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Trump declares Iran ceasefire extension with peace talks in doubt

The U.S. and Israel began the war on February 28 with aerial bombardments of Iran.

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U.S. President Donald Trump said he would indefinitely extend the ceasefire with Iran to allow for further peace talks, although it was not ​clear on Wednesday if Iran or Israel, the U.S. ally in the two-month war, would agree, Reuters reported.

Trump said in a statement on social media the U.S. had agreed to a request by Pakistani ‌mediators “to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal … and discussions are concluded, one way or the other.”

Pakistan’s leaders have hosted peace talks in Islamabad to end a war that has killed thousands of people and shaken the global economy.

But even as he announced what appeared to be a unilateral ceasefire extension, Trump also said he would continue the U.S. Navy’s blockade of Iran’s trade by sea, considered an act of war by Iran.

There was ​no response early on Wednesday to Trump’s announcement from senior Iranian officials, although some initial reactions from Tehran suggested Trump’s comments were being treated skeptically.

Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said ​Iran had not asked for a ceasefire extension and repeated threats to break the U.S. blockade by force. An adviser to Iran’s lead negotiator, the speaker of parliament ⁠Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said Trump’s announcement carried little weight and may be a ploy.

Trump’s wartime rhetoric has veered between extremes. In an expletive-filled threat against Iran only two weeks ago he promised that a “whole civilization will die tonight”, ​while at other times he has appeared keen to end the violence and market uncertainty, read the report.

With his announcement, Trump again pulled back at the last moment from his threats to bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges. United Nations Secretary General António Guterres ​and others have condemned those threats, noting international humanitarian law forbids attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.

The U.S. and Israel began the war on February 28 with aerial bombardments of Iran. The conflict quickly spread to Gulf states that host U.S. military bases and to Lebanon once the Iran-allied militant group Hezbollah joined the fighting.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has for decades sought to oust Iran’s leadership, but Trump has given shifting and sometimes contradictory rationales for joining Israel to launch the war and how he ​foresees it ending, stirring confusion in global markets.

U.S. stock futures rose, the dollar wavered and oil prices turned lower on Wednesday after Trump’s announcement.

More than 5,000 civilians have been killed across the region and hundreds of thousands displaced so ​far, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, and the war has led to the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital chokepoint in global energy markets between Iran and Oman, sending oil prices soaring and fears that the global economy could ‌enter a recession.

Iran ⁠has repeatedly exploited its ability to control the passage of oil tankers and other ships in the strait in response to U.S. and Israeli attacks.

Trump said in his statement he was willing to extend the ceasefire because “the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so,” a reference to U.S.-Israeli assassinations of some of the country’s leaders in the war’s first weeks, including the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has been succeeded by his son, Reuters reported.

A few hours before his announcement, Trump had told the CNBC news channel that he was not inclined to continue the temporary truce and the U.S. military was “raring to go.”

Those comments came as tentatively scheduled peace talks in Islamabad seemed on the ​verge of falling apart: U.S. Vice President JD Vance, ​whose presence has been requested by the Iranians, ⁠had planned to return to Pakistan on Tuesday but a White House official said he had not yet departed Washington and was taking part in additional policy meetings.

Before Trump’s latest announcement, a senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran’s negotiators had been willing to attend another round of talks if the U.S. abandoned a policy of pressure and ​threats, and rejected negotiations aimed at surrender.

Iran has condemned the U.S. Navy intercepting and seizing two commercial Iranian ships at sea as part of its blockade, the second ​earlier on Tuesday, with its ⁠foreign ministry accusing the U.S. of “piracy at sea and state terrorism.” The U.S., joined by multiple other countries, has condemned Iran for impeding freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

Hours after extending the ceasefire, Trump doubled down on the U.S. blockade, saying in a social media post that lifting it would undermine any chance of a peace deal “unless we blow up the rest of their Country, their leaders included.”

A first session of talks 10 days ago produced no agreement, with much ⁠of the focus ​on Iran’s stockpiles of highly enriched uranium, read the report.

Trump wants to take the uranium out of Iran in order to prevent the country from enriching ​it further to the point where it could develop a nuclear weapon. Iran says it has only a peaceful civilian nuclear program and a sovereign right to continue that as a signatory of the nuclear weapons non-proliferation treaty.

