World News · Wednesday, 9 September 2026

01 Briefing what happened

Netanyahu was warned ten days before October 7 and told nobody, a new book says

A new Israeli book says the president of the United Arab Emirates phoned Benjamin Netanyahu about ten days before the 7 October 2023 attack to warn him Hamas was planning a major move, and that Netanyahu never told his own security chiefs. His office calls it a total lie; his four main election rivals want a state inquiry.

10 days

between the warning call and the 7 October 2023 attack

three senior foreign officials were briefed on the call at the end of that September [1]

45 minutes

the length of the call between the UAE's president and Netanyahu

Netanyahu replied that Israel had Gaza under control and expected any Hamas move in the West Bank [1]

4 of 4

main opposition leaders signing one statement

Eisenkot, Bennett, Golan and Liberman agree on little else, and all four now demand a state inquiry [5]

$99.37

a barrel of Brent crude oil, the marker most of the world's oil is sold against

up 1.48% on Wednesday as the Iran war reached Saudi cities and a US base in Jordan [10]

The lead story — what happened

A new book says the United Arab Emirates' president telephoned Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, about ten days before the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack. [1]
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed warned him that Yahya Sinwar, then Hamas's leader in Gaza, was preparing a major move that would cause bloodshed and could damage the Abraham Accords. [1]
Netanyahu did not pass the warning to the Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, or to any other security chief, the report says. [1][5]
The call ran 45 minutes. Netanyahu answered that Israel had Gaza under control, that any Hamas action would probably come in the West Bank, and that Israel was ready. [1]
The account is from Kidnapped: 843 Days of Abandonment, by the Israeli journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval, and was published on Tuesday by the newspaper Haaretz. [1][2]
The book says three senior foreign officials were told about the call at the end of September 2023, and cites an adviser to Sheikh Mohammed who knew of it directly. [1]
Netanyahu's office called the report a total lie. [1] Haaretz's own columnist asked whether, after three years of war, one article could change anything. [2]
Gadi Eisenkot, a former head of Israel's army and now Netanyahu's main rival at the coming election, said Netanyahu is unfit for office. [3][4]
Eisenkot, Bennett, Yair Golan and Avigdor Liberman signed one statement calling the conduct an extreme dereliction of duty. [5]
All four promised that if they win the election, they will set up a state commission of inquiry into the failures behind 7 October. [4][5]
The United Arab Emirates said on Tuesday it shares intelligence with Israel through established channels, and would not confirm or deny the call. [6]

Who is involved

Benjamin Netanyahu

Israel's prime minister, in office for most of the past seventeen years; his office says the report is a total lie
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed

president of the United Arab Emirates, a Gulf state that opened relations with Israel in 2020; he made the call [1]
Gadi Eisenkot

a former chief of staff of Israel's army, now leader of the Yashar party and Netanyahu's main election rival; he says Netanyahu is unfit for office [4]
Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval

the Israeli journalists whose book carries the account, built on interviews with dozens of Israeli and foreign officials [1]
The Shin Bet

Israel's internal security service, which handles Gaza and West Bank intelligence; the report says it was never told [1][5]

How it unfolded

Mid-2023 Sinwar tells a senior Fatah contact to warn Israel of consequences if a prisoner deal does not move [1]
Late Sep 2023 the UAE's president phones Netanyahu and warns him for 45 minutes [1]
7 Oct 2023 Hamas attacks Israel [1]
Tue morning Haaretz publishes the account; Netanyahu's office calls it a total lie [1]
Tue afternoon four opposition leaders demand a state commission of inquiry [5]
Next whether any inquiry happens depends on who forms the next government [5]

Where this points

Watch whether a state commission of inquiry is actually set up after the election, because that is the only body that could compel an answer, and it does not exist yet. [5][2]

What is pushing on the whole day

The bar and the word are our reading of how hard each one is pushing today. The arrow is where it is heading. The evidence is in the stories below.

