Evening Wire: China Attacks U.S. Ally’s Fishing Vessel & Diesel Prices Hit All-Time High | 9.18.26

Okay, first, before we give you the facts of the day, Run, Hide, Fight! Infidels is streaming now only on Daily Wire. It's an ode to the great action movies of the 80s and 90s. There's even a love story which nobody expected. And you can support Daily Wire's mission to continue making movies that people actually want to watch. Go check it out. Hank joined BJ's Wholesale Club the day he became a father of 30. I coach football. Now Coach Hank saves up to 25% off grocery store prices, 30 pounds of pasta, 3 cases of protein bars, 75 sports drinks. And that's just pregame. He knows teamwork, and BJ's knows savings. This is your home, Coach. Home of the Save. Join for just $20 at BJ's.com slash mesquite and save 10 cents per gallon for 6 months. Open soon. Limited time offer, new members only. BJ's. Home of the Save. This episode is brought to you by TXU Energy. For the first time ever, Texans have an energy of their own. It's an energy plan that combines free nights all year with daytime summer savings. It's called Free Nights and Cool Summer. You get free nights every night, all year long, plus a 25% bonus toward your daytime use all summer. It's a first-of-its-kind plan created for how Texans actually use energy. Discover how much more you could save with Free Nights and Cool Summer. TXU Energy. Energy for everything. Visit TXU.com for more information. Rep number 10004. China attacks the fishing community. In a confrontation with a U.S. ally, diesel prices hit an all-time high, and Interpol uses AI to identify over 100 terror suspects. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley. It's Friday, September 18th, and this is Evening Wire. A Chinese Coast Guard vessel intentionally struck a Philippine fishing vessel today, raising tensions in the South China Sea. Contributor Tim Pearce has more. A spokesman for the Philippine Coast Guard accused Beijing. of deliberately targeting a civilian government vessel. According to the spokesman, about 50 nautical miles off the coast of the Philippine island of Palawan, a Chinese Coast Guard vessel cut close to the Philippine boat's rear before it made contact on a second pass. The collision caused damage to the Philippine boat's starboard side and sent debris scattered across the deck. The spokesman posted videos of the Chinese vessel following closely behind the Philippine boat, though they didn't show the actual collision. Chinese officials have claimed that it was the Philippine boat at fault. The incident has roiled relations that were already strained over Chinese encroachment on key waterways around the Philippines. The feud has the potential to draw on the U.S. as well because of treaties it has with the Philippines. Diesel prices have hit an all-time high, and Saudi Arabia says it won't be sending any crude oil next month to some European refineries. Associate producer Garrett Fantim has the latest. The national average price for diesel hit a record $6.40 per gallon on Thursday. That's up nearly 73 percent from last year. It's the highest national average AAA has recorded. At a campaign rally in North Carolina on Wednesday, President Trump described the higher fuel prices as a relatively small, quote, price to pay compared to the prospect of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon. But the prices, he said, quote, are going to come tumbling down like rocket ships in reverse. Diesel prices began climbing after the war began earlier this year. At the beginning of February, prices hovered around $3.68. But by mid-July. By mid-March, diesel prices jumped to $4.80. The increase has accelerated again in recent weeks with more flare-ups in the Hormuz Strait, disruptions to Russian fuel supplies, and damage to a major Saudi pipeline. Meanwhile, South Korea's president said Friday that his country will not be sending military assets to the Middle East, at least not in a way that, quote, would involve or enter war. President Lee Jae-myung said that while they, quote, won't deploy military assets in any form to that end, he added that it's. It's also clear that we, quote, must do the minimum as other countries do to protect our commercial shipping and crude shipments and also the safety of our people. This comes after President Trump said last month that he reached out to Lee to request support for U.S. efforts to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. The University of Texas at Austin is backing off of WOKE and cutting several majors that focus on gender and race. Here's Daily Wire reporter Drew Berkmeyer with more. Some of the majors that UT Austin plans to cut include African and African Diaspora. Mexican-American and Latino Studies, and Women's, Sexualities, and Gender Studies. Students who are currently pursuing those majors will be able to complete them, but future students will have to pick different degrees. The changes come after the university restructured earlier this year. Several departments that focused on race, ethnicity, and gender were consolidated under broader units, and some faculty have complained about the new structure. One Mexican-American and Latino Studies professor, Julie Minnick, said the changes amount to censorship and viewpoint discrimination. The administration has said that the old structure. was fragmented, and that the changes will help the university become more coherent. President Trump ripped the Fed, raising interest rates this week for the first time in three years, but gave new Fed Chief Kevin Warsh a pass. Trump posted Wednesday, "Interest rates in the U.S. should be one percent or less, because we are the best credit in the world by far. Lower the interest rates and fast." But the Federal Reserve voted unanimously to raise the target rate by 25 basis points, lifting it to the 3.3 percent mark. lifting it to the 3.3 percent mark. lifting it to the 3.75 to 4 percent range. The Fed said the increase would help a faster return to its target of 2 percent inflation. Warsh said ahead of the vote, "The plain fact is that inflation is too high and had been for too long." In response to the move, Trump didn't blame Warsh, saying, "I'm aligned with Kevin. He's got a very tough board. The board is hostile and political." Warsh said ahead of the vote, "The plain fact is that inflation is too high and had been for too long." updates. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com. And in case you missed it earlier today, we covered some major stories, including a new congressional report on the Democrats' biggest fundraising platform accepting foreign donations, Paramount Studios gearing up to leave Hollywood, and new undercover videos raising questions about a Senate campaign in Texas. Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with a weekend edition of Morning Wire.