U.S. takes ownership stake in Venezuelan oil company.
Today's events
Venezuela oil.
The Department of War took a 35% equity stake in the parent of North American Blue Energy Partners, holder of 100-year concessions on 17 Venezuelan fields with 65 billion barrels.1Sep 1 · WHAmazon ad auctions.
The Federal Trade Commission and 22 states sued Amazon, alleging an undisclosed surcharge added to its search-ad auctions from 2019 cost more than a million brands and sellers tens of billions of dollars.2Aug 31 · FTCClimate superfund.
A federal court voided New York's Climate Change Superfund Act as preempted by the Clean Air Act and the federal foreign-affairs power; the law sought $75 billion from domestic and foreign energy companies.3Aug 31 · DOJDrug pricing.
Nine more manufacturers — including Teva, Sun Pharma, and Astellas — signed most-favored-nation pricing agreements, bringing the total to 26 companies covering 89% of the branded market, with $19.6 billion pledged for U.S. plants.4Aug 31 · WHPacific port.
The United States and New Zealand will co-fund a port upgrade on Penrhyn in the northern Cook Islands — $50 million from State, NZ$17.5 million from Wellington — announced in Palau before the Pacific Islands Forum.5Sep 1 · StateChina trailer duties.
Commerce issued final affirmative determinations that Chinese van-type trailers are sold below fair value and subsidized; it applied adverse facts available after CIMC withdrew as the mandatory respondent.6Aug 31 · CommerceBeef prices.
A second presidential proclamation on beef affordability followed February's Proclamation 11010, which raised the U.S. import quota for Argentine lean beef trimmings after a natural disaster and major market disruption.7Aug 31 · Fed. Reg.Warhead test.
Sandia flew the Atrax sounding rocket from its Kauai Test Facility to gather reentry vibration data for the W93, the first new U.S. nuclear warhead under development in nearly 30 years.8Aug 31 · SandiaPrint-server flaws.
CISA added two actively exploited PaperCut NG/MF flaws — a missing-authentication bug and an unsafe-reflection bug — to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which federal civilian agencies must prioritize patching.9Aug 31 · CISA
This week
Iran squeeze.
The White House said Central Command has cleared Iranian mines from the Strait of Hormuz and escorted nearly 1,500 vessels carrying 750 million barrels, and that Iran has exported no oil from its shores since July. Treasury closed the civilian channels the same week, staying five general licenses that had authorized personal remittances, academic exchanges and conference services. Both ran in Saturday’s and Wednesday’s briefs.2Aug 28 · WHTwo grid emergencies.
Executive Order 14420 declared a national emergency over foreign-made equipment in the high-voltage power grid and barred its purchase where the Energy Secretary finds sabotage or supply risk. Executive Order 14421 followed two days later with a second emergency declaration on grid security. The Army awarded up to $2.2 billion to five vendors to build nuclear microreactors at five posts, the first of a planned fleet of more than 20.3Aug 26 · WHChinese hacking platforms seized.
The Justice Department and FBI seized QScan and QTRouter, intrusion platforms run by the Nanjing contractor QTFY for China’s Ministry of State Security. Victims named in the filings include NASA, the Federal Reserve, the Energy Department and the U.S. Senate. It was one of three China-related enforcement actions in the week, alongside a trade-secrets conviction over CT X-ray tube technology and final duties on Chinese trailers. Wednesday’s brief.4Aug 26 · DOJSyria delisted.
The State Department rescinded Syria’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, in place since 1979, and removed Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham from the global terrorist list. State said the two actions remove what it called the final major barriers to private-sector investment in the country. Wednesday’s brief carried both.5Aug 24 · State$103,265 visa fee.
Homeland Security proposed a filing fee of that amount on every cap-subject H-1B petition, payable on top of all existing fees, with public comments closing September 24. The H-1B is the principal legal route for foreign engineers, scientists and physicians to work in the United States, and the proposal would apply to each new petition an employer files. It opened Wednesday’s brief.7Aug 25 · Fed. Reg.