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Supreme Court lets Trump resume deporting migrants to countries not their own

More than 25,000 migrants have been deported ⁠to 29 countries under the policy implemented last year, according to a tally by human rights groups, with the vast majority going to Mexico.

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The US Supreme Court on Tuesday let President Donald Trump’s administration resume deporting ​migrants to countries other than their own without offering them the chance to show the harms they may face, bolstering a tool his administration has used for rapid ‌expulsions as part of his immigration crackdown, Reuters reported.

The court granted the Justice Department’s emergency request to put on hold Boston-based US District Judge Brian Murphy’s ruling that the Department of Homeland Security’s policy to remove migrants to so-called third countries is unlawful. The court also agreed to hear arguments in the dispute in December, with a formal ruling on the policy to follow.

The court has a 6-3 conservative majority. Its three liberal justices dissented from the decision to let the ​deportations immediately resume pending the final outcome of the litigation.

Murphy’s ruling came in a class-action lawsuit filed by immigrant rights groups on behalf of migrants seeking to prevent the US ​government from sending them to third countries without notice and a chance to assert the harms they could face.

More than 25,000 migrants have been deported ⁠to 29 countries under the policy implemented last year, according to a tally by human rights groups, with the vast majority going to Mexico.

The policy is one of a number of measures the administration ​has taken in its pursuit of Trump’s goal of mass deportation. The Republican president has enforced a sweeping crackdown on immigration — among his top priorities — since returning to office last year.

The administration has carried ​out third-country deportations to politically unstable South Sudan, which the US State Department urges Americans to avoid due to the risks of crime, kidnapping and armed conflict, as well as Uganda, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, the Central African Republic, and other nations.

Department of Homeland Security General Counsel James Percival welcomed the court’s decision.

“A bad day for criminal illegals and open-borders activists alike,” Percival wrote on social media.

Trina Realmuto, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, said the court has “allowed ​the administration to resume sending people to third countries where they face persecution or torture. That is a devastating result for people who may be put on a plane before they ever have ​notice or an opportunity to raise a fear claim.”

In February, Murphy ruled that the policy violates immigration law procedures and due process protections under the US Constitution’s Fifth Amendment. Due process generally requires the government to provide notice ‌and an ⁠opportunity for a hearing before taking certain adverse actions.

The Supreme Court, which has allowed a number of Trump’s hardline immigration policies, previously sided with the administration in the legal challenge, suspending a preliminary order that Murphy issued earlier in the case halting the removals. In another win for the administration, the Supreme Court subsequently lifted limits the judge had imposed to protect a group of men from being sent to South Sudan, read the report.

The case began in 2025 after the Department of Homeland Security moved to step up deportations of migrants who cannot be returned to any country listed on their deportation orders.

The policy provided that migrants ​could be swiftly removed without notice to third ​countries that have provided credible diplomatic assurance ⁠that they will not persecute or torture the individuals. For countries that have not provided such assurance, deportees would be notified of their destination and US authorities would assess the likelihood of persecution or torture only if the individual raises such fear on their own.

In its emergency filing to the Supreme Court, ​the Justice Department said third-country deportations are “an essential tool to remove certain aliens, including some of the worst criminal aliens.”

But both Murphy and critics ​of the administration said ⁠the policy is also targeting migrants who had been granted legal protection from being sent back to their home countries.

The policy has resulted in deportees being unlawfully transferred by third countries back to their home countries from which the US had already granted them protection, while others have been beaten, sexually assaulted, detained or have disappeared, the plaintiffs said in a court filing.

The administration is ignoring “the significant harm resulting from deporting thousands of ⁠longtime US ​residents, many with no criminal history, to third countries without regard to the persecution or torture they face there,” the plaintiffs ​said.

The Boston-based 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld most of the judge’s ruling on September 18.

The case has been hotly contested since it began, and included findings by Murphy that the administration “repeatedly violated, or attempted to violate” his orders. Murphy ​in 2025 found that the administration had violated another order he issued requiring additional steps before attempting to send a group of migrants to South Sudan.

