World News

Saudi Nuclear Deal Goes to Congress: August 26, 2026

President Donald Trump has sent Congress a civil nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia and is still saying it does not go ahead unless Riyadh recognizes Israel. The classified text went to Capitol Hill on Monday under the Atomic Energy Act, according to a Trump administration official, a congressional aide, and two others who spoke to the Associated Press. Reuters was told the same: the pact, reached in July, was transmitted Monday and is expected to reach committees on Wednesday. It would let U.S. companies export civilian nuclear technology to the kingdom.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright signed it in Washington last month with his Saudi counterpart. The next day Trump added the condition that Saudi Arabia join the Abraham Accords. “The president’s position has not changed that the agreement will only move forward if Saudi Arabia joins the Abraham Accords,” a U.S. official told Reuters by email. Officials would not say whether that demand is actually written into the classified document. The Saudi embassy in Washington had no immediate comment. AP reported the Saudis were taken by surprise when Trump tied completion of the deal to recognition of Israel.

Congress has 90 days in session to review a so-called 123 agreement. If it does not pass a joint resolution of disapproval, the deal can take effect without a vote. Trump could veto a rejection, which would then need a two-thirds override. It is unusual for the entire text of such a pact to be classified; earlier 123 deals were published, sometimes with secret annexes. This one is meant to run 30 years. Reuters said it calls for AP1000 reactors, a project worth tens of billions of dollars that would benefit Westinghouse, jointly owned by Cameco and Brookfield. U.S. firms would help build the program after a joint study.

The politics are stacked against a clean landing. Saudi Arabia has said recognition of Israel requires a clear path to a Palestinian state. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected that as a security threat. Some lawmakers, including Democrats, and nonproliferation advocates argue the text does not bar Saudi uranium enrichment or reprocessing, the two routes toward a bomb. The United Arab Emirates accepted that “gold standard” in its 2009 deal. The administration says this pact has the nonproliferation measures the law requires. Henry Sokolski of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center told Reuters that starting the clock “is hardly ideal if you’re serious about no enrichment and recognition of Israel,” because Congress could let the nuclear piece proceed without those conditions.

Sources: Associated Press; Reuters; The Wall Street Journal (first report of the submission, via AP).

PNG Parliament Takes Up Bougainville Vote: August 26, 2026

Papua New Guinea’s parliament is finally going to talk about Bougainville. The house resumed in Port Moresby on Tuesday. From Thursday, MPs are due to debate whether to ratify the 97.7 percent vote Bougainvilleans cast for independence in their 2019 referendum. That vote was non-binding. Under the 2001 Bougainville Peace Agreement, which ended a civil war in the 1990s, the national parliament has the last word. Prime Minister James Marape told the country this is not a routine sitting.

“The Referendum was legitimate, peaceful and overwhelming in its result, and we respect the voice expressed by the people of Bougainville,” he said in a statement. He also told MPs and the public not to turn the week into a fight — no threats, no regionalism, no hostility. “Every member of parliament will have the opportunity to speak. Every member will ultimately have to exercise his or her responsibility according to conscience, guided by the Constitution and the interests of our country.” He prayed with MPs for wisdom before the debate.

“This is a difficult task but duty demands that we do this,” Marape said. “This is not an ordinary parliamentary debate. It concerns our Constitution, our sovereignty, our national identity, the aspirations of the Bougainville people and, above all, the peace that our people have worked so hard to maintain.” It is still unclear whether a ratification vote will come as soon as the speeches end, or later. Parliament set a three-quarters majority bar earlier this year. The Autonomous Bougainville Government has said it still plans to declare independence in 2030 and is using the time to get ready.

Sources: RNZ Pacific; Asia Pacific Report.

Typhoon Saudel Hits Japan: August 26, 2026

Typhoon Saudel was over the East China Sea on Wednesday after tearing through Okinawa and the other remote islands in Japan’s southwest, knocking out power, cancelling flights, and putting hillsides on landslide watch. The Japan Meteorological Agency put it about 180 kilometers northwest of Okinoerabu island late Wednesday morning, with winds up to 144 kph, still headed for China’s eastern coast. Two people were slightly hurt, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency and prefectural officials said.

