sunday night orders; third-country deportation response still due Monday 4 p.m. EDT
  7. Update: SpaceX still targeting Monday morning for Starship Flight 14 — first orbital try from Starbase, Texas
  8. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei set for private White House dinner with Trump Sunday night

Published · Updated 9:11 PM CT
8 stories · 12 linked sources

World3 stories

Middle East9 PM CT

Update: Trump expects more Iran talks this week; Qatari mediators eyed Monday as Bessent says oil lifeline nearly dry

One day after rejecting Tehran’s seven-day Hormuz reopening plan, President Donald Trump told Axios in a Sunday phone interview that he expects U.S. negotiators to engage in more talks with Iran this week, saying, “They want to make a deal, but it is not the deal that I want to make. It is what we would have maybe agreed to a year ago. They overplayed their hand.” Two regional sources told Axios they expect another round of indirect U.S.-Iran dialogue as early as Monday, with Qatari mediators set to meet separately with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Fox News Sunday that only about 15 million barrels of Iranian oil remain for delivery to China and that Iran will soon have “nothing left to trade,” citing Operation Economic Outcast and the U.S. port blockade.

Sources
Ukraine9 PM CT

Update: Russia hits Kyivstar headquarters; defense ministry claims Vodafone Ukraine data-center strike

Russia hit the headquarters of Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile service provider, on Sunday, with the company telling Interfax Ukraine there were no casualties among staff, Reuters reported. Russia’s defense ministry said it also struck a data center belonging to Vodafone Ukraine, the country’s second-largest cell network; Vodafone Ukraine did not immediately comment. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia struck a data center in Kyiv twice on Sunday morning, wounding two children and an adult, as Moscow continued targeting communications infrastructure.

Sources
Africa9 PM CT

Update: South Africa police arrest first Wedela tavern suspect in Limpopo; eight still sought

South African police arrested a man in Tzaneen, Limpopo, believed linked to Saturday night’s tavern massacre in Wedela near Carletonville that killed 17 people and wounded 15, PrimeTime News reported Sunday, citing Gauteng Police Commissioner Gen. Tommy Mthombeni. Investigators said blood-stained evidence recovered at the tavern strengthened the case against the suspect in custody, while a manhunt continued for eight other gunmen who witnesses said arrived in two unmarked vehicles with AK-47s and handguns. Authorities opened 17 murder charges, 15 counts of attempted murder and two counts of malicious damage to property; the motive remained unclear.

Sources

White House / President2 stories

Energy & Autos9 PM CT

Update: DOT still set Monday to finalize ~34.5 mpg CAFE target, ending Biden EV push

The Transportation Department remains set Monday to finalize sharply lower Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards after President Donald Trump said Saturday he approved new rules that terminate what he called the Biden administration’s EV mandate, the New York Post reported. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the administration would formally announce the change Monday. Under Biden, automakers faced a 50.4 mpg standard; a December proposal would lower the fleetwide average to about 34.5 mpg for cars and light trucks in model year 2031. AAA had the national average for regular gasoline at $4.48 a gallon on Saturday.

Sources
Spending9 PM CT

Update: Pocket-rescission clock still runs toward Wednesday fiscal-year end

The Trump administration’s pocket rescission of about $810 million in congressionally approved spending — announced Friday and still pending as the federal fiscal year ends Wednesday, Sept. 30 — includes some $567 million aimed at Health and Human Services programs supporting refugees, asylees and other noncitizens, Fox News and the Washington Examiner reported, citing the White House. The White House framed the package as cutting wasteful spending that does not benefit American citizens; Sen. Susan Collins and other lawmakers called pocket rescissions unlawful under the Impoundment Control Act.

Sources

Supreme Court1 story

Immigration9 PM CT

No new Sunday night orders; third-country deportation response still due Monday 4 p.m. EDT

As of Sunday night, the Supreme Court’s public docket for Department of Homeland Security v. D.V.D., No. 26A406, still showed only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Sept. 24 order directing respondents to file a response by 4 p.m. EDT Monday, Sept. 28, with no further Sunday order listed. Solicitor General D. John Sauer’s emergency application seeks a stay of lower-court limits on third-country removals and an immediate administrative stay; SCOTUSblog reported Jackson set the Monday response deadline without granting that interim stay. The Court’s homepage noted the building is closed on weekends.

Sources

SpaceX & Launches1 story

SpaceX9 PM CT

Update: SpaceX still targeting Monday morning for Starship Flight 14 — first orbital try from Starbase, Texas

SpaceX is still targeting Starship Flight 14 for Monday, Sept. 28, during a 75-minute window that opens at 8:15 a.m. EDT (7:15 a.m. CT) from Pad 2 at Starbase in South Texas, Space.com reported Sunday. If successful, the fully stacked vehicle — more than 400 feet tall — would reach orbit for the first time and deploy 26 Starlink Version 3 internet satellites on a roughly 10-hour mission, with the Ship splashdown targeted in the Pacific off Chile and the Super Heavy booster splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. Coverage on SpaceX’s livestream is expected about 30 minutes before liftoff; alternate beach-closure dates remain Tuesday and Wednesday if needed.

Sources

AI1 story

AI9 PM CT

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei set for private White House dinner with Trump Sunday night

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei was set to join President Donald Trump for a private dinner at the White House on Sunday, the first one-on-one meeting between the two, CNBC confirmed, after Amodei missed Thursday’s state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping because of a scheduling conflict. A White House official said Trump has been clear America will lead in “Super Intelligence” while protecting consumers, driving innovation and strengthening competitiveness. The sit-down comes amid strained ties: Amodei recently urged the industry to slow advanced-model development, drawing a sharp Truth Social rebuke from Trump, and a federal appeals court panel in Washington on Friday upheld the Pentagon’s designation of Anthropic as a supply-chain risk after talks over military use of its models collapsed.

Sources

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