25 SEP 26 SITREP

• President Donald Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping during a three-day state visit to Washington, D.C., including a state dinner that marked Trump’s 5th state dinner across both presidential terms. Trump and Xi discussed global conflicts, artificial intelligence, trade, and Iran, and Xi said the 2 sides reached common understanding on many issues. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump hosted Xi and his wife, while Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI founder Sam Altman, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg were among the technology executives attending the state dinner.
• Trump and Xi visited the National Archives in Washington, D.C., where they viewed the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, and Trump wanted to show Xi artifacts concerning the relationship between the United States and China. The National Archives visit lasted approximately 10 minutes before Trump briefly spoke with the media. When Trump was asked whether Xi had offered anything concrete regarding Iran, Trump said they had discussed the war with Iran, and Trump also commented on the National Archives building and its architecture.
• Demonstrators protested throughout Xi’s Washington visit, gathering outside the White House, the Chinese Embassy, and near the airport beginning when Xi arrived on U.S. soil. Protesters outside the White House chanted “Xi has got to go,” “shame, shame on Xi,” “Free Hong Kong,” and “Xi, you’re not welcome,” with the demonstrations largely focused on opposition to Chinese government policies under Xi rather than artificial intelligence. Approximately seven arrests and several scuffles were reported, including three arrests during the day and another incident at the Chinese Embassy after midnight.
• Xi departed Washington and headed back to China following the state visit, while Trump announced on Truth Social that he planned to travel to China in November and that Xi would return to Miami, Florida, near the end of the year. The Washington meetings covered artificial intelligence, trade, Iran, the war involving Iran, and other global conflicts, while Xi’s presence generated demonstrations across the capital opposing policies of the Chinese government under his leadership.

• Approximately 400 demonstrators protesting Israel and the war in Gaza gathered around the United Nations in Manhattan during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit, including protesters occupying streets on the East Side near 39th Street and 1st Avenue. Police repeatedly ordered the crowd to disperse or face arrest while protesters remained in the street, and chants eventually turned into singing as the demonstrations continued around Netanyahu’s arrival.
• Actresses Elliot Page, Susan Sarandon, and Hannah Einbinder were detained by the New York Police Department during the demonstrations concerning Palestine, while protesters chanted “Long live the Intifada” and other slogans against Israel and Netanyahu. Darializa Avila Chevalier, a DSA member running to represent New York’s 13th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, was among those arrested, along with Gustavo Gordillo, a DSA co-chair for the New York City chapter.
• Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly while multiple delegates walked out during his speech, and Netanyahu responded by telling any additional delegates intending to leave the hall to do so. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas addressed the General Assembly remotely because he was not permitted to enter the United States, marking the 2nd consecutive year he had been denied a visa, while the Palestinian delegation was also denied visas to travel to the United States and address the General Assembly in person.
• Netanyahu also criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani during his United Nations speech over Mamdani’s position concerning a Palestinian state. Netanyahu launched campaign billboards in Israel featuring Mamdani’s face as Netanyahu campaigned in Israel, using the New York City mayor as someone he was actively opposing. The dispute unfolded as protests over Israel and Gaza continued outside the United Nations and delegates walked out during Netanyahu’s address inside the General Assembly.

• Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was beatified yesterday at a major Catholic gathering in St. Louis nearly 47 years after his death, formally allowing him to be called Blessed Fulton Sheen and moving him 1 step closer to sainthood. Sheen was a priest, bishop, author, radio figure, and television evangelist who became one of the most recognizable Catholic figures in 20th-century America. His television program “Life Is Worth Living” reached millions of Americans every week during the 1950s, and Sheen won an Emmy during that period.
• Sheen’s sainthood cause began in 2002, and the Catholic Church later recognized a miracle involving Illinois child James Fulton Engstrom, who survived after being born without a detectable heartbeat and remained without a heartbeat for 61 minutes. Pope Francis approved the event as a miracle attributed to Sheen’s intercession in 2019. Engstrom, approximately 16 years old, attended the St. Louis beatification, and 1 additional miracle attributed to Sheen’s intercession would make Sheen potentially eligible for canonization.
• Sheen had been scheduled for beatification in 2019, but the ceremony was abruptly postponed because of concerns involving his tenure as bishop of Rochester from 1966 to 1969 and questions about how priests were supervised and assigned during that period. There were no allegations that Sheen personally sexually abused anyone, and the Vatican ultimately allowed his cause to move forward this year, resulting in the St. Louis ceremony formally recognizing him as Blessed rather than completing his canonization as a saint.
• The St. Louis gathering included approximately 1,000 priests, 89 bishops, several cardinals, approximately 1,000 nuns and deacons, and thousands of additional Catholics attending the Mass. Sheen’s jawbone was displayed at the ceremony as a relic under longstanding Catholic tradition, and approximately 1,000 priests took responsibility for different sections of the gathering to distribute Communion. Pope Leo also paid tribute to Sheen and pointed to his evangelizing work through media, while the ceremony highlighted Sheen’s continuing recognition decades after his death.