Russia warns massive Ukraine energy infrastructure strikes·Brent oil breaks $90 EU AI law first enforcement launched·Nepal flood deaths reach 919

In a referendum with 82.5% voter turnout, 52.8% voted against restarting EU membership negotiations. The Prime Minister stated the focus will shift to strengthening existing European Economic Area (EEA) cooperation.

Kim Seung-won, a Democratic Party member and co-chairman of a group advocating for President Lee Jae-myung's pardon, was nominated as Justice Minister candidate. Within the prosecution, there is mixed expectation and concern about the possibility of the pardon being pursued in earnest.

The 2026 basic education statistics show kindergarten through secondary student enrollment decreased 3.4% year-over-year to 5.36 million. However, immigrant-background students reached 210,838, comprising 4.3% of total enrollment.

The Korean Association of Private University Presidents held an emergency meeting on Jeju and publicly urged the government to completely redesign regional balance scholarship programs, calling 2027 full tuition support for regional public universities reverse discrimination against private university students in the same area.

Democratic Party member Park Beom-kye introduced a bill to raise the mandatory hiring ratio of regional university graduates at non-Seoul public institutions from 35% to 50%, as the primary sponsor in the National Assembly.

Approximately 39,000 Hyundai Motor union members held a vote on August 31 on a tentative wage agreement including a 100,000-won base salary increase and performance bonuses of 400% plus 12.7 million won. The agreement came after 111 days of negotiations that included the company's first full-scale strike in a decade and 2.3 trillion won in losses.

Kakao Bank's labor union cancelled the planned 5-day strike from August 31 to September 4 following a last-minute labor-management agreement. Agreement was reached on key wage increase rate and performance bonus issues, shifting to continued negotiations.

On August 31, the Kospi closed at 6,820.02, up 0.46% from the previous day. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix's share buyback announcements offset concerns about a U.S. rate hike in September. The won-dollar exchange rate hit its lowest level in 13 months at 1,368.6 won.

Korea's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister participated in the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting held in Asheville, North Carolina from August 31 to September 1. Middle East conflicts, surging global oil prices, and inflation response were key agenda items.

On August 31, Brent crude rose 2.93% to $90.69 per barrel. This represents a 33% increase year-over-year, with Middle East geopolitical tensions as the primary driver of elevated prices.

According to Jikbang data, September's nationwide apartment supply is projected at 22,704 units across 26 projects, up 15% year-over-year. General supply alone increases 43% to 18,643 units, with 60% concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area.

Multi-family property auction filings from January to August reached 31,118 cases, already exceeding 2024's annual total of 31,063 cases. Court auction filings surged 54.5% year-over-year, while Seoul apartment successful bid rates dropped below 40% in June and July.

Land Minister nominee Hong Ji-sun, drawing on field experience, emphasized practical policy implementation and pledged swift housing supply in Seoul's preferred areas with prior coordination with Seoul City.

The Bitcoin BLAKE2b hard fork backed by Dash Jr executed on September 1. This fork replaces SHA-256d with BLAKE2b, rendering all existing ASIC mining equipment obsolete, though no major exchanges or wallets announced pre-fork support.

Bitcoin core developer Luke Dash Jr exited Ocean mining pool and announced the creation of a new pool called 'Convoy'. Mummolin repurchased all of Dash Jr's stake, while Ocean's August hashrate dropped 96%.

Bitcoin started August 31 at $77,695 and rose approximately 24% for the month, achieving 2026's largest monthly gain. Fed Chair Powell's hawkish comments and U.S. military strikes on Iran reinforced risk-off sentiment.

The European Commission closed its public consultation on reviewing the scope of MiCA regulations for DeFi, staking, and NFTs on August 31. The review results are scheduled to be reported to the European Parliament and Council in June 2027.

As the semiconductor supercycle continues, combined corporate tax payments from Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix for the first half of 2026 totaled 11.2 trillion won, a 167% surge from the same period last year.

Kiwoom Investment Asset Management listed the 'KIWOOM Samsung SK Group TOP4+ ETF' on Kospi on September 1, focusing on 10 key affiliates of Samsung and SK groups including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

HD Hyundai Marine Engine signed a 22.7 billion won ship engine supply contract with China-based XMXYG Shipping Trading.

Production vehicles of the two-seater fully autonomous Cybercab without steering wheel or pedals have been spotted in public road testing ahead of the September 3 launch event in Austin, Texas.

Genesis flagship electric SUV GV90 is confirmed for global reveal on September 9. As the first mass-production model from the Ulsan dedicated EV plant, it will feature over 100kWh battery capacity on the eM platform.

Anthropic warned that infostealer malware including Vidar, LummaC2, and RedLine are stealing Claude login sessions from users' PCs to consume usage without permission. The company has taken measures including forced logout of affected accounts, removal of payment methods, and refunds.

The European Commission's AI Office sent its first official Request for Information (RFI) under the AI Act's GPAI provisions to OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google just four weeks after the regulations took effect. Non-compliance can result in fines of 3% of global revenue or up to 15 million euros.

According to SB Energy IPO filing documents obtained by WSJ, SoftBank's energy subsidiary provided OpenAI with approximately $5.5 billion in warrant value as a contract incentive for the Ohio Stargate project.

