Refinitiv reports the White House is expected in coming days to extend a Jones Act waiver as one of the few available tools to help lower gasoline prices. The waiver, which allows non-U.S. vessels to move fuel between U.S. ports by temporarily suspending the law’s U.S.-built, -owned and -crewed requirement, is scheduled to expire on Aug. 16; an extension would be the longest pause in Jones Act enforcement. U.S. government data show the waiver was used nearly 200 times in the past 4½ months throu

Japan published its 2026 Defense White Paper, calling China’s military developments an "unprecedentedly large strategic challenge" and saying Chinese activity around Taiwan has become more frequent. Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Chen Xi said the white paper is full of false narratives, accused Tokyo of manufacturing a "peripheral security crisis" and hyping a "China threat" to justify loosening military restraints, and expressed strong opposition. He accused Japan’s ruling authorities of hiding behind "exclusively defensive" rhetoric while accelerating revisions to the "three security documents", raising defense spending, developing long-range offensive capabilities, weaponizing and operationalizing space, and packaging military-industrial expansion as economic growth to embed rearmament into institutions, industry and public opinion. Chen called Japan’s "new militarism" a serious challenge to the post‑war international order and a real threat to regional peace and stability, reiterated that the Taiwan issue concerns China’s sovereignty and is an inviolable red line, and urged Japan to reflect on its history, stop interfering in China’s internal affairs and abandon further "remilitarization".

Al Arabiya TV reports arrangements for a full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz will be announced within hours or by tomorrow.