Thursday, August 27, 2026 – Israeli drone strikes wound Palestinians in Gaza City and Khan Younis. Israeli settlers expand outpost in occupied West Bank; five Palestinians wounded in Hebron and Jerusalem. UN: Israel has killed at least 100 Palestinians in Gaza in last two weeks. Haaretz: Israel cultivating network of armed militias across Gaza. Israeli court acquits settler who attacked French nun. Board of Peace envoy Nickolay Mladenov discusses Trump’s Board Gaza plan before UNSC. Gaza Board of Peace “failing” development chief tells Security Council. Palestinian envoy tells UNSC that Israeli annexation has reached point of no return. Canada revokes Jerusalem deputy mayor’s visa. Tanker hit by projectile while transiting Strait of Hormuz. Iranian warship confronts vessel in Hormuz. Drones shot down over Iraqi Kurdistan. Qatari, Iranian FMs meet in Tehran, discuss mine clearing and potential Hormuz corridor. U.S. officials signal readiness to attack Iran, though “prefer diplomacy.” Iran says “hostile” Persian-language media could be “potential military targets.” IAEA’s chief says no “solid evidence” that Iran is rebuilding nuclear facilities. Araghchi calls U.S. sanctions “state and economic terrorism.” Iran cannot import enough petrol as a result of U.S. blockade. Pakistan says it is not bound by U.S. sanctions on Iran, and rejects reports that army chief visited Tehran as Trump’s envoy. Ansarallah strikes Mokha port and Yemen’s western coast. Saudi-backed forces claim seizure of vessel carrying drone equipment to Ansarallah. Newlywed woman killed as Israel strikes southern Lebanon. U.S. designates three left-wing groups in Europe “terrorists”, including UK’s Palestine Action. ICE agent Christian Castro released from Texas jail. Maine GOP governor nominee says he’ll seek ICE presence at polling places. Sen. Chris Van Hollen forces Senate resolution demanding accounting of Israel’s West Bank human rights record. Pentagon panel claims it found “hidden” documents on Afghanistan withdrawal. West Point professor sues, says he was fired for refusing to omit climate science. Navy sailor who jumped overboard USS Abraham Lincoln faces disciplinary charges. Russia threatens to strike UK military targets. Israeli forces fire shells near Syrian town. Sudan’s army shoots down drone that crossed into Sudan from Ethiopia. Sudan’s RSF closes markets and cuts off internet in West Kordofan amid intensifying fighting. U.S. official condemns Sudanese Army strike in Chad. Democratic Republic of the Congo Suspends 11 Universities in M23-Held Goma and Bukavu. Taiwanese parliament rejects government’s $6.6 billion military drone plan. Death toll from Nepal-China border floods rises to at least 353, with 826 missing. Nigerian kidnappers collected nearly $5.8 million in ransom over past year, report finds. Forest fires kill 12 in northeastern Algeria, dozens injured. WHO: Uganda’s Ebola outbreak over, but DRC’s continues to rise.

Palestine

• Israeli drone strikes wound Palestinians in Gaza City and Khan Younis:

  • Israeli drones struck a home in western Gaza City on Thursday morning, injuring several people, WAFA reported.

  • A separate drone strike also hit a tent sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Strip, wounding several..

• Israeli settlers expand outpost in occupied West Bank; five Palestinians wounded in Hebron and Jerusalem:

  • Bethlehem: Israeli settlers, under the protection of Israeli forces, continued expanding an outpost in the Ush Ghrab area on Thursday, bringing in mobile homes and installing them at the site, WAFA reported. Settlers also raised Israeli flags along the road. The area, which includes an Israeli military base, had been designated around 15 years ago for a children’s hospital serving the Bethlehem governorate, but the project was never completed after settlers established an outpost there.

  • East Jerusalem: Israeli soldiers tear gassed and fired upon Palestinians in Beit Anan on Wednesday evening, northwest of East Jerusalem, and injured two Palestinians during the raid, one of whom was shot in the knee.

    • Israeli authorities tightened movement restrictions on Palestinian communities northwest of occupied East Jerusalem, requiring residents of Nabi Samwil, Beit Iksa and the Khalayleh neighborhood to obtain special permits to enter and leave their communities, with some families removed from lists allowing them access to their homes, according to the Jerusalem Governorate.

  • Hebron: Israeli soldiers shot and wounded two women and a 14-year-old girl in Al-Kamel on Wednesday night, WAFA reported, during a raid on the town. The women were returning from a wedding when soldiers fired heavily at their vehicle without warning, according to the town’s mayor and husband of one of the wounded women. He said his 58-year-old wife and the 14-year-old girl suffered serious injuries to the face, while a 30-year-old woman was wounded by shrapnel.