Taiwan prosecutors conducted a search of Unimicron, a PCB supplier for Nvidia, Intel, Google, and Amazon, on suspicion of falsely labeling Chinese-origin components as made in Taiwan. The stock plunged approximately 10% amid strengthened U.S. AI chip export controls.

Boston Scientific continues recovery from a cyberattack detected on August 25, now six days in. Manufacturing and shipment disruptions are ongoing. Cloud systems remain unaffected and CrowdStrike is assisting in the investigation.

The Russia-linked Qilin ransomware group breached the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) network with investigation-related information exfiltrated. The DOJ has classified it as a 'major incident' and launched an investigation.

Microsoft is automatically converting Entra ID SMS and voice authentication users to passkeys starting September 1. SMS and voice authentication will be completely discontinued on February 1, 2027, as Microsoft encourages enterprises to transition to phishing-resistant authentication.

Russia's Defense Ministry announced preparations for massive attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. With 38 dead in a warehouse explosion near Kyiv and five consecutive days of drone strikes, concerns of a repeat winter energy crisis are mounting.

On August 31, Eli Lilly announced the acquisition of Merida Biosciences, which holds autoantibody-selective degradation technology, for up to $2.88 billion. The lead pipeline candidate MER511 is currently in Phase 1 clinical trials for Graves' disease and thyroid eye disease, marking Lilly's 12th M&A deal this year.

The autogene cevumeran mRNA vaccine trial BNT122-01 was terminated early on August 28 following a recommendation from the safety monitoring committee due to an imbalance with more deaths in the treatment group than the control group. BioNTech's U.S.-listed stock price plunged approximately 9%.

Revolution Medicines' daraxonrasib (Rasonque) received FDA accelerated approval. The randomized clinical trial showed median overall survival extended from 6.7 months with conventional chemotherapy to 13.2 months.

The Roman Space Telescope, with a field of view 100 times wider than Hubble, separated from Falcon Heavy and is flying toward the L2 orbit. After solar panel and sunshield deployment, the telescope has begun initial commissioning.

NASA announced ISS Expedition 75's scheduled 284th spacewalk. The mission includes navigation auxiliary unit replacement, space radiation detector upgrade preparation, and data relay jumper cable installation, approximately 6.5 hours of work.

A team from SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research analyzed 75 meteorite impact videos to clarify the seven-stage process of space rocks passing through the atmosphere. Melting and fragmentation, rather than vaporization, were identified as the key mechanisms, published in the Meteoritics and Planetary Science journal.

The Nepal-Tibet border mega-floods triggered by glacier collapse on August 26 have claimed 919 deaths (903 in Nepal, 16 in Tibet) as of day five. 4,793 are missing and over 90,000 affected, with rescue operations underway for approximately 900 people trapped in a hydropower tunnel.

El Nino-driven drought has caused wildfires in Indonesia's Kalimantan and Sumatra regions to surge, burning over 81,000 hectares. The ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre has issued the highest haze alert (Level 3). Malaysia has closed schools while health alerts are in effect in Singapore and Brunei.

PAGASA forecasts tropical depression 'Pilandok' will strengthen into a tropical storm on September 1 at 1,120 km east of Luzon. It is intensifying the southwest monsoon, bringing heavy rains to Luzon and the western Visayas.

South Korea's Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment Vice Minister Lee Ho-hyun and U.S. Department of Energy Deputy Under Secretary Coco Drilly held talks in Seoul to discuss power grid security and energy storage system (ESS) expansion plans amid surging electricity demand.

The Korea Power Exchange forecasts stable power supply from August 31 to September 4. Peak power demand is projected at 85.3-86.5GW, reserve capacity 17.4-19.1GW, and reserve margin 20.1-22.2%.

Taemin released his new album 'PHASE 1: Soft Violence' on August 31 at 6 PM and officially announced his 2026-2027 world tour 'LiMiNaL' starting in Seoul and spanning North America.

Chungha released a new digital single on September 1 at 6 PM. This is the official release of a Spanish song first performed at a concert about five years ago, marking her comeback after 7 months since 'Save Me'.

Self-produced idol group 82MAJOR released their second single album 'HEAT' on September 1. This comeback featuring the title track 'Like Fire' comes approximately five months after their April mini-album 'FEELM'.

After Yamal's penalty kick (40') gave Barcelona the lead, Fran Perez equalized (67') to end the match 1-1. Barcelona lost points for the first time in three matches of the season and now trail Real Madrid by 2 points in fourth place.

Daniel Malen continued his scoring streak as Roma swept Lecce 4-0 on the road.

In La Liga round 2, Osasuna clinched three points with a 1-0 shutout victory over Getafe.

Paldo raised wholesale prices by an average of 5.5-5.8% starting September 1 for 12 types of cup noodles including Wangddukkumi and Bilak Sikhye, and 9 types of beverages. Pouch noodles prices remain unchanged, citing surging raw materials and packaging costs as the primary reason.

As of August 31, domestic beef sirloin retail prices reached 16,137 won per 100g, up 13.5% year-over-year. 2026 domestic cattle slaughter volume declined 9% year-over-year, with imported beef also surging.