Latest / The Rest of the World Podcast / The Rest of the World Report | September 28, 2026 — Morning Edition

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The Rest of the World Report | September 28, 2026 — Morning Edition · The Rest of the World Podcast

• 0:00
  [music]
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning from Paris.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Rudy Martinez with The Rest of the World Report for Monday morning, September 28th.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Iran's foreign minister went on American television this weekend
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: and said his country is ready for war.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Abbas Aragchi appeared on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Iran stands firm in the face of any new aggression, he said.
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  SPEAKER_00: He added that Iran is prepared to fight even a,
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: quote, doomsday war, close quote, if it comes to that.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: In the same breath, he said Iran remains ready for diplomacy.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's up to President Trump to choose, he said.
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  SPEAKER_00: The statement followed days of stalled progress on Araqchi's seven-day plan
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  SPEAKER_00: to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
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  SPEAKER_00: Iran wants an end to U.S. military operations.
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  SPEAKER_00: It wants its frozen assets released.
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  SPEAKER_00: It wants permission to resume oil sales.
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  SPEAKER_00: Araqchi said Tehran is still awaiting a definitive response through mediators.
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  SPEAKER_00: He said Trump has publicly rejected the proposal,
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  SPEAKER_00: and he said that Trump never formally conveyed that rejection
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  SPEAKER_00: through diplomatic channels.
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  SPEAKER_00: Aragji also pointed to a pattern, he said, explains Iran's distrust.
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  SPEAKER_00: In 2025,
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  SPEAKER_00: he said,
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  SPEAKER_00: Iran accepted a U.S.
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  SPEAKER_00: offer to negotiate, and the U.S. attacked in the middle of talks.
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  SPEAKER_00: He cited a second instance in February of 2026,
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  SPEAKER_00: when he said Washington violated an agreement within two weeks of signing it.
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  SPEAKER_00: Diplomacy can never fail, Aragji said.
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  SPEAKER_00: There is always hope for diplomacy.
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  SPEAKER_00: The United Arab Emirates outlet The National reported that Uragchi separately challenged U.S.
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  SPEAKER_00: Ambassador Michael Waltz's understanding of Iran's proposal.
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  SPEAKER_00: Uragchi suggested Waltz had not read it in full.
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  SPEAKER_00: He described Iran's terms as straightforward.
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  SPEAKER_00: The strait reopens once U.S.
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  SPEAKER_00: ends military operations, unfreezes Iranian funds, and allows oil sales to resume.
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  SPEAKER_00: He asked why Washington would not release money he said belongs to Iran first.
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  SPEAKER_00: What American readers need to know.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Iran's foreign minister used a Sunday morning American news program to tell U.S.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: viewers his government is prepared for war to resume.
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  SPEAKER_00: That message differs from the diplomacy Washington describes.
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  SPEAKER_00: The gap suggests one side is not listening.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Russia launched one of its heaviest bombardments of Ukraine in weeks over the weekend.
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  SPEAKER_00: Strikes hit Kharkiv, Sumy, Odessa, Kiev, and Zaporizhzhia.
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  SPEAKER_00: At least eight people were killed and dozens injured.
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  SPEAKER_00: Zelensky said Russia fired more than 2,200 attack drones,
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  SPEAKER_00: 1,630 aerial bombs, and 38 missiles against Ukraine in the past week alone.
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  SPEAKER_00: Ukraine hit back.
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  SPEAKER_00: Its general staff confirmed strikes overnight Saturday into Sunday.
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  SPEAKER_00: Targets included a Pansir S-2 air defense system in Russia's Bryansk region and
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  SPEAKER_00: a drone command post in Zaporizhzhia region.
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  SPEAKER_00: Ukraine also hit a drone storage and launch site in Occupy Donetsk,
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  SPEAKER_00: a repair unit in Mariupol,
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  SPEAKER_00: And an ammunition and logistics depot in three more locations.
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  SPEAKER_00: The strikes reached beyond the front line.
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  SPEAKER_00: They targeted equipment, but not population centers.
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  SPEAKER_00: A separate diplomatic dispute opened between Ukraine and South Korea this weekend.
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  SPEAKER_00: Ukraine disclosed the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea
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  SPEAKER_00: during Zelensky's UN General Assembly address on September 24.
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  SPEAKER_00: Seoul's presidential office demanded an official apology,
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  SPEAKER_00: saying the disclosure broke a confidentiality agreement meant to protect
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  SPEAKER_00: the soldiers.
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  SPEAKER_00: Ukraine denied any such agreement existed.
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  SPEAKER_00: The two POWs were captured by Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk region in January 2025.
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  SPEAKER_00: North Korea has deployed an estimated 14,000 to 15,000 troops to support Russia's war effort.