Allied Governments
Japan–Australia dialogue.
Japan's foreign ministry set the inaugural Japan–Australia Leadership Dialogue for Tokyo on October 8, co-chaired by a former Australian foreign and defence minister and the chair of the bilateral business committee.aSep 1 · Japan MoFACyber-diplomacy division.
Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stood up a Cyber Security Policy Division inside its Foreign Policy Bureau, tasked with international rule-making, deterrence, and capacity-building for partner states.bSep 1 · Japan MoFABritish early release.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham barred manslaughter, death by dangerous driving, and historic child-sex offences from upcoming sentencing changes, and pledged to end indefinite public-protection sentences this Parliament.cAug 30 · UK No.10
Voices
“In the biggest oil deal in world history, President Donald J. Trump has secured U.S. majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in Venezuela.”
White House fact sheet · Sep 11
“When one of the world's largest online retailers engages in unfair and deceptive conduct, the impact can be staggering.”
FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson · Aug 312
“New York's law would have expropriated $75 billion from energy companies around the world during an energy emergency and in direct defiance of American foreign policy and federal law.”
Principal Dep. AAG Adam Gustafson, DOJ Environment and Natural Resources · Aug 313
“Through transformational infrastructure initiatives such as this, we are making the United States and our partners safer, stronger, and more prosperous.”
Dep. Sec. of State Christopher Landau, Palau · Sep 15
“The Atrax sounding rocket flight test is helping us improve credibility and confidence in our modeling and simulation tools in preparation for the W93 warhead.”
Ross Wagnild, aerospace engineer, Sandia National Laboratories · Aug 318
“These types of vulnerabilities are a frequent attack vector for malicious cyber actors and pose significant risks to the federal enterprise.”
CISA alert · Aug 319
Sources
- White House, “Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Announces Historic Oil Agreement to Secure American Energy Dominance and Drive Venezuela's Economic Recovery,” August 2026. whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/…/venezuela-oil-agreement
- Federal Trade Commission, “FTC, States Sue Amazon Over Secret Ad Surcharge Scheme,” August 31, 2026. ftc.gov/news-events/…/amazon-ad-surcharge
- U.S. Dept. of Justice, “New York Judge Blocks State of New York's Unconstitutional Climate Superfund Act,” August 31, 2026. justice.gov/opa/pr/…/ny-climate-superfund-act
- White House, “Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Announces Deal with Nine Additional Pharmaceutical Manufacturers to Lower Drug Prices for Americans,” August 2026. whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/…/nine-more-mfn-drug-deals
- U.S. Dept. of State, “Joint Statement on Penrhyn Port Project,” September 1, 2026. state.gov/releases/…/penrhyn-port-project
- U.S. Dept. of Commerce, “Van-Type Trailers and Subassemblies Thereof From the People's Republic of China: Final Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value,” August 31, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/van-type-trailers-china
- Federal Register, “Further Ensuring Affordable Beef for the American Consumer” (A Proclamation), published August 31, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/affordable-beef-proclamation
- Sandia National Laboratories, “Sounding rocket test helps design components for new weapon system,” August 31, 2026. newsreleases.sandia.gov/atrax_test
- CISA, “CISA Adds Two Known Exploited Vulnerabilities to Catalog” (CVE-2026-81578 and CVE-2026-82078, PaperCut NG/MF), August 31, 2026. cisa.gov/news-events/…/kev-papercut
- Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “The Inaugural Japan-Australia Leadership Dialogue,” September 1, 2026. mofa.go.jp/press/release/…/japan-australia-dialogue
- Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Establishment of Cyber Security Policy Division, Foreign Policy Bureau,” September 1, 2026. mofa.go.jp/press/release/…/cyber-security-policy-division
- UK Prime Minister's Office, “Prime Minister blocks hundreds more criminals from sentencing changes,” August 30, 2026. gov.uk/government/news/…/sentencing-changes-blocked