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Theme: United States

United States: articles and notes where the país is a central actor.

22 people shot, 19 of them inside cars

A case-by-case review of shootings by federal immigration officers since January 2025 shows where the pattern repeats: traffic stops account for 19 of the 22 people shot and four of the six deaths. In Austin, the man wounded on Sunday is already in federal custody pending deportation, and the investigation into the shooting sits with the agency that fired.

United StatesMigrationLatin America
21 Sep 2026

Memory now decides the artificial intelligence (AI) race

The price of plain dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) rose 90% in one quarter as capacity moved to high-bandwidth memory (HBM). China advanced where nobody was looking — 10% of global DRAM, 14% of NAND (Not-And) flash and the most valuable company on the Shanghai exchange — while American export control aims at the previous generation’s bottleneck.

ChinaSouth KoreaUnited StatesNetherlandsSemiconductorsArtificial intelligence
21 Sep 2026
Wire

Venezuelan Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, shot by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent on a street in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, September 20, 2026, was readmitted to hospital after protests and pressure from Texas lawmakers over his health, because the bullet lodged in his back had not been removed, according to El País. He had said on a call during a press conference on Monday, September 21, that the bullet fractured his collarbone and was not taken out because it sits close to his spine, and that at the ICE processing centre in Pearsall, where he is being held, he received only a painkiller in the early hours. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said he was stable when he was transferred, and his lawyer, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, disputes the official account of an irregular entry: she says Garcés entered with authorisation in 2024 and applied for asylum, and that the deportation order was issued in absentia because a hearing notice went to his old address. Austin congressman Greg Casar has demanded that ICE not deport him, and the city saw a second night of protests.

22 Sep · 06:05

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, that it opposes the “illegal unilateral sanctions” the United States has imposed on Iran and on Tehran’s trading partners and that it will take “all necessary measures” to protect Chinese interests, according to BBC News and Middle East Eye. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the package on Monday, September 21, branding it “Operation Economic Outcast” and describing it as the “single greatest financial offensive ever” against Iran, and said “all the Iranian airlines will be shut down around the world” on September 23 under threat of secondary sanctions on anyone servicing them, according to Middle East Eye. The Treasury mapped financial channels and evasion networks and sanctioned almost 60 entities, individuals and vessels. China is the largest buyer of Iranian oil, and David Oxley, chief climate and commodities economist at Capital Economics, told BBC News the package will have “only a limited direct impact” on Iran’s energy flows. The announcement comes before Donald Trump’s scheduled meeting with Xi Jinping on Thursday, September 24, and Iranian Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh told state television that Tehran is “fully prepared” for the sanctions.

22 Sep · 06:05

The US national average price of a gallon of gasoline reached $4.48 on Friday, September 18, 2026, according to AAA as cited by The Associated Press, up roughly 17 cents in a week, 40 cents in a month and $1.27 from a year ago, at a time of year when prices usually fall. The national average diesel price hit $6.44 a gallon on Friday, 71% above its prewar level, with daily record highs since September 11, according to NBC News, which attributes part of the pressure to Russia’s extension of a diesel export ban through the end of September after Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian energy assets. Donald Trump said last week that the surge is an “inexpensive price to pay” for the war with Iran and publicly demanded that Volodymyr Zelenskyy stop striking refineries: “Mr. Zelenskyy has to do one thing. He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia,” he said, according to NBC News. A Fox News survey released on September 16, 2026, found that 61% of voters call gasoline prices a major problem for their household, against 48% two years earlier, and that nearly two-thirds, 63%, say the administration has made the economy worse, compared with 52% in September 2025. Early voting in the November 3 midterm elections is already under way, and G1 highlighted that the surge strains household budgets and deepens dissatisfaction with Trump.

22 Sep · 05:35

Donald Trump said in a phone interview with Fox News on Sunday, September 20, 2026, that he is in “deciding mode” on the war with Iran and that the options on the table are “wiping Iran out, letting them rot economically or making a deal.” “My question is, if and when do I blow the entire nation up? They better behave,” the US president said, according to correspondent Trey Yingst’s account quoted by The Guardian. The spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hossein Mohebbi, responded on Sunday that “if a new aggression occurs, we will certainly change the weaponry and the geography of the war” and that “our targets will no longer necessarily be the same as before,” in remarks to the semi-official Fars news agency and Iranian state television. Mohebbi said Iran has targets that have not yet been struck and that the Guard has prepared itself for a long war. CBS News reported on Sunday that Tehran has conveyed to Washington through mediators its conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, blockaded since the start of the conflict. Trump speaks on Tuesday at the opening of the general debate of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks on Wednesday, September 23; Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is already in the city.

22 Sep · 05:35

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham makes his UN General Assembly debut on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, and holds his first meeting with Donald Trump on the sidelines of the gathering, with Ukraine, the risks and opportunities of artificial intelligence (AI) and the cost of the conflict in the Middle East on the agenda, according to The Associated Press. Burnham, in office since July, said he will seek “common ground” with Trump and that the two had “found a connection” in two phone calls; in 2017, as mayor of Greater Manchester, he said the US president would not be welcome in the city, and in 2019 he said he would refuse to meet Trump. He is expected to urge Trump to send interceptor missiles to bolster Ukraine’s air defences before another winter of war, and the British government wants to discuss how to restore the free passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, blockaded since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran in February 2026, according to AP. The closure of the route has pushed oil prices up and complicates the British economy.

22 Sep · 05:35

The United States and Australia are investigating how components of F-35 fighter jets shipped from Australia to the United States for repair ended up diverted to Hong Kong as they crossed the Pacific, with some of the material still unaccounted for. The F-35 Joint Program Office at the US Department of Defense said it was “aware of a shipment issue of unserviceable F-35 Lightning II components” and that it was working with US authorities and industry partners “to retrieve these components, investigate the incident, and place safeguards to avoid a future occurrence,” according to the South China Morning Post and Defense News. The case surfaced in a Politico report on September 19, 2026; the shipment included a cockpit canopy, which carries a thin radar-absorbent layer, and the components were carried by a third-party company hired by Lockheed Martin, which manages the programme’s international spare-parts pool. On September 22, 2026, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles confirmed that Canberra is helping with the investigation: “We are examining very much everything that has occurred at the Australian end,” he said, according to ABC News. Marles played down the episode: “my understanding is that there is a sense of comfort, that we’re not talking about sensitive equipment here, or sensitive parts.” The US House Armed Services Committee is aware of the case and has received several briefings on it, committee spokesperson Heather Vaughan told Bloomberg. There is no public evidence that China obtained or inspected the material, and the Department of Defense has not said what exactly went missing. Australia operates 72 F-35s and has no facility able to repair the canopies. Hong Kong’s government said it does not comment on individual cases.

22 Sep · 05:05