Wars reaching bystander countries High↑

Iran's Revolutionary Guard told tanker crews at Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports to abandon ship, and Iran fired at a US base in Jordan [7][10]. Fighters from Yemen's Houthi movement hit oil and power sites in southern Saudi Arabia [11]

Courts asked to do what armies cannot Building↑

Nicaragua argued at the World Court that Germany is complicit in genocide in Gaza [26]. Argentina filed criminal complaints against an Israeli oil firm's directors over drilling near the Falklands [25]. A UN commission told the Human Rights Council that Israeli detentions in Syria may be war crimes [27]

Governments moving against phone screens Building↑

the OECD found reading, maths and science at their lowest since testing began in 2000, and pointed at screen time [41]. France's president asked the EU to ban social media for under-15s [33]. A Washington watchdog found 332 child-abuse adverts still running on Meta's platforms [42]

Street protest against long-governing parties Building↑

Albanians reached day 100 of nightly protests against a resort linked to Donald Trump's family, and police blocked them from parliament [38][39]. Gambians burned tyres over power cuts lasting up to 48 hours, three months before a presidential election [43]

The rest of the day

34 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

02
US bombs Iranian tankers, Iran threatens Gulf ports

American forces struck several Iranian oil tankers on Tuesday night, near the southern port of Jask and at the Kharg Island anchorage, Iran's main export terminal. [7][8] A US official said it answered more attempted missile attacks on a US Navy warship. [8] Fox News, citing unnamed US officials, said the strikes were part of an effort to force Iran to capitulate in a war now in its seventh month. [9] Iran's Revolutionary Guard then told crews of oil tankers at ports in Kuwait and Bahrain to leave their vessels, accusing both countries of hosting US forces. [7]

Why it matters — The war began on 28 February, when the US and Israel attacked Iran to destabilise its government and destroy its missile and nuclear programmes. [7] Iran's armed forces chief said any further strike on Iranian tankers would bring attacks on US bases in the region. [7]
03
Oil reaches $99 as Houthis hit Saudi cities

Brent crude, the price marker most of the world's oil is sold against, rose 1.48% to $99.37 a barrel on Wednesday. [10] Fighters from Yemen's Houthi movement, which is backed by Iran, struck several Saudi cities and hit oil facilities and utilities in the country's south. [10][11] Iran also fired at a US base in Jordan. [10] Tokyo's Nikkei 225 share index fell 1.7% and Toyota lost 4.1%, as a stronger yen and dearer oil hit Japanese exporters. [11]

Why it matters — Saudi Arabia is an important US ally and the Houthis are backed by Iran, so the fighting now runs through a third country. [11] Oil near $100 raises fuel and power bills everywhere it is imported.
04
South Korea sends a team to the Strait of Hormuz

South Korea's defence ministry said on Tuesday it had sent an inspection team to assess security in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow sea gate at the mouth of the Gulf. [7] South Korea brings about 70% of its crude oil through that strait. [7] Iran closed it early in the war and the US answered in April by blockading Iranian ports. [7] In August, partly because Seoul refused to help fight Iran, Donald Trump cut back joint military exercises with South Korea. [7][12] Its presidential office says no troop deployment has been decided. [7]

Why it matters — South Korea did not choose this war and cannot avoid it: its oil comes through the contested strait and its defence rests on a US alliance now being used as leverage. [12]
05
South Africa's economy shrinks, and fuel is blamed

South Africa's economy contracted 0.2% in the second quarter, its first fall in almost two years, official figures showed on Tuesday. [13] Mining output fell 3.0%, manufacturing 1.8% and trade 1.9%. [13] Statisticians and economists put it down to the Iran war: higher fuel prices cut what households spend. [13][14] Before the war began in late February, the finance ministry expected 1.6% growth this year. [13] The rand held steady at about 15.99 to the dollar. [14]

Why it matters — South Africa has no part in the fighting in the Gulf. The war arrives at its petrol pumps, and three months later it shows up as a quarter of lost growth. [13]
06
Trump and Putin talk for an hour

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone for about an hour on Tuesday, in what Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yury Ushakov called a constructive and quite frank conversation. [15][18] Ushakov said Putin set out Russia's plans for further advances on the battlefield, and insisted Russia has no aggressive plans towards Europe. [15] The call came days after the US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Putin in Moscow and Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv. [15][18] The US government did not comment. [15]

