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President Donald Trump is open to making major concessions to Iran in exchange for commitments regarding its nuclear program, U.S. officials told Axios, a position he’s gone back and forth on over the past several months.According to the unnamed U.S. officials, Trump is willing to unfreeze Iranian funds and offer sanctions relief in exchange for major nuclear concessions. The admission comes as a fresh round of talks is expected to take place this week in New York between U.S. and Iranian negotiators, done by proxy through Qatari and Pakistani mediators.During his first term, Trump famously tore up the Iran nuclear deal brokered by former President Barack Obama — a deal built on sanctions relief and the release of frozen Iranian funds. But in June, Trump warmed to those same concessions, agreeing to lift all U.S. sanctions on Iran and release all of its frozen or restricted funds.Trump quickly walked those concessions back, however, after hostilities between the United States and Iran resumed in July. In August, Trump explicitly told reporters that his administration was not seeking to extend the June interim peace agreement, which included sanctions relief and the unfreezing of funds.In what appears to be yet another pivot, Trump has once again warmed to the idea of granting Iran its requested concessions, with the U.S. officials voicing optimism for this week’s talks.“[The indirect talks have been] positive and constructive, [and Iran] has indicated they are flexible on the nuclear issues,” one of the U.S. officials told Axios, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Add the travel industry to the growing list of economic casualties of President Donald Trump's policies, joining farmers and manufacturers as sectors bleeding cash under his trade wars and border crackdowns.Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, laid out the damage in blunt terms to Axios co-founder Jim VandeHei: even America's "closest allies" are refusing to visit. Despite the U.S. hosting the World Cup this summer, overseas travel still fell — the country is on pace to lose 2 million overseas visitors compared with last year, a drop that leaves visitation 20 percent below its 2019 peak. "We're the only major country in the world losing visitation," Freeman told VandeHei. "It's mind-boggling."The falloff is concentrated among traditional allies. Canada is down 23 percent over two years, while Germany and France have each dropped double digits year to date. Freeman said the exodus is "largely out of protest and fear" rather than economics, as travelers shun a country whose tariffs and immigration enforcement have made headlines abroad. Meanwhile, China is "capturing the visitors America is losing by expanding visa-free entry," and Japan is riding the "cheap yen" and surging reputation to a long-term tourism boom.The hit to travel — an industry that supports millions of U.S. jobs — lands alongside mounting anger from farmers squeezed by Trump's tariff fights and cut off from major agricultural buyers, and manufacturers still waiting for the factory jobs Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs promised but never delivered.

