US Talks With Iran, Trump Meets Zelenskiy, and 37 Die in Nigeria Custody

At the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, U.S. President Donald Trump made headlines with tough words about Iran — and then surprised many people by confirming that American and Iranian officials had secret talks. Trump also sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy but made no new promises to help Ukraine fight Russia. Meanwhile, over half a million children went back to school in Gaza for the first time in nearly three years, and people in Nigeria are demanding answers after 37 young men died while held in a prison cell.

Trump opened the UN General Assembly with a sharp speech calling on the world to cut Iran off from trade and relationships. He even used very strong language, asking whether he should 'annihilate' Iran. But just hours later, he told reporters that U.S. and Iranian teams had met for a long time through go-betweens called mediators. Trump said the meeting went well and that Iran would benefit from making a deal with the United States. A White House reporter named Gram Slattery said the talks were a small surprise, since the two sides had not been talking much in recent weeks.

Trump also met with Ukrainian President Zelenskiy during the UN gathering. He repeated his promise to end the war between Russia and Ukraine and said Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to meet and end the fighting. However, reporters noted that Trump made no firm promises of new help for Ukraine. The two leaders talked about Patriot missiles, which are used to shoot down enemy rockets, but nothing was agreed upon.

At the same UN meeting, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres gave his final speech before leaving office. He called for world leaders to work together to make artificial intelligence, or AI, safer. AI leaders from big companies like OpenAI and Anthropic were also asked to speak to the UN Security Council. They warned that AI technology is growing so fast it could soon go beyond what humans can control.

In Gaza, more than 500,000 students returned to school this week for the first time since the war began nearly three years ago. School looks very different now — some classes are held in tents, others in broken buildings with only mattresses and a chalkboard. A student named Moayed Abu Mustafa said returning to school felt like a moment of joy and hope, even though his classroom was just a tent with no desks. According to UNICEF, nearly all of Gaza's schools — about 98% — were damaged or destroyed during the conflict.

In Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ordered an investigation after a deeply disturbing report. Survivors say that prison guards sprayed an unknown substance into a crowded cell and then ignored screams for help as 37 young men and teenagers died one by one. The young men had been arrested during a crackdown on illegal gold mining. Authorities have not yet explained what caused the deaths or what was sprayed into the cell.

Nigeria's bureau chief MacDonald Dzirutwe said Nigeria has a long and troubling history of poor conditions in detention centers. Human rights groups have often warned that some of these facilities are not fit for human beings. Dzirutwe said the deaths shocked many Nigerians, especially because some of those who died were teenagers and even younger children. Nigerians are now calling on the government to explain what happened and to make sure it never happens again.