The U.S. struck Iranian launchers on Larak Island, Himalayan flood deaths neared 800, and Treasury pressed G20 peers on China’s surplus. Ten stories as of Sunday evening, August 30.
1. Larak Island / Strait of Hormuz. U.S. forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island on Sunday, a U.S. official told Reuters, the first known American strikes on Iran since late July. The official said Revolutionary Guard crews had been seen preparing to fire rockets carrying sea mines into the strait. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the attack killed two people and injured two others, the BBC reported, and vowed “response and punishment.” Hours later, Iranian media said the Guards had fired ballistic missiles at the U.S. bases of King Hussein and al-Azraq in Jordan. A U.S. source told Fox News, cited by Reuters, that nearly all incoming missiles had been intercepted and there was no significant impact so far. Tasnim said the Larak strike was a drone attack. The strait, which used to carry about a fifth of the world’s oil, has been effectively closed since the war began in February.
2. Nepal–Tibet border. Nepal’s disaster agency put the toll on Sunday at 788 dead and 2,502 missing; Chinese authorities reported 16 dead and 546 missing in Tibet’s Gyirong County—more than 800 dead and more than 3,000 missing in all, five days after Wednesday’s glacial collapse. Chinese state media said 261 foreigners were unaccounted for on the Tibet side. At the Trishuli 3A hydropower site, the army said it had resumed drilling Sunday after overnight rain flooded an excavation, having broken into the upper tunnel Saturday evening to pump air and send in a camera. Nepal says 933 hydropower workers are among the missing, and more than 100 may still be alive inside the tunnels. Phone alerts went out after the Bhotekoshi rose. Malaysia said it would send a search team and $1 million in aid. AP; Al Jazeera.
3. Ituri / eastern Congo. Kinshasa reported 5,945 confirmed Bundibugyo Ebola cases and 2,862 deaths as of August 28, with 1,327 recovered, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control citing Congo’s Saturday figures. Ituri remains the worst-hit province. Sixty of 151 health zones across six provinces are affected. The World Health Organization says the outbreak is still out of control and on track to surpass the 2014–16 West Africa epidemic. There is no approved vaccine or treatment for Bundibugyo; Congo began vaccinating front-line workers last week with Ervebo, made for a different strain.
4. Niamey. Niger’s capital was calm Sunday after a 24-hour mutiny. AP said Russia’s Africa Corps intervened with ground and aerial support after mutineers held Base 101 at Diori Hamani airport. Ambassador Viktor Voropayev said the mutineers were “neutralized particularly thanks to” Africa Corps. State media showed men it said had surrendered; dozens were reported killed or arrested. Junta leader Abdourahamane Tiani had still not appeared. Algeria sent four fighter jets and a transport aircraft on Sunday. Alliance of Sahel States allies Mali and Burkina Faso condemned the “betrayal.”
5. Asheville. G20 finance and central bank deputies wrapped Sunday ahead of ministers and governors Monday and Tuesday, per the U.S. Treasury schedule. Secretary Scott Bessent, hosting the money track toward December’s leaders’ summit in Miami, told Reuters the world “cannot have a China with a $1.2 trillion trade surplus,” and that G20 members should re-examine their terms of trade with Beijing. He said China was trying to export its way out of a weak economy. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh arrived with him. Treasury has also flagged sovereign debt practices and Iran sanctions.
6. Caracas / Washington. President Trump said Sunday that oil from the Venezuela arrangement would be used to refill the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, calling it a “Gift from Venezuela to the People of the United States.” Al Jazeera reported the stockpile held about 290 million barrels as of August 21, near a 44-year low. Interim President Delcy Rodríguez said Saturday the 25-year project covers 17 fields, about 65 billion barrels, and $19 a barrel to Caracas. Officials are preparing to sign exploration and production papers this week, including with Chevron. No full contract text has been published.
7. Kyiv region / Myla. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday the death toll from Friday’s Russian strike on an ammunition depot in Myla had risen to 38, with 20 injured and four still missing—the deadliest Russian strike in Ukraine so far this year. Kyiv Oblast is observing a day of mourning. Emergency crews were still putting out fires and clearing the site. Zelenskyy said Russia launched nearly 1,500 drones over four days, including about 800 jet-powered Shahed variants. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it is preparing “massive strikes” on Ukraine’s energy grid. Al Jazeera.
8. Koror / Palau. Pacific leaders are in Palau for the 55th Pacific Islands Forum, Sunday through Friday, with the leaders’ sitting due Monday night under the theme Building Economies: Life, Action, Unity. The week is already short of heads of government. Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale left after a no-confidence motion at home. Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa, and Kiribati are also without their leaders. New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters told reporters Sunday the region wanted “more doing, less hui,” and said oil-supply disruptions were among the most pressing concerns. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, China’s Pacific envoy Qian Bo, and Taiwan’s foreign minister Lin Chia-lung are in Koror. Reuters.
9. Bishkek. Chinese President Xi Jinping landed Sunday for a state visit and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s 25th-anniversary meetings. Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov met him at Manas airport. Xi said China–Kyrgyzstan cooperation had entered a “golden period,” and that he looked forward to working with all parties on the organisation’s next 25 years. India’s Narendra Modi also arrived Sunday. The Council of Heads of State sitting is Tuesday, 1 September. Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian and Russia’s Vladimir Putin are among those expected. Xinhua.
10. Haiti. Returns into a gang crisis continued. A U.N. official told the Security Council on Friday that nearly 200,000 people were forcibly returned in the first eight months of this year, days after gangs killed 47 people, including children, and kidnapped more than 50 in Kenscoff above Port-au-Prince. The United States has begun deportation flights into Cap-Haïtien since Temporary Protected Status ended for hundreds of thousands of Haitians; Port-au-Prince’s airport is treated as too dangerous. Diplomats are still pressing for a faster scale-up of the U.N.-backed Gang Suppression Force toward 5,500 personnel. Reuters; AP.
Coming up. Sunday 30 August–Friday 4 September — Pacific Islands Forum, Palau (leaders’ sitting from Monday night). Monday 31 August–Tuesday 1 September — G20 finance ministers, Asheville. Tuesday 1 September — SCO heads of state, Bishkek. Wednesday 9–Thursday 10 September — ECB rate decision, Berlin. The standing calendar is at The Watch.
Sources: Reuters (Hormuz), BBC (Hormuz), AP (Nepal), Al Jazeera (Nepal), ECDC (Congo), AP (Ebola vaccine), AP (Niger), Reuters (Niger), U.S. Treasury, Reuters (G20), Al Jazeera (Venezuela), Al Jazeera (Kyiv), Reuters (Palau), Xinhua (SCO), Reuters (Haiti), AP (Haiti).