Why it matters — Putin used the call to set out Russia's plans for further advances on the battlefield, not to describe a pause. [15] Ukraine's allies now expect the fighting to run into 2027. [17]
07
Zelensky expects a Trump meeting and a three-way format

Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, said on Tuesday he expects to meet Trump in late September and that Ukraine is moving towards a three-way negotiating format with the United States and Russia. [16] He named the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland and Turkey as possible venues. [16] He said talks could cover energy infrastructure, grain exports and prisoner exchanges, and insisted European governments must be at the table. [16] Ukraine's allies now expect the war to run into 2027. [17]

Why it matters — Zelensky is asking the United States for ballistic missile packages while the talking goes on. Every round of this war has run that way, with negotiating and rearming happening at the same time. [16]
08
China charges up to 99.2% on a Japanese chip chemical

From Tuesday, anyone importing dichlorosilane from Japan into China must lodge cash deposits with Chinese customs at rates of up to 99.2%. [19] The chemical, known as DCS, is used to lay thin films inside computer chips, and Japan is the leading maker of the ultrapure grade. [19] China says Japanese exports were dumped below cost and harmed its own industry, and calls the measure provisional. [19] Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Minoru Kihara, protested and said Japan would respond appropriately. [19]

Why it matters — Relations soured last November when Japan's prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, said Japan's military might act if China attacked Taiwan. A remark about Taiwan is now being answered with a tax on a chemical. [19]
09
Top US diplomat in Taipei warns on Taiwan

Raymond Greene is the director of the American Institute in Taiwan and the senior US diplomat there. He told a defence forum in Taipei on Wednesday that a war across the Taiwan Strait would hit the world economy harder than the Second World War. [21] The United States has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, a self-governed island that China claims, but is its main arms supplier. [21] Greene said an upcoming US-China summit is a chance to avoid miscalculation. [21]

Why it matters — He was speaking the same week China raised import charges on Japan over a Taiwan remark, and the summit he named is the only scheduled meeting where any of this can be discussed at the top. [19][21]
10
Chinese memo handed to Philippine minister on stage

Gilberto Teodoro Jr, the Philippines' defence secretary, was handed a memo setting out China's position on their long-running maritime dispute while he was on stage at the Seoul Defense Dialogue on Tuesday. [20] He was answering a question about pressure that stops short of open war in the South China Sea, and the moment was caught on the live feed. [20] He told China to have some shame. [20]

Why it matters — China and the Philippines have a long-running dispute over waters in the South China Sea. [20] Handing a minister a legal memo mid-sentence moves that argument into a conference hall. [20]
11
Rubio signs minerals and nuclear deals in Colombia

Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, met Colombia's new president Abelardo de la Espriella in Barranquilla on Tuesday and signed agreements on critical minerals and civil nuclear cooperation. [22] De la Espriella, who took office in August promising a hard line on crime, said Colombia wants to be the United States' main partner on security in the hemisphere, and asked for radar and drone help. [22] Rubio goes on to Ecuador and Peru. [22][23] The leftist candidate Ivan Cepeda called the visit a surrender of sovereignty. [22]

Why it matters — China signed a free-trade deal with Peru in 2009 and is now its biggest trading partner. The US is answering that with minerals contracts and security agreements rather than with argument. [22]
12
Argentina files criminal complaints over Falklands drilling

Argentina's government said on Tuesday it had opened sanctions proceedings against 60 people and companies for oil exploration around the Falkland Islands, the British overseas territory Argentina claims and calls Las Malvinas. [25] Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno filed a criminal complaint against subsidiaries of the Israeli firm Navitas Petroleum and their directors. [25] Fifteen new cases were added to 45 announced last week. [25] It is unclear whether any Argentine court has accepted the charges, and Navitas did not comment. [25]

Why it matters — Argentina claims the islands and Britain administers them, and nothing Argentina does changes that. What it can do is put the names of company directors into a criminal file. [25]
13
Latin Americans back democracy, and strongmen