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  SPEAKER_00: What American readers need to know.
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  SPEAKER_00: Ukraine is fighting a war on two fronts this week.
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  SPEAKER_00: One is against Russian missiles.
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  SPEAKER_00: The other is over how its own disclosures land with the Allies helping it.
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  SPEAKER_00: Seoul's reaction is a reminder that Ukraine's coalition includes partners
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  SPEAKER_00: with their own sensitivities about North Korea.
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  SPEAKER_00: Pakistan has stretched across two active military commitments this week,
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  SPEAKER_00: one on its own border and one it signed up for through an alliance.
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  SPEAKER_00: Along the Afghanistan border,
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  SPEAKER_00: Afghan officials say 28 fighters were killed and 32 captured after crossing
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  SPEAKER_00: from Pakistan on September 27th.
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  SPEAKER_00: Islamabad denies any connection to the fighters.
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  SPEAKER_00: The clash is the latest escalation in a border conflict The Rest of
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  SPEAKER_00: the World Report flagged Thursday as Pakistan's first front.
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  SPEAKER_00: Its second front is the Mecca Pact,
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  SPEAKER_00: the Saudi-Turkish-Pakistani Mutual Defense Agreement reaffirmed in Riyadh last week.
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  SPEAKER_00: That second front is now active, too.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yemen's government forces widened their offensive against Houthi fighters this weekend.
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  SPEAKER_00: They struck five locations across Thais governorate over 24 hours,
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  SPEAKER_00: claiming to have killed or wounded dozens of fighters.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Houthis recently seized the Red Sea city of Mocha and expanded their control of
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  SPEAKER_00: the Bab al-Mandeb Strait,
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  SPEAKER_00: Saudi Arabia's defense minister confirmed that joint efforts
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  SPEAKER_00: with Pakistan would continue under the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement
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  SPEAKER_00: to confront Houthi attacks on Saudi cities.
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  SPEAKER_00: France is separately deploying troops to guard the Yambu oil terminal.
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  SPEAKER_00: More than 146,000 people have been displaced in Yemen since July.
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  SPEAKER_00: More than 22 million Yemenis need humanitarian assistance.
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  SPEAKER_00: Pakistan has not said how it plans to balance an active border war with
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  SPEAKER_00: a mutual defense commitment now facing its first real test.
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  SPEAKER_00: What American readers need to know,
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  SPEAKER_00: Pakistan signed a mutual defense pact with Saudi Arabia and Turkey a week ago.
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  SPEAKER_00: It is now fighting on its own eastern border while that same pact gets tested by
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  SPEAKER_00: a widening war in Yemen.
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  SPEAKER_00: How Islamabad manages both will say a great deal about the Mecca Pact's real strength.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: The United States is set to complete its military withdrawal
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  SPEAKER_00: from Iraq this Wednesday, September 30th, closing a mission that began in 2003.
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  SPEAKER_00: Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi confirmed the date as final,
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  SPEAKER_00: rejecting proposals to extend the U.S.-led coalition's presence beyond it.
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  SPEAKER_00: The withdrawal has proceeded in phases since a 2024 agreement, with most troops already gone.
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  SPEAKER_00: The coalition's stated mission, countering the Islamic State group, is considered complete.
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  SPEAKER_00: Baghdad and Washington are expected to continue economic and security cooperation
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  SPEAKER_00: after the military mission ends.
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  SPEAKER_00: American forces first left Iraq in 2011,
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  SPEAKER_00: then returned in 2014 to fight the Islamic State's advance.
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  SPEAKER_00: Wednesday's deadline closes that second chapter after more than a decade.
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  SPEAKER_00: What American readers need to know.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is the actual end of the post-2014 U.S. military mission in Iraq.
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  SPEAKER_00: It arrives this week with comparatively little American coverage closing a chapter
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  SPEAKER_00: that opened after the fall of Mosul.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Hundreds of Venezuelans rallied across the country on September 27th.
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  SPEAKER_00: They demanded the return of exiled opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and a path
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  SPEAKER_00: to presidential elections.
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  SPEAKER_00: Machado, a Nobel Prize laureate, has been in exile for nine months.
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  SPEAKER_00: She was barred from running in Venezuela's last presidential election.
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  SPEAKER_00: A stand-in candidate she backed is reported to have won with nearly two-thirds of the vote.
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  SPEAKER_00: Supporters,
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  SPEAKER_00: wearing her party's sky-blue color,
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  SPEAKER_00: rode motorcycles through Caracas and demonstrated in Valencia,
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  SPEAKER_00: Maracaibo, and Marida.
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  SPEAKER_00: Nicolas Maduro claimed victory in that election despite widespread allegations of fraud.
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  SPEAKER_00: He then launched a crackdown that forced Machado into hiding and eventually out of the country.
