WORLD NEWS

Kind of a Big (Oil) Deal

The U.S. and Venezuela struck a historic oil deal this weekend.

The South American nation sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves (see the treasure oilfield map), but political instability and poor infrastructure have kept it from steady output. The 25-year agreement aims to:

• Develop 17 strategic oil fields through private investment;
• Increase oil output to 1.5M barrels per day (up from ~1.25M/day);
• Maintain Caracas’s sovereignty over its resources;
• And give Uncle Sam majority control over 65B barrels of reserves.

Trump celebrated the “biggest oil deal in world history,” saying it’d come at “no cost to the American taxpayer” and would lower gas prices (see how your state compares to today’s national average). Venezuelan Interim President Delcy Rodríguez said the contract could generate up to $209B/year in revenue for Venezuela. Critics called the deal a “massive land grab.”

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CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
When deals are struck that impact our wallets, it can be easy for our emotions (whether positive or negative) to flare. But believers have reason to be joyful and generous in all kinds of circumstances, whether gas costs $5 or 50¢.

“I know how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content — whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.” 
Philippians 4:12-13 (CSB) (read full passage)

ECONOMY

High High Hopes Rates

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh made like a hawk and signaled a potential rate hike on the horizon.

At the Fed’s Jackson Hole conference Friday, Warsh acknowledged the central bank would “have work to do” if inflation remains stubbornly above its 2% target, coming closer than he ever has to tipping his hand. Inflation has cooled, but Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE: the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge) sat at 3.7% in July.

Post-pandemic inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022 and bottomed out at 2.3% in April 2025, before beginning to climb again. The Fed’s main lever for lowering that number is interest rates: raising them makes borrowing pricier, so people (in theory) spend less and prices (hopefully) go down (explore our interactive graphic to see what this means for your wallet).

The Fed meets again in mid-September for one more inflation pulse check before deciding on rates.

PRAY WITH US
Great Provider, we confess that as the price of goods rises, so do our anxieties; as our paychecks stretch thin, so does our hope. Wrap your righteous right hand around your people and meet us with miraculous provision, divine rest, and strength to persevere. Relieve us of this burden, O God!

Equip our lawmakers to legislate with wisdom, striking that delicate balance between the health of this economy and the welfare of their people. Use your church to meet needs generously and to shine the light of hope into the fear gripping this community. Amen. (read full prayer here)

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SPORTS

Saturday Night Lights

Marching bands dusted off their tubas for the official start of the college football season.

Week 0 kicked off with a battle from Ancient Greece as the #14 USC Trojans beat the San Jose State Spartans in front of… dozens of fans (see the sparse stands). Then, at the Aer Lingus Classic in Ireland, North Carolina opened Bill Belichick’s sophomore season by squishing the TCU Horned Frogs in a 15-10 upset, avenging last year’s 48-14 opening-week loss in Chapel Hill.

Meanwhile, after winning 10 of the last 15 FCS-division championships, North Dakota State made its premiere in the FBS, where they stomped Jacksonville State 33-7. And still-in-the-FCS #7 Villanova was stunned by William & Mary thanks to a 13-point run in the final minute on Friday. (Test your knowledge on which teams are in which subdivision here).

Week 1 kicks off Saturday, headlined by a Tiger-tussle: Clemson at #11 LSU.

Verse to consider whether success right now means winning the game, biting your tongue, or just getting out of bed in the morning… “Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown.” 
1 Corinthians 9:25 (CSB) (read full passage)

The death toll from flash flooding in Nepal has risen to over 800, including 16 people who died across the border in Tibet; an additional ~3,000 people remain missing. Nepal reports it has deployed 20,000 security forces and over 8,100 people have been rescued, but poor weather and challenging terrain have complicated the effort.


An ex-White House teleprompter operator has been ordered to pay $172,539 for using insider access to President Trump’s speeches to make bets on an online prediction market. He made $107,539 with his uncanny knack for knowing certain words or phrases Trump would say from the podium; he must repay his ill-gotten gains plus a $65,000 fine.


A British commentator who championed President Trump’s immigration enforcement was deported from the U.S. to the U.K. Friday. A judge issued a removal order when Milo Yiannopoulos no-showed an immigration hearing; the marmite character was arrested at a New Orleans airport, accused of overstaying after entering the U.S. legally in 2019. Yiannopoulos hasn’t commented.


Norway’s King Harald V, Europe’s oldest monarch, died Friday at 89, after being hospitalized with hemolytic anemia and contracting a bacterial blood infection. Harald’s 35-year reign opened the monarchy to commoners after he waited nine years for his father’s blessing to marry a merchant’s daughter, a precedent both of his children followed. He’s succeeded by his son King Haakon VIII.


Lake Ontario has a new name stateside: Lake America. President Trump’s executive order Thursday renamed the smallest of the five freshwater friends, citing U.S. spending on “protecting the Great Lakes freshwater ecosystem” (see a Great map here). Amid the neighborhood trade war, Canada’s PM Carney rejected the rebrand, noting the name’s indigenous origins. American Google Maps users are already seeing the change.

WHIPPED CREAM ON TOP

God’s art up close...

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