Sixty-five percent of Latin Americans now say democracy is better than any other form of government, six points up on 2023 and the first broad rise in a generation. [24] The finding is from the 2026 Pulse of Democracy, published by Vanderbilt University with the University of Notre Dame, using 25,282 interviews across 21 countries. [24] The same survey found support for strongman rule rising too, and China now more trusted than the United States. [24]

Why it matters — The two findings sit together rather than cancelling out: people want democracy and also want someone to take charge. That is the ground Rubio's tour of right-wing governments is being run on. [22][24]
14
Nicaragua argues its genocide case against Germany

Nicaragua told the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Tuesday that Germany committed multiple violations of international law by arming and supporting Israel during the war in Gaza. [26] Nicaragua's ambassador Carlos Jose Arguello Gomez said the claims involve the most serious breaches of international law. [26] The court has already refused Nicaragua's request for emergency orders halting German arms exports, and Germany is now arguing the judges have no jurisdiction at all. [26]

Why it matters — The case is about German arms shipments rather than about Israeli conduct, and Germany's answer is that the judges have no right to hear it at all. [26] The court refused Nicaragua's request for emergency orders two years ago and the case has run on since. [26]
15
UN commission: Israeli detentions in Syria may be war crimes

A UN commission investigating Syria told the Human Rights Council on Tuesday it was deeply alarmed by Israeli military activity inside Syrian territory, and said some of it, including the detention of civilians, could amount to war crimes. [27] Commissioner Fionnuala Ni Aolain said Israeli operations in the southern provinces of Quneitra and Daraa had become sustained and entrenched, with repeated incursions, patrols and raids. [27] Israel's mission in Geneva called it an Israel-bashing session and said the buffer zone covers 0.1% of Syria. [27]

Why it matters — Israeli forces entered the UN-patrolled buffer zone after Bashar al-Assad's government fell in December 2024, describing the move as temporary. Nearly two years on, the commission is documenting checkpoints and fixed military buildings. [27]
16
Two brothers industrialise West Bank outposts

The brothers Eliav and Harel Libi run a factory in the settlement of Shilo that mass-produces the prefabricated white huts used to start new Israeli outposts in the occupied West Bank, a Reuters investigation published on Tuesday found. [28] They helped found at least nine farming outposts. [28] Settlers built 184 unauthorised outposts in the three years to 2025, almost as many as in the previous three decades, says the Israeli group Peace Now, which counts about 410 in all. [28] Such outposts are illegal under Israeli law too. [28]

Why it matters — An outpost that used to need permits and years now needs a lorry and a herd of livestock. Cheapness is what makes the expansion fast, and speed is what displaces Palestinian shepherds. [28]
17
Six killed at a West Bank village this year

Six people from al-Mughayyir, a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank, have been killed this year in settler-related violence, among them three pupils at the village school. [29] One was Aws al-Naasan, aged 14, shot dead by a settler outside the school gates in April. [29] Small ad-hoc outposts have multiplied around the village. [29] All Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law, and many of these outposts are illegal under Israeli law too. [29]

Why it matters — The outposts that Reuters describes being trucked in are the same ones that have multiplied around this village. [28][29] Three of the six people killed were children at its school. [29]
18
Shin Bet says it broke up a West Bank network

Israel's internal security service, the Shin Bet, said on Tuesday that more than 30 Palestinians had been detained. It called them members of a significant and extensive network in the West Bank and the Jerusalem area, planning attacks on Israelis and security forces. [30] Five residents of Jerusalem were charged with serious offences including running a terror organisation and conspiracy to murder. [30] The army said troops killed a Palestinian who attacked them while they tried to question him. [30]

Why it matters — The announcement came the same day as the report that Netanyahu sat on a warning in 2023, and the same day a UN commission described Israeli detentions in Syria. Detention is doing a great deal of work in this story. [1][27][30]
19
Israel's High Court annuls broadcast regulator picks

Israel's High Court of Justice unanimously cancelled the Israeli government's appointment of Yifat Ben Hai Segev as chair of the Second Authority, which regulates commercial broadcasting. It cancelled two other appointments to the same body. [40] Ben Hai Segev is a witness in Netanyahu's criminal trial, and the court found the appointment breached his legal conflict-of-interest agreement. [40] The other two were chosen without anyone reviewing their published attacks on the outlets they would regulate. [40] All March appointments to the 15-member council must now be reviewed. [40]

