The U.S. and China are preparing to discuss extending their current trade truce during Trump’s meeting with Xi Jinping.

China is pushing for a longer extension of the agreement, which expires on Nov. 30, while the U.S. has proposed a six-month extension.

Source: NYT

A large explosion hit a crowded qat market in Ras al-Arah near Bab al-Mandab today.

Southern/government sources blame a Houthi ballistic missile fired after a failed advance on the nearby Kahbub front.

Some accounts blame a Saudi airstrike instead.

Initial reports say no casualties.

No independent confirmation of weapon type or perpetrator yet.

The area has seen repeated fighting this month given its strategic position near the Bab al-Mandab strait.

Former Romanian presidential candidate Călin Georgescu was detained by police and anti-organized crime prosecutors on suspicion of fraud and forming a criminal group.

Georgescu rose to prominence after unexpectedly winning the first round of the 2024 presidential election with 23% of the vote, but the Constitutional Court later annulled the election and barred him from running again over alleged links to a Russian influence operation.

Prosecutors accuse him and others of defrauding a businessman by promising access to foreign financing in exchange for cash guarantees. The victim allegedly lost more than €1.1 million.

Georgescu is already facing separate cases over alleged attempts to undermine Romania’s constitutional order and promoting fascist ideology.

He denies wrongdoing and says the cases are politically motivated.

Kremlin:

Russia does not threaten France or any other state in Europe. President Putin has said this repeatedly.

We have no disputes with any European states that could be the reason for any serious disagreements.

Therefore, Russia does not represent any threat, and Russia threatens no one and blackmails no one.

Kremlin on Germany:

We note that, to a large extent, the decline in the competitiveness of the German economy is happening because Germany stopped buying cheap Russian gas and began buying very expensive gas from other countries.

Naturally, Germans — at least part of the German population — are looking for an alternative to the current authorities in order to improve their situation.

This is a natural process.

JD Vance:

Trump is not banning media outlets; he is saying, “We are not going to give you special access to the White House if you engage in what’s effectively propaganda.”

JD Vance on Iran:

Trump said, “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” and took action to ensure that Iran won’t have a nuclear weapon.

Iran responded by terrorizing international shipping.

Trump says the US is working on massive a deal to buy potash from Belarus at prices "substantially less" than current Canadian supplies.

JD Vance on Ukraine:

Do I think the Ukraine war is going to get solved eventually? Yes. It’s just a question of time.

JD Vance on high gas prices:

I think we all have to accept that, so long as the Iranians are trying to terrorize international shipping — we of course are going to try to push back against that — but that is why gas prices are so high.

JD Vance:

If you are going to engage in what’s effectively far-left propaganda, why would a Republican White House give you special access?

Reporter: How is Trump’s White House press ban not an attack on free speech?

JD Vance: They can still report on the Trump White House. They can still get public reports.

JD Vance:

Why on God’s green earth would Trump be expected to give Politico special access when nobody in the media expected Biden or Obama to give Breitbart special access?

It’s about basic fairness.

JD Vance on Iran:

We continue to see a substantial amount of oil and gas flowing through the Strait of Hormuz despite the Iranians terrorizing ships every single day.

JD Vance on high gas prices:

We’re very cognizant of the fact that, because the Iranians are terrorizing international shipping, energy prices are elevated.

We’re doing everything that we can to try to tamp down on those prices, but give the American people some relief in the interim.

One of the things Trump has talked about is encouraging some of the states to give Americans relief from the gas taxes.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi:

The Israel lobby is getting less shy about its grip on U.S. policy toward Iran. In Miriam Adelson’s publication, the Lobby's loudspeaker says U.S. policy must ensure America pays a price for any slight against Israel.

High time for Washington to break free from these shackles.

Berlin Die Linke leader Elif Eralp says New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s success was an important example for her party’s campaign, following Die Linke’s first-place finish with 25.7% in Berlin’s state election.

Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba:

We have to work with AfD.

I spoke with acquaintances there, and they say that there are people who sit quietly but are quite influential in shaping the party line, who understand that Ukraine needs to continue to be supported and that we need to work.

Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba:

I always tell Ukrainians who live abroad that if you have already decided to stay there, then become a political force.

My thesis is that I want, within a maximum of 30 years, a prime minister or president of some European country to be a person of Ukrainian origin, a person with Ukrainian roots.

A Ukrainian drone attack on September 20 halted crude processing at Moscow’s major Gazprom Neft refinery after fires damaged both primary crude distillation units.

Sources told Reuters repairs could take several weeks.

Source: Reuters

Satellite imagery shows at least 25 US tankers now at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest tanker presence since the Iran war began in February.

They were withdrawn early in the conflict due to Iranian missile threats and only started returning around June.

Aircraft are parked in dispersed patterns (unlike the dense parking at Prince Sultan in Saudi Arabia), reflecting ongoing caution about Iranian strikes.