While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Sept 17, 2026

US Federal Reserve chairman Kevin Warsh holds a press conference in Washington DC on Sept 16, following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee.

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates on Sept 16 and flagged further increases in borrowing costs in coming months, with new US central bank chief Kevin Warsh joining a unanimous decision that effectively acknowledges the Trump administration’s inability so far to control inflation.

While US President Donald Trump had promised to lower prices on his watch, the combined impact of his global import tariffs, an energy shock following the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran, and capital spending from the artificial intelligence boom has kept price pressures intense enough that the Fed felt it needed to raise its benchmark overnight interest rate by ¼ of a percentage point to the 3.75 to 4 per cent range.

New policy projections showed 16 of 18 policymakers anticipate at least one more quarter-percentage-point hike by the end of 2026, with only two of them seeing rates remaining stable from here. Warsh apparently again did not submit a rate projection.

It is the first policy shift under the new Fed chief, who took office in late May after being selected by Trump with an expectation that he would cut rates.

Canada, seeking to diversify its defence ties away from the United States, has formally applied to join the British-led Joint Expeditionary Force military coalition, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office said on Sept 16.

The force, a grouping of 10 North Atlantic NATO member states, is a rapid response military partnership.

“Prime Minister Carney announced that Canada has formally applied to join the Joint Expeditionary Force and welcomed the UK’s support for Canada’s participation in this important initiative,” Carney’s office said in a statement.

The hottest summer in France since 1900 marked by a succession of record heatwaves resulted in almost 8,000 excess deaths, health authorities’ statistics published on Sept 16 showed.

The latest figure of 7,919 excess deaths from late May to Aug 20 is not final and could yet rise as the data from the final weeks of the summer comes in, the French public health authority said.

In comparison, the country reported 5,722 excess fatalities linked to high temperatures between June and mid-September in 2025.

New research based on satellite data going back to the 1970s has documented major polar ice losses in Greenland and Antarctica — home to Earth’s two great ice sheets — that have contributed to rising global sea levels.

Between 1979 and 2023, according to data from 27 satellite missions, Greenland and Antarctica lost a combined 11.3 trillion tonnes of ice, adding 3.14cm to the worldwide sea-level rise.

The study, employing the longest satellite data record of changes in ice sheets ever gathered to give the most complete account to date of ice loss in Greenland and Antarctica, was conducted by the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise team, an international group of polar scientists.

Manchester United’s problems mounted as they crashed out of the League Cup after blowing a two-goal lead in a stunning 3-2 defeat against Brighton on Sept 16.

Michael Carrick’s side slumped to their second successive home defeat following a wretched collapse in the third round at Old Trafford.

United led through goals from Shea Lacey and Mason Mount inside just 10 minutes.