Why it matters — A court can cancel an appointment, because an appointment is a document with a date on it. It cannot undo the months the appointees spent regulating outlets they had publicly attacked. [40]
20
Mladic's funeral, and Bosnia expels two diplomats

Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb army commander convicted in 2017 of genocide for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in which 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed, was buried in Belgrade on Monday. [31] At least six Serbian ministers attended. [31] The European Commission's presidents called the official support deeply regrettable and said next steps were being evaluated. [31] Britain summoned Serbia's charge d'affaires. [31] Bosnia expelled two Serbian diplomats and said Serbia had crossed every red line. [31]

Why it matters — Serbia has been an EU candidate since 2012, and the bloc's only real instrument is that membership path. Bosnia, which has no such lever, threw people out instead. [31]
21
EU court rules against a far-right party over IKEA graphics

The European Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday that IKEA, the Swedish furniture retailer, may stop the Belgian far-right party Vlaams Belang from using pictures that copy its assembly instructions. [32] The party launched an Ikea Plan in 2022 to overhaul Belgium's migration and asylum laws, illustrated in that style; IKEA sued in 2023. [32] The court said free expression did not automatically outrank a trademark owner's rights, and sent the case back to the Belgian courts. [32]

Why it matters — Vlaams Belang made big gains in Belgium's 2024 elections and no other party will govern with it. The one thing that has actually constrained its campaigning this week is a furniture company's trademark. [32]
22
Macron asks the EU to ban social media for under-15s

Emmanuel Macron, France's president, wrote to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen urging a European law banning social media for children under 15. [33] France's Constitutional Council struck down a national bill this summer, weeks before it was due to take effect. [33] Von der Leyen has proposed a gentler, tiered scheme under which under-13s get limited supervised access. [33] Australia adopted a ban last year; some Nordic countries think the decision belongs to parents. [33]

Why it matters — Macron is in his final year as president and cannot get the law through his own fragmented parliament, so he is asking 26 other governments to pass it for him. [33]
23
Reading, maths and science at a 25-year low

The OECD's 2025 PISA test of 760,000 fifteen-year-olds in 91 countries found reading, maths and science scores at their lowest since the survey began in 2000. [41] Average reading fell from 501 in 2012 to 466; science from 506 to 486; maths from 502 to 469. [41] On average, teenagers now read at the level once expected of pupils a year younger. [41] The fall was sharper among better-off pupils. [41] East Asia performed best, with Britain and Estonia the only non-Asian entrants in the top ten. [41]

Why it matters — The OECD's head, Mathias Cormann, linked it to more screen time and less reading for pleasure, and described pupils rushing texts and answering wrongly. The report stopped short of recommending phone bans. [41]
24
Meta still running child-abuse ads in India

The Tech Transparency Project, a Washington research group, said on Tuesday it found 332 adverts promoting child sexual abuse material running on Facebook and Instagram, 274 of them in August alone. [42] About 84 ran in India, and 78 of those appeared after India's government ordered Meta to remove such content two months ago. [42] The ads used photographs of real children, including a member of a European royal family, altered with AI. [42] Meta said it keeps strengthening detection. [42]

Why it matters — Distributing this material is a crime in India, and India's government ordered Meta to stop two months ago. Only the watchdog has published a number; Meta answered about how criminals shift tactics. [42]
25
Albania's nightly protests reach day 100

Police in Tirana fought protesters and blocked them from parliament on Tuesday, a day after nightly demonstrations against a luxury resort in a protected coastal nature reserve reached their hundredth day. [38][39] The project is linked to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. [39] Protesters pelted riot police with eggs and tomatoes and sat in the road to block cars carrying lawmakers. [39] Scientists say early work has already destroyed nesting sites of loggerhead turtles and birds. [39]

Why it matters — What began as a fight over one stretch of coast is now the main challenge to the Socialist Party, which has governed Albania for years and whose prime minister Edi Rama backs the development. [39]
26
Gambia's president promises power as protests burn

