Morning Edition · Wednesday, August 12, 2026
Markets
Brent Nears $90 as Iran Restates Its Terms for Reopening the Strait of Hormuz
Tehran wants the American naval blockade lifted, sanctions ended, frozen assets released and war damages paid before the waterway reopens, and United States forces have now stopped a third vessel trying to break the blockade of Iranian ports.
Macro
Gold Holds Above $4,400 Before the United States Publishes July Inflation Data
Economists expect annual consumer price inflation of about 3.4 percent, slightly below June's 3.5 percent, while Chinese institutional and central-bank buying keeps bullion supported.
Markets
Washington Presses Kyiv to Spare Tankers Loading Kazakh Crude at Novorossiysk
Ukraine agreed in early August to leave non-Russian vessels alone at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal, after earlier strikes there forced Kazakhstan to cut oil production.
Geopolitics
Six Crew Killed on a Cargo Ship in the Bab al-Mandeb as Red Sea War-Risk Premiums Pass 1 Percent
Yemen's government blames Houthi forces for the first deaths in an attack on shipping since the war on Iran began, and daily transits through the strait have fallen to about 32 vessels.
Geopolitics
Trump Returns to Sanctions on Iran as American Weapons Stockpiles Thin
Washington's shift comes with talks stalled, munitions inventories drawn down by months of strikes, and the president's domestic approval at about one in three Americans.
Macro
China's Gig Economy Now Absorbs Tens of Millions of Workers Leaving Formal Jobs
The Financial Times counts 53 million people in food delivery and ride-hailing, while official estimates put flexible employment at about 320 million, roughly 44 percent of the workforce.
Macro
Yen Trades Near 159 per Dollar as Tokyo's Joint Intervention Loses Effect
A coordinated operation with Washington failed to hold the currency's gains, and Japanese analysts are inventing new price comparisons to describe how far domestic purchasing power has fallen.
Crypto
Bitcoin Stalls Near $64,000 While a Cross-Chain Bridge Loses $200,000 to Fake Deposits
The attacker minted unbacked XRP on another blockchain and swapped it for real tokens held in reserve, in a week when the digital asset is trading about 49 percent below its October 2025 high.
Tech
Financial Times Reports AI Agents Ran Automated Break-Ins Against Taiwan
Researchers at Palo Alto Networks documented a separate campaign in which a Chinese-speaking attacker used the DeepSeek model to run intrusions with little human supervision, and said that operator appeared to be independent of any state.
Geopolitics
Trump Confirms He Left Turkey on a Different Aircraft After an Alleged Iranian Threat
New reporting shows Trump was moved off Air Force One and into a decoy jet hidden inside a catering truck, while journalists and aides stayed aboard the original plane unaware it had become the target, and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer says Congress's intelligence overseers were never briefed.
World
Colombia's Earthquake Death Toll Passes 200 as Rescuers Reach Survivors in Chocó
The magnitude 7.4 quake struck the country's poorest department and shook the coffee-growing highlands, while Ecopetrol's two main refineries kept running.
Geopolitics
North Korea Fires a Second Ballistic Missile in a Week Before Joint United States-South Korea Drills
The projectile flew about 690 kilometres from the Wonsan area and, according to Japan's Defence Ministry, did not land inside Japan's exclusive economic zone.