    • Also in the Hebron governorate, Israeli settlers chased Palestinian shepherds off their land near the village of Masafer Yatta on Wednesday, with several other incidents of theft, harassment, and military assistance of settlers reported in the area.

• UN: Israel has killed at least 100 Palestinians in Gaza in last two weeks: Israeli air strikes since August 12 have killed at least 100 Palestinians and wounded 400 others in Gaza, Ramiz Alakbarov, the acting UN special coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told the UN Security Council on Tuesday, noting that conditions remained “dire despite a nearly year-old ceasefire.”

• Haaretz: Israel cultivating network of armed militias across Gaza: A Haaretz investigation based on Israeli soldiers’ testimony, Palestinian sources, UN information, and satellite imagery revealed the extent of Israel’s cooperation with armed Palestinian militias in Gaza. Haaretz identified five prominent groups operating in areas under Israeli control, with apparent activity at a sixth location.

  • The militias, which have regularly clashed with Hamas fighters, operate from compounds near Israeli military outposts and are integrated into IDF operations, with call signs on army radio networks and positions marked on military maps. Soldiers said Israel has built compounds for some groups, with others saying the IDF has provided artillery and drone support.

  • Haaretz also documented accounts of militia members looting and burning Palestinian homes and helping force residents from their communities. “You see the State of Israel, the IDF and Shin Bet sending armed, trained militias to commit war crimes, and I’m the one who has to protect them during their operations so they don’t get hurt,” an Israeli air force officer said.

• Israeli court acquits settler who attacked French nun: The Jerusalem Magistrate Court acquitted Wednesday Yona Schreiber, a settler from the occupied West Bank settlement of Peduel, who assaulted a French Catholic nun near Jerusalem’s Old City earlier this year, finding him not responsible because of “mental illness.”

  • Schreiber attacked the 48-year-old nun and researcher in April, pushing her to the ground, kicking her in the head and wounding her outside the Cenacle on Mount Zion.

• Mladenov discusses Trump’s Board Gaza plan before UNSC: Nickolay Mladenov, the “High Representative” for the Gaza Board of Peace, spoke before the the UN Security Council on Wednesday, telling the body that Hamas’s decision to disarm and transfer authority to a transitional administration would be an “opportunity to dramatically improve life in a sustainable way for Palestinians in Gaza”.

  • In his testimony, he hailed Hamas’ acceptance of “complete demilitarization” of the Strip. Hamas has stressed that it has agreed for heavy weapons to be restricted and stored under the authority of a Palestinian committee governing Gaza.

  • Mladenov claimed that “Three things must be in place for the process to move forward: the International Stabilization Force must deploy; Israel’s undertakings under the Sharm el-Sheikh protocol must be implemented; and Hamas must adhere to its commitments.”

  • The representative said, in light of recent attacks on the Strip, that “Gaza does not have it in it to bear another catastrophe.” He tiptoed around Israel’s responsibility for carrying out these attacks, noting that Israel was “not a signatory” to the Board’s plans, having only affirmed its commitments verbally, and claimed that Israel’s present use of force in the Strip did not pose an “immediate threat” to peace.

  • Mladenov called Israel’s policy on shelter, in light of the approaching winter, “not acceptable,” and urged Israel to “allow better shelter into the Strip for dignity, for health, and for safety.”

  • Mladenov also issued a rare criticism of Israel’s continued airstrikes on Gaza, though he refrained from framing them as targeting civilians: “After three years of war and 20 years of military operations, I ask, will another strike on a munitions depot stop Hamas from rearming or tightening its grip on Gaza?” he said. “It will not. It only delays the demilitarization that would happen, and it obstructs the civilian transition that should take place to ensure that remilitarization will not be possible in the future.”

  • Israel’s deputy UN ambassador, Noa Furman, also spoke before the body, saying that Hamas’s “disarmament must come first” before Gaza’s reconstruction can begin, while still claiming Israel remains committed to Trump’s plan.

• Gaza Board of Peace “failing,” development chief tells Security Council: Athena Rayburn, the executive director of the Association of International Development Agencies, condemned the U.S.-led Gaza Board of Peace for failing to stop Israel’s daily attacks on the Strip before the Security Council on Wednesday.