A 78-year-old woman in Uruma, on Okinawa, was blown over outside her house and suffered a head injury. On Amamioshima, a woman in her 70s fell down stairs in a blackout, NHK said. About 150 flights in and out of Naha airport were cancelled. Kyushu Electric said more than 30,000 homes in Kagoshima prefecture, which includes the Amami islands, lost power. More than 23 centimeters of rain fell on Amami in 24 hours. The agency forecast another 10 centimeters there and up to 12 centimeters on Okinawa through midday Thursday, and kept a landslide warning up for Amami.

This is a different storm from Narra, which has been soaking southern China and northern Vietnam. Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration said Tuesday that Saudel was weakening and drifting north, which makes a Taiwan landfall less likely, though outer bands could still bring rain and wind from Thursday afternoon, with the closest pass Friday. Maximum sustained winds were down to 155 kph from 184. Narra had already been downgraded to a tropical depression. Wednesday’s story is the Japanese islands that already took the hit, and a typhoon still pointed at the China coast.

Sources: Associated Press; Japan Meteorological Agency via AP; NHK via AP; Focus Taiwan (CNA).

Tanzania Vice President Resigns: August 26, 2026

Tanzania’s vice president is leaving, and it has not happened before. Emmanuel Nchimbi, 54, posted his resignation letter on Instagram on Tuesday and said he would step down on September 4, less than ten months after he was sworn in. President Samia Suluhu Hassan accepted the letter the same day. Chief Secretary Moses Kusiluka said constitutional steps to name a successor would follow. BBC reporting, confirmed by sources in Nchimbi’s office and the presidency, called him the first vice president to quit in the history of the East African state.

“I have become convinced, without doubt, that the president wants changes, and I have therefore decided to fulfil my promise,” Nchimbi wrote. He said he had told Samia in August 2025 that he would go if she wanted a different deputy. He is retiring from politics and public service, thanked her and the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party, and said he would remain a “good citizen of Tanzania.” He cited Articles 50(2)(c) and 149(2) of the constitution. The president then has 14 days to appoint a replacement, who needs a National Assembly majority before taking the oath.

He had been Samia’s running mate in last October’s election. They were sworn in on November 3, 2025, at Chamwino State House in Dodoma after a result the electoral commission put at 98 percent. An official inquiry later put post-election deaths at at least 500. Opposition parties and rights groups accused the security forces of a crackdown. Nchimbi had been CCM secretary-general, information minister, home affairs minister, and ambassador to Brazil and Egypt. Last month he told Tanzanians to “fight for a new constitution” before 2030, tying it to justice, rights, and democracy — remarks BBC said may help explain the break with the president. Reuters noted the government’s statement did not give a reason.

Sources: BBC; Reuters; The Citizen; Daily News (Tanzania).

Leipzig Airport Drone Linked to GRU: August 26, 2026

A U.S. intelligence source told ABC News on Wednesday that the explosive drone found next to a Ukrainian cargo plane at Leipzig/Halle airport earlier this month looked like the work of Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU. The explosives and the way the device was built were “typical” of GRU kit, the official said, in an assessment made with German agencies. The small drone, fitted with explosives and a detonator, was found on the tarmac on August 4 near an Antonov Airlines aircraft. It did not go off. The U.S. source said the trigger was disconnected.

Leipzig is a cargo and military logistics hub. The U.S. military and NATO allies use it to move weapons to Ukraine, which is the point. Investigators think the drone was meant to cripple aircraft on the ground, slow those shipments, and send Germany a message about backing Kyiv. Germany’s interior minister called a drone with explosives at an airport a “new threat scenario” that took a “high level of technical expertise.” Bomb disposal teams sent a robot onto the field. The airport shut down for hours.