The scandal-plagued 42-year-old ex-prosecutor who unsuccessfully represented President Donald Trump in his $460 million civil fraud trial raised eyebrows this weekend by marrying a Turkish billionaire with a history of romancing women connected to powerful political leaders and securing lucrative construction deals, reports show. Alina Habba’s weekend wedding to Turhan Mildon, 29, spurred a flurry of interest in the businessman whose exes have been linked to a Turkish president and the Venezuelan leader ousted by Trump earlier this year, as the Middle East Eye reported last week. “This marriage has no political motivation,” Mildon told the news outlet.Mildon, a third-generation member of the family business Miller Holding, has largely stayed out of the public eye despite high-profile romances and business dealings. Such romances include his marriage to Betul Gursoy, whose father’s company built the Camlica Mosque in Istanbul at the request of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to Middle East Eye.Since 2021, Mildon’s own company Milvest has secured about $1 billion worth of construction contracts in Congo — after he received an introduction to its president, Felix Tshisekedi, from Erdogan.Mildon's Kinshasa Financial Centre drew public scrutiny after local reports alleged former Congolese Finance Minister Nicolas Kazadi, who denied wrongdoing, had mismanaged funds.Mildon's company was also accused of improperly obtaining import exemptions for building supplies for his massive Kinshasa Arena — Mildon denied those claims.Such accusations did not prevent Mildon from securing a contract to build a drone base reportedly worth $67 million earlier this year.In March, the Associated Press reported drone strikes and clashes between Congo’s government and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels had cast doubt over a peace deal Trump helped negotiate in 2025, alongside a deal to allow the U.S. to access Congo’s minerals.After Mildon and Gursoy divorced in 2024, the billionaire dated the daughter of Remigio Ceballos, a Venezuelan admiral close to former President Nicolas Maduro, Middle East Eye reported.In 2025, Mildon’s company Vencement announced a profit-sharing deal with the Venezuelan government to revive 10 public cement factories, according to the Middle East Eye report.Once again, there were allegations.“Claims have circulated that Vencement, despite being profitable, has failed to pay some contractors,” according to the outlet. “The sums allegedly owed are disputed, with some estimates running into hundreds of thousands of dollars.”Mildon denied owing any money.In June of this year, Venezuela’s National Assembly president Jorge Rodriguez announced he wanted Turkish cement companies to explain why cement-bag prices had spiked to $37."The cement prices are different all over the country and even though we sell each bag for three to five dollars, people resell them up to 20-30 dollars," Mildon told Middle East Eye."We asked the government to create a task force to control the market to lower the prices but didn’t see any concrete movement yet."Habba — who resigned as Trump’s U.S. Attorney for the state of New Jersey after it was found she was wrongly appointed — and Mildon married Saturday at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City after a mere months-long relationship, the New York Post reported.Habba and Mildon reportedly met earlier this year at a Kennedy Center event in Washington, D.C., reports show.Habba was photographed at the Kennedy Center premiere of “Melania” on Jan. 29 — and reportedly filed for divorce from parking lot millionaire Gregg Reuben, 54, exactly two weeks later.Perks of the relationship with the CEO include an approximately 23-carat diamond and a Hermès Birkin bag worth about $30,000, according to the Daily Mail.Ragıp Soylu, Turkey Bureau Chief for the Middle East Eye, revealed on X that United Kingdom company records indicate Mildon was born in December 2000, which would make him four years younger than his stated age — 25.

Marie-Celestin Karondwa was attacked on Sunday after promoting measures to prevent spread of disease, his party saysA senior member of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s ruling party was beaten to death on Sunday after appearing on a radio programme to raise awareness about the Ebola outbreak, a party representative has said.Marie-Celestin Karondwa, the acting president of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party’s federal executive committee in Butembo, a new hotspot for the outbreak, was attacked after taking part in a ​radio show during which he ‌promoted prevention measures for the disease, ‌the UDPS federation in the city said in a statement, Reuters reported. Continue reading...

ICE officers around the country got verbal orders this weekend to stop arresting immigrants who have no criminal record. According to Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin, the Trump administration now says the guidance was a mistake and has reversed it.Jennie Taer broke the story Saturday for The Daily Wire. Citing agency sources, she reported that ICE officers were told they could only arrest undocumented immigrants who had criminal convictions or pending charges "for the time being."Melugin said on X Saturday night that he had talked by phone with Trump and with nine ICE and Department of Homeland Security sources. According to him, the guidance was real."Yes, this verbal guidance did go out to ICE offices across the country last night," Melugin wrote. "I've spoken with ICE agents who received it & were shocked & frustrated by it."He said no one could tell him where the order came from."It's unclear who it started with," he wrote. "However, I'm told it's erroneous, was some type of 'miscommunication' during conversations about prioritizing 'worst first,' and there is no change in immigration enforcement policy."Melugin said Trump told him that anyone in the country illegally is still "on the table" for arrest and deportation. He also reported that new guidance went out to ICE field offices that night to reverse the earlier message, and that ICE sources confirmed they received it. Under the new guidance, arrests of immigrants without criminal records, including "collaterals," will continue.DHS then posted its own denial."This is false. No one is off the table," the department wrote on X. "Anyone in our country illegally will be arrested and deported."Melugin still couldn't explain how the order went out."I'm not really sure what happened here," he wrote.The mix-up comes as some Republicans have started criticizing the administration's immigration crackdown ahead of the midterms. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) recently accused Trump of "betrayal," and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) has also spoken out.