  • She said that the Board had, as an institution, failed to provide “immediate protection, relief and safety for the civilian population” in Gaza in the short term, and seemed unable to move Gaza towards “the end of Israel’s unlawful presence and the realization of the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination.”

  • Rayburn noted that, “the rights of Palestinians in Gaza have been made subordinate to the far-reaching, capricious and arbitrary requirements of its occupier,” and called the arrangement “untenable.”

• Palestinian envoy tells UNSC that Israeli annexation has reached point of no return: Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer of Palestine to the United Nations, also spoke before the UN Security Council on Wednesday, telling the body that Israel’s annexation of Palestinian land has reached a point of no return.

  • “Annexation has long been under way, but Israel has now crossed the Rubicon when it comes to full-fledged, full-blown annexation with the release of the tenders for the E1 plan,” Mansour said. The E1 settlement project would effectively divide the occupied West Bank in two.

• Canada revokes Jerusalem deputy mayor’s visa: Canada has removed travel authorization for Jerusalem’s Deputy Mayor Arieh King over his activities on behalf of illegal settlements on Tuesday, leading King to cancel a planned visit to Toronto and Montreal.

  • King, an especially vocal advocate of settlement in occupied East Jerusalem, had been scheduled to attend a fundraising event in Canada for his settlement initiatives, the report said.

Iran

• Tanker hit by projectile while transiting Hormuz: A tanker was struck by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz Tuesday, setting the vessel on fire, the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency reported on Thursday. The attack caused no injuries to the crew and the fire has since been put out, local authorities said.

• Iranian warship confronts vessel in Hormuz: A “large Iranian Warship” confronted an Indian ship attempting to transit the southern U.S.-backed route in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, Iran’s Fars news agency reported.

  • The ship was deterred from passing through the Strait after receiving a warning, the agency said, alleging that no traffic had been observed through the southern route in the 24 hours preceding the confrontation.

• Drones shot down over Iraqi Kurdistan: At least one drone was shot down near the village of Badalyan in Iraq’s Erbil governorate on Wednesday, according to Al Jazeera, which reported an attack on the area by two drones.

  • The downed drone sparked a fire in the region. No casualties were reported from the attack. The attack reportedly targeted facilities belonging to Iranian Kurdish opposition parties.

• Qatari, Iranian FMs meet in Tehran, discuss mine clearing and potential Hormuz corridor: Qatar’s Foreign Minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran on Thursday, a meeting during which, “the latest developments in the regional situation were reviewed, along with the efforts being made to reduce escalation and create appropriate conditions for dialogue,” according to a statement from Qatar’s Foreign Ministry.

  • During the meeting, the ministers also discussed a “joint project” to clear mines in the Strait of Hormuz, and a “proposed interim framework” that would include the creation of a temporary shipping corridor through the Strait, according to the statement.

• U.S. officials signal readiness to attack Iran, though “prefer diplomacy”: U.S. President Donald Trump told Al Jazeera Wednesday he was “not in a hurry” to continue talks with Iran, and that he had “no time schedule” for their resumption. In a phone interview with the outlet, he claimed that military and economic measures against Iran had “both” been effective.

  • During an interview on Newsmax, War Secretary Pete Hegseth assumed a more belligerent tone, saying that “by no means” had the U.S. “foreclosed using kinetic strikes anywhere in the Strait of Hormuz.”

  • At a press conference with International Atomic Energy Agency Chief Rafael Grossi, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the administration “prefers diplomacy” with Iran, though it would strike Iran again to destroy its nuclear facilities “if necessary.”

• Iran says “hostile” Persian-language media could be “potential military targets”: Brigadier-General Abolfazl Shekarchi, the spokesperson for Iran’s armed forces, accused several Persian-language media outlets, including BBC Persian, Iran International, and Radio Farda, of direct connections to “Mossad, the CIA and enemy intelligence organizations,” on Wednesday, and said that these outlets and their employees could be considered military targets, according to AFP citing remarks on state television..

• IAEA’s chief says no “solid evidence” that Iran is rebuilding nuclear facilities: International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi told the Argentinian paper Clarin on Wednesday that there is no “solid evidence” to suggest that Iran is rebuilding its nuclear facilities following U.S. and Israeli attacks.

  • “The facilities have suffered significant damage” he noted, saying that, though there is a possibility that Iran had begun to rebuild “some of their infrastructure,” no evidence exists of a resumed nuclear activity.

  • Grossi also told the paper that Iran’s existing stockpile of highly enriched uranium remains buried following U.S. strikes during the Twelve-Day War last year.

