World News Roundup — September 13, 2026 (AM)
President Trump used a two-day visit to Ireland to call for the reunification of the island, an unusually direct intervention in a question Washington has treated as settled for nearly three decades. Elsewhere the weekend’s news was heavy with disaster and disease: the Philippine ferry fire toll rose again, DR Congo confirmed its worst Ebola epidemic on record, and Nepalese rescuers clung to hopes of a miracle deep inside a flooded hydropower tunnel. Europe’s political season also sharpened, with Sweden voting in a knife-edge election and mass protests against Germany’s far right.
Trump backs a united Ireland
Trump says a unified Ireland would be “fantastic,” breaking with decades of US precedent. Speaking during a two-day stop in County Clare, the president told reporters he would “love to see” Irish reunification and predicted it “will happen eventually.” The United States has been officially neutral on the status of Northern Ireland since the 1998 peace deal ended three decades of violence, so the comments landed as an explicit departure from the diplomatic line Washington has held through successive administrations. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham responded that there is not enough popular support in Northern Ireland to leave the United Kingdom, while Irish leaders handled the remarks cautiously. The visit itself was built around the Irish Open at Doonbeg, where a major security operation met a mixed reception of protests and praise from local residents.
Philippine ferry fire toll reaches 76
Death toll from the Philippines ferry fire rises to 76 as rescuers recover more bodies. The June Aster caught fire while carrying passengers toward a popular tourist destination, and days of searching have since pulled the confirmed toll from an initial 35 to 76, with at least 43 people surviving. Bodies were recovered from the water and from the burned-out hull as divers worked through the wreck. Authorities have not yet established what ignited the blaze aboard the vessel.
DR Congo’s Ebola outbreak becomes its worst on record
DR Congo’s Ebola epidemic passes 7,000 cases, the country’s worst ever. The outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo virus was detected in mid-May and has now infected more than 7,000 people, with nearly 3,400 deaths recorded. The infection has reached a seventh province, even as the government insists caseloads are declining — a claim increasingly at odds with the figures compiled by health agencies. Africa’s public health leadership has been pressing continental governments to take ownership of the response rather than relying on external donors, with the Africa CDC’s Jean Kaseya among the most vocal advocates for a locally led operation.
BRICS summit urges restraint in New Delhi
BRICS leaders close ranks around trade and a call for restraint, with wars as the backdrop. Meeting in New Delhi, the bloc’s leaders issued a joint declaration urging restraint in the Middle East and unimpeded flows of global trade, and expressed firm opposition to the forced displacement of Palestinians. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the summit to press for the empowerment of the Global South, while China’s Xi Jinping arrived in India for talks overshadowed by the wars in Europe and the Middle East and by US tariff pressure. Delegations also pushed to deepen economic ties within the bloc as a hedge against Western sanctions regimes, a theme that has gained traction as Washington’s America-first posture pushes other powers to diversify.
Russian strikes hit ten Ukrainian regions
Three killed as Russian air strikes hit ten regions of Ukraine. Moscow’s attacks targeted cargo vessels, steel plants and industrial facilities across the country, killing at least three people and damaging infrastructure far from the front line. Ukrainian officials say the campaign has escalated sharply in recent days, with strikes increasingly aimed at officials and industrial capacity rather than purely military targets — a shift that has put US diplomacy under renewed scrutiny as Washington struggles to keep a negotiating track alive. In a first for the war at sea, drones fought a naval engagement against each other in the Black Sea, marking a new phase in the unmanned conflict.
Europe’s far right tested on several fronts
Sweden votes and Germany marches as Europe’s far right faces its moment. Swedish voters headed to the polls on Sunday weighing migration, crime and the economy, with the question of whether the far right enters government hanging over a knife-edge contest. In Germany, tens of thousands of demonstrators marched in about 20 cities, including Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, demanding that the Alternative for Germany be banned outright. In Britain the picture ran the other way: a second cryptocurrency billionaire donated a record $49 million to Reform UK, lifting the total pledged to the party since Friday to $97 million — an influx of cash that has reshaped the funding landscape of British politics.
Hopes of a miracle rescue in Nepal’s flooded tunnel
Rescuers in Nepal find a pocket of air near where six workers are believed trapped. Teams clawing through a hydropower tunnel clogged with mud, water and rock say a cool gust of air has raised hopes that the six missing workers are still alive inside. The tunnel was inundated during the severe flooding that has devastated parts of Nepal, and rescuers have been working in dangerous conditions to reach the men. Officials have not confirmed contact with the group, and the operation remains a race against time and water.
In Brief
Fire at a Chilean nursing home kills 16 elderly residents. The facility had faced fines and enforcement proceedings over regulatory violations since 2019.
A passenger train derails in northern France, injuring 44. One person is in critical condition; 130 firefighters and five medical teams were dispatched to the scene.
North Korea fires ballistic missiles off its eastern coast. Seoul said it was closely exchanging information on the launches with the United States and Japan.
Hong Kong jails Tiananmen vigil activists for seven years. The sentences are among the harshest handed down under the city’s national security framework.
UK lawmakers reject a bill to legalise assisted dying. The House of Commons voted down the legislation by 286 votes to 270.
The world records its hottest August ever. Newly released weather data shows the month set a global heat record.
Nigeria suspends official visits to South Africa over anti-migrant violence. Months of anti-foreigner protests have forced tens of thousands to leave South Africa, and several touring artists have cancelled concerts amid the backlash.
A US court blocks the Trump administration’s plan to halve FEMA’s workforce. A judge ruled that cutting the disaster agency’s staff violated the law.
The US marks the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Four former presidents attended commemorations in New York, and the CIA released dozens of declassified documents on Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.
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