President Adama Barrow said The Gambia will increase electricity supply by next month, after protesters burned tyres and blocked roads over power cuts that have lasted up to 48 hours in the country's hot season. [43] He promised a 24-megawatt plant and a 50-megawatt solar plant. [43] The national water and electricity company blamed the outages partly on climate change and partly on the US and Israeli war on Iran, and on a surge in demand from high temperatures. [43] Barrow seeks a third term in December. [43]

Why it matters — A West African country is rationing electricity in part because of a war in the Gulf, and its president has three months to fix it before a vote. [43]
27
A third of Sudan's health facilities are shut

Doctors Without Borders warned on Tuesday that about 37% of Sudan's health facilities are out of service as international aid funding falls away, pushing more patients towards fewer clinics. [44] The UN's response plan for Sudan is 41% funded. [44] Some 19.5 million people faced crisis levels of hunger earlier this year. [44] The charity asked governments meeting at the UN General Assembly to protect health funding and provide stopgap money for facilities about to close. [44]

Why it matters — The funding is falling away just as violence and displacement intensify in several regions of Sudan. [44] The charity is asking for money to keep clinics open, not for a settlement. [44]
28
Nepal's rescuers narrow to three tunnels

Nepal's search for people missing since a glacier collapsed on 26 August is now concentrated on tunnels at three hydropower projects, the head of the disaster authority Dharma Raj Upreti said. [45] Rescuers believe about 121 of the 900 people missing from the plants were inside the tunnels; oxygen is being pumped in through pipes while crews cut a way through. [45] Four people have been pulled out alive in recent days, including a Chinese worker recovered on Saturday. [45]

Why it matters — The Chilime project is the main focus because it had a canteen and living quarters, so people are likely to have been there when the water arrived. [45]
29
Nepal's Gen Z protests, one year on

A year ago this week, young Nepalis filled the streets of Kathmandu and other cities over corruption scandals and the display of wealth by officials' children online. [46] The protests began days after Nepal's government blocked 26 social media sites, among them Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, for not following its content rules. The block was lifted once the protests started. [46] Police fired live rounds and about 76 protesters were killed. [46] The movement forced Nepal's government out and brought an interim administration and new elections. [46]

Why it matters — Nepal is now searching for 900 people missing from flooded hydropower tunnels, and the interim leadership those protests produced is running the rescue. [45][46]
30
EU countries argue over Europe-wide taxes

EU governments met on Tuesday to discuss what the Irish presidency called a realistic volume of Europe-wide taxes for the bloc's next seven-year budget. [34] The most acceptable is the carbon border charge, which puts a carbon price on imports such as steel and cement so foreign producers face costs similar to European ones; many are open to raising it. [34] A tax on electronic waste has broad support. [34] Most governments oppose a yearly lump sum on large companies. [34]

Why it matters — The budget can only grow if the bloc raises money of its own rather than taking more from national treasuries, and each government is defending the tax that costs it least. [34]
31
Draghi's plan is two years old and stuck

Two years after Mario Draghi, the former Italian prime minister and European Central Bank head, published his report on European competitiveness, most of its proposals are still in negotiation. [35] The Commission proposed a 410 billion euro European Competitiveness Fund in the 2028-2034 budget, but governments have moved away from his advice in the talks. [35] Draghi has co-founded a new group, with the Stripe chief Patrick Collison, which says Europe is in a harder place than in 2024. [35]

Why it matters — Everyone agreed with the diagnosis and nobody has agreed on what to give up to pay for it, which is why the author has started a lobbying group about his own report. [35]
32
Green groups complain to the EU's watchdog over water law

The World Wildlife Fund, the European Environmental Bureau and three other groups filed a complaint with the European Ombudsman, the EU's independent watchdog, over Commission plans to rewrite the bloc's main water law. [36] The revision responds to mining and metals firms who say environmental safeguards delay permits for new critical-raw-material mines. [36] The groups say the Commission failed to gather evidence or consult properly, which they call maladministration. [36] The Ombudsman will decide within weeks whether to investigate. [36]

