The briefing for Friday, September 18.

The Bank of Japan raised its benchmark interest rate from 1% to 1.25% on Friday, the highest level since 1995. The widely expected move continues a tightening cycle that began in 2024, when the rate stood at minus 0.1%. It's the sixth hike in two and a half years as Japan moves away from decades of ultra-low borrowing costs.

The increase comes as central banks worldwide raise rates in response to higher energy prices tied to the Iran war. The US Federal Reserve hiked its own benchmark rate this week for the first time in over three years, and the European Central Bank raised rates earlier this month. Japan is especially exposed to these pressures given its heavy reliance on Middle East energy and a persistently weak yen, which hit a 40-year low in August before a rare joint intervention by Tokyo and Washington.

Core inflation in Japan eased slightly to 1.7% in August from 1.8% the prior month, still near the BOJ's 2% target. While modest by global standards, sustained inflation marks a significant shift for an economy that experienced deflation or near-zero inflation for roughly three decades. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has pressed the BOJ to raise rates further to support the yen.

Analysts say the move signals the disappearance of one of the world's last sources of ultra-cheap money. If the yen remains weak despite higher rates, inflation pressure could force the BOJ to tighten even faster than markets currently expect, according to eToro analyst Lale Akoner.

Congress has passed a long-sought sanctions package targeting Russian officials, financial institutions, and the tanker network used to evade existing sanctions on oil exports. The House approved the bill 262-159 on Wednesday, following Senate passage 86-11 in August, sending it to President Trump for signature. The legislation also grants Trump authority to impose tariffs of up to 100% on major buyers of Russian oil and gas, subject to exemptions.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the House vote "symbolic," noting it came the same night Russia launched another large-scale attack across Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said additional US sanctions would complicate efforts to reach a peace settlement, calling the move an "unfriendly action." Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha welcomed the bill as an important step but urged further pressure from other allies.

The bill is named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, who spent more than a year negotiating the measure with the White House before his death, working alongside Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal. Experts note the immediate impact for Ukraine may be more political than economic. "For Ukraine, the immediate benefit is political, not economic," said Tom Keatinge of the Centre for Finance and Security at RUSI, adding that congressional solidarity sends a message to the Kremlin regardless of enforcement.

The law's real-world impact will depend heavily on how aggressively the Trump administration chooses to implement it, particularly the tariff authority on oil buyers. That enforcement question now looms as the central variable in whether the bill meaningfully changes Moscow's economic calculus around the war.

A new directive sent this week to US Fish and Wildlife Service employees says imperiled animals or plants must be intentionally targeted for their killing to be considered illegal under the Endangered Species Act. This marks a sharp reversal from decades of practice holding people liable even for inadvertently harming protected species such as grizzly bears, manatees, and spotted owls. The Sept. 14 directive from Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik leans on a 1995 dissenting opinion from former Justice Antonin Scalia.

Experts say the change could allow timber companies to log forests in the Pacific Northwest despite knowing it may kill imperiled birds, or let developers build dams knowing they would kill salmon. Dan Ashe, who led the Fish and Wildlife Service under President Obama, called the shift a reversal of "the entire history of the Endangered Species Act" that "completely relieves people of any responsibility for their actions." The Interior Department maintains the ESA's prohibition on "take" still covers harassing, hunting, shooting, and killing protected wildlife.

The directive follows a July rule that narrowed the definition of "harm" under the act, and administration officials say they are returning the law to its original intent following a 2024 Supreme Court decision limiting federal agencies' authority to interpret environmental statutes. Critics, including the Center for Biological Diversity, call it "a radical reinterpretation" that prioritizes industry over conservation. States and environmental groups have filed numerous lawsuits challenging the changes.

The Endangered Species Act is credited with saving the bald eagle, American alligator, and California condor from extinction. Republicans rolled back provisions during Trump's first term, only to see them reversed under President Biden and revived again now, underscoring how enforcement of the landmark law has become a recurring partisan battleground.

Warren Buffett is stepping down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the company announced Friday, ending a tenure that began in 1970. The 96-year-old will become chairman emeritus effective immediately, while his son Howard Buffett, a Berkshire board member since 1993, takes over as chairman. Warren Buffett will remain a company director.

The move follows Buffett's departure as CEO late last year, when he was succeeded by Greg Abel. The transition completes a multi-year succession plan for one of the most closely watched companies in American business.

Buffett's decades leading Berkshire Hathaway made him one of the most influential and widely followed investors in modern history, and his gradual step back from both the CEO and chairman roles marks a significant generational transition for the conglomerate.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delivered the keynote address Thursday at a conference held by Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group he once chaired. It was his first appearance at the group's conference since becoming HHS secretary. "You have a strong and steadfast friend in the White House," Kennedy told attendees, touting administration efforts to scale back vaccine guidance.

Kennedy highlighted the administration's moves to downsize the childhood vaccination schedule and reshape a federal vaccine advisory board, steps that have since been halted by a judge. He also praised an executive order calling for spacing out the MMR vaccine, against medical groups' recommendations. Children's Health Defense CEO Mary Holland thanked Kennedy for "recognizing there are real consequential issues around childhood vaccinations."

The speech comes as the US faces its worst measles year since 1991, with seven measles-associated deaths over the past two years, more than the combined total of the previous three decades. Pennsylvania has reported four such deaths this year, none among vaccinated individuals, prompting a public dispute between Kennedy and Gov. Josh Shapiro, who criticized Kennedy for addressing what he called "the premier vaccine-denial conference in America" instead of encouraging vaccination.

Medical associations have repeatedly warned that the administration's moves risk deepening vaccine hesitancy and eroding public trust in health agencies still recovering from pandemic-era confidence declines. Kennedy's appearance underscores how views once considered fringe have gained a prominent platform within federal health policy.