German media reported Tuesday that the plot was larger than the first scare. Investigators found a third drone on August 14 in Kabelsketal, just west of the airport, with about 50 grams of a suspected military explosive, possibly hexogen. A second drone may have clipped a DHL cargo plane that had to abort its landing and divert to Hanover, with damage later found on the tail. In Kursdorf, north of the field, police found an antenna taped to a tree and scorched ground. An investigators’ report, as quoted by local media, said the perpetrators “may have had a far larger attack in mind than previously known to the public.”

Chancellor Friedrich Merz, speaking Tuesday before a cabinet meeting, still would not name a country. He said Germany had “increasingly become a target for hybrid attackers,” that agencies were “working intensively,” and that those behind it “will pay for this.” Findings would come “shortly.” Russia’s SVR accused German politicians and European media on Monday of blaming Moscow before the investigation had even produced preliminaries. Moscow has denied involvement. U.S. officials say Leipzig has seen multiple suspected Russian sabotage attempts, and 18 drone incidents have disrupted traffic there since January.

Sources: ABC News; The Guardian; Euronews.

World Brief: August 26, 2026

A Himalayan flood is still unfolding this morning, Hormuz diplomacy is stuck in the same ditch, and a CIA director’s secret Moscow stop was followed by drones. Ten stories as of Wednesday, August 26.

1. Nepal–Tibet border. A wall of mud and rock collapsed into a Himalayan river on Wednesday, sending a flash flood down the Bhote Koshi that has killed at least 95 people in Nepal and left hundreds missing, including foreign tourists. Helicopters could not land in Rasuwa district settlements such as Timure and Syapru Besi; roads, bridges, and hydropower plants were torn out. Across the line in Gyirong, Chinese officials reported people missing after a mudslide hit the border crossing, and Xi Jinping ordered an all-out search. Researchers said an ice-rock avalanche likely dammed a tributary and then released; they also warned a second surge is possible.

2. Strait of Hormuz / Tehran. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Wednesday that Tehran and Oman had agreed how to share the strait and its revenues, but a senior Iranian source told Reuters the accord is not finished and talks on the details continue. President Trump, in a brief morning call with Al Jazeera, said he is “not in a hurry” to resume negotiations and has “no time schedule.” The Guards added the waterway will not reopen unless Washington meets Tehran’s conditions, including an end to the U.S. blockade. Oman’s foreign minister, after Tuesday talks in Tehran, said he hoped a temporary corridor would be announced soon.

3. Moscow and Ukraine. Overnight into Wednesday, Ukraine resumed drone attacks toward Moscow hours after CIA Director John Ratcliffe left the Russian capital, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. Kyiv had agreed to a U.S. request not to strike Moscow during the unannounced Tuesday visit. The Kremlin confirmed Ratcliffe met Russian intelligence counterparts and did not see Vladimir Putin, who was briefed; spokesman Dmitry Peskov still called U.S.–Russia ties a “profound crisis.” Russia claimed to have intercepted hundreds of Ukrainian drones; Ukraine said Russia launched more than 160 drones at it, with civilian deaths reported in Chernihiv.

4. Islamabad, Pakistan. A fire in the nursery at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences killed 14 of 15 newborns Wednesday morning. Hospital officials said an air-conditioning unit ignited and oxygen connections accelerated the blaze on the third floor of the maternal ward. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif suspended federal health secretary Aslam Ghauri; a fact-finding committee has 24 hours to report on the cause, fire safety, and the emergency response. Families gathered outside; a doctor rescued the one surviving infant.

5. Occupied East Jerusalem. Israeli security forces seized UNRWA’s Qalandia Training Centre, the last of the agency’s facilities still operating in occupied East Jerusalem. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the evacuation, repeating accusations that UNRWA staff took part in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack, which the agency denies. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the raid as a violation of U.N. premises. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir joined the operation and filmed himself in the director’s chair.

6. Caribbean Sea. The U.S. military struck a boat in the Caribbean on Tuesday that it said was being used to smuggle drugs, killing four people. U.S. Southern Command did not release evidence the vessel was carrying narcotics. The campaign, now nearly a year old, has killed at least 227 people in 68 strikes, according to tallies drawn from U.S. statements. Tuesday’s attack came two days after a strike in the eastern Pacific that killed two.

