Sept. 9, 2026 - Daily News Digest
On this day in 1948, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) was proclaimed, setting the stage for the Korean War.
"We have everything we need to pivot and prosper,” Canadian Prime Minister Carney said in response to the most recent trade moves by the US.
US/IRAN/MIL – Iran and US hit tankers in biggest wave of attacks on shipping since war began.
Iran said on Wednesday it had attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. sank five Iranian oil tankers, in the biggest declared wave of tit-for-tat attacks on shipping by both sides since the start of the six-month-old war.
The attacks sent the price of oil surging, with the international Brent crude benchmark breaching $100 a barrel for the first time since July. At least one seafarer aboard a tanker was reported killed and another listed as missing.
Iran also said it had fired ballistic missiles at a base used by U.S. forces in Jordan. Attacks by both sides since the end of August have shattered a month of relative calm, with the U.S. and Iran hitting military, shipping and energy assets.
"Iran continues to try to hit U.S. naval ships, and for every time they do that or try to do that, they're going to lose tankers," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters during a visit to Colombia.
Iran has largely choked off transit through the strait that carried a fifth of global oil before the war.
Washington has responded with a blockade of Iranian ports, and says it has been able to guide many tankers through the strait, although independent monitors say the extent to which oil is escaping has become increasingly difficult to assess. Preliminary data showed just six ships crossing with transponders on over the last 24 hours.
YEMEN/HOUTHIS/SAUDI – Scores wounded as Iran-backed Houthis attack Saudi Arabia in major regional escalation.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/08/middleeast/houthis-attack-saudi-arabia-yemen-intl-hnk
Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen launched a major attack on southwestern Saudi Arabia early Tuesday, targeting oil and other infrastructure in an escalation that risks widening the region’s conflicts and adding further pressure to crude prices.
Saudi-led forces vowed a resolute response, saying dozens of civilians had been injured. The Saudi Energy Ministry said the attacks had also caused fires at several facilities in the southern region, temporarily halting some operations.
The attacks mark a dramatic escalation in the Saudi-Houthi conflict, which flared up again in July, shortly after the US-Iran ceasefire unraveled, with Houthi missile attacks on Saudi oil facilities and tankers in an expansion of the Middle East war.
USMCA/TRADE – US to ban Canadian motorcycle, dairy, alcohol imports as trade war sizzles.
The United States banned a broad swath of Canadian alcoholic beverages, motorcycles and dairy products from import on Tuesday, sharply escalating an already acrimonious trade spat.
The import bans, which go into effect on September 29 and were published on the White House's website, came after Canada's own retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods took effect after midnight on Tuesday.
Those Canadian levies themselves followed 50% tariffs that the United States imposed on some $20 billion of Canadian goods last month, after several rounds of negotiations collapsed.
The breakdown has widened a rift between the longtime allies, who have blamed each other for the failed talks, spurred Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to urge a further shift away from Canada's biggest trading partner, and cast doubt on the viability of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
"We have everything we need to pivot and prosper," Carney said on Tuesday in a video posted on YouTube.
ARGENTINA/POL/ECON – Debt piles up for young Argentines, testing support for President Milei.
Nearly half of Argentina’s 45 million people owe money, and more than 5 million are behind on payments, according to the Center for City Studies, an Argentine nonprofit that tracks debt using central bank data. Borrowers under 25 have the highest delinquency rate of any age group, at 37.6%.
“There’s hardly any work for anyone in this country right now,” said Taborda, who borrowed the equivalent of just over $100 through a mobile payment app in 2024 for education expenses. His debt swelled tenfold as interest accrued on missed payments. Forced to rely on others, he said, “You start to feel like a parasite.”
A new wave of household debt is testing support for President Javier Milei among the young Argentines who helped elect him, and offering the nation’s fragmented opposition an opening to rally disillusioned voters ahead of next year’s presidential election.
Opposition lawmakers have called a special session of Congress for Wednesday to consider interest-rate caps and other measures to help Argentines renegotiate their debts. Labor unions and debtors planned to protest outside the building during the debate, which strikes at the heart of Milei’s free-market experiment as voters increasingly look beyond his success in taming inflation to bigger concerns about jobs and wages.
BRITAIN/ISREAL – Israel tells Britain to close East Jerusalem consulate within 30 days, officials say.
Israel has told Britain it must close its East Jerusalem consulate within a month, Israeli officials said on Wednesday, as a retaliatory step against sanctions that Britain, France and Canada have announced against settlements.
The sanctions are among the strongest collective actions taken by major Western allies of Israel over Israeli settlements, and have prompted intense pushback in Israel weeks before it holds a general election.
While the effect of the sanctions may be mostly symbolic, they highlight Israel's growing isolation among countries it once counted as close allies over its war in Gaza and expansion of settlements in the West Bank.
The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a staunch supporter of Israel, has condemned the sanctions and accused the British government of "Jew hate", but neither the White House nor the State Department issued strong criticism of the move.
