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Savewith a NBCUniversal ProfileCreate your free profile or log in to save this articleSept. 23, 2025, 10:45 PM EDTBy Abigail WilliamsThe United Nations has concluded its one-day investigation into the mysterious halting of President Donald Trump’s escalator Tuesday as he arrived at the U.N. General Assembly.The accidental culprit? A White House videographer who most likely tripped a safety mechanism.U.N. secretary general spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a note to reporters that a technician found it was the White House videographer who was unintentionally behind the now-international incident that was caught on video.“The escalator had stopped after a built-in safety mechanism on the comb step was triggered at the top of the escalator,” Dujarric said. “The safety mechanism is designed to prevent people or objects accidentally being caught and stuck in or pulled into the gearing. The videographer may have inadvertently triggered the safety function described above.”But the escalator wasn’t the only thing that malfunctioned for Trump during his visit to the U.N.“I don’t mind making this speech without a teleprompter, because the teleprompter is not working,” Trump said soon after he took the podium to address all 193 delegations from around the globe.“There are two things I got from the United Nations: a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter,” he said.A U.N. official told NBC News that the White House was responsible for operating Trump’s teleprompter.The Associated Press first reported the U.N.’s findings on the two incidents.Trump appeared good-natured about all of it.“The teleprompter was broken and the escalator came to a sudden hault as we were ridding up to the podium, but both of those events probably made the speech more interesting than it would have been other wise,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It is always an honor to speak at the United Nations, even if, their equipment is somewhat faulty.”His press secretary, however, viewed things much differently.“If someone at the UN intentionally stopped the escalator as the President and First Lady were stepping on, they need to be fired and investigated immediately,” Karoline Leavitt wrote on X.Hours later, on Fox News, Leavitt suggested U.N. staffers may have sought to injure Trump and indicated the issue was far from resolved.”When you put all of this together, it doesn’t look like a coincidence to me,” she told host Jesse Watters.”I know that we have people, including the United States Secret Service, who are looking into this to try to get to the bottom of it,” Leavitt added. “And if we find that these were U.N. staffers who were purposely trying to trip up — literally trip up — the president and the first lady of the United States, well, there better be accountability for those people, and I will personally see to it.”Abigail WilliamsAbigail Williams is a producer and reporter for NBC News covering the State Department.Tara Prindiville contributed.

- Latest News - September 24, 2025

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested that someone at the U.N. may have purposely tried to “trip up” the president and first lady Melania Trump.

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Sept. 23, 2025, 11:30 PM EDT / Updated Sept. 24, 2025, 4:38 AM EDTBy Jennifer Jett, Peter Guo and Jay GanglaniHONG KONG — Streets in southern China were deserted Wednesday as Typhoon Ragasa, one of the world’s strongest storms this year, slammed into the region after having carved a deadly path between the Philippines and Taiwan.At least 14 people were confirmed dead in Taiwan after floodwaters from a barrier lake surged into Guangfu township in eastern Hualien County, Taiwanese media reported early Wednesday, citing officials. At least three deaths were reported a day earlier in the Philippines, where the storm also displaced thousands of people in the north of the country.China’s National Meteorological Center said Wednesday afternoon that Ragasa had weakened from a super typhoon to a strong typhoon, but that it was still packing winds of up to 112 mph. After making landfall in southwestern Guangdong later Wednesday, it was expected to move into the Gulf of Tonkin between South China and Vietnam, the forecaster said. Authorities warned of heavy rain and strong winds across southern China.The storm earlier passed near the Chinese territories of Hong Kong and Macau, where fierce winds woke residents during the night, schools and flights were canceled and many businesses were closed. Residents had been stockpiling food and other supplies, while businesses taped their windows and lined sandbags along entryways. Callan Williamson, 36, who moved to Hong Kong five years ago and works as a brand manager at a consulting firm, said Ragasa was the first major typhoon he had experienced. “I have had water coming through the kitchen window,” he said. The Hong Kong Observatory issued storm warning signal No. 10, the highest in its weather alert system, at 2:40 a.m. local time (2:40 p.m. ET Tuesday), an hour after it issued its second-highest warning signal, No. 9. At 1:20 p.m. local time (1:20 a.m. ET), the signal was lowered to No. 8, the city’s third-highest.Maximum sustained winds as high as 120 mph were recorded on the island of Lantau, home to Hong Kong’s international airport.Macau, a major gambling hub, also issued a No. 10 warning signal early Wednesday, and casinos were closed.Firefighters preparing to remove an uprooted tree after Typhoon Ragasa hit Hong Kong on Tuesday.Tommy Wang / AFP via Getty ImagesRagasa, which means “scramble” in Tagalog, brought heavy showers and major storm surge to Hong Kong, and members of the public were advised to stay indoors and stay away from the shoreline and low-lying areas. The observatory said the storm surge caused a general rise of almost 5 feet in water levels across the city.By late morning, the storm was leaving Hong Kong, a densely populated international financial hub of 7.5 million, though hurricane-force winds persisted.The Hong Kong stock exchange was open after changing its policy last year to continue trading regardless of weather conditions.Hong Kong government officials said more than 800 people had sought refuge at dozens of temporary shelters. As of 3 p.m. local time (3 a.m. ET), there were 82 reported injuries, 700 reports of fallen trees, one reported landslide and 16 reports of flooding.In one incident, huge waves crashed through the glass doors of the oceanfront Fullerton Hotel on the south side of Hong Kong Island, flooding the ground-floor lobby and sweeping people off their feet, according to videos posted on social media that were verified by NBC News. Calls to the hotel were not answered on Wednesday.Elsewhere, CCTV video showed a succession of waves bursting through the doors of a restaurant in the Tseung Kwan O neighborhood in the New Territories, sending furniture afloat. The observatory said that as of 4 p.m. local time (4 a.m. ET), the storm was centered about 130 miles west-southwest of Hong Kong. It was forecast to continue moving west at about 14 mph as it approached the west coast of China’s Guangdong province, where it was expected to make landfall.On Tuesday, mainland Chinese officials elevated the typhoon emergency response to Level III in Guangdong, the country’s most populous province at more than 125 million people, as well as in the island province of Hainan. More than 1 million people had been evacuated from Guangdong as of Tuesday afternoon, Chinese state media reported.More than 10 cities in Guangdong have suspended classes, business operations and public transport, including high-speed trains, and flights have been canceled at major regional airports including in the cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen.Officials had said Ragasa could be even more destructive than Typhoon Hato in 2017 and Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018, which caused hundreds of millions of dollars in direct economic losses to the region.Hong Kong has experienced unusually severe rainfall this year, including four black rainstorms — the city’s highest tier of heavy rain — within eight days from late July to early August. On Aug. 5, the Hong Kong Observatory recorded more than 14.5 inches of rain, the highest daily rainfall in August since records began in 1884.Jennifer JettJennifer Jett is the Asia Digital Editor for NBC News, based in Hong Kong.Peter GuoPeter Guo is an associate producer based in Hong Kong.Jay GanglaniJay Ganglani is NBC News’s 2025-26 Asia Desk Fellow. Previously he was an NBC News Asia Desk intern and a Hong Kong-based freelance journalist who has contributed to news publications such as CNN, Fortune and the South China Morning Post.Jean Lee, Matteo Moschella and Larissa Gao contributed.

- Latest News - September 24, 2025

Streets in southern China were deserted on Wednesday as Typhoon Ragasa, one of the world’s strongest storms this year, slammed into the region after carving a deadly path between the.

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