Why it matters — The Ombudsman cannot force the Commission to do anything. The complaint is a request for a public finding, filed by groups who have no other way in. [36]
33
Trump's map puts Iceland inside the United States

A map used by Donald Trump showed Iceland as part of the United States, and Iceland's government was not amused. [37] Iceland has had no armed forces since independence in 1944 and relies on NATO membership and a 1951 defence pact with the United States. [37] Trump has floated annexing Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory about 300 kilometres from Iceland, and is in a tariff standoff with Canada. [37]

Why it matters — For a country with no army, the map is not a joke about cartography. It is about whether the pact that stands in for an army still means what it did. [37]
34
South Korea's power demand set to jump on AI

South Korea's climate, energy and environment minister Kim Sung-hwan told Reuters that plans by the chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to expand production, plus new AI data centres, will add 25 to 30 gigawatts to national electricity demand. [47] South Korea's government is assessing whether it needs more nuclear plants, and expects to publish a long-term energy roadmap next month. [47]

Why it matters — The same country is sending an inspection team to the Strait of Hormuz because 70% of its crude comes through it. Its energy problem is arriving from two directions at once. [7][47]
35
Indian steel prices reach a four-year high

Indian steel prices are expected to rise further as construction and car demand picks up after the monsoon and coking coal costs climb, executives and analysts told Reuters. [48] Hot-rolled coil, the standard flat steel product, rose 4,000 rupees a tonne between August and early September to a four-year high, after mills had trimmed prices slightly in June and July. [48] One consultancy expects another 3,500 rupees a tonne in the coming weeks. [48] India is the world's second-largest steel producer after China. [48]

Why it matters — Mills recover the margins that coal costs took from them, and construction firms and carmakers pay it just as their own demand returns. [48]

02 Lesson why it matters

When you cannot punish someone, you publish

A body with no power to stop something can still write down what it found, and after that everything depends on who reads it.

The twist

A published finding is not a weak punishment. It is a request that somebody else do the punishing, and most of the time nobody does.

How it works

Something is being done, and a government is doing it
The body that noticed cannot order it stopped
So it writes down what it found and publishes it
The finding goes looking for someone who does have power - a voter, a judge, a buyer
If nobody picks it up, publishing was the whole of what happened

The same force, elsewhere today

Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

The UN commission on Israeli detentions in Syria

it wrote down what it found and read it to the Human Rights Council, which cannot order anything, and Israel's mission answered by calling the session Israel-bashing
The green groups' complaint about the EU water law

the finding here has a named reader: the European Ombudsman cannot force the Commission to do anything, so five organisations are asking it to say in public that the Commission cut corners
The EU and UK response to Mladic's funeral

the same chain, and one country stepped off it: the EU statement and the British summons cost Serbia nothing, while Bosnia expelled two Serbian diplomats
The reading and maths scores at a 25-year low

the OECD published the numbers for 91 countries and stopped short of recommending phone bans, leaving every decision with the governments it reports to

Where you've seen this

Food hygiene ratings

the inspector usually cannot close the kitchen, so the score goes in the window for customers to act on

A school report

the teacher cannot make a child study, so the marks are addressed to whoever at home might

A credit rating

the agency lends nothing and forbids nothing; it writes a letter and lets lenders price it

The catch

It only works when the audience can act and is paying attention. The UN commission has been documenting Syria for years, and Israeli checkpoints are still going up in Quneitra and Daraa.

And the whole of it

Israel's four opposition leaders cannot make anyone answer the question they asked on Tuesday. They can only ask it in front of voters, and wait for an election. Every one of us is the intended reader of some report we have never seen - a safety finding, an inspection, a court's opinion - and for most of them, the writing was the last thing that happened.

03 Truth what's really going on

What is really going on

The Haaretz report is about a phone call in 2023, but the reason it matters this week is the election. It landed while Israel's parties were settling their lists, and the four men demanding an inquiry into what Netanyahu knew are the four men running against him. [1][5] Nobody involved can compel an answer: the only body that could is a state commission of inquiry, and it would have to be created by whoever wins.