Residents near Royal Air Force Fairford — a British air base used by the United States — were evacuated Sunday morning after a “major incident” involving explosives was declared by local law enforcement, ABC News reported.“The [counter terrorism] world tracking this story this morning very very closely,” wrote Marc Polymeropoulos, a former CIA intelligence officer, in a social media post on X.According to ABC News, several people were arrested Sunday “on suspicion of offenses under the explosives act” near the base, which has served as a “key hub for American operations against Iran.” According to The Guardian, a bomb squad was dispatched to the area, and residents of the nearby village of Whelford were evacuated.“I would like to thank all those emergency and specialist teams who have acted so swiftly regarding the incident in Gloucestershire,” said U.K. Secretary of State for Defense Wes Streeting in a statement. “We can be reassured that this is being dealt with, and it is exactly why our emergency response teams and Armed Forces are on standby 24/7.”A U.S. Air Force spokesperson declined to discuss specifics about the incident when contacted by The Guardian, but did tell the outlet that U.S. personnel at the air base “remain vigilant” and “take appropriate actions” when necessary to “ensure the safety and security of our U.S. service members, civilians, contractors and their families.”Iran has previously warned Britain against allowing U.S. bombers to use the air base, including the B-1 Lancer and B-52 Stratofortress, warning that doing so would make the base a “legitimate target.”“To the British monarchy, which has been the main culprit behind the misfortunes of the people of our region, with a dark record of the dismemberment of Islamic countries, widespread massacres in these nations, the imposition of dictatorial regimes and, worst of all, the organisation and direction of the operations to occupy Palestine and the creation of the Israeli catastrophe, and which has had the greatest involvement in the recent aggressions by the US and the Zionist regime against Iran, we warn it not to add further to its own indictment,” reads a July statement from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.The CT world tracking this story this morning very very closely….. https://t.co/zyc1xs9y0D— Marc Polymeropoulos (@Mpolymer) September 27, 2026

Loved ones describe Jordan Yap, 30, as an experienced hiker who set out for a 10-day solo trek Peru before falling silentGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastLoved ones of a missing Australian trekker who was last seen nearly two weeks ago on a remote South American hiking trail are urging local authorities to help with the search.A wide-scale sweep by a private rescue crew has so far failed to find any trace of 30-year-old Jordan Yap, who last made contact with friends and family on 14 September ahead of a planned 10-day solo trek along Peru’s Huayhuash mountain range, 400km north-east of Lima. Continue reading...

President Donald Trump heads into high-stakes meetings with world leaders carrying a risky habit, White House insiders told his biographer.In a Saturday episode of "Inside Trump's Head," Michael Wolff said that Trump refuses to read his briefing books before summits and told co-host Joanna Coles about the pattern while breaking down Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit."I've had this described to me by White House people of what happens when he goes into these meetings," Wolff said. Summits normally demand "really hard work," with briefing books and input from every corner of government that has "issues that they want on the table," Wolff explained."It's a difficult moment for any president because, I mean, you're the guy and you got to know what you're talking about," Wolff said. "If you don't know what you're talking about, you're giving away the store."The stakes, he stressed, go well beyond pageantry."It's a matter of security," Wolff said. "The world turns on these kinds of meetings. Not with Trump."Trump "refuses to look at the briefing books" and "refuses to have extensive conversations about the issues at hand," according to Wolff."Doesn't care, I suppose. Doesn't know what he's talking about," Wolff said. "He is always saying, 'I'm really good with this.' And then he goes into these meetings, and all it is is flattery."That flattery flows in both directions, with foreign counterparts "very clearly" understanding "what they can get by this," Wolff said."I'm trying to circumvent using the word buffoon," he added, "but I think that's what they see him as. They're like, 'Oh my God.'"Coles asked who would traditionally prepare the president, suggesting Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Wolff said the job requires "weeks of preparation," so aides boil it down instead."They give him two points. You got to do this and this," Wolff said. "And even that usually doesn't register with him."Wolff said the reality is difficult to convey to voters, and even to White House staff, who fall back on the idea that "he's been elected twice" and "must know what he's doing.""The president of the United States does not know what he's talking about in these situations," Wolff said.He warned that the consequences will soon come into view."Years from now, or not even years from now, I think we will start to see the effects of this," Wolff said.