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Trump says men arrested at UK air base used by US planned ‘big damage’

WATCH: Trump praises UK authorities for arrests Sunday near RAF airbase used by US forces in England.

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British police have arrested five men on suspicion of explosives offences and preparing a terrorist act near RAF Fairford, a UK air base used by the United States military, authorities said.

The arrests were made early Sunday after police received a report of three suspicious vans travelling towards the airfield in Gloucestershire, western England.

US President Donald Trump said the suspects had been under investigation by British and US authorities and were looking to cause “big damage” to the base.

“The arrest in the UK was fantastic,” Trump told reporters, praising cooperation between US and British authorities.

Counter Terrorism Policing said five men remained in custody and that officers were working with partner agencies to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Police placed a 400-metre cordon around the area while bomb disposal experts examined the vehicles. About 85 homes in a nearby village were evacuated, while armed officers patrolled the area.

RAF Fairford has been used by US forces for military operations against Iran. Security was also increased at other UK bases used by the US, including RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall.

A source familiar with the investigation told Reuters an Iranian-linked motive was considered the most likely, while possible Russian involvement or an Islamist plot were also being examined.

No motive has been publicly confirmed by police.

The arrests come amid heightened security concerns in Britain following Iranian warnings over the use of UK bases by US forces. Russia has also been accused by Western governments of supporting sabotage operations in Europe, allegations Moscow has denied.

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Serbia’s President Vucic resigns ahead of October parliamentary elections

He had said in late June that he planned to resign and that Serbia would hold early parliamentary ​and presidential elections.

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Serbia’s populist President Aleksandar Vucic ‌announced his resignation on Sunday, ending his second and final five-year term and paving the way for early presidential elections, Reuters reported.

Vucic’s resignation, seven months before his term ends, comes amid campaigning for Serbia’s October 25 snap parliamentary vote and allows him to be appointed prime minister if his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) ​forms the new government.

He had said in late June that he planned to resign and that Serbia would hold early parliamentary ​and presidential elections.

Rights groups have accused Vucic and his allies of increasingly authoritarian rule, with anti-government ⁠protesters saying they have been beaten by police and unfairly detained. Authorities have denied those allegations.

On Sunday, hundreds of Vucic’s supporters ​cheered him in front of the Presidency building in Belgrade’s city centre.

“This is the last evening for me in this building,” he told ​the flag-waving crowd minutes before resigning.

“I have faithfully served you and my fatherland, Serbia, … I am proud of what we have done together,” he said.

Under Serbia’s constitution, outgoing Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic will serve as interim president until a new one is elected. The presidential election must be completed within 90 ​days, with the campaign lasting between 30 and 60 days.

“By the end of December … we will have the first round of ​presidential elections,” Vucic said.

Next month’s snap parliamentary election will pit Vucic’s SNS and its allies against Students Win, a student-led anti-corruption movement, ‌and ⁠European Serbia, an alliance of pro-Western opposition parties.

Students Win, European Serbia and other parties have yet to nominate their presidential candidates.

Vucic, 56, has dominated Serbian politics for more than a decade, read the report.

He was a hardline nationalist and information minister during the era of the late Slobodan Milosevic and the wars of the 1990s, and later served as deputy prime minister from 2012-14 and prime minister from 2014-17.

He moved to the largely ceremonial ​position of president in 2017, but ​kept tight control over his ⁠party and the government.

In foreign policy, Vucic has pursued a balancing act that seeks closer ties with China, a major investor, and Russia, Serbia’s principal supplier of natural gas, while maintaining a long-term goal of joining the ​EU. He also has sought to bolster ties with the United States and Israel.

Vucic’s term in office ​suffered a major blow ⁠in November 2024 when an awning of a newly reconstructed railway station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed, killing 16 people.

The disaster sparked nationwide protests by students and the opposition, who demanded accountability for those responsible, transparency in public procurement, an end to systemic ⁠corruption, and an ​early parliamentary vote.

The government repeatedly denied accusations by the protesters, although several ​officials, including two ministers, were arrested or resigned after the incident.

On Sunday, Vucic said he has granted amnesty and a pardon to 49 people, including 12 activists and 11 of ​his own supporters, who were arrested or tried in connection with the protests.

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