Why it works on us — The story is shaped as one 45-minute phone call, which is easy to picture and easy for Netanyahu's office to deny in three words, while the broader charge that dozens of warnings were ignored has no such single scene to argue about. [1][4]

Who gains

Gadi Eisenkot — He is Netanyahu's main rival, the report arrived as parties finalised their lists, and his response was the first one quoted in both Israeli papers. [3][4]
Iran's negotiators over the Strait of Hormuz — Every strike on a tanker pushes the oil price up, and Iran's stated condition for reopening the strait is that oil sanctions come off. [7][10]
Chinese makers of the chip chemical DCS — The new deposits of up to 99.2% apply only to Japanese exporters, and Japan is the leading producer of the ultrapure grade. [19]
Abelardo de la Espriella, Colombia's president — He took office in August and left Tuesday's meeting with signed agreements on critical minerals and civil nuclear cooperation, plus a promise of radar and drone support. [22]
Indian steel mills — Hot-rolled coil is at a four-year high, which lets them recover margins that rising coking coal costs had squeezed. [48]

Who pays

Israelis who wanted an inquiry before voting — The four opposition leaders can only promise a commission after they form a government, so the question stays open until at least the election. [5]
The crews of the Iranian tankers off Jask and Kharg Island — Both crews were evacuated by lifeboat towards shore after their ships were struck. [7]
Tanker crews berthed in Kuwait and Bahrain — Iran's Revolutionary Guard told them to leave their vessels immediately because the ships could be targeted in retaliation. [7]
South African households — The economy shrank 0.2% in the second quarter, its first fall in almost two years, and economists put it down to fuel costs from the war in the Gulf. [13][14]
Gambians living with 48-hour power cuts — The national electricity company blamed the outages partly on heat and partly on the US and Israeli war on Iran. [43]
Palestinians in al-Mughayyir — Six people from the village, including three pupils at its school, have been killed this year as settler outposts multiplied around it. [29]

What nobody knows yet

Open questions from across today’s stories — ours included.

01

Whether the call happened at all.

Netanyahu's office calls the report a total lie. The book cites an adviser to the UAE's president who knew of the call directly, and the UAE itself says only that it shares intelligence with Israel through established channels. [1][6]
02

What exactly Netanyahu's office is denying.

The call, or only the claim that he did nothing with it. The statement was three words and drew no distinction. [1]
03

How many Iranian tankers were hit on Tuesday, and where.

Iranian state television named two tankers struck near Jask and one at the Kharg Island anchorage; a Fox News report said the targets were near Kharg Island and the port city of Jask; the US military has published no list. [7][9]
04

Whether South Korea will send anything to the Strait of Hormuz.

Its defence ministry sent an inspection team to the United Arab Emirates, its presidential office says troop deployment is not being discussed, and the review is unfinished. [7][12]
05

Whether the World Court will hear Nicaragua's case at all.

Germany argues the judges have no jurisdiction, and the court has already refused Nicaragua's request for emergency orders on arms exports. [26]
06

Whether the European Ombudsman will even open an inquiry into the water-law complaint.

It said the decision takes a few weeks, and it cannot force the Commission to act whatever it finds. [36]
07

How many people are still alive inside the Nepali tunnels.

Rescuers think about 121 of the 900 missing from the hydropower plants were inside; four people have been pulled out alive in recent days. [45]
08

What the European Union will actually do about the Mladic funeral.

A Commission spokesperson said next steps were being evaluated and named none, with Serbia's snap election due next month. [31]
09

Whether Meta and the Tech Transparency Project are counting the same adverts.

The group counted 332 child-abuse adverts, 84 of them in India; Meta answered about how criminals shift tactics and gave no figure of its own. [42]

04 Hope carry this

Rescue teams in Nepal have pulled four people alive out of the flooded hydropower tunnels in the past few days, among them a Chinese worker recovered on Saturday. Oxygen is being pumped through pipes into three more tunnels while crews cut a way in.

Also true today

Sixty-five percent of Latin Americans now say democracy is better than any other form of government, six points up on 2023. The rise shows up in nearly every country surveyed and in every age group, the first broad increase in a generation.