2026/08/19 Daily Edition

The co-founder of Little Moons shares her advice for anyone thinking about starting a business of their own.

NATO allies probed on loyalty to US policies in Pentagon questionnaire obtained exclusively by Al Jazeera.

The transfer is the first from Lebanon involving a Syrian military officer who fled after al-Assad's government fell.

⁠US President ​Donald Trump on Wednesday ​warned of economic consequences against any country that ​supported ‌Tehran or ⁠provided "any type of lifeline ‌to Iran." He ​did not specify ​what specific ​steps Washington would take against such ​a country and did not list any country by name. Follow our liveblog for the latest updates.

US president also says any country that trades with Iran will 'face tremendous economic consequences'.

The US gross national debt surpassed $40 trillion for the first time, Treasury data showed on Wednesday, exceeding earlier forecasts as borrowing, interest costs and long-term obligations rose. Total public debt reached $40.05 trillion on Tuesday, above a Congressional Budget Office forecast of $39.4 trillion by end-fiscal 2026.

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan plan to move back to Britain six years after stepping down as working royals, British media reported on Wednesday. The couple are expected to leave the United States by month-end and live outside London, while their two children have reportedly enrolled in a British school.

Overton has said that Congress should strictly regulate abortion drug mifepristone ‘to protect women and children’ Donald Trump nominated Dr Heidi Overton – an abortion opponent who stood next to the president as he made false claims about vaccines – to be commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “Today I am honored to nominate the wonderful Dr. Heidi Overton, MD, PhD, as our next FDA Commissioner. Dr. Heidi has been a ROCKSTAR in my Administration, where she has worked directly with Secretary Kennedy, Dr. Oz, and team, to deliver on the MOST TRANSFORMATIVE Health Agenda in History. She is known to take on the HARDEST issues, and bring me solutions that work best for the Country,” the president wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday...

The medical system is biased against women, says Carole Kendall, pointing to the very different way men who have colonoscopies are treated I fully endorse everything Anna Moore writes in her excellent article on the lack of pain relief for hysteroscopies (‘It was barbaric. I was crying my eyes out’: why are so many women left in agony by routine womb examinations?, 16 August). I have had three of these barbaric procedures, two of them being associated with being on hormone replacement therapy (HRT). All three were administered with very basic pain relief, ie a small amount of local anaesthetic, which I would compare to numbing a gum with a piece of ice and then proceeding with root canal treatment. I was offered a general anaesthetic on the third occasion, but this is way too much. At no point was anything else offered, like it is for colonoscopies...

Foreign minister says she will summon Israeli ambassador over 'insulting' Zomi Frankcom decision.

Landmark trial against Meta could lead to fines and fundamental changes in Facebook and Instagram's operations.

Lisa Hayden-Johnson was convicted of child cruelty, but she still insists that she didn’t do anything wrong – and barely gets a grilling about it. Her children, who speak for the first time in this documentary, deserve much more There’s an increasingly common pattern emerging whereby documentary makers take a story that was run through the Outrage-A-Tron by the tabloids to produce headlines that warped public understanding (“Britain’s Worst/Most Evil/Most Deadly” and so on), then proceed to put back some of the lost nuance and present the more complicated original picture. Lucy Letby (“Britain’s Worst Child Killer”) has been the subject of at least two such films redressing the lost balance. Last week, the story of Rhianan Rudd (“Britain’s Youngest Terrorist”) was unpacked and its many sadder parts laid out for inspection in The Schoolgirl Terrorist? In Love You to Death, it is the turn of Lisa Hayden-Johnson, who became known as “Britain’s Most Evil Mum” during her trial and conviction for child cruelty after years spent fabricating her son Matthew’s apparent illnesses. He was put through more than 300 medical encounters, nine general anaesthetics, four operations by the age of nine, and endured many unnecessary constraints on his life, including using a wheelchair, feeding tube and oxygen tank, until Lisa was arrested when he was nine...

US President Donald Trump praised his relationship with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un.

More than 1,000 Afghan refugees who fled their homes in 2021 have been stuck in Camp As-Sayliyah, Qatar. They're isolated and unable to leave, despite many having aided U.S. forces during the war.

The Israeli military announced criminal investigations into the killings of six-year-old Hind Rajab.

“You can't do anything. Just stand here and watch.” Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem watched Israeli attacks near his home town.

An Israeli strike on Gaza City’s police headquarters has killed the women’s police chief and several officers.

Reports of dire conditions underscore supply challenges, questions of US plans going forward, experts say.

Moderna's mRNA vaccine Intismeran shows promise, reducing melanoma recurrence and spread in late-stage trials.

A decade ago, the U.S. was still in its "pivot to Asia." Today, as conflicts in the Middle East suck up American military resources, analysts say that pivot is over — or never really began.

