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Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s Situation Report. This is our last “regular” edition before we bring you a series of special daily pop-ups from the United Nations General Assembly high-level week (or UNGA, as you might know it) in New York next week! John and Rishi will both be having a bunch of interesting conversations both on and offstage at FP’s smorgasbord of sideline summits—and we’ll be in your inbox as always. Reach out if you’d like to connect or have something interesting to share. Alright, here’s what’s on tap for the day: Trump’s cyber-offense plans for the private sector,…

Bank of Japan raises benchmark interest rate from 1 to 1.25 percent, pledging to help counter inflation risks.Published On 18 Sep 202618 Sep 2026The Bank of Japan (BoJ) has raised interest rates by 0.25 to 1.25 percent, pushing borrowing costs to their highest level in 31 years, amid rising inflation and wages, and pressure from Washington.The move on Friday marked the first hike since June, and takes interest rates closer to levels the BoJ deems neutral to the economy, marking another step away from decades of ultra-low rates that cemented the yen’s status as a cheap global funding currency.Japan is…

They are pressuring Ireland, in its position at the helm of the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, which is steering the talks, to cut hundreds of billions of euros in their next negotiating document due in October. Officials involved in the negotiations who spoke to POLITICO and were granted anonymity because the discussions are confidential see more moderate cuts as the most likely outcome. Debt time bomb The EU’s seven-year budget, the multiannual financial framework, which governs EU spending from farmers’ subsidies to student exchange programs, is the subject of some of the fiercest negotiations in…

Pressed by presenter Matt Chorley on how the rise will still mean Wandsworth’s council tax is lower than many councils across the country, Badenoch said it would still worry some families.”I think if you suddenly have a nearly 100% increase in your council tax, you would be extremely worried. Families have budgets,” she said.”Just because on average it’s lower than somewhere else doesn’t mean that people are going to be able to afford it.”She refused to say what alternative rate of increase she would propose, but questioned why a 40% cut was being imposed on the council when “Andy Burnham…

Prime Video is also included with your membership. There are some killer originals, like Fallout and The Expanse, in addition to other movies and shows. You can also stream sports on Prime Video, including NFL Thursday Night Football and select MMA fights. Purchased as a stand-alone subscription, Prime Video costs $9 per month. Note that, sadly, these plans include commercials. If you’re a Prime member and you want to go ad-free, it’ll cost another $5 per month.Prime DayI’d be remiss to gloss over Amazon’s members-only event, Prime Day. The semi-annual “holiday” has outperformed both Black Friday and Cyber Monday in…

The Hacker NewsSep 17, 2026Security Operations / Artificial Intelligence A new CVE drops. Your scanner finds it. The severity score looks ugly. But that still does not answer the question that matters: Can it actually be exploited in your environment? Mythos-class AI is compressing the time between disclosure and working exploitation, while many security programs still validate risk on weekly or quarterly cycles. The dangerous gap is no longer just technical. It is measured in time. 📅 Save Your Spot Today: How to Prove You’re Ready for Mythos-Class Attacks. Can’t join live? Register anyway. We’ll send the webinar recording after…

US authorities on Thursday announced sanctions against Iranian crypto exchange BitBank, accusing it of processing Bitcoin paid by ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said that as of June, the Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority used BitBank to transfer payments it received to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Treasury alleged it is part of the architecture used by Iranian financier Babak Zanjani to move hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin to the IRGC.Treasury has previously alleged Hormuz Safe is part of an IRGC-backed scheme forcing vessels to buy…

Among the many surprises uncovered by the James Webb Space Telescope, one of the strangest has been a large population of tiny, intensely red objects known as Little Red Dots. Their true nature has remained unclear. Now, new simulations performed with Japan’s ATERUI III supercomputer suggest these objects may be rapidly growing black holes that took advantage of conditions in the early Universe that no longer exist today. The findings do not require unusual physics or highly unlikely events. Instead, the simulations indicate that Little Red Dots could arise naturally from the environment of the young cosmos, where black holes…

Air quality in cities and districts across Southeast Asia has reached hazardous levels in recent weeks owing to transboundary haze from wildfires in Indonesia.The pollution has limited outdoor activities, caused or contributed to health issues and forced children to stay home from school.Mongabay spoke to people in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines to find out how the transboundary haze and wildfires are affecting their daily lives.See All Key Ideas KUALA LUMPUR — Video editor Mohamad Haazim has lost count of how many times he refreshes Malaysia’s Air Pollutant Index (API) website every day to check air quality in…

Ed Sheeran, seeking to stay out of politics, has become, in this moment, the most political artist in the world. And in trying to leave himself room to manoeuvre, he has backed himself into a corner. Since the rapper Macklemore was dropped as a support act on Sheeran’s Loop tour on Monday, every other opening act has pulled out. Finneas O’Connell kept it brief on Tuesday: “Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed. I stand with Palestine and its people.” Aaron Rowe was already out, saying: “I cannot stand by and allow billionaires to use…