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Saudi Arabia Spends $83 Billion a Year. Its Pipeline Is Burning and It Has Not Answered.

The question is not whether Saudi forces can fight. It is who keeps them flying, and on what contract.

Sailors on the deck of a US Navy destroyer lower a rigid-hull inflatable boat from a davit over open water.

A US Navy destroyer at work in the Red Sea. File photograph, October 2016, published by the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service.

Saudi Arabia shut its East-West pipeline last Friday after drones struck pump stations in the Riyadh and Medina regions. Riyadh and Baghdad both said the drones had come from Iraq. Over the same weekend the Houthis completed their hold on Yemen's Red Sea coast, taking Mokha and then Perim Island, the rock that splits the Bab al-Mandab into its two lanes.

Saudi Arabia said it would hold off on retaliation "at this stage."

That sentence is the most informative thing the Kingdom has said all month, and the usual explanation for it is diplomacy. There is a better one, and it is written down in American paperwork.

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The Picture

Students walking along a paved path past a brick campus building, framed by the branches of a large tree.
A university campus. The law had stood for twenty-two years; it ended without anyone arguing for it in court. File photograph; not in Kansas.

Kansas's In-State Tuition Law Was Struck Down in a Case Neither Side Wanted to Win

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The Numbers

The Kennedy Center Says It Cannot Make Payroll, and Its Board Has Named One Way Out

The Kennedy Center's board has told a federal court the institution cannot meet payroll or routine maintenance "within a matter of weeks" and could close as soon as Tuesday. A 57-page internal report projects $124 million of a budgeted $220 million in revenue. Internal documents describe restoring President Trump's name to the building, the subject of a lawsuit, as the only way to avoid bankruptcy.

By Thomas Gutierrez  

The Kennedy Center lit up at night beside the Potomac, its lights reflected in the water.

The Hormuz Closure

The Long View

Iran's Nuclear Chief Was Kept Out of the Room Where Its Inspections Are Argued

Austria revoked the visa of Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, before the IAEA's General Conference opened in Vienna on Monday. The United States objected to a UN sanctions waiver for his travel, and under the committee's rules one objection was enough. Iran says the host country broke its obligations. The conference it cannot attend is the one that debates its nuclear programme.

By Cory Chamberlain  

An open passport with several colourful entry and visa stamps, photographed in shallow focus.

The Long View

Saudi Arabia's Way Around Hormuz Is Shut, and Its Way Out of the Red Sea Is Held by the Houthis

Saudi Arabia shut its East-West pipeline after drone attacks last week, closing the main route its oil had used to avoid the Strait of Hormuz. Over the weekend the Houthis took Perim Island and with it control of the Bab al-Mandab, the strait that cargoes loaded at the pipeline's Red Sea terminal must pass to reach Asia. Brent rose toward $108 on Monday.

By Cory Chamberlain  

A container ship seen from directly above, crossing deep blue water near a reef.

The Long View

The Satellite Pictures Were Bought Before the Strike and Again After It

US officials have linked satellite imagery supplied to Iran by Chinese entities to the July strike on a base in Jordan that killed three American soldiers, The Wall Street Journal reported. Iran obtained high-resolution pictures of the base before the attack and after it. The officials did not accuse the Chinese government. The disclosure lands ten days before Xi Jinping is due at the White House.

By Cory Chamberlain  

A large dish antenna on a steel tower against a dark hillside, in black and white.

The Numbers

The Market Read the Essay as a Forecast for Chip Demand

Chip stocks fell before Monday's open after the heads of Anthropic and OpenAI said the industry should slow the rate at which AI models improve. Nvidia was down 3 percent in premarket trading, Marvell and Arm 6 percent, and ASML 9.5 percent. The labs are mostly private. The public way to express a view on slower AI is to sell the companies that supply it.

By Daniel Okafor  

A silicon wafer patterned with a grid of iridescent chip dies, photographed in shallow focus.

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The Numbers

Seventy-Six Dead, and the Count Finally Closes at 132

The Philippine Coast Guard recovered 41 more bodies from the MV June Aster on Saturday, raising the toll to 76 with 43 survivors and 13 missing. Those figures add up to 132, which is exactly the number who boarded. The ship was certified for 330. Overloading is no longer the question; the two explosions and the missing captain are.

By Cory Chamberlain  

Two vehicles on the open deck of a small ferry crossing a bay, in black and white.
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