US envoy warns Israel's strike could have sparked direct confrontation with Turkish forces.

The federal debt reached $40 trillion as the government adds red ink at a rapid rate. That's leading nervous investors to demand higher interest rates —pushing up borrowing costs for everyone else.

Ecuador's intelligence chief Michele Sensi-Contugi and NBCUniversal journalist Jose Suarez are among the dead.

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., about a recent congressional delegation to Ukraine, and what leaders there are asking for in terms of the country's air defense.

A Sri Lankan mass grave excavation has uncovered 582 skeletons, including babies and children.

Ukrainians in Kyiv held a protest in support of ousted defence Minister Mykailo Fedorov.

Opposition leader claims 'serious irregularities' in the vote that handed President Hakainde Hichilema a second term.

The death of Syrian White Helmets rescuer Mohammad Ghamira after an alleged police beating has sparked protests.

Former think tank policy officer Heidi Overton to lead FDA in a controversial push to reshape US health regulations.

It comes after the interest rate on 30-year bonds reached the highest level in almost 20 years.

From cutting household bills to moving power out of Westminster, how will the measures announced unfold? Since becoming prime minister, Andy Burnham has floated a number of policies, ideas and ambitions for his government, from shifting power out of Westminster, bringing services like transport under public control and addressing the rising cost of living. But many of his promises are not actually firm commitments, so what has he pledged, how much will it cost and when should the public expect to see change?..

French government systems came under attack by hackers who stole information on hundreds of thousands of households and private businesses in June and July, notably from the tax authority. Here's what we know about the latest cyberattacks, and what the government is doing to keep personal information secure.

Amy Lopez from Texas was last seen alive in September 1994 while on a visit to a fortress in Koblenz.

PM wants to reduce department’s stranglehold on public purse and bring long-term thinking to economic policy Andy Burnham is far from the first prime minister to dream of taming the power of the mighty Treasury. Boris Johnson all but forced the resignation of Sajid Javid by handpicking his team; Margaret Thatcher favoured her economic adviser Alan Walters over Nigel Lawson, prompting the latter’s furious resignation; Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s power struggle was the stuff of Whitehall legend...

Citizens and entities would have to seek authorisation to contact universities or talk to foreign media.

According to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request the number of letters sent has almost tripled since 2024.

Kim Yo-jong, a powerful adviser and sister of Kim Jong-un, also said she was “unaware” of any communication with Washington, contradicting President Trump’s claim her brother had responded to his outreach.

The bus was travelling to hospitals near Curitiba when the accident occurred.

Opponents argue the venue seems 'intent on defying' a court order to remove the president's name from the building.

Victims received less compensation than shareholders in the company behind its flammable cladding. Parliament must make corporations pay for harm caused There is something profoundly wrong when the company behind Grenfell Tower’s flammable cladding paid more compensation to its shareholders than to victims of the disaster. Of Arconic’s £86m in Grenfell-related settlements, all but £1.5m was covered by insurers. Hardly enough to make a multinational think again. The company whose product the inquiry found was the “primary cause” of the fire’s rapid spread has ended up paying only a fraction of the wider social cost, while the multibillion-pound bill for making hundreds of buildings safe falls largely on the state. In June 2017, 72 people – including 18 children – died in London’s Grenfell Tower fire. Almost a decade later, nobody has been criminally charged over its causes. It’s hard to conclude anything but that Britain’s system of corporate accountability is rotten. A new report by the thinktank Common Wealth and the financial investigations group FIND suggests putting right this state of affairs in England and Wales by adopting two changes that parliament could enact quickly. The first is a “failure to prevent” law that would make companies responsible for having adequate systems to prevent foreseeable serious harm. The second is to adopt a “punitive damages” approach. Rather than compensating victims for their loss, punitive damages ask what a company should pay for its conduct. Such an award against Arconic could have been used to meet the costs of remediation, the report says, “at no public cost”...

Canada official condemns Israel's 'invasion' of Lebanon, calls for sovereignty as aid pledged to the crisis-hit nation.

Competition and Markets Authority on message with PM’s planned purge of hidden fees and add-on charges Trainline, Virgin Atlantic and Red Driving School face investigation The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is on-message with Andy Burnham’s declaration of war on the small – and sometimes not-so-small – hassles and expenses of everyday consumer life created by companies’ underhand and misleading pricing tactics. Trainline, Virgin Atlantic and Red Driving School found themselves under investigation on Wednesday for various forms of alleged “drip pricing” – not being upfront about mandatory add-on charges, in other words. The prime minister had nothing to do with the CMA’s pursuit, it should be said. The watchdog’s “consumer protection drive” pre-dates his arrival and was encouraged by legislation under the last Tory government – the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act of 2024, which gave the regulator “direct enforcement” powers, meaning it no longer had to go to court under consumer protection laws. And it is using those powers: eight cases were opened last November and driving schools AA and BSM plus the ticketing site StubHub UK have already been fined...

