Morning Edition · Friday, August 21, 2026
Macro
Treasury's Bigger Bond Buybacks Fail to Hold Down Long-Term Yields
The ten-year yield climbed back to 4.71% on Thursday, one day after Scott Bessent doubled repurchases of long-dated debt, and Japan is heading into the same test with a sharply higher budget request.
Markets
Washington Promises Its Harshest Iran Sanctions Yet as Brent Crude Settles Near $94
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the new measures will "collapse this regime" and urged China to comply, five weeks into a naval blockade that has already redirected 67 commercial vessels.
Markets
Gold Holds Above $4,500 and Silver Tops $68 as Investors Doubt the Long End of the Bond Market
The rally in gold and silver prices has drawn artisanal miners into unregulated pits in Central Africa, where a collapse this week killed dozens or more, with casualty counts still disputed.
Markets
Panama Canal Cuts Daily Transits and Pirates Seize an Arms Ship off Somalia
Two separate disruptions struck ocean freight in the same week, one caused by drought and one by an armed seizure that a Turkish drone strike has now turned lethal, while the naval blockade in the Gulf already limits a third route.
Geopolitics
China Expands Patrols East of Taiwan While Russia Test-Fires Missiles Near Islands Japan Claims
Chinese law-enforcement ships have questioned nearly 200 commercial vessels since June, and Moscow's Pacific Fleet struck targets at more than 300 kilometers a week after President Vladimir Putin visited the disputed islands.
Geopolitics
Ukraine Asks Musk to Unlock Starlink for Strikes 200 Kilometers Inside Russia
SpaceX has so far declined, and Russian officials say Kyiv's attacks on shipping are costing it support among its own partners.
World
Hong Kong Court Convicts Two Tiananmen Vigil Organizers of Inciting Subversion
Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan face up to ten years in prison, and the court has not yet published its reasons.
World
North Korea's Economy Is Growing on the Proceeds of Supplying Russia's War
Kim Jong Un's support for Moscow has funded a construction boom and luxury imports, while Russian industry lobbies to consolidate its own state subsidies.
World
Pakistan Returns Imran Khan to Prison as Its Army Chief Blames Foreign Proxies for Balochistan Unrest
Doctors declared the former prime minister medically fit after a Supreme Court-ordered examination, and Field Marshal Asim Munir said hostile states are working to separate Balochistan's population from the government.
World
Manila's Flood-Control Corruption Scandal Returns With the Monsoon
Anger over allegedly fraudulent drainage contracts has resurfaced after fresh flooding in Luzon, while Indonesia airlifts relief to an earthquake zone and Mount Semeru erupts again.
World
A Thawing Alpine Slope and a Third Heat Wave Show Europe's Climate Costs Arriving as Infrastructure Bills
Scientists monitoring the Spitze Stei rock formation above the Swiss village of Kandersteg say melting permafrost is destabilizing the slope, and climatologists warn that hot nights carry the largest health toll.
World
Singapore Survey Finds Many Residents Choose Not to Have Children Because Work Leaves No Time
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will address family strain at Sunday's National Day Rally, and new research on Western labor markets suggests the male breadwinner model ended for economic rather than cultural reasons.