Morning Edition · Monday, September 21, 2026
Markets
Iran says it has given Washington its conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz
Bangladesh raised fuel prices by as much as 17.4 percent the same weekend, showing how a closure now in its seventh month reaches household budgets far from the Gulf.
Tech
United States and China agree to open a dialogue on artificial intelligence before Thursday's summit
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent proposed a notification system for artificial-intelligence incidents that reach the level of national security, and Asian equities and American stock futures rose on the talks.
Crypto
Bitcoin trades above 81,000 dollars as risk assets rally on the United States-China talks
CoinDesk reports the price has closed above its 50-week average for the first time in 45 weeks, while gold held near 4,370 dollars an ounce and silver near 66 dollars.
Macro
France says public debt will reach its highest level since 1978 as Lecornu prepares 54 billion euros of cuts
The finance ministry projects debt at 119.3 percent of output this year and 121.7 percent in 2027, while Brazil enters its October election with an unacknowledged adjustment of its own.
World
United Russia heads for a constitutional majority in the State Duma election
The Central Election Commission confirmed a record 355 seats for the party in the 450-seat State Duma, exceeding its previous high of 343 seats set in 2016, a result that removes any parliamentary constraint on wartime budgets for the next five years.
Markets
Attacks on Black Sea shipping cut Russian and Ukrainian grain exports as wheat reaches a three-year high
Egypt, the largest wheat buyer in the world, has received no Black Sea grain for about a month, and European maize has failed at the same time.
Markets
The Federal Reserve and the Bank of England step up scrutiny of bank lending to trading firms after Jane Street's loss
Regulators are questioning prime brokers about their exposure after the collapse of an artificial-intelligence-focused hedge fund forced a distressed sale of its holdings.
Tech
Chinese researchers map a route to 3-nanometre chips using older lithography machines
The same week, Chinese scientists tested a submerged solar array in open sea and Western manufacturers were reported to be behind China in sodium-ion batteries.
World
Pakistan deploys more than 22,000 security personnel in Islamabad as Imran Khan's sisters are detained
The authorities have again commandeered freight trucks to block roads, and transport operators say the seizures are damaging a sector that carries most of the country's goods.
World
Typhoon Dujuan approaches the Tokyo region with the highest-level landslide warning issued for Izu Oshima
Japan's weather agency placed parts of the Kanto region under Level 4 danger warnings, and organisers postponed an Asian Games equestrian event in Aichi.
Geopolitics
A new party led by a former military chief is competing with Likud before Israel's October election
Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar has led several polls, while Netanyahu says he intends to form a broad national government and points to the American-brokered agreement with Lebanon.
World
Six miners die in a Sudanese gold-shaft collapse as Amnesty accuses M23 of trafficking Congolese gold to Rwanda
Gold near 4,370 dollars an ounce is increasing incentives for informal and armed-group mining in two active war zones at once, and Sudan's doctors say the health system that treats the casualties is failing.