US President Donald Trump claimed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had responded positively to his proposal for talks.

The ex-FBI chief faces accusations of transmitting threats and exploiting controversy to market his upcoming novel.

The Sisters of Charity of Saint Mary have hosted beachgoers in the town of Spotorno for decades. But change is coming.

After a deadline extension, the latest U.S. tariff threats seemed headed toward resolution on Wednesday, but questions lingered about what Canada would give up, and what it would get in exchange.

Prime Minister Carney hailed "significant progress" in trade talks as the two countries seek to hammer out final details ahead of a new weekend tariff deadline.

NATO says it will 'do what is necessary' amid media report Iran considered strikes against US targets in Europe.

The Trump administration’s ‘America first’ approach has contributed to the scale of the crisis now unfolding in one of the world’s poorest countries For months health experts have warned that the scale of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) could surpass the one that swept west Africa in 2014-16. This week, the authorities in the DRC announced that a grim milestone has already been passed: at least 2,325 people have died from the virus, making it the deadliest of the country’s 17 outbreaks and the fastest-growing in history. There is no effective vaccine against Bundibugyo – a rare strain of the virus that spread fatally undetected during the spring, often being misdiagnosed as malaria or typhoid. In contrast to neighbouring Uganda, which succeeded in eliminating an outbreak, multiple factors are combining to let the disease rip through the DRC. The worst-affected region is contested by armed groups, and a context of population displacement and chronic insecurity has made monitoring and surveillance more difficult. Ebola treatment centres have been attacked as a result of misinformation and community distrust...

President says he plans to meet dictator this year but Kim Yo-jong says Washington remains Pyongyang’s enemy Donald Trump has said he is planning to meet North Korea’s Kim Jong-un later this year even as the reclusive leader’s younger sister cast doubt on their communications and dampened hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough between the two leaders. Trump, who also claimed North Korea had 57 nuclear weapons, had suggested he and Kim were holding secret negotiations on Tuesday after announcing the US would downgrade its participation in military exercises held by South Korea, a US ally. Asked whether Kim had responded to his request for a conversation, Trump said: “Yeah, he has.”..

Discovery marks latest grim finding in lake as water levels in crucial reservoir outside Las Vegas continue to decline Human remains have once again been discovered at Lake Mead outside Las Vegas, Nevada, marking the latest in a line of gruesome discoveries as water levels in the crucial reservoir continue to drop, authorities said. These remains were discovered on 16 August, USA Today reported. The National Park Service (NPS) told the outlet there did not appear to be anything suspicious about the body...

The deal is significant for the artificial intelligence industry, uniting Stripe’s payments business with OpenRouter’s helping businesses direct their spending on A.I. models.

New trade deal ensures no tariffs for US farmers and businesses exporting to Canada, Trump announces

With Israeli elections approaching, analysts say Netanyahu needs a new escalation, undermining deconfliction efforts.

Israeli air strikes on Gaza kill 10 Palestinians, targeting police headquarters and a refugee camp in separate attacks.

Exclusive: Bridget Phillipson’s comments show her party feels voters have been alienated by Reform net zero attacks Richard Tice should apologise to firefighters for his comments this week urging British people to “enjoy” this summer’s extreme heat, according to the Labour party chair. Bridget Phillipson has called on Reform’s deputy leader to say sorry to those who have battled wildfires across the country over the last few weeks, forcing evacuations and destroying homes...

A weak yuan guarantees Beijing massive trade surplus even as the White House tries tamp down on Chinese imports Since China offered a truce in the trade war last October following its threat to deprive the United States of rare-earth magnets, the Trump administration has been happy to stop escalating. After all, imports from China have been falling, down by 40% in the year to June, compared with the same period in 2024. Best to declare victory and call it a day. But the US hasn’t won this battle – and there’s strong evidence to show it’s too chicken to really try...

Lake Como in northern Italy has disappeared after a “geological rupture”, a sensational report posted on TikTok claimed. This isn’t true. For one, the footage and photos in this report were all generated by artificial intelligence. Secondly, while the water levels in the lake have dropped, it's because of drought – and satellite images show that Lake Como is far from empty.

Dr. David Morens, a former N.I.H. official, admitted to attempts to conceal emails that discussed the origins of the pandemic.

Defense analyst Stacie Pettyjohn says while the U.S. military is facing long-range missile shortages, prolonged deployments and vacated regional bases, Iran is building cheaper weapons quickly.