  • Iran’s atomic energy chief Mohammad Eslami told Iran’s IRNA News Agency on Wednesday that the IAEA would not be able to inspect Iranian nuclear sites that have suffered attacks in recent months until it develops a specific inspection protocol for the sites which ensures their security.

• Araghchi calls U.S. sanctions “state and economic terrorism”: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the newest wave of U.S. sanctions an “act of state and economic terrorism” in a Wednesday letter to the UN secretary-general, the Security Council and all UN member states.

  • Araghchi accused the U.S. of seeking to “cut Iran’s lawful economic ties with other states” after failing to achieve its objectives through war or persuade other countries to join its campaign.

  • “The sanctions deliberately harm civilians by restricting access to food, medicine, medical equipment, energy and other essentials, violating rights including the rights to life, health, food and an adequate standard of living,” he wrote in the letter.

• Iran cannot import enough petrol as a result of U.S. blockade: Iran has been unable to import enough petrol to offset reduced domestic production as a result of the U.S. naval blockade, Mohammad Jafar Ghaempah, a senior official, told IRNA.

• Pakistan says it is not bound by U.S. sanctions on Iran, and rejects reports that army chief visited Tehran as Trump’s envoy: At a press conference in Islamabad on Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Taher Andarab said Pakistan does not believe Washington’s unilateral sanctions on Tehran adhere to international law and that issues should be resolved through dialogue.

  • At the same conference, Andarab rejected reports that its army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, travelled to Iran earlier this week on Trump’s behalf, calling the claims “misleading and factually incorrect.”

  • He said Munir’s visit was undertaken “purely in the context and backdrop of Pakistan’s ongoing role as mediator.”

Yemen

• Ansarallah strikes Mokha port and Yemen’s western coast: Yemen’s Ansarallah fired ballistic missiles at Mokha port on Wednesday, with at least three missiles striking the port area and a fourth landing toward the Al-Barah intersection, a source from the Saudi-backed Yemeni army told Al Jazeera. At least five additional missiles struck the Al-Khawkhah area of Hodeidah governorate on Yemen’s western coast. There were no immediate reports of casualties or the extent of damage.

• Saudi-backed forces claim seizure of vessel carrying drone equipment to Ansarallah: Yemeni naval forces claimed they seized a vessel carrying drone-making equipment off the coast of Mokha in the Red Sea on Wednesday evening, alleging the shipment had been smuggled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and was bound for Ansarallah, according to the Aden-based Saba news agency,

  • Naval patrols also opened fire on five Ansarallah boats approaching islands overlooking the international shipping lane, forcing them north toward Hodeidah, and shot down a reconnaissance drone.

Lebanon

• Newlywed woman killed as Israel strikes southern Lebanon:

  • A newlywed woman was killed and others wounded Thursday when Israeli warplanes struck and destroyed her home in the center of Arabsalim in the Nabatieh district, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported. The woman had been married just 48 hours ago. Israeli warplanes struck the town again less than 10 minutes later, while an Israeli drone carried out two strikes on Nabatieh Al-Fawqa.

  • Earlier Thursday, Israeli warplanes launched two strikes on the Ali Al-Taher hills on the eastern outskirts of Nabatieh al-Fawqa, firing several missiles that caused large explosions.

  • In Marjayoun, Israeli forces accompanied by tanks and military bulldozers advanced into the western outskirts of Mays Al-Jabal, in the Al-Dabsh area, as artillery struck several homes. Israeli forces also set homes on fire and bulldozed agricultural tents.

U.S. News

• U.S. designates three left-wing groups in Europe “terrorists”, including UK’s Palestine Action: The U.S. State Department designated three European left-wing groups as “transnational terrorist organizations.”

  • Two of the groups, Palestine Action and Masar Badil, are focused on activism in support of Palestine, and the third, Autistici Inventati, offers free digital tools to leftists around the world.

  • The U.S. Treasury Department announced, in coordination with the State Department, that it would be imposing sanctions on the groups, allowing its OFAC to block the U.S. property of anyone who supports or is linked to any of the groups.

  • Palestine Action, which describes itself as a “direct action movement committed to ending global complicity with Israel’s genocidal apartheid regime”, has also been banned in the UK, where it is based. The UK ban has been criticized by numerous human rights groups, including Amnesty International.

  • In a statement to Al Jazeera, Palestine Action cofounder Huda Ammori has lambasted the U.S. for blacklisting the group as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist”, saying it should serve as “a wake-up call to anyone who cares about free speech and civil liberties”.

• ICE agent Christian Castