Headlines: 24-31 August 2026

Wednesday, 26 August 2026

Iran and Oman outline plan for temporary Strait of Hormuz shipping lane and launchung a demining effort; US rolls out sanctions — targeting aviation, shipping, technology, gold and digital assets such as cryptocurrency (LINK) — 26 August 2026

— Iran's deputy foreign minister said the yet-to-be-finalized deal would see the closure of a U.N.-authorized shipping channel that follows the coast of Oman, and that Iran vehemently opposes.

Tuesday, 25 August 2026

UN and Red Cross call for urgent rules on autonomous weapon (ground news LINK) — 25 August 2026

— Ahead of the CCW Review Conference in November in Geneva, the UN and Red Cross called for "political courage", urging countries to decide whether to launch negotiations after three years of discussions

US halts all immigrant visa applications amid tightening restrictions (LINK) — 25 August 2026

Canada announces new tariffs on US goods: from September 8, tariffs ranging from 15% to 50% on over 700 American goods: doubling its duties on US steel and aluminum to 50%, in line with the 50% tariffs the US had already imposed on Canadian steel and aluminum (LINK) — 25 August 2026

Newsweek: Map shows Senate battlegrounds hit hardest by Canada tariffs — (LINK)

Ukraine war latest: Zelensky confirms UK, France approve producing SCALP/Storm Shadow missiles in Ukraine (LINK) — 25 August 2026

UNRWA condemns "unauthorized and deeply concerning incursion" into Kalandia Training Centre in occupied East Jerusalem (LINK) — 25 August 2026

— "The KTC is a United Nations facility protected by the privileges and immunities afforded to the Organisation under international law. Its inviolability must be fully respected. The Kalandia Training Centre is not merely a building. It is UNRWA's oldest vocational training centre and has served Palestine Refugees for more than seven decades."

Over 300 ill across 9 European countries in record salmonella outbreak tied to 2 million eggs (LINK) — 25 August 2026

— Regulators traced the bacterial strain to dust samples inside chicken coops linked to Belgian egg producer Laerco BV and closed the entire facility after finding the contamination had spread beyond its initial containment to a second poultry house. Recalls have been initiated across Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, and Czechia

As Ukraine hits Russia's refineries, Russia targets Ukraine's petrol pumps (LINK) — 25 August 2026

UNDP teaming up with Switzerland-based DFINITY Foundation to test alternative to U.S.-based cloud giants (LINK) — 25 August 2026

— UNDP plans to select five countries for the initial pilots within roughly a month, with each project built around a specific problem proposed by participating governments. The new pilot builds on DFINITY's ongoing work with Pakistan.

Musk's SpaceX to build $100bn launch facility in Louisiana (LINK) — 25 August 2026

Iran sanctions: TRM Labs tracks $16.8m across 30 Mabna Institute crypto wallets (LINK) — 25 August 2026

Trump-backed candidate narrowly wins primary for Oklahoma governor: a relief for the president after several of his chosen candidates fell in 5 other states (LINK) — 25 August 2026

Two unvaccinated people die of measles in Pennsylvania outbreak, health officials say: the first measles-related deaths in the U.S. this year (LINK) — 25 August 2026

Las Vegas man convicted of running a $24m crypto ponzi scheme, a decade after earlier $12 pump-and-dump. (LINK) — 25 August 2026

— Brent C. Kovar, who owned a Las Vegas company called Profit Connect, was found guilty on Aug. 25 following a nine-day trial. Kovar was convicted on 11 counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud, and two counts of money laundering. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 30 and faces a statutory maximum of 280 years in prison. Profit Connect operated from late 2017 until July 2021. Kovar told investors the company ran AI software on a supercomputer that mined cryptocurrency and verified transactions on other blockchain networks. He promised fixed annual returns of 15% to 30%, a 100% money-back guarantee, and claimed the company held hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto reserves. He also told investors their funds were insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The SEC noted that more than 90% of the company's income came from investors and that none of it was used to trade crypto. In 2009, the SEC had filed a civil injunction against him and his father Glenn over a pump-and-dump scheme run through a company called Skyway Global, which also cost investors $12 million.

Monday, 24 August 2026

US threatens sanctions on countries that don't cut economic ties to Tehran (LINK) — 24 August 2026

NYPost: Iran's rial currency plunges to record low as citizens try to cash out while US pushes new sanctions (LINK) — 24 August 2026

Shipping oil through Hormuz costs $20 million, Total CEO says (LINK) — 24 August 2026

— TotalEnergies Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said the company is buying barrels at $50 to $60 inside the Persian Gulf as producers are desperate to get their supplies onto the market following six months of conflict.

Oil stocks in US Strategic Petroleum Reserve fall by 3.7 million barrels to lowest level since 1982 (LINK) — 24 August 2026

Venezuela quake death toll surpasses 6,500 (ground news LINK) — 24 August 2026

Amnesty says Indian police used excessive force in Delhi and Bihar protests (ground news LINK) — 24 August 2026

Murdoch's WSJ savages Trump for making his 'dumbest' plan even dumber by reigniting a trade war with Canada just weeks away from the midterms (LINK) — 24 August 2026

— "President Trump took exception last year when we called his tariffs against Canada and Mexico the dumbest trade war in history," the board wrote. "It got dumber this weekend as Mr. Trump escalated with another round of border taxes on Canadian imports, a mere 10 weeks before midterm elections."

Trump administration says it might demolish the Kennedy Center as unsafe if court blocks renovations (LINK) — 24 August 2026

Supreme Court sides with Trump administration on mail voting restrictions ahead of midterms (LINK) — 24 August 2026

— The Supreme Court's conservative majority didn't decide the legality of Trump's order, instead ruling that states who sued did not have the legal right to challenge it. "The Court's disposition of this application does not mean that any measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily be lawful. On that score, time will tell," the majority wrote in an unsigned order.

Trump's mail-in voting rules raise fears of federal overreach:could scramble the 2026 midterms by forcing local and state officials to adopt an untested federal system on short notice and potentially undermine confidence in U.S. elections. (LINK) — 24 August 2026

Washington Post ordered by independent arbitrator to reinstate opinion writer Karen Attiah fired over Charlie Kirk posts (LINK) — 24 August 2026

— Attiah was backed by the union that represents most Post employees, the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, and Democracy Defenders Fund, a legal advocacy group co-founded by Norm Eisen. The Post had argued that Attiah was fired for cause after violating the company's social media policy, which dictates that employees "must not harm the editorial integrity or journalistic reputation of The Post". Attiah wrote: "Part of what keeps America so violent is the insistence that people perform care, empty goodness and absolution for white men who espouse hatred and violence."

Moderna sinks 7% as traders book profits on a 392% year-to-date surge (LINK) — 24 August 2026

U.K.: Autistic boy, 5, died after jumping from 'compromised' window, which could tilt and turn, in 15th-floor London flat, coroner says (LINK) — 24 August 2026