Thu 17 Sep: Fed hikes rates, The Hague debates budget

World news (past 24 hours)

Saudi Arabia says its air defences shot down a Houthi drone heading toward Mecca on Tuesday evening, the first time in nearly ten years the rebel group has been accused of aiming at the holy city. The Houthis deny it, saying their target was oil and military sites, not the holy places. The claim has drawn anger across the Middle East and raises fears of a wider war between Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni group. NPR, CNN

A war crimes court in The Hague sentenced former Kosovo president Hashim Thaci to 25 years in prison. Judges found he ordered the murder of 96 political rivals and Serb collaborators as a wartime commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army in the 1990s. Three other former commanders were also sentenced, and the verdict has shocked many in Kosovo, where Thaci is seen by supporters as a hero. Al Jazeera, NPR

Politics: The US House of Representatives voted 220-204 to tell President Trump to end the war with Iran unless Congress explicitly approves more fighting. Seven Republicans crossed over to join Democrats, a record for this kind of vote. The move is largely symbolic, since a similar measure has stalled in the Senate and Trump would likely veto it anyway. Al Jazeera

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen proposed making Canada the EU's first ever "associate member," a status that does not currently exist in EU treaties. She told Canadian premier Mark Carney she wants an "alliance for the future" covering manufacturing, AI, critical minerals and energy. The offer comes as Trump's tariffs push Canada closer to Europe. NPR, CBC

Economy: The US Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate by a quarter point to a range of 3.75 to 4 percent, its first hike in more than three years. The bank said inflation is still too high and pointed to a possible second hike later this year. Borrowing is likely to get a little more expensive for Americans as a result. CNBC

Oil prices jumped past 100 dollars a barrel this week as fighting between the US, Israel and Iran spread to Saudi oil facilities, before easing back below 105 dollars on Wednesday. A key Saudi pipeline and port stayed shut because of the unrest, keeping traders on edge about supply. NBC News, PBS

Dutch news (past 24 hours)

Early on Prinsjesdag, police found pipes and cables placed on railway tracks at more than 30 locations across the country, including Brummen, Barneveld, Veenendaal and Putten. A train hit one blockade near Steenwijk but was not going at full speed. Investigators suspect farm activists, though the main protest groups Agractie and Farmers Defence Force both deny any role. NOS, Nieuwe Oogst

A planned strike by security staff at Schiphol airport has been called off after unions and the airport reached a deal on working conditions. The agreement covers longer breaks, guaranteed rest after long stretches of shifts, faster leave approval and limits on how long female staff can be asked to do body searches. FNV via RD

Politics: Parliament held the first day of its two-day general debate on the budget of Prime Minister Rob Jetten's minority cabinet, which needs support from opposition parties to get its plans through. It is the cabinet's first Prinsjesdag budget round. NOS

Opposition leader Geert Wilders said he will file a motion of no confidence in the cabinet on Thursday. GroenLinks-PvdA leader Jesse Klaver said the cabinet was "rudderless" behind nice words from the king's speech and challenged it to pick a clear direction, left or right. NOS, Hart van Nederland

Economy: Economists are criticising the cabinet's plan to raise taxes on labour, saying it works against the government's own goal of making work pay more than benefits. NOS

The government's own budget office says the typical Dutch household will do slightly better next year than first feared under the new budget, softening some of the criticism aimed at the cabinet's plans. NOS

AI news (past 24 hours)

Anthropic boss Dario Amodei proposed letting independent outside evaluators, such as METR and Redwood Research, look deep inside frontier AI companies to check safety and report problems publicly. OpenAI's Sam Altman backed the same idea. Critics point out the evaluators so far have been given very little time, sometimes just days, to check a model, and have no legal power to force disclosure. TechCrunch

OpenAI's global policy chief confirmed the company has spent several weeks in safety talks with rivals Anthropic and Google DeepMind, an unusual moment of cooperation between competitors on how to handle the risks of increasingly capable AI systems. The AI Insider

Tech: The New York Times reports OpenAI is looking at a new funding round that would value the company at one and a half trillion dollars, though Bloomberg and the Financial Times put the figure nearer one point two trillion, a sign of how fast and how uncertain these valuations are moving. Forbes

SpaceX says it will try to send its Starship rocket into orbit for the first time on 22 September, carrying a batch of Starlink satellites. The company will not attempt to catch the booster or upper stage this time, wanting to avoid risking a setback so close to reaching orbit. The date still depends on approval from US aviation regulators. TechCrunch

Also

Sport: The Toronto Raptors' trade to bring back Kawhi Leonard from the LA Clippers was completed this week, sending Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick and several future draft picks to Los Angeles. Leonard won Finals MVP with Toronto in 2019 and returns as the team's new star. NBA.com

Nature: Starlings are starting to arrive in the Netherlands from colder parts of northern Europe this month, gathering into the swirling flocks known as murmurations. The huge, shifting shapes are thought to help the birds confuse predators, and the best displays are usually still to come as more birds arrive through autumn. Natural History Museum

Weather in Groningen: Expect a cloudy day around 11 degrees this morning, rising to about 15 degrees by early afternoon. There is a good chance of rain, with roughly 5 millimetres expected through the day and winds picking up at times.

On the agenda today

In The Hague, the general political debate continues with Prime Minister Rob Jetten responding to Wednesday's criticism, followed by a second round of questions and the submission of motions, including Geert Wilders' promised motion of no confidence. In Japan, the central bank wraps up its policy meeting, with many economists expecting another quarter-point rate rise.