7. South Africa. In Cape Town’s National Assembly, President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed that perpetrators of anti-foreigner violence will be arrested and prosecuted, answering EFF leader Julius Malema, who said the lack of arrests looked like state-sanctioned xenophobia. Ramaphosa said South Africa had not been isolated by other African leaders and called for a special African Union summit on migration’s root causes. Ghana has asked that xenophobic violence in South Africa be put on the next ordinary AU summit agenda.

8. Kiribati. Kiribati’s parliament is due to vote on a constitutional amendment that would limit diplomatic relations to U.N. member states or permanent observers — a move that would lock in recognition of Beijing over Taipei. The Pacific island nation switched from Taiwan to China in 2019; President Taneti Maamau backs the bill, which does not name either government. A similar attempt fell short of a two-thirds majority in April. Taiwan still has a dozen formal diplomatic allies, including three in the Pacific.

9. Iceland. A Maskína poll published Wednesday found 51.3 percent of Icelanders support restarting EU membership talks, with 48.7 percent opposed, ahead of Saturday’s referendum in Reykjavik. The ballot is not a vote on joining; any accession deal would need a second referendum. Talks were shelved in 2013. Cost of living, the war in Ukraine, and Trump’s threats involving Greenland have all been cited as reasons interest has revived.

10. Chile–Argentina (Magellan roundup). Overnight we covered Chile’s protest after Argentine Air Force chief Gustavo Valverde treated the Strait of Magellan and Drake Passage as a sovereignty issue. Buenos Aires moved Tuesday to cool it: the foreign ministry said the 1881 and 1984 treaties remain fully in force and “definitive,” and reaffirmed cooperation with Santiago, including the joint Antarctic naval patrol. Chilean officials had called sovereignty over the entire strait “indisputable.”

Indonesia Forest Fires: August 25, 2026

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto spent Monday in Sumatra telling companies he is not joking about haze. If investigators find even a hint that a firm ordered land burned, he said, “we will revoke their licences.” Police and prosecutors are already looking at the fires. He also told local governments, the military, and police to help villagers clear land without setting it on fire, and to get water on hotspots instead of waiting. Helicopters, cloud-seeding, and satellite hotspot maps are in use. Local media cited by CNA put the burned area across Sumatra and Kalimantan at about 85,000 hectares.

The smoke did not stay in Indonesia. On Monday, the Swiss monitor IQAir ranked Kuching, in Malaysian Sarawak, as having the worst air among the world’s major cities. By Tuesday, Malaysia’s Department of Environment still had about 30 stations in the “unhealthy” band. Sarawak was the worst of it. Serian’s reading sat near 180, shy of the “very unhealthy” line at 201, with Kuching, Samarahan, Sri Aman, and Sarikei also unhealthy. The Klang Valley was in it too: Shah Alam, Putrajaya, parts of Kuala Lumpur, and surrounding Selangor towns all crossed 150. Singapore’s National Environment Agency warned of “occasional periods of haze” after more hotspots over the weekend.

Indonesia’s Environment Ministry satellite count, as reported Tuesday, put South Sumatra at the top of the hotspot list, followed by West and Central Kalimantan, then East Kalimantan, Riau, West Papua, and Jambi. Malaysian officials described a mix of transboundary smoke from Kalimantan, local peat and forest fires, a dry El Niño spell, and open burning on both sides of the border. They told high-risk groups — children, older people, pregnant women, anyone with heart or lung trouble — to stay indoors, wear masks, and not light anything.

This is an old ASEAN problem in a bad year. Japan Times reported that Malaysia and Brunei have been looking for a regional diplomatic path rather than a public blow-up, even as Kuching’s air made global rankings. Prabowo’s permit threat is the domestic political piece: a public warning to companies while the smoke is still sitting on Palangka Raya, Kuching, and the Klang Valley. Whether licences actually get pulled, and whether that changes the fire map, is the next test. The readings in Sarawak on Tuesday suggested the fires were still winning.

