World
A planned meeting between Iran and Gulf countries on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was postponed, pushing Brent crude above $107 a barrel on Monday. Oman's foreign minister said the talks in Salalah were delayed in the interests of consensus. Iran blamed Saudi Arabia. The delay came as a merchant vessel was hit by an unknown projectile in the strait and Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it destroyed a US MQ-1 drone over the waterway. With the six-month war showing no diplomatic progress, traders are betting on higher prices.
AP / Al Jazeera
Politics
A federal judge ruled that a Department of Homeland Security plan to cut the Federal Emergency Management Agency's workforce by 50 percent was unlawful. The ruling, issued Friday, is a setback for an administration that has pushed to shrink the disaster agency. A review council had already stepped back from the 50 percent figure in its final report, recommending a staffing review instead. The case lands as Congress weighs bipartisan FEMA reform and as Democrats press claims of political bias in disaster aid.
AP / PBS NewsHour
Business
Saudi oil buyers and traders say the kingdom will run out of crude stocks available for export if its East-West pipeline to the Red Sea is not restarted within days. The line has been shut since attacks last week, and Iran denies involvement. Brent crude crossed $107 a barrel on Monday, near a four-month high, while US diesel has hit a record $6 a gallon. The White House is weighing emergency powers to expand refining capacity, and August inflation data has hardened expectations of a Fed rate rise.
Reuters
Technology
Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei published a 3,800-word essay calling for slower AI development and stronger oversight, drawing support from OpenAI, SpaceX and Google DeepMind leaders. President Donald Trump rejected the idea, saying a slowdown means China wins. Chip stocks fell on the shift in tone, with Micron down 5 percent and SanDisk down nearly 5 percent. At the same time, Anthropic has picked Nasdaq for a potential listing and is reported to be seeking up to $100 billion at a $2 trillion valuation.
Reuters / Bloomberg
Science
An international team led by Cardiff University says the inductive effect, a standard concept in organic chemistry, travels only across a single bond in neutral molecules rather than weakening over three or four bonds as textbooks have taught for almost 100 years. Their new paper in the Journal of Chemical Education pulls together scattered evidence and their own dataset. Two A-level exam boards have already announced reviews of how they teach the topic.
ScienceDaily / Cardiff University
Sports
Team USA came back from 14 points down to beat France 97-79 in the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup final in Berlin, winning a fifth consecutive title and a 12th overall. Breanna Stewart scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and was named TISSOT MVP for a second time, a first in tournament history. Jackie Young added 18 points. Spain took bronze by beating host Germany 81-58, and the tournament set a record for attendance.
FIBA / USA TODAY
Health
Results from a phase 2a trial of rentosertib, a drug designed with generative AI, show reversal of predicted biological aging across six proteomic aging clocks. The study, published in Nature Biotechnology, analysed more than 2,800 proteins in blood samples from 42 people with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis over 12 weeks. Experts say the signal is promising but that a younger aging-clock score is not proof that patients have become biologically younger.
Medical News Today
Environment
A UN-backed assessment by UNEP and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition says tackling air pollution and climate change together returns about $15 in economic benefits for every dollar spent. The report lists 25 proven measures and estimates benefits equal to 2.8 percent of global GDP in 2035 and 11.4 percent in 2100. It links outdoor air pollution in 2025 to 6.4 million premature deaths and warns that fragmented decision-making could delay action by almost eight years.
UN News