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Vessel Struck in Strait of Hormuz as Fire Breaks Out, UKMTO Says: September 13, 2026

DUBAI — A fire broke out aboard a vessel after it was struck by an unknown projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the UK Maritime Trade Operations said Sunday, Anadolu Agency and RTE reported.

UKMTO said it received an initial report at 2300 GMT Saturday. An update Sunday said a fire had broken out and local authorities were assisting in evacuating crew. The agency advised vessels to exercise caution. Extent of damage and environmental impact remained unclear in early reports.

Separately, Qeshm city governor Amir Teymouri said a merchant vessel was struck around 5 a.m. local time off Hengam and Qeshm islands, killing one person and injuring three, Iranian state media said. Iranian outlets described the strike as a U.S. attack; attribution has not been independently confirmed by Western wires.

The incident comes a day before Iran is due to meet Gulf Arab states in Oman over the future of the strait, a chokepoint already disrupted by the U.S.–Iran war and now under added strain after Saudi Arabia shut its East-West oil pipeline.

Sources: Anadolu Agency, RTE

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Saudi Pipeline Outage Threatens Loss of 4% of Global Oil Supply: September 13, 2026

LONDON — Saudi Arabia will run out of oil stocks for exports if it does not restart its major East-West pipeline to the Red Sea within days, leading to a loss of up to 4% of global supply, Saudi oil buyers and traders told Reuters on Sunday.

Since Friday’s drone attacks forced Riyadh to shut the line, authorities have not given full details on damage or repair timelines. Industry sources gave estimates ranging from a partial restart sooner to five or six weeks for full repairs. Saudi Arabia’s government media office and energy ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters.

The pipeline has been rerouting about 4 million barrels per day — roughly 4% of global supply — to Yanbu after wartime disruption of the Strait of Hormuz. With the line offline, Yanbu has stocks to maintain exports for only five to seven days, three industry sources said. Additional stocks at Egypt’s Ain Sukhna and Sidi Kerir ports would also run down without resumed pumping.

Saudi oil supply already fell to a more than three-decade low in August, the International Energy Agency said Friday. Saudi Arabia told OPEC last week that August production dropped to 6.2 million barrels per day from 10.9 million in February before the war began.

Sources: Reuters

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Carney Explores Canada as EU ‘Associate Member’: September 13, 2026

BRUSSELS — Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney wants closer links with the European Union and is exploring whether his country could become an “associate member” of the bloc, Reuters reported Sunday, citing The Wall Street Journal.

The Journal said EU and Canadian officials described openness to a yet-to-be-created associate membership status. The Canadian embassy in Brussels and European Commission spokespeople did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Canada’s escalating trade war with the United States has added urgency to Ottawa’s pivot toward other partners. Relations with Washington have deteriorated since President Donald Trump returned to office in early 2025, with tariffs covering tens of billions of dollars in cross-border trade.

According to the Journal, Canada and the EU are discussing freer movement of goods, services, and workers in strategic supply chains such as energy, AI, defence, and critical minerals, plus underwater cables, data centres, and energy infrastructure. Carney has spoken regularly with EU leaders, notably French President Emmanuel Macron, about visa-free living and work arrangements; the two are set to meet later this month.

Sources: Reuters

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Trump Says U.S.-Canada Trade Deal Likely ‘Fairly Soon’: September 12, 2026

DUBLIN — President Donald Trump said Saturday that Canada wants a trade deal with the United States “very badly” and that an agreement could come “fairly soon,” Reuters reported after his meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin.

“Canada has to treat our farmers better. They can’t charge our farmers tariffs,” Trump told reporters, adding: “You’ll probably see a deal with Canada fairly soon.” He did not say whether formal negotiations had resumed after talks collapsed last month.

Asked whether he intended to have the United States leave the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, Trump sidestepped the question and returned to demands for better terms for U.S. farmers, Bloomberg and Reuters reported.

Canada’s retaliatory tariffs covering about $20 billion of U.S. goods took effect September 8 after Ottawa suspended negotiations, intensifying an 18-month trade dispute between the neighbors.

Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg

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Saudi Arabia Shuts East-West Oil Pipeline After Iraq-Origin Drone Attack: September 12, 2026

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia has closed its 1,200-kilometer (745-mile) East-West oil pipeline after drones launched from Iraq attacked the line, the BBC and Al Jazeera reported, widening pressure on global energy routes already strained by the U.S.–Iran war.

Saudi officials said Friday’s strikes hit areas in the Riyadh and Medina regions, causing injuries and damage still being assessed. The Energy Ministry said the Abqaiq-to-Yanbu pipeline was shut as a precaution while teams secured the line. Reuters has reported the pipeline had been moving 4% to 5% of global oil supply.

Iraq’s prime minister’s office said the attack originated in Maysan province, which borders Iran, and that the provincial operations commander had been removed pending an investigation. Riyadh said it would not retaliate for now after a call from Baghdad but reserved the right to take all necessary measures.

Al Jazeera cited security sources telling Reuters that Iraq also ordered the Shalamcheh border crossing with Iran closed as a precaution. Brent crude has traded above $100 a barrel amid Houthi advances on Yemen’s Red Sea coast and continued Hormuz disruption.

Sources: BBC, Al Jazeera, Reuters

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Brazil Supreme Court Unseals Banco Master Fraud Probe: September 11, 2026

Brazil’s Chief Justice Edson Fachin ordered the unsealing Thursday of thousands of pages from a probe into alleged multibillion-dollar fraud centered on failed lender Banco Master, a court ruling seen by Reuters showed.

The investigation has implicated central bank officials, politicians, and even members of the Supreme Court. It comes weeks before a razor-tight presidential contest between leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro.

Justice André Mendonça, who oversees the case, complied with Fachin’s request after earlier disclosures of messages that police say former Banco Master chief Daniel Vorcaro sent to Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Those revelations prompted calls to investigate a sitting justice; Moraes accused Mendonça of abusing authority.

Fachin scheduled a full-court session for Sept. 15 on the Moraes allegations. Hours before the unsealing order, Lula told SBT he favored opening everything: “Investigate everything, disclose everything, regardless of who it hurts.”

Sources: Reuters

Mexico and Washington Race for Trade Deal Before Midterms: September 11, 2026

Mexico and the United States are racing to strike an interim bilateral trade deal before the Nov. 3 U.S. midterm elections, according to six sources in both countries familiar with the talks, Reuters reported Friday.

Officials see political benefits for President Donald Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum if they can announce tariff relief and investment rules before voters go to the polls. “We both want to reach a deal before the midterms,” one Mexico-based source said.

The push accelerated after U.S.-Canada talks collapsed last month and Washington this week banned a broad swath of Canadian alcohol, motorcycle, and dairy imports. Mexico sends more than 80% of its exports to the United States and has pursued a more conciliatory track than Ottawa.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick met virtually with Sheinbaum on Thursday. A major sticking point remains Section 232 tariffs of 50% on Mexican steel and 25% on vehicles. Automakers expect a possible framework similar to one discussed with Canada: about 15% on vehicle imports, with further cuts tied to U.S. content. Mexico this month floated investment-screening powers widely seen as answering U.S. pressure over Chinese capital.

Sources: Reuters, Globe and Mail

Houthis Reach Perim Island at Mouth of Bab el-Mandeb: September 11, 2026

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis reached the strategic island of Perim in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Friday, four Yemeni government sources told Reuters, tightening pressure on one of the world’s vital shipping corridors.

Two sources from the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized Yemeni government said its forces had withdrawn from Perim and that the Houthis had also taken the mainland Red Sea coastal town of Dhubab, which faces the island.

If the Houthis gain fuller control of the strait — on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz — it could give their backer Iran leverage in the wider war with the United States by squeezing a second major energy transit route.

Saudi Arabia has relied more heavily on Red Sea export routes since the Iran conflict disrupted Hormuz traffic. The International Energy Agency said Friday that Saudi crude supply fell 2.3 million barrels per day in August to 6 million bpd, the lowest in more than three decades, partly because of threats to Bab el-Mandeb traffic.

Yemeni government forces said they would try to retake areas seized in this week’s coastal offensive, including routes toward Mocha, which the Houthis captured Thursday along with the Hanish islands. Reuters reported Thursday that the advance came with guidance from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, according to Yemeni, Iranian, and regional sources; Tehran publicly denies directing the Houthis as a proxy.

Sources: Reuters, Reuters

Brent and WTI Both Top $100 as Tanker Attacks Jolt Markets: September 10, 2026

NEW YORK / LONDON — Crude oil surged about 6 percent on Thursday, with Brent climbing to $107.08 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate clearing $100 for the first time since May, as traders priced in deeper supply risk from the largest spike in tanker attacks since the Iran war began, Reuters reported.

Both benchmarks are up more than 30 percent from early-August lows after hopes for a lasting U.S.-Iran ceasefire faded. Iran said it attacked ships near the Strait of Hormuz after U.S. strikes on Iranian tankers; Iran-aligned Houthis seized Yemen’s Mocha port, adding Red Sea risk on top of Hormuz constraints.

“Crude oil markets are now settling into a prolonged new normal where disruption risk is persistent, not episodic,” an S&P Global Energy analysis cited by Reuters said. OPEC cut its 2026 world demand-growth forecast for a fifth straight month, to 380,000 barrels per day, even as physical markets drew support from stronger Chinese buying in recent weeks.

U.S. crude inventories fell 391,000 barrels last week to 424.1 million, the EIA said, a smaller draw than analysts expected but still consistent with firm refining runs. A Reuters survey found OPEC output down 640,000 bpd in August amid Saudi export disruptions and curtailed Iranian shipments.

For markets, the question is less whether $100 was a headline level than whether China keeps importing into a war premium — and whether further strikes on tankers or export infrastructure push prices toward this year’s $126 peak reached in April.

Equity and rate traders are watching the same tape: higher oil feeds inflation fears already visible in European rate hikes and U.S. mortgage yields.

Sources: Reuters; BBC; Reuters

US Existing Home Sales Fall to 14-Month Low as Mortgages Climb: September 10, 2026

WASHINGTON — U.S. existing home sales fell to a 14-month low in August as rising mortgage rates continued to suppress demand, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday, Reuters reported.

Resales declined 2.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.98 million units, matching economists’ forecasts and marking the weakest pace since June 2025. Sales were down 1.2 percent from a year earlier. Closings typically reflect contracts signed in prior months, when the 30-year fixed rate was already climbing.

Freddie Mac data showed the popular 30-year rate averaging about 6.71 percent last week, the highest in more than a year. MBA figures put the rate at 6.85 percent for the week ended September 4. Mortgage costs have risen more than 70 basis points since the U.S. and Israel struck Iran in late February, as oil-driven inflation fears and heavy government borrowing lifted Treasury yields.

“It’s not surprising to see a mild dip in home buying activity due to high mortgage rates,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said. Inventory nonetheless rose 3.2 percent to 1.62 million units — the highest since November 2019 — equating to a 4.9-month supply. The median existing-home price increased 1.6 percent year over year to $429,100.

First-time buyers made up 30 percent of sales, still short of the roughly 40 percent share associated with a robust market. Distressed sales remained low at 2 percent. Regional sales fell in the Northeast, Midwest and South and held steady in the West.

For households, the message is familiar: more listings help shoppers on paper, but monthly payments remain the bottleneck while Middle East risk keeps long-term rates sticky.

Sources: Reuters; NAR; Reuters