DR Congo Ceasefire Mission: August 25, 2026

A ceasefire verification team is now on the ground in eastern Congo, which is the closest this long war has come in months to anyone checking the truce instead of just announcing one. The group arrived Monday in Minembwe, in South Kivu, on two MONUSCO helicopters. It includes Congolese government and M23 representatives plus military observers from International Conference on the Great Lakes Region states. The job is to document alleged ceasefire violations. South Kivu’s governor said the mission is also supposed to go to Uvira and Kalehe.

The deployment follows a roadmap Congolese officials and the Rwanda-backed AFC/M23 agreed after closed-door talks in Switzerland from August 17 to 21. Switzerland announced the deal on Sunday. It is not a full peace treaty. It sets sequenced steps and timelines under the Doha framework from last year and creates a body to review whether those commitments are actually being kept. The United States, Qatar, Togo, Switzerland, and the African Union Commission were in the room. Fighting in North and South Kivu has continued through previous ceasefires, and it has not stopped around Minembwe.

Kinshasa used Monday to pile on accusations. The government said M23 had killed more than 300 people in June and July in areas it controls, through alleged summary executions, massacres, and bombings. Those figures come from the Congolese state, not from an independent count. M23, for its part, accused government forces of an artillery attack on a village near Minembwe. Both sides have a habit of trading unverifiable claims. Access for journalists and aid groups around Minembwe has been poor for months.

Rwanda’s president made the regional problem explicit. At a Kigali news conference, Paul Kagame again tied any Rwandan role in eastern Congo to the FDLR, a Rwandan Hutu armed group that Kigali says Kinshasa arms and even folds into its own forces. “If this problem is not resolved, it is natural for Rwanda to remain involved,” he said. He told reporters Rwanda would protect itself “without fear, day or night.” Rwanda denies backing M23, despite a long record of U.N. and research reporting that says otherwise. Congo denies supporting the FDLR.

There is a paper peace architecture: a U.S.-brokered Rwanda–DRC deal signed in Washington in 2025, and a Doha track between Kinshasa and M23. The new Swiss roadmap is an attempt to make those documents do something on the ground. Analysts talking to DW were careful. Signing is easy. Implementation is the hard part, especially while M23 still holds large parts of the Kivus and while Kigali’s “buy-in” remains the unstated condition. For displaced Congolese, the test is simpler than the communiqués: whether it gets safer to go home.

World Brief, Evening: August 25, 2026

World Brief, Evening: August 25, 2026

1. Iran/Oman — A Hormuz corridor inches forward, while the sanctions fight gets louder. Iranian and Omani foreign ministers discussed a temporary joint navigation corridor and mine-clearing work in the Strait of Hormuz, though Tehran says the strait is not fully reopening. Iran also vowed to resist expanded U.S. sanctions, while Washington stopped short of immediately targeting the biggest foreign banks tied to Iranian trade.

2. Ukraine — Kyiv says a short peace proposal is ready for Moscow. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine, the United States and European partners have drafted a one-page set of ideas that includes a ceasefire and a proposed third-party-administered free economic zone in the Donbas. He described the period through next summer as the main window for U.S. mediation before the 2027 presidential campaign complicates diplomacy.

3. Russia — Putin opens the door to state takeovers after Ukrainian drone strikes. A new decree allows the government to temporarily take control of critical infrastructure when private owners fail to protect or repair it. Ukraine said it struck the Afipsky and Novoshakhtinsk oil refineries overnight, the latest pressure on Russia’s energy network.

4. Gaza — New strikes hit civilians and aid supplies as news organizations renew an accountability demand. Local medical sources said Israeli strikes killed at least seven Palestinians, while Medical Aid for Palestinians said an overnight attack destroyed a warehouse holding nutrition supplies for children and mothers. Separately, AP and Reuters again called for a full Israeli explanation one year after the double strike on Nasser Hospital killed 22 Palestinians, including journalists and rescue workers.

