World News

Peru Joins U.S.-Led Shield of the Americas Alliance: September 11, 2026

Peru will join the U.S.-led Shield of the Americas, a regional security alliance that shares intelligence and cooperates against drug cartels, President Keiko Fujimori announced Thursday after talks in Lima with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Fujimori, sworn in in July after a security-focused campaign, said Peru knew from past fights with terrorism how hard it is to confront today’s criminal networks. Rubio called the pact a shield against transnational groups that “in many cases, have more money and better military equipment than the state.”

Peru is the world’s second-largest cocaine producer after Colombia. Protesters outside the government palace opposed deeper U.S. military involvement. Rubio said Washington would act only at partners’ request.

The visit capped Rubio’s three-country South America tour. Washington has also pressed Lima over Chinese investment, including the Chancay megaport, and earlier designated Peru a major non-NATO ally while advancing a possible $1.5 billion foreign military sale tied to Callao Naval Base.

Sources: Al Jazeera, Andina

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

Americans Mark 25 Years Since September 11 Attacks: September 11, 2026

Americans paused Friday to mark 25 years since the September 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people when hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

In New York, Vice President JD Vance and the four living former presidents — George W. Bush, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton — joined Mayor Zohran Mamdani and victims’ relatives at the downtown memorial. Family members were to read the names of all 2,977 victims, with moments of silence marking the crashes and collapses. No speeches were planned at the Ground Zero ceremony.

President Donald Trump commemorated the anniversary at the Pentagon. A parallel ceremony was held in Shanksville. A drone display of 2,977 lights rose over New York Harbor ahead of the memorials, organizers said, one light for each person killed.

The New York City Fire Department lost 343 members on the day of the attacks; department figures show more than 600 additional firefighters, including some retirees from the rescue effort, have since died of 9/11-related illnesses, 26 of them this year alone, Reuters reported.

Sources: Reuters via Straits Times, BBC, RTÉ

Sweden’s Left Holds Narrow Lead Before Sunday Election: September 11, 2026

Sweden’s centre-left opposition was polling just ahead of the ruling right-wing bloc ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary election, Reuters reported Friday, in a race that has become a referendum on whether the far-right Sweden Democrats should enter government.

Social Democrats leader Magdalena Andersson is favored in many surveys to return as prime minister, but her camp remains divided over how to assemble a majority. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s centre-right minority has governed with Sweden Democrat support since 2022 and has pledged to bring the party into cabinet if re-elected.

An Indikator poll for Swedish Radio put the left-wing opposition at 50.8% and the right-wing bloc at 47.6%, a 3.2-point gap that has narrowed in recent weeks. The Liberals crossed the parliamentary threshold in that survey at 5.4%.

Voters go to the polls on September 13. The Sweden Democrats, with roots in the neo-Nazi fringe, are polling around 19% and have demanded cabinet seats after years of informal cooperation.

Sources: Reuters, The Local

Russian Drone Strikes Kill Two at Kyiv Petrol Stations: September 11, 2026

Russian jet-powered drones struck two petrol stations in Kyiv early Friday, killing two people, city and company officials said, as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described the campaign as increasingly terrorist in nature.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a further 12 people, including a 12-year-old boy, were injured in the capital on Friday. An overnight strike on a residential block injured eight. A woman was killed in Kyiv region, the regional governor said.

Ukraine also carried out drone attacks inside Russia, killing two people in the Tula region overnight and one in Kursk on Friday, local officials said. Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces hit an enterprise and an oil industry facility in the Saratov and Volgograd regions; Russian e-commerce firm Ozon reported a fire at its Saratov logistics hub.

Moscow and Kyiv have intensified strikes on logistics and economic targets while front-line fighting remains largely stalled more than four and a half years into the war. Russia paused its almost constant jet-drone waves during a weekend visit by U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, then resumed.

Sources: Reuters

Pakistan Squeezed as Saudi-Houthi Fight Tests Dual Role: September 11, 2026

Pakistan’s attempt to serve as both Riyadh’s defense partner and a backchannel to Tehran is under fresh strain as fighting between Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis and Saudi forces escalates, Reuters reported Friday.

Islamabad this week delivered a Saudi warning urging Iran to rein in the Houthis, Saudi, Pakistani, and Iranian sources told Reuters. Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, also spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi about restoring diplomatic efforts to de-escalate, a Pakistani source said.

Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Sajjad Haider Khan said no military response to Houthi attacks was under discussion and that Islamabad “has consistently opposed escalation and advocated restraint, dialogue and diplomacy.”

The fighting is an early test of a mutual-defense arrangement among Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey signed last month. Pakistani soldiers are deployed near the Saudi border with Yemen, two Pakistani officials told Reuters in July, raising Islamabad’s exposure even as the country still depends on oil and gas shipments through Hormuz and the Red Sea.

Sources: Reuters

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

World Brief, Evening: September 10, 2026

Iran-backed Houthis seized Mocha with Revolutionary Guard guidance, Brent spiked toward $109 as Red Sea and Hormuz risks stacked, and NATO allies revealed they foiled a Russian subsea-cable sabotage exercise near Svalbard. Ten stories as of Thursday evening, September 10.

1. Mocha / Bab el-Mandeb. The Houthi seizure of Yemen’s Red Sea port city of Mocha came with direct guidance from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seeking a new front in the U.S.–Iran war, Yemeni government, Iranian, and regional sources told Reuters. The advance tightens the chokehold on Bab el-Mandeb after Hormuz disruptions; Yemeni military sources said the coastal campaign was directed with IRGC input, while Iran publicly denies the Houthis are a proxy. Government forces also reported Houthi pressure toward the Hanish islands and Dhubab opposite Perim Island, Reuters and Al Jazeera reported.

2. London / New York. Brent crude surged as high as about $109.20 a barrel Thursday after the week’s tanker attacks and the Mocha advance, with U.S. crude topping $100 and AAA putting average U.S. regular gasoline near $4.28 a gallon, Al Jazeera reported citing AP and Reuters. Midday Brent had already jumped about 4% to $105.26. CME FedWatch odds of a rate hike at next week’s FOMC meeting rose toward about 70%, up from about 61% a day earlier.

3. Svalbard / Bear Gap. Britain, Norway, and the United States tracked and confronted Russian GUGI deep-sea vessels near Svalbard this spring as they simulated deploying a covert weapon meant to disable undersea cables without fingerprints, two Western officials told Reuters in an exclusive Thursday. No cables were damaged; Norways defence minister said Moscow was told any attempt on critical infrastructure would be detected and met with consequences. The cables feed SvalSat, a major NASA Near Space Network downlink.

4. Pavlohrad / Kyiv / Dnipro. Russian forces killed seven and injured 76 in a broad strike on the southeastern logistics hub of Pavlohrad, hit a Kyiv petrol station for the first time with a jet-powered drone (four injured), and struck a Bunge sunflower-oil plant in Dnipro (two dead), Reuters reported. President Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces hit eight Russian infrastructure sites in a day stretching from Arctic energy sites to the Caspian port of Makhachkala, the Guardian and Kyiv reporting said.

5. Berlin / Frankfurt. The ECB raised key rates 25 basis points Thursday, lifting the deposit facility to 2.50% from Sept. 16, citing Middle East energy inflation, the ECB / Banque de France said. Two sources later told Reuters policymakers see more tightening ahead and could move again as soon as the Oct. 29 meeting if energy prices keep feeding inflation.

6. Dallas. Republicans closed their first midterm convention with President Trump defending the Iran war, predicting it ends after Nov. 3, and pledging $5,000 to every American adult if Republicans keep Congress without detailing how it would be funded, the NBC News and Associated Press reported. Most other speakers largely avoided the unpopular war; Election Day is about 54 days away.

7. Nairobi. Kenya is expected to receive about $400 million in World Bank Rapid Response Option emergency financing within six weeks to help cover risks from high energy prices, a regional Ebola outbreak, and El Niño disruptions, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. Nairobi first sought the facility after the Iran war drove oil higher; the Bank said it is helping finalise the crisis-access framework.

8. Lima. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrapped his Colombia–Ecuador–Peru swing in Lima, where President Keiko Fujimori said Peru joined the U.S.-led “Shield of the Americas” counternarcotics coalition, AFP / France 24 reported. Rubio said Washington would not take military action against traffickers inside partner countries without those governments’ approval, even as SOUTHCOM kept striking alleged drug boats in international waters.

9. Sydney. Nvidia said it plans to more than double Australia’s data-centre computing load through partnerships with Firmus, CDC, NEXTDC, and AirTrunk, targeting up to about 2 gigawatts of AI-related capacity by 2027, Reuters reported. Australia’s current computing capacity is about 1.6 GW; the buildout sharpens debates over energy and water use.

10. New Delhi. India hosts the BRICS Leaders’ Summit Saturday–Sunday with the Iran war splitting the bloc, and Russian President Vladimir Putin began a multi-day India visit for talks with Prime Minister Modi ahead of the meeting, The Hindu reported. Xi Jinping’s first India trip in seven years and Iranian President Pezeshkians attendance keep the Hormuz fight inside the room.

Coming up. Saturday–Sunday 12–13 September — BRICS summit, New Delhi. Sunday 13 September — Sweden general election. Tuesday–Wednesday 15–16 September Federal Open Market Committee with projections. Sept. 20 — Russia State Duma election. UNGA high-level week Sept. 22–26 and 28. The standing calendar is at The Watch.

Sources: Reuters; Al Jazeera; Associated Press; ECB / Banque de France; AFP / France 24; NBC News; The Guardian; The Hindu.

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

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