August 2026
All columns and Brief analyses.
10 results
As Ukraine hits Russian refineries, Moscow targets fuel infrastructure
The BBC placed Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries and Moscow's strikes on Ukrainian fuel depots and stations on the same energy-logistics front. In the latest attack reported by Meduza, the Afipsky refinery caught fire; debris at a railway station killed two people, injured two others and damaged at least 10 homes.
Bath & Body Works returns to direct-sales growth
Bath & Body Works recorded its first direct-sales growth since 2021 despite lower total sales and raised its annual earnings guidance. In Australia, Woolworths lifted annual profit to 1.14 billion Australian dollars, helped by 15.9 per cent online-sales growth and its Ooshies toy promotion. Both results put the focus on customer channels and promotions beyond ordinary shelf-price increases.
Britain's winter energy cap rises 4 per cent as gas costs climb
Britain's annual energy cap for a typical household on a default tariff will rise 4 per cent to 1,723 pounds on 1 October, driven by higher gas costs. In water, the government is considering changes to special-administration rules that could bring Thames Water into public control. Household bills and the future of a heavily indebted utility now turn on separate regulatory choices.
Chemical marks restraining FKBP5 fade in schizophrenia brain tissue
Chemical marks that normally restrain FKBP5 were reduced in donated brain tissue from people with schizophrenia, alongside higher gene activity; the observational study cannot establish cause. Separate studies found that traffic noise weakened birdsong's calming effect and that stronger deep-sleep rhythms were associated with a weaker link between orexin and cognitive decline.
China urges an Eswatini exit as Xi heads for Bishkek and Cairo
Beijing advised its citizens to leave Eswatini, Taiwan's only diplomatic partner in Africa, citing security risks linked to cyber fraud and gambling. In the same week, Xi Jinping prepared to travel to Bishkek for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit and then to Cairo for his first state visit in a decade. One move concerns a country outside Beijing's diplomatic network; the other works through its partnerships.
DNA folding steers T-cell identity and stem-cell ribosome production
Two mouse-cell studies tie gene activity to physical organisation beyond the DNA sequence. Deleting one super-enhancer disrupted the three-dimensional fold and activation timing of the Ets1-Fli1 region in T cells. Depleting Tcf15 in embryonic stem cells pushed ribosomal DNA toward a closed state, slowed ribosome production and accompanied genomic instability. Neither study establishes the same mechanism in human disease or human cells.
Dutch settlement-goods ban turns the dispute into a court test
In the Netherlands, the Israel Product Centre went to court to stop a three-year ban on goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights before it takes effect on September 22. The same day, 45 Democratic US senators urged Netanyahu to curb West Bank settler violence, halt new settlement approvals and remove illegal outposts. Settlement policy is thus facing pressure through different tools in two allied countries.
EHang withdraws its 2026 guidance amid regulatory uncertainty in China
HEICO's fiscal third-quarter sales rose 23 per cent and net income 33 per cent, with organic sales up 14 per cent excluding acquisitions. EHang's second-quarter revenue jumped 203.5 per cent from the previous quarter but fell 31.3 per cent from a year earlier, while regulatory uncertainty in China led it to withdraw its 2026 revenue guidance.
Emporia drops the case against a teacher arrested at a data-centre meeting
Emporia has dismissed its municipal case against teacher Lux Claridge, arrested after clapping at a hyperscale data-centre meeting, and sent the file to the county attorney. Nationally, more than 15 candidates have signed the AI Pact, which includes limits on data-centre tax breaks and backroom deals; all but one current signer is a Democrat.
Energy imports push the EU back into a goods-trade deficit
The EU returned to a goods-trade deficit in the second quarter as its energy gap widened to 101.1 billion euros. Elsewhere, copper inventories shifted toward the United States ahead of a possible tariff, Canadian rail freight rose for a third month, and Türkiye's crude-steel output grew even as production across 70 reporting countries edged lower.