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Intrigue

Daily flyovers

Latest news for 17 September 2026

Quick hits of consequential news from all corners of the world.

  1. 01

    UNITED STATES

    Warsh hikes anyway.

    Gold prices have eased 1% after Trump-appointed Kevin Warsh oversaw his first rate hike, with the Fed’s famous dot chart implying another before year-end. The unanimous move was the Fed’s first hike in three years. (Reuters)

    Comment: So much for any expectation that Warsh might deliver cheap money to appease his White House benefactor. Faced with stubborn inflation and rising global yields, the Fed chose credibility over cover.

  2. 02

    ISRAEL

    Treason at Venice Film Fest?

    Prime Minister Netanyahu has announced two new government bills aimed at stripping citizenship from anyone who slanders Israeli soldiers, plus increasing defamation damages against them. It’s a response to directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, whose NAZA documentary on mass Gaza casualties just debuted in Venice to critical acclaim. (Guardian)

    Comment: President Herzog is already dismissing the revocation bill as a legal non-starter, but the announcement will be another classic Streisand Effect, simply drawing more attention to the film (… like this). So… why? It looks like classic Bibi politics ahead of next month’s high-stakes elections, tapping culture-war and existential talking points to animate his base.

  3. 03

    TAIWAN

    Quick overseas visit.

    The coast guard is planning Taiwan’s first government vessel trip to the Philippines since a naval goodwill visit in 1974 (before Manila cut diplomatic ties in 1975). Slated for October next year, it’s a signal of solidarity in the face of a more assertive China in their shared region. (Taiwan News)

    Comment: This is Manila playing China’s own ‘grey-zone’ game: with full-blown Taiwan drills a non-starter, coast guards are the answer — not quite a navy, but more than a courtesy call, and precisely calibrated after years of China using its own white hulls for expansionist naval aims. Our only question is why Taiwan and Philippines gave so much notice: plenty of time and space for Beijing to now ramp up pressure in response.

  4. 04

    CHINA

    Rumour mill.

    Did Xi Jinping stroke out at the BRICS summit in Delhi?! Did Huawei’s billionaire founder skip town ahead of Beijing’s strict new exit controls?!! Did Xi’s old rival Bo Xilai escape prison?!!! There’s zero evidence for any of these claims, but they’re doing the rounds again. (India Today)

    Comment: We’ll believe the Xi rumour when his DC summit with Trump gets delayed; as for the Huawei rumour, it lost whatever limited cred it ever had when Ren Zhengfei’s daughter (TV star Yao Anna) did a Beijing presser on Monday, rather than supposedly flee the country with her Party-loyal dad. So we more mention these rumours as the latest example of how nature fills the Party’s information void, rivals thirst for any whiff of weakness, plus there’s maybe a ripple of elite anxiety over Xi’s new exit ban.

  5. 05

    KOSOVO

    Justice delayed.

    A special EU-backed tribunal in The Hague just sentenced Kosovo’s ex-president Hashim Thaçi to 25 years in prison over war crimes during the Kosovo Liberation Army’s 1998-99 war against Serbian forces. (Al Jazeera)

    Comment: It’s a massive fall for an independence leader who went on to serve as both PM and president with heavy Western backing. Many in Pristina now see betrayal, while more in Belgrade see belated justice. A genocidaire’s state funeral one week, a neighbour’s founding father in the dock the next; that’s how the region became a metaphor (Balkanisation).

  6. 06

    RUSSIA

    Hit squad busted.

    The US DoJ has unsealed charges against five operatives linked to Russian intelligence, allegedly recruiting local assets to surveil and assassinate a prominent Russian dissident in DC. All five remain at large. (Department of Justice)

    Comment: Putin has a long record of attempted transnational repression across Europe (think Salisbury or Berlin), but attempting that kind of a stunt inside DC is a massive escalation. Europe at least expelled some Ruskies after Salisbury. Whether this White House does anything is another matter entirely.

  7. 07

    VENEZUELA

    Pleading with you.

    Alex Saab, Maduro’s longtime money man, has pleaded guilty in Miami to one US count of money laundering conspiracy, and has agreed to forfeit $195M and cooperate with federal investigators. (El Pais)

    Comment: It’s bad news for Maduro’s own courtroom defence in New York, and a reminder how easily that close group of confidantes can go from a protective inner circle to a noose around your neck.