Monday 21 September: German shock, Moscow under drones

World news (past 24 hours)

The 3 biggest stories

Far right wins in Germany, Merz's party falls out of a state parliament Two German states voted on Sunday. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania the far-right AfD came first with 38.2 percent, ahead of the Social Democrats on 35.5 percent, while Chancellor Friedrich Merz's CDU got 4.9 percent and missed the five percent threshold. It is the first time in the CDU's 81-year history that the party is absent from a state parliament. In Berlin the Left party won with about 25 percent, ahead of the CDU on 20 percent; Merz called the night a "disaster" but said he will stay and push on with his reforms. Early exit polls put the CDU at 5.5 percent, above the threshold; the count put it lower. (CNN, Reformatorisch Dagblad, NOS)

Kremlin party wins Duma vote as Moscow is hit by the largest drone attack of the war United Russia is heading for a clear win in Russia's parliamentary election, with close to 58 percent of the party list vote counted and almost no real opposition on the ballot. The final day of voting was overshadowed by the biggest Ukrainian drone attack on the capital so far. Moscow's mayor said more than 1,600 drones were shot down across Russia, 450 of them over Moscow, and the Moscow Oil Refinery, which supplies about 40 percent of the city's fuel, caught fire. The regional governor said three people were killed and 20 injured, including three children. (CNN, ABC News)

Washington prepares sanctions against the International Criminal Court The Trump administration has prepared sanctions against the ICC in The Hague and plans to announce them soon, according to the Wall Street Journal and Reuters, citing sources. The measures would ban most transactions with the court after a grace period of six to seven months, so Americans and American companies could not provide money, goods or services without a Treasury licence. Until now Washington has sanctioned individual judges and prosecutors, not the institution itself. American officials want the court to drop its arrest warrants against Israeli leaders and an old investigation into American troops in Afghanistan; a decision could come this week. (Al Jazeera, US News / Reuters)

The 2 biggest political stories

Mass protests in France against a police use-of-force bill Thousands of people protested across France over the weekend against a bill that gives police more legal protection when they use force. About a hundred demonstrations were held, including in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Lille and Toulouse. Under the bill, officers would be presumed to have acted legitimately; critics, including opposition politicians and human rights groups, call it a "licence to kill" and say it would make investigations almost impossible. The lower house passed the bill in July and the Senate still has to vote. (France 24, NOS)

Iran keeps Hormuz shut as the Gulf stays tense Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the Strait of Hormuz will stay closed until all of Tehran's conditions are met, adding that over the past seven months Iran has shown it is "not helpless in the face of aggression". Saudi air defences shot down a Houthi ballistic missile aimed at Riyadh, and Israeli aircraft struck southern Lebanon again despite an American-brokered framework deal. President Trump said the Houthis have agreed not to attack the United States, a pledge that reportedly covers American, Israeli and commercial ships but not Saudi ones. The standoff sets the tone for the UN week now starting in New York. (Anadolu Agency, The National)

The 2 biggest economic stories

US and China start trade talks before Thursday's Trump-Xi summit American and Chinese officials began trade talks in New York on Sunday, led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Vice Premier He Lifeng. They are preparing the summit between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at the White House on Thursday. On the table are trade and investment, artificial intelligence, the war with Iran and an extension of last year's tariff truce. Bloomberg reports that Xi arrives with Chinese trade growing strongly while Trump faces falling approval ratings and a costly war, which is keeping expectations modest. (Bloomberg, Reuters via US News)

Hormuz stays blocked, diesel hits records across Europe Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is still stuck in single digits a day, against roughly 85 vessels a day in normal times, and Brent crude stood near 104 dollars a barrel at the end of last week. That is feeding straight through to fuel prices, with diesel at record levels in several European countries. In Germany, the federal government and the states agreed on Friday to cut fuel duty by 17 cents a litre until the end of the year. Drivers in France pay about 2.41 euro a litre for diesel and in Switzerland about 2.55 euro. (Oilprice, TPO)

Dutch news (past 24 hours)

