September 2026
All columns and Brief analyses.
10 results
Fourteen Teruel tail bones are the first confirmed Diplodocus outside North America
A Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology paper dated 14 September 2026 identifies 14 caudal vertebrae from La Tejería in El Castellar, Teruel, as Diplodocus, the first confirmed find of the genus outside North America. Sci.News says the animal was about 25 metres long and a close relative of Diplodocus hallorum, from about 150 million years ago. Until this specimen, confirmed Diplodocus had come from the Morrison Formation.
France and Slovakia force a seven-day rollover of EU Russia listings
France and Slovakia blocked a full renewal of the EU's individual Russia sanctions by seeking Alisher Usmanov's removal from the list. Ambassadors extended the measures until 22 September. UA.NEWS reports Slovakia also wants Mikhail Fridman delisted, while Paris does not. Ireland's EU Council presidency said renewing the lists remains a priority.
GE HealthCare nears a 1 billion dollar deal for cancer-scan tracer maker Sofie Biosciences
GE HealthCare is in advanced talks to buy Sofie Biosciences, a Virginia company that makes the radioactive tracer chemicals used in cancer scans, in a deal worth up to 1 billion dollars, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. An agreement could be announced as soon as this week. The purchase would be the medical-imaging group's second big acquisition since its split from General Electric, and it follows an April in which GE HealthCare cut its profit outlook and reshuffled its business units and executive team.
Genta Koja wins Okinawa's governorship, ending 12 years of resistance to the Henoko base plan
Genta Koja, a 42-year-old former deputy mayor of Naha backed by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party, won Sunday's Okinawa governor election with 59 percent of the vote, defeating two-term incumbent Denny Tamaki. Koja accepts the plan to move the US Marines' Futenma air base to Henoko, which Tamaki fought for years; he is the first governor born after Okinawa's 1972 return to Japan and the prefecture's first leader in 12 years to back the relocation.
Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan switch their Fed forecasts to a rate rise this week
Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan now forecast that the US Federal Reserve raises rates this week, a change analysts attributed to inflation data above forecasts and to oil above 100 dollars a barrel. Goldman forecasts a 25 basis point increase on September 15-16 and keeps its call for 2 cuts in 2027; J.P. Morgan forecasts 25 basis point rises in September and December and lifts its long-run rate estimate to 3.25 per cent. Quartz reports HSBC and Deutsche Bank sharing that call.
In the most polluted areas glaucoma odds run up to 70 percent higher, across 41 pooled studies
A meta-analysis of 41 observational studies from East Asia and the United Kingdom, presented by Ahmed Alnabihi of Riyadh's King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital at the ESCRS congress in London, finds glaucoma and cataract more common where air pollution is higher. The clearest link is with fine particles: each step up in exposure went with around 8 percent more glaucoma risk and 4 percent more cataract risk, and the most polluted areas had up to 70 percent higher glaucoma odds. The data show an association, not causation.
India opened 654 MW to flood-hit Nepal until 31 December, 18 hours a day
India's Ministry of Power approved up to 654 megawatts to Nepal for 18 hours a day until 31 December. The 26 August glacial collapse wrecked hydropower plants. The Kathmandu Post splits that into 600 MW on Muzaffarpur-Dhalkebar and 54 MW on Tanakpur-Mahendranagar, midnight to 6pm from 13 September. December will review the January 2027 quantity.
Korea's export route to US demand shifts from China to ASEAN plants
The Bank of Korea said in a report released on Sunday that the share of Korean intermediate goods reaching US final demand through Chinese production bases fell from 10.7 per cent in 2016 to 6.8 per cent in 2022, while the share routed through five ASEAN countries including Vietnam rose from 4.9 per cent to 8.3 per cent. Vietnam, India and Mexico are emerging as connector countries, and the bank advised reducing dependence on any single production hub or route.
Kospi drops 3.3 per cent and Brent tops 107 dollars as a week of rate decisions opens
Asian shares fell on Monday morning: Japan's Nikkei lost 1.7 per cent, South Korea's Kospi 3.3 per cent and MSCI's Asia-Pacific index outside Japan 0.8 per cent, while Brent rose 2.6 per cent to 107.36 dollars after strikes on Saudi Arabia and Gulf shipping. Nasdaq 100 futures had fallen 1.2 per cent on Sunday night after Sam Altman called an OpenAI listing this year ill-advised. Markets price an 86 per cent chance of a Federal Reserve rate increase this week.
Kyiv sets conditions after Trump claims a mutual halt on energy strikes
Donald Trump wrote on Monday that Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to hit each other's energy targets. The Kyiv Independent and POLITICO Europe both report that neither government confirmed a deal. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would halt corresponding strikes only if partners ensured Russia genuinely stopped hitting electricity, other energy facilities, critical infrastructure and food routes.