5. Haiti — The scale of the Kenscoff gang attack grew clearer. The United Nations said at least 47 people were killed and more than 50 kidnapped in the raid outside Port-au-Prince; 22 victims were reportedly executed in a church compound where they had sought shelter. Residents are demanding stronger protection after one of Haiti’s largest mass kidnappings in recent years.

6. Canada/United States — Ottawa answered Washington’s tariff escalation. Canada announced retaliatory duties on about $20 billion in U.S. goods, including steel, dairy products, appliances and farm equipment, after the United States imposed 50% tariffs on Canadian goods over the weekend. The new Canadian tariffs are due to take effect September 8, with trade talks still broken down.

7. Syria/United States — Washington formally ended Syria’s terrorism-list designation. The United States removed Syria from the state-sponsors-of-terrorism list after 47 years, lifting a major barrier to investment and wider economic reintegration. It is a consequential opening for President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government, but Syria remains politically fragile and caught between competing regional powers.

8. South China Sea — Satellite images point to another step in China’s military buildup. New installations have appeared on Yagong Island near Antelope Reef in the disputed Paracel Islands, according to imagery reviewed by Reuters. Analysts said the work may be an early-warning radar or observation post linked to what they believe could become China’s largest base in the area, though Beijing describes nearby construction in civilian terms.

9. Global oceans — Sea-surface temperatures set an unusual August record. The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said the global average reached 21.1 degrees Celsius on Friday and Saturday, edging past the March 2024 record. The timing is especially worrying because ocean temperatures normally peak in March or April, with an intensifying El Niño now adding to long-term human-driven warming.

10. Zambia — Court closures clouded the deadline for challenging the presidential election. Courts in Lusaka and elsewhere were sealed for what authorities called security reasons on the final day opposition candidate Brian Mundubile could challenge President Hakainde Hichilema’s reelection. The Law Association of Zambia raised concerns about access to justice, while Mundubile alleged irregularities in the vote.

Sudan Arms Embargo: August 25, 2026

The United States asked the UN Security Council on Monday to stretch a two-decade arms embargo on Darfur across the whole of Sudan, and to write drones into the ban in so many words. President Donald Trump’s Africa envoy, Massad Boulos, told the council it had to cut off “external financial and military support to the parties, such as drones and related technologies.” The existing Darfur measures expire on September 12 unless the council renews or rewrites them.

The draft has four pieces: a country-wide embargo, an explicit drone clause, more experts on the sanctions-monitoring panel, and better sharing with other UN teams that track the asset freeze and travel ban. France backed expanding the embargo. Russia and China, both veto powers, did not. Sudan’s UN ambassador, Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith Mohamed, called the plan a fundamental change, not a technical tweak, and said a wider sanctions net would “weaken the protection of civilians.” Khartoum wants a simple rollover of what is already on the books.

The timing is the war, not the calendar. Sudan’s conflict is in its fourth year, pitting the army against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The army holds much of the centre and east; the RSF is based in Darfur and also holds ground in the south. BBC reporting puts the toll in the tens of thousands dead and about 14 million people displaced. UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the council the true death count is “likely to be in the hundreds of thousands,” and that the UN had documented 1,100 civilian deaths from drone strikes between January and June alone.

Drones are the point of the American text. DiCarlo said both sides have hit markets, schools, fuel stations and water works. UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said recent fighting has been “characterised by the heavy use of drones.” As the council met, the army was reported to have struck RSF positions around Nyala, a Darfur logistics hub, hours after a large cargo flight landed. Boulos said armed drones accounted for most recorded civilian deaths in the first half of this year.

Sudan’s military chief, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, was unimpressed. Speaking at a police graduation in Khartoum on Monday, he said talk of sanctions “will neither affect us nor weaken our resolve.” The council did not vote. With Russia and China opposed, a nationwide embargo is not a done deal. What Monday made plain is that the Darfur-only regime is running out of time, the weapons getting into Sudan are getting more sophisticated, and Washington wants the next resolution to match the war the country actually has.

World News

World Brief: August 26, 2026

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