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  SPEAKER_00: In January 2026, U.S. Special Forces captured Maduro in his home.
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  SPEAKER_00: Interim President Delci Rodriguez, a Maduro ally, told U.N. leaders Venezuela
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  SPEAKER_00: But she gave no timeline.
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  SPEAKER_00: Venezuela released 39 political prisoners following a U.S.-backed talk between
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  SPEAKER_00: the governments and the opposition.
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  SPEAKER_00: What American readers need to know.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: The U.S. removed Maduro from power in January, and Venezuela still has no election date.
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  SPEAKER_00: Sunday's rallies are a measure of how long that wait is starting to feel to
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  SPEAKER_00: the people who backed the change.
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  SPEAKER_00: The UN General Assembly's high-level week closes Tuesday,
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  SPEAKER_00: and some of its sharpest moments had nothing to do with the United States.
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  SPEAKER_00: Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula de Silva addressed the assembly on September 22nd.
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  SPEAKER_00: The UN's credibility has never been lower, he said.
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  SPEAKER_00: Its capacity to protect vulnerable nations has never been so weak,
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  SPEAKER_00: he said, blaming Security Council dysfunction.
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  SPEAKER_00: He called foreign electoral interference colonial incursions.
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  SPEAKER_00: He urged nations to choose between Multilateralism and Unilateralism,
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  SPEAKER_00: Democracy and Extremism, and Sovereignty and Subordination.
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  SPEAKER_00: He referenced Venezuela's right to self-determination.
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  SPEAKER_00: He described Gaza as producing intergenerational trauma for Palestinians.
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  SPEAKER_00: African leaders used the same week to renew decades-old demand
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  SPEAKER_00: for permanent representations on the Security Council.
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  SPEAKER_00: Nigeria's Vice President Kashim Shatima called for at least two permanent seats
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  SPEAKER_00: for Africa with veto powers.
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  SPEAKER_00: Ghana's President John Mahama said reform is an imperative for the UN's own legitimacy.
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  SPEAKER_00: Outgoing Secretary General Antonio Guterres gave his final General Assembly address
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  SPEAKER_00: before his term ends December 31st.
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  SPEAKER_00: Global institutions need to reflect the realities of 2026, he said, rather than those of 1945.
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  SPEAKER_00: The reform push faces the same obstacle it always has.
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  SPEAKER_00: Changing the Security Council's permanent membership requires a UN charter amendment.
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  SPEAKER_00: All five existing permanent members...
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  SPEAKER_00: Would have to ratify it, voting to dilute their own veto power.
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  SPEAKER_00: Of 24 Chapter 7 resolutions passed in 2025, 18 concerned Africa.
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  SPEAKER_00: The continent still holds no permanent seat.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: The Assembly's closing days carry their own dates.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: September 28th marks the 25th anniversary of the Durban Declaration on Combating Racism.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: September 29th is the international day for the total elimination of nuclear weapons.
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  SPEAKER_00: What American readers need to know.
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  SPEAKER_00: Coverage of this year's General Assembly largely followed the U.S. delegation.
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  SPEAKER_00: Lula's institutional broadside and Africa Security Council push ran through
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  SPEAKER_00: the same two weeks in New York.
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  SPEAKER_00: Both drew far less American attention,
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  SPEAKER_00: despite arguing the post-war order itself needs to change.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, a few briefs.
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  SPEAKER_00: Nigeria, Sudan, Niger,
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  SPEAKER_00: and Chad face some of the world's highest projected heat death tolls
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  SPEAKER_00: from Super El Nino.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: The figures come from a Climate Impact Lab report covering September 2026
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  SPEAKER_00: through February 2027.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Nigeria's projected toll of 31,400 additional deaths is the highest of any nation studied.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: Sudan follows with 17,500, Niger at 10,000, and Chad at 8,000.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: The global projection tops 451,000 excess deaths.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: A Taiwanese national security official said Xi Jinping made little progress
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: at his recent summit with Trump,
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  SPEAKER_00: arguing that Beijing failed to win any concession on arms sales to Taiwan,
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  SPEAKER_00: tariffs, or technology restrictions.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: And finally,
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: internet and phone services in Ethiopia's Tigray region have been cut
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  SPEAKER_00: since September 25th.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: The TPLF ordered state and private carriers to sever access,
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  SPEAKER_00: a source told Al Jazeera,
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: to blunt the federal military's advantage from battlefield drones.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Residents are stocking up on supplies and withdrawing cash,
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  SPEAKER_00: fearing a repeat of the 2020 to 2022 war's famine conditions,
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  SPEAKER_00: which killed an estimated 600,000 people.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's it for this morning's edition of The Rest of the World Report.
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  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for listening.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Rudy Martinez, and I will see you all again this evening.