GERMANY/POL – Germany’s Merz shocked by far-right state election triumph but doubles down on unpopular reforms.
https://apnews.com/article/germany-afd-saxony-anhalt-election-e9c2b1bb69a9dab1778b80866ffa4c4f
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz doubled down Monday on pushing through unpopular reforms to Europe’s largest economy after a far-right party surged to a landslide victory in a regional election, with a very good chance of forming the first far-right state government since the Nazi era.
Merz said his center-right Christian Democratic Union was “deeply shocked” by what he called “the most serious election defeat that the CDU has had for years, for decades.” But he indicated that he’s determined to stay at the helm and said that “giving up is not an option for me.”
The anti-migration and Russia-friendly Alternative for Germany, or AfD, fell just short of a majority in Sunday’s vote in Saxony-Anhalt, a small eastern state that gained outsized prominence as AfD eyed power there. Its regional branch is one of several considered a proven right-wing extremist group by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency.
AfD’s victory is a major distraction for Germany and Merz at a time when Europe faces several challenges, including Russia’s continued aggression against Ukraine, a suspected sabotage campaign targeting NATO countries, and difficult dealings with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Merz said he wanted to assure Germany’s allies that “our institutions are resilient and stable” and the country will stick to its values and constitution after the AfD win. “We know that Germany carries special responsibility because of its history,” he said.
DPRK/CHINA – North Korea hears completion of bridge with China, analytics firm says.
North Korea is completing work on its section of the long-stalled New Yalu River bridge with China, suggesting an imminent opening after more than a decade of delays, a South Korean analytics firm said on Wednesday.
The work follows Beijing's efforts since late 2025 to draw Pyongyang back into its fold after the COVID-19 pandemic froze exchanges and ruler Kim Jong Un strengthened ties with Moscow by sending troops and weapons to support Russia's war in Ukraine.
Structural work on a customs and immigration facility on the North Korean side of the 3-km (2-mile) -long bridge will be nearly complete early in September, said SI Analytics, a company that processes satellite images.
"Utilising its signature 'speed battle' tactical campaign, North Korea has effectively executed in just four months a project that had been stalled for 12 years," it said in a report that analysed satellite images of the area.
SYRIA/SEC – Syria arms depot explosion kills at least 14.
https://www.dw.com/en/syria-arms-depot-explosion-kills-at-least-14/a-79203314
Syrian authorities reported that at least 14 people were killed and another 11 wounded on Wednesday as a result of an explosion at a temporary site used to store weapons and remnants of the country's long-running civil war.
The explosion took place near the city of Sarmada in the northwestern Idlib province.
Syria's Defense Ministry said the weapons and war remnants were being stored termporarily at the site before being transported elsewhere. It said that some of its personnel were among those wounded.
The explosion in an area full of volatile materials led to secondary explosions and fires that hampered the emergency response. Smoke billowed from the blast site for some time on Wednesday.
"The toll from the explosion in a temporary storage for collecting weapons and war remnants near the city of Sarmada ... registered 14 killed and 11 injured in a preliminary count," the Idlib health department said.
UKR/RUS/MIL – Ukraine, Russia trade drone strikes, killing 6.
https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-russia-trade-drone-strikes-killing-6/a-79196814
A Ukrainian drone attack on the Black Sea port city of Novorossiysk overnight killed at least four people, including a child, Russian officials said Wednesday.
Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of the Krasnodar region in southern Russia, said 29 others were injured in the drone attack.
Ukraine has frequently targeted Novorossiysk, a port city that is a major outlet for Russian oil and grain exports.
Earlier on Wednesday, the mayor of the city, Andrei Kravchenko, had said the debris from a Ukrainian drone fell onto several businesses and nearly landed on a residential building, sparking fires.
In the nearby town of Anapa, falling drone debris damaged three homes and a kindergarten, Kondratyev said, adding that there were no casualties.
Russia's Defense Ministry said nearly 600 Ukrainian drones had been shot down overnight.
Russian drone strikes overnight on a border crossing between Ukraine and Moldova, meanwhile, killed at least two civilians, the regional governor Oleh Kiper said on social media.
Three people were wounded in the strike on the Starokozace border crossing, around 500 kilometres (310 miles) south of Kyiv, Ukraine's State Border Guard Service said.
FRANCE/WINE/MOTHER NATURE – France’s record heatwave pushes champagne alcohol levels to historic high.
Drinking this year's champagne might give you a heftier headache as France's record heatwaves are forcing some producers to up the alcohol levels, industry officials said Wednesday.
French authorities have allowed champagne houses to make their bubbly with alcohol content of up to 15 percent, a historic first for a wine usually limited to 13 percent.
Growers had to harvest exceptionally early this year as extreme heat sped sugar buildup – and hence natural alcohol production – in the grapes, according to the Comite Champagne industry association.
Nonetheless, "the crop already has all the hallmarks of producing great, perhaps even exceptional, wines", the group said in a statement.
Authorities have also allowed a temporary easing of strict rules for making several types of cheese after heatwaves scorched grazing pastures.