World News

US Gasoline Hits $4.22, Diesel Sets Records as Oil Tops $100: September 10, 2026

NEW YORK — U.S. drivers faced another jump at the pump Wednesday as Brent crude settled above $100 a barrel and AAA data showed the national average for regular gasoline at $4.22 a gallon—nearly 42 percent above the $2.98 prewar average—while diesel hit a record $5.94, up 58 percent since the conflict began, the Associated Press reported via OPB.

Brent settled at $101.21 and U.S. crude at $96.05 after U.S. strikes on Iranian tankers and Houthi attacks on Saudi facilities tightened already constrained supplies. Higher diesel costs feed into trucking, farm equipment and parcel hubs, often showing up as supermarket prices and shipping fees; airlines have cut flights while raising fares as jet fuel climbs.

Market research head Lukman Otunuga of FXTM called Brent above $100 “a major psychological milestone,” saying the larger worry is inflation if prices stay elevated. Bank of America analysts this week raised their second-half oil forecast and said a durable deal before the midterms looks “increasingly unlikely.”

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he does not expect oil prices to cool before November’s elections but that they would come down “right after”—linking pump pain directly to the midterm calendar for U.S. consumers.

Sources: AP via OPB

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Rubio in Ecuador and Peru Pushes Anti-Drug Fight: September 10, 2026

QUITO / LIMA — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended lethal U.S. strikes on suspected drug boats during a Wednesday visit to Ecuador, warning that cartels would “eat these countries alive” if left unchecked, AFP reported via RFI.

After talks with President Daniel Noboa in Quito, Rubio said operations would continue and that Washington was finding partners willing to be “very aggressive” against criminal groups. Pentagon figures cited by AFP put deaths from the Caribbean and eastern Pacific campaign above 200. Rubio designated the Ecuadoran gang Los Tiguerones a terrorist organization and announced sanctions on seven former Ecuadoran officials.

Asked whether vessels would keep being destroyed, Rubio said decisions depend on threat, location and local law: “Well again, it depends, and we still blow up ships.” Later Wednesday, U.S. Southern Command said American forces killed three “narco-terrorists” in a Caribbean go-fast strike.

Rubio then flew to Lima for meetings with President Keiko Fujimori on the final stop of his South America tour, expected to advance the Shield of the Americas security partnership. Dozens of left-wing protesters gathered at Plaza San Martín against the visit and Peru’s participation in that initiative, EFE and France 24 reported, with slogans including “Out, Marco Rubio” and “Yankees out of Latin America.”

Sources: RFI / AFP, France 24, EFE via Infobae

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Brazil Supreme Court Crisis: Fachin Suspends Rival Rulings: September 10, 2026

BRASILIA — Brazil’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Edson Fachin on Wednesday suspended rival rulings by fellow justices over the federal police chief’s tenure and called an extraordinary full-court session for next week, Reuters reported, framing the clash as the court’s biggest crisis since the return to democracy.

Justice Flávio Dino ordered Federal Police Director-General Andrei Rodrigues reinstated, reversing Justice André Mendonça’s Tuesday order removing Rodrigues and his intelligence chief over alleged intelligence reports monitoring Mendonça and other officials. A five-member panel had backed Mendonça; President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government challenged the removals.

Fachin kept Rodrigues in place pending further review, gave him 48 hours to answer the allegations, and set a Sept. 15 session for the full 10-member bench to discuss Justice Alexandre de Moraes’s alleged ties to Banco Master’s Daniel Vorcaro after Mendonça publicized investigation material.

The crisis adds uncertainty to October’s presidential race between Lula and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. Lula called Banco Master the “greatest financial crime in Brazil’s history” and said Brazilians “need explanations.” Bolsonaro blamed “chaos left behind by Lula.”

Sources: Reuters

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Nearly 10,000 NZ Public Servants Strike Over Pay: September 10, 2026

WELLINGTON — Nearly 10,000 New Zealand public servants walked off the job for several hours on Wednesday, rejecting wage offers they say would leave them worse off in real terms amid high living costs ahead of an election in about two months, Reuters reported.

Stoppages at major government agencies disrupted employment and social-housing support. Protests were held nationwide, and several hundred workers gathered near Parliament waving union flags and chanting for workers’ rights.

Union representative Kate Hamilton told the crowd the pay offer was not enough to offset living-cost increases: “We have to draw a line.” Labour’s Chris Hipkins and Green lawmaker Julie Anne Genter spoke in solidarity; Hipkins said, “You cannot cut your way to a better public service.”

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s centre-right government has cut public-service numbers and promises further reductions to balance the budget and fund frontline police and prison staff—putting staffing squarely on the campaign agenda.

Sources: Reuters

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India Hosts BRICS as Iran War Tests Bloc Unity: September 10, 2026

NEW DELHI — India will host the BRICS Leaders’ Summit on Sept. 12–13 as the U.S.-led war on Iran splits the expanded bloc, with member Iran and the UAE on opposing sides, Channel News Asia reported.

The UAE suspended all trade and financial dealings with Iran in August after Iranian missile strikes. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said differences between Abu Dhabi and Tehran have a “negative impact” on drafting a joint declaration, though he hoped leaders could find acceptable language. Foreign ministers failed to issue a joint statement after a May meeting in New Delhi for the same reason.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will make his first visit to India in seven years. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres are also due. The UAE is expected to send Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Attention will focus on possible Modi–Xi talks—their third since ties began improving after a Himalayan border agreement—and scheduled Modi–Putin meetings on trade and energy. An SCO summit earlier this month produced language on the Iran conflict acceptable to members with differing positions, raising hopes BRICS can bridge its divide.

Sources: CNA

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ECB Raises Rates 25bp as Iran War Fuels Inflation: September 10, 2026

FRANKFURT / BERLIN — The European Central Bank raised its key interest rates by 25 basis points on Thursday, lifting the deposit facility rate to 2.50 percent, the second hike this year as energy costs from the Iran war keep inflation elevated, Il Sole 24 Ore reported.

The Governing Council said the Middle East conflict “continues to exert inflationary pressures, which are expected to remain well above target for an extended period,” and framed the move as commitment to bringing inflation back to the 2 percent medium-term goal.

President Christine Lagarde, speaking in Berlin, said the outlook remains highly uncertain, with upside risks to inflation and downside risks to growth from the Middle East war and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Staff projections put headline inflation at 3 percent in 2026, 2.5 percent in 2027 and 2.1 percent in 2028.

Lagarde said the economy proved resilient in the second quarter despite the energy shock and that growth appeared to continue into the third quarter. The ECB will stay data-driven and decide meeting by meeting.

Sources: Il Sole 24 Ore, Reuters

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Russia Hits Kyiv Petrol Station and Bunge Plant in Dnipro: September 10, 2026

KYIV — Russian forces struck a Ukrnafta petrol station in Kyiv and a Bunge sunflower-oil facility in Dnipro on Thursday, authorities said, as Moscow intensified attacks on logistics and economic targets, Reuters reported.

Four people were injured in the Kyiv strike, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Ukrnafta CEO Bohdan Kukura called the jet-powered drone attack “terror and intimidation of the civilian population,” saying there was no military objective. Reuters said it appeared to be the first such jet-drone hit on a petrol station in the capital after roughly 300 attacks on stations near frontline regions in recent months.

In Dnipro, two people were killed and five wounded at the Bunge plant, one of Ukraine’s five largest food facilities with capacity to process 1,600 tons of oilseeds a day. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said it was the second attack on a U.S.-owned business in several weeks and part of a “systematic terror campaign against American businesses.”

Officials in Sumy reported a jet-powered drone hit a shopping centre a day after two people were killed and 20 wounded there. Overnight strikes on Mykolaiv killed four and injured 19, regional officials said.

Sources: Reuters

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School Fire in Bukavu Kills at Least 17: September 10, 2026

DAKAR — A fire at a school in Bukavu, the eastern Congo city held by Rwanda-backed AFC/M23 rebels, killed at least 17 people including some children, local and medical sources told Reuters on Thursday.

A witness said he helped load 17 bodies of men and children into an ambulance. A local health centre said it received 10 bodies from the fire, while another hospital said it admitted more than 50 students, 14 of whom died.

Corneille Nangaa, coordinator of the rebel alliance, told Reuters he did not yet have an exact figure but put the death toll around 10. The cause of the blaze was not immediately clear.

Bukavu has been under AFC/M23 control since the group’s lightning offensive in eastern Congo last year.

Sources: Reuters

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Houthis Seize Mocha Red Sea Port as Brent Holds Above $100: September 10, 2026

CAIRO / DUBAI — Iran-aligned Houthi forces seized Yemen’s Red Sea port city of Mocha on Thursday, four Yemeni government military sources told Reuters, increasing leverage over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait as Brent crude hovered above $100 a barrel.

The sources said the Houthis were also attacking the strategic Hanish islands. Government forces and allies were relocating south along the coast toward Dhubab, which sits on the strait opposite Perim Island. Control of Dhubab and the island is seen as key to holding the waterway.

Saudi Arabia has relied more on Red Sea shipping since the Iran conflict largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, which once carried about a fifth of global oil. The Houthis entered the wider war with an attack on Israel on March 28, later declaring a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in July and stepping up strikes on the kingdom’s south in September.

Saudi civil defence issued emergency alerts in Khamis Mushait for the fourth time in 24 hours. Pakistan delivered a Saudi warning asking Tehran to rein in the Houthis; a senior Iranian official said Iran’s reply was that it “does not control the Houthis.”

Sources: Reuters

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Trump Says Iran War Will End After Midterms, Threatens Pickaxe Mountain: September 10, 2026

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Wednesday he expects the U.S. war with Iran to end immediately after November’s midterm elections, arguing Tehran is “desperate to try and affect the election,” Reuters reported.

“I think war is going to end immediately after the election because they can’t hold out any longer,” Trump told reporters. The conflict and higher fuel prices have weighed on his popularity ahead of the vote that will decide control of Congress.

At the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, Trump also said the United States may strike Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, a fortified site with deeply buried tunnel complexes near the damaged Natanz uranium enrichment facility. The U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran in February over nuclear concerns; Tehran says its programme is peaceful.

Iran said it attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday after the U.S. sank five Iranian oil tankers. Just seven vessels transited the strait Wednesday, half the 10-day average, preliminary ship-tracking data showed.

Sources: Reuters

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