Wednesday morning news: August 26, 2026

SOUND: [Graham watch party]

Elections » Voters pulled the proverbial lever in three states on Tuesday. And South Carolina was one of them, where the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham won the nomination to succeed him.

GRAHAM: So, South Carolina Republicans, I humbly accept your nomination to serve as the Republican nominee for the United States Senate…

Graham, who enjoyed President Trump’s endorsement, defeated GOP Congressman Ralph Norman by roughly 5 percentage points.

She’s already serving in the Senate, appointed by Gov. Henry McMaster last month to serve out the rest of her late brother’s term.

In Oklahoma, Mike Mazzei won a GOP primary runoff for governor. Also in Oklahoma, another socialist won a Democratic primary. N’Kiyla Jasmine Thomas won her party’s nomination for US Senate.

And another hard left Democratic candidate also won in Georgia, as Everton Blair won a special House runoff for a US House seat.

Iran latest » Iran remains defiant in the face of heavy new sanctions. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has that story.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: A projectile knocked out an oil tanker's engine room in the Strait of Hormuz. The crew is safe, and no one has claimed responsibility. But it came hours after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled what he calls the greatest financial offensive ever. The new sanctions hit roughly 60 people, companies and ships tied to Iran's covert oil trade.

President Trump then declared the strait clear of mines, saying every one in international waters has been detonated or removed, and any boat laying new ones will be destroyed.

No outside authority has yet confirmed that.

Iran's economy minister says Tehran has a two-year plan to ride out the sanctions.

Tankers are still crossing, but at about a quarter the volume before the war.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Canada trade war » Canada is firing back in the trade war with the U.S., announcing new tariffs in retaliation for duties President Trump tacked onto Canadian goods over the weekend.

Starting September 8th, Canada will tax about 20 billion dollars' worth of American goods. Tariffs range as high as 50 percent, targeting products including steel, aluminum, dairy and appliances.

Canadian Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says the prime minister did all he could:

CHAMPAGNE: But ultimately, the terms proposed by the U.S. administration were uneconomic, unfair, and unacceptable.

Canada says American negotiators wanted a say over Canada's trade deals with other countries, among other things. Saturday, the U.S. put 50 percent duties on roughly $20 billion in Canadian goods. Trump says tariffs on Canadian cars, trucks, and auto parts double to 50 percent in January.

Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario called the U.S. tariffs an “unprovoked attack by President Trump.”

FORD: We love the American people, we love the US, uh, and it's unfortunate that, uh, President Trump has taken this avenue.

But Lisa McClain, Chair of the House Republican Conference, says it's Canada that is being unfair. For one thing, she says … Canada is telling other countries they can dodge U.S. tariffs by shipping products through Canada … to pretend their goods are actually Canadian.

MCCLAIN: Sell your products and ship your products through Canada, and we'll, we'll make sure that you don't have to pay your tariffs. Well, that doesn't sound like a really good partner to me.

She says the U.S. tariffs are just, adding that since the 1990s:

MCCLAIN: The Canadians have tariffed our farmers and dairy products at 250%, since the 1990s.

Mexican beef » While tariffs climb up north, President Trump is temporarily lowering them down south in a bid to ease beef prices. But some Senate Republicans don’t like it.

WORLD’s Harrison Watters has more from the nation’s capital.

HARRISON WATTERS: Mexican beef cattle started crossing into Arizona this week as part of the President’s effort to lower beef prices. The Agriculture department closed the border to Mexican beef last summer to combat cases of a pest known as the new world screwworm. But that led to a supply shortage.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins broke down the numbers:

ROLLINS: In that 14, 15 months, that equals about a million point four head of cattle that would have come into our country that did not, and those are all lean cattle. That's all ground beef cattle, basically.

WATTERS: President Trump said the U.S. will temporarily allow 300,000 metric tons of ground beef into the country without import taxes.

Critics warn the move could hurt domestic ranchers by making them compete with cheap alternatives. And several GOP senators warned the move would not fix underlying problems for the nation’s shrinking cattle herds.

A farm bill, with provisions to help cattle ranchers, is stuck in committee until the Senate returns next month.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Harrison Watters in Washington.

Dolly Parton obit » America has lost a country music icon.

MUSIC: [Jolene]

Dolly Parton died on Tuesday. The singer-songwriter was known for hits like Jolene, I Will Always Love You, Coat of Many Colors and many more.

Already a regular atop the country music charts, in 1980, she hit the big screen co-starring in the comedy 9-to-5.

MUSIC: [ 9-to-5]

She wrote and performed the hit theme song of the same name, which earned her two Grammy Awards and an Oscar nomination.

She went on to open a critically acclaimed theme park, Dollywood, in Tennessee, and was known also for her charity work.

She remarked in an interview last year:

PARTON:  Well, I don't think about my, my life in terms of superstar. I'm just a working girl. I always say, and it's the truth, that I am a workhorse that looks like a show horse

Tributes have poured in from the entertainment industry and beyond, including from Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee:

LEE:  There's always someone criticizing someone for something, but not with Dolly. And it, it speaks to this unique, uh, ability she had to love people, uh, and to genuinely love them

President Trump called her “one of the greatest Country singers, and far beyond, EVER.” He ordered flags lowered to half staff for one week in her honor.

Parton's representatives said she died after a brief battle with cancer. Dolly Parton was 80 years old.

I'm Kent Covington.

Coming up, women in Afghanistan navigate the oppressive rule of the Taliban. Plus, an old railroad tunnel gets it’s second wind.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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