“Sapporo is shifting some production from Canada to the United States after President Donald Trump’s 50 percent tariffs hit beer brewed in Canada for the US market. The Japanese brewer plans to move production of non-alcoholic beer currently made in Canada for American consumers to the US by the first half of 2027, Bloomberg reported. … Sapporo is considering buying or building a brewery on the US West Coast or using a contract brewer to support the shift.” (09/08/26)
“Brazilian Supreme Court Justice André Mendonca on Tuesday removed the head of the country’s federal police and its intelligence chief from their posts, deepening a crisis at the top court and drawing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government into the turmoil ahead of October national elections. Mendonca, an appointee of former President Jair Bolsonaro, said in his ruling that federal police Director-General Andrei Rodrigues, a Lula nominee, and the intelligence director of the force, Leandro Almada, headed an organization that allegedly produced six illegal reports on the justice’s activities through the end of August. Mendonca currently chairs two politically sensitive investigations: one into the collapse of Banco Master, which has ensnared several politicians, and another into alleged frauds in Brazil’s pension system. The first has hit mostly figures of the country’s opposition, while the latter has raised questions of wrongdoing by one of Lula’s sons.” (09/08/26)
“A former speaker of the house in the Philippines, a relative of the country’s president, was arrested on Monday night over accusations that he pocketed $118 million in kickbacks from flood control and other infrastructure projects. A warrant for Martin Romualdez, a first cousin of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., was served inside a hospital room ain San Juan City. Mr. Romualdez resigned as speaker last year but still represents the province of Leyte in congress. Mr. Romualdez has repeatedly denied involvement in the scandal, which involved the diversion of public funds intended to build infrastructure for a $9.8 billion flood control program. … The arrest of Mr. Romualdez came more than a month after Mr. Marcos said in his state of the nation address that multiple cases would be filed against his cousin.” (09/07/26)
“Yemen’s Tehran-backed Houthis attacked energy facilities and cities in U.S. ally Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, wounding more than 70 people and underscoring the risk of the Iran conflict escalating into a wider regional war. … The Houthi attacks came after Iran warned that energy infrastructure across the Gulf, including U.S. oil and gas interests, was vulnerable in the wake of a tit-for-tat exchange of attacks on ships in and around the Gulf last weekend. The attacks sent oil prices climbing to more than six-week highs.” (09/08/26)
“Two people were killed and at least 10 injured after Russia struck the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with drones and missiles overnight on Tuesday, local authorities said. The attack comes after a pause over the weekend as U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff arrived in Kyiv for their first official visit in a renewed push to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. The main targets of the overnight attack were Kyiv and the southern Odesa region.” (09/08/26)
“Britain is set to ban goods from Israeli [squats] in the occupied West Bank in response to an expansion program that is imperiling efforts to establish [sic] a Palestinian state, the U.K. government said Tuesday. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband is due to give details in the House of Commons later, after saying last week that he would ‘reset’ U.K. relations with Israel. Before the announcement, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said that it ‘isn’t intended to be a boycott of all Israeli goods.’ He said that the measures were ‘specifically targeted at the expansion of these [squats], which are illegal under international law, in the West Bank.’ … Senior Israeli ministers condemned the U.K. government’s impending announcement. … The move also was criticized by the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who said that it was ‘discrimination against the Jewish people.'” (09/08/27)
“A federal appeals court ruled that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee the right to clean drinking water in a Sept. 4 decision rejecting Jackson, Mississippi, residents’ lawsuit over the city’s lead-contaminated water system. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling dismissing residents’ 2022 lawsuit. The plaintiffs, Priscilla Sterling, Raine Becker, Shawn Miller and John Bennett, alleged that the city knowingly allowed residents to drink unsafe water. They argued that the water contamination violated their constitutional right to bodily integrity under the 14th Amendment’s due process clause. In the majority decision, Judge Kurt Engelhardt wrote that while the deprivation of clean water was ‘grievous,’ it did ‘not infringe upon any deeply rooted constitutional right.'” (09/07/26)
“The war in Iran has now cost U.S. consumers $100 billion in higher energy prices, and the bill is rising another $1 million about every two minutes, per a real-time estimate from Brown University as of Monday morning. … The Iran War Energy Cost Tracker from Brown’s Watson School says higher gasoline and diesel prices have cost the average U.S. household more than $760 since the war began Feb. 28. Most of that is gas, though the diesel burden is rising faster of late. On Friday, diesel hit an all-time record high, and it’s continued to rise every day since. As of Monday morning it’s at $5.90 a gallon, per AAA, up about 60% from a year ago.” (09/07/26)
“Erik and Lyle Menendez have been granted an early parole suitability hearing, much to the delight of their family. In a statement released on Monday morning, a family spokesperson confirmed that the California Board of Parole granted the brothers the sooner hearing. They were previously eligible for a parole suitability hearing next in Aug. 2028. … The brothers were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, at their Beverly Hills home in 1989.” (09/07/26)
“Retaliatory tariffs issued by Canada are set to hit [Canadian buyers of] some imports from the United States soon after midnight on Tuesday, intensifying a trade war between the longtime allies and risking an escalation from President Donald Trump. Levies as high as 50% will be applied to [Canadian buyers of] hundreds of U.S. products, ranging from aluminum foil to raincoats to cheese. U.S. elected officials in states bordering Canada, including Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, have warned the trade dispute will hurt local businesses and consumers. Canadian officials said the retaliatory measure would target about $20 billion worth of U.S. products, mirroring the size of a recent batch of U.S. levies. The targeted goods amount to nearly 6% of annual U.S. exports to Canada, according to U.S. Census Bureau data for 2025.” (09/07/26)
