World
Yemen's Houthi movement said it struck the Saudi capital on September 19 and a Saudi Aramco site in the Red Sea port of Yanbu, after seizing the port city of Mokha and two islands near the Bab al-Mandab strait earlier in the month. With the Strait of Hormuz closed during the US war with Iran, Bab al-Mandab is the main route left for Gulf oil and cargo. About 30 tankers have been reported within Houthi strike range near Yanbu and several vessels have reversed course. Carriers are sailing around southern Africa, lifting freight and insurance costs, while S&P Global Energy says Middle East crude output is unlikely to return to prewar levels before the end of 2027.
Reuters / BBC / DW / Ukrainian News / S&P Global
Politics
Three White House reporters lost their credentials and were denied entry on September 19 after President Donald Trump banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the press pool. Photographs showed CNN's Betsy Klein, MS NOW's Akayla Gardner and Politico's Cheyenne Haslett outside the gates with their hard passes confiscated. The pool is a rotating group of correspondents who travel with the president and share material with the wider press corps, so removing outlets narrows what the public sees. The White House Correspondents' Association objected and media lawyers are weighing a court challenge. Past fights over access have turned on whether a press pass is a presidential privilege or a First Amendment process.
AP News / Politico / Fox News
Business
Stellantis India has taken full ownership of its manufacturing operations at Thiruvallur in Tamil Nadu after buying the remaining stake held by Hindustan Motor Finance Corporation, part of the CK Birla Group. The plant has built vehicles for the group since 2017. Stellantis plans to raise annual output from about 18,000 units in 2026 to more than 50,000 by 2027, a rise of more than 160 per cent, while more than doubling its direct workforce. Export demand and India's role as a low-cost base for Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia are driving the plan. Component suppliers with approvals for the site are expected to add machines and staff ahead of the ramp.
Economic Times / PTI / Money.rediff / Team-BHP
Technology
Samsung Electronics plans to double output of HBM4 and HBM4E memory next year, according to Seoul Economic Daily, one of the largest capacity commitments the memory industry has made this decade. The near-term supply of HBM3E is sold out and manufacturers have shifted wafer capacity away from commodity DRAM, pushing DRAM prices up about 171 per cent year over year and roughly quadrupling DDR5 spot prices since late 2025. CSIS analysis suggests a single next-generation Nvidia processor could carry as much as 384GB of HBM by 2027. PC makers including Dell, Lenovo, Apple and Microsoft have tied price increases to memory costs.
Seoul Economic Daily / CSIS / Gotrade / Blocks & Files
Science
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a one-pot process that converts polyethylene into gasoline- and diesel-like fuels using cheap molten aluminium-based salts that act as both catalyst and solvent. The reaction runs below 200 degrees Celsius and needs no added hydrogen, no extra solvent and no precious-metal catalysts. It produces liquid alkanes, the same class of molecules refineries already handle, which raises the prospect that waste plastic could displace some refinery feedstock instead of being burned or buried. The work was reported on September 21. The open questions are continuous-flow behaviour, tolerance of contaminated plastic feed and long-run energy balance.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory / ScienceDaily / ORNL Technology Transfer
Sports
India reached six medals at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games by the end of Monday, September 21, after a day that delivered four podium finishes. Shooting produced three medals, with the men's 10m air rifle team taking silver and Himanshu and Rudrankksh reaching the individual final. Suchika Tariyal won bronze in mixed martial arts, the country's first Games medal in the sport. India beat Indonesia 17-1 in hockey and Japan 49-24 in the kabaddi opener. Thai badminton player Pitchamon Opatniputh became the first athlete suspended after a positive doping test, and organisers kept watching forecasts of a typhoon near the Aichi-Nagoya coast.
Economic Times / Times of India / Inquirer / Straits Times
Health
Pennsylvania's health department has requested emergency CDC support, known as an Epi-Aid, for one of the largest and deadliest measles outbreaks in the United States, on the condition that the agency recognises four measles-associated deaths reported by the state. Secretary of health Debra Bogen made the request in a letter to CDC director Erica Schwartz, according to a document reviewed by Reuters. The move deepens a dispute with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who along with Schwartz has blamed Governor Josh Shapiro for not accepting earlier federal offers of help. Epi-Aid teams typically help with case finding, contact tracing and vaccination outreach.
Reuters / Forbes / US News
Environment
Indonesia is battling its worst wildfire season in 11 years, with fires across Borneo and Sumatra spreading haze over parts of the region. President Prabowo Subianto has called for stricter regulations and sanctions against people and companies behind deliberate slash-and-burn land clearing, describing the practice as ecological terrorism and demanding zero tolerance. Much of the burning is in peatland, where fires smoulder underground and can reignite weeks later, making them costly to fight and hard to measure by satellite. Officials point to a dry El Nino pattern, while researchers say enforcement during this season will show whether the tougher rules have any effect.
Reuters / Jakarta Cabinet Secretariat / Times of India