The 3 biggest stories

Man shot dead in Roermond A man was shot dead in a residential street in Roermond late on Sunday evening, just before 22:00 on the Terbaansweg. Neighbours called the emergency number after hearing gunshots; a trauma helicopter came and the victim was resuscitated, but he died at the scene. The shooter or shooters are still at large. Police have cordoned off part of the street, are collecting security and doorbell camera footage and are questioning witnesses. (NOS)

Dutch teenagers have become much more negative about homosexuality In the recurring school health study by the Trimbos Institute and Utrecht University, 78 percent of secondary school girls were positive about homosexuality in 2021; by 2025 that had dropped to 51 percent. Among boys the share fell from 40 percent to 22 percent. Researchers note that young people have been exposed to more conservative views in the same period, but say more research is needed before calling that a cause. Interest group COC is asking the government to act. (NOS)

Police identify the gunmen in the Overasselt farm killing Police have identified the two men who shot dead a 51-year-old bodyguard at a farm in Overasselt on 1 September. Witness statements, camera images and forensic traces led to the identification. The pair were part of a group of more than thirty masked, armed men; three French suspects told investigators the group gathered the evening before at a warehouse in Belgium, where weapons were handed out and the order was given to kill everyone in the farmhouse. Thirty-four suspects have been arrested so far. (NOS)

The 3 biggest political stories

No budget talks between cabinet and opposition this week Prime Minister Rob Jetten said he wanted to talk to opposition parties quickly after the general budget debate, but no talks have been scheduled for this week. The government information service says diaries could not be matched and that a first meeting is possible on Friday afternoon at the earliest. The minority cabinet holds 66 of the 150 seats and needs ten more votes, and parliament still has to handle the departmental budgets and the tax plan. The opposition keeps pressing the cabinet to choose between a deal on the left or one on the right. (NOS)

Housing minister presents fifty actions to speed up building Housing minister Elanor Boekholt-O'Sullivan presented fifty actions today under the motto "more, faster, better". She said all parties in the chain are now being called on, and that the government will step in with money, oversight and simpler rules where needed. Most of the actions depend on cooperation between municipalities, housing corporations and other parties. Much of the package repackages measures announced earlier this year, alongside steps by other ministers on grid capacity and nitrogen. (Reformatorisch Dagblad)

Sabotage of European defence firms puts Dutch companies on alert The list of attacks on European defence companies is growing, with arson in Poland, Slovakia and Italy, and an attack on a cargo aircraft in Leipzig that was prevented. Russia is widely assumed to be behind many of them. Experts tell the NOS that the threat picture for Dutch defence firms is changing too, but that newcomers to the market are not sufficiently aware of it. Current rules, they say, still reason in terms of war or peace and do not fit the grey zone the sector is now in. (NOS)

The 3 biggest economic stories

Tata Steel IJmuiden deal unlikely before the deadline The state, the province of North Holland and Tata Steel want to agree a final support package by 30 September. Under the earlier letter of intent Tata would invest between 2.3 and 4 billion euro, with a one-off state subsidy of up to 2 billion euro. People close to the talks tell the NOS the chance of a deal in the days left is very small, with a criminal investigation into Tata and the threatened withdrawal of permits for parts of the plant complicating matters. After 30 September the letter of intent formally lapses, though both sides can agree to keep talking. (NOS)

Record fuel prices push up the cost of commuting Diesel in the Netherlands reached a record 2.824 euro a litre on Saturday, according to UnitedConsumers, after petrol set its own record of 2.726 euro earlier in the week. The rise is blamed on the disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the extended Russian diesel export ban, depleted stocks, high refinery margins and seasonal demand. Employers and unions expect higher mileage allowances to appear in more collective labour agreements because driving to work has become so expensive. (Nu.nl via Drimble, Eindhovens Dagblad via Drimble)

Employers lean on part-timers to fill the staff gap With shortages still biting, employers are asking part-time staff to work more hours. Statistics Netherlands counted 574,000 part-timers in the first quarter of 2026 who wanted and were available to work more, 40,000 more than a year earlier, wanting 8.5 extra hours a week on average. An employers' association member survey found the share of employers reporting shortages fell from 80 to 71 percent, so more than seven in ten still struggle. The snag is that rosters often do not match and that the people wanting extra hours are not always in the sectors with the biggest gaps. (Nu.nl via Drimble, AWVN)

AI news (past 24 hours)

OpenAI's ad pixel is reported to link web browsing to ChatGPT accounts A security researcher reports that OpenAI's advertising collector sets a cookie while you are signed in to ChatGPT, which is then sent back to OpenAI from ordinary websites you visit. One identifier was seen arriving from twelve commercial sites under thirteen pixel IDs. Of 932 decoded tokens, 736 pointed at an account and 196 were anonymous, and the anonymous identifier stayed stable on a device for at least 27 days. OpenAI support confirmed it received the report and said the observations would be shared internally for review; the company has not published a response. (AI Weekly)

Alibaba ships Qwen-Image-2.1 and drops its open licence Alibaba's Qwen team released Qwen-Image-2.1 on Sunday, combining image generation, editing across multiple reference images and native transparent output in one downloadable model, with 2048 by 2048 output. It supports up to ten reference images and mask-based local edits. The bigger change is legal: where earlier Qwen-Image models used the Apache 2.0 licence, this one ships under a research-only licence, so commercial users need a separate agreement. (AI Weekly)

Trump says he will create an "AI Force" and name an AI czar President Trump announced in a long post on Truth Social that he will set up an "AI Force" modelled on the Space Force, and will soon name an AI czar. He framed it as protecting the AI industry from attempts to restrict or "destroy" the technology, and said wrongdoing would be handled through the existing criminal and civil justice system. He gave no detail on the budget, the powers or where in the federal government it would sit, and rejected calls for new constraints on the technology. (Washington Post, Axios)

US and China discuss an AI incident hotline At the New York trade talks, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent proposed a national-security AI incident notification mechanism between the United States and China. Officials on both sides also floated setting up standing communication channels for AI concerns ahead of Thursday's summit. It would be the first concrete US-China arrangement aimed at frontier AI risk rather than trade. (AI Weekly)

Also

Sport: Evenepoel takes a fourth world time trial title in a row Remco Evenepoel won the world championship time trial in Montreal for the fourth consecutive year, the first rider ever to do so in this discipline. He was the only rider under 45 minutes over the 39.2 kilometre course on the city's Formula 1 circuit and riverside paths. Filippo Ganna finished second at 57 seconds and Paul Seixas of France was third; Daan Hoole was the best Dutch rider in ninth. In the women's race Marlen Reusser of Switzerland took her second title on her birthday, with Demi Vollering eighth. (NOS)

Nature fact At an equinox the sun rises due east and sets due west for everyone on Earth, except at the poles. That is because the sun sits on the celestial equator, which meets every horizon at those two points. Astronomical autumn starts in the small hours of Wednesday. (EarthSky)

On this day On 21 September 1937, J.R.R. Tolkien published The Hobbit. The book was met with almost universal praise and opened the way to The Lord of the Rings. Today is also the International Day of Peace. (History.com)

Weather in Groningen A dry day with sun and clouds taking turns. About 12 degrees early this morning, rising to around 18 degrees in the afternoon. No rain is expected at any point today, with a light north-westerly wind; any early mist clears quickly. (Weeronline, Open-Meteo)

On the agenda today

The high-level week of the UN General Assembly gets under way in New York, with the general debate opening tomorrow under the theme "Restoring trust, managing transformation". Today, European Council President Costa convenes a summit on multilateralism and international law together with Canada and Kenya. The American sanctions against the International Criminal Court could be announced during this week. Prime Minister Jetten has his weekly meeting with the King in Apeldoorn and travels to New York tomorrow. Today is also the International Day of Peace, and the Trump-Xi summit at the White House follows on Thursday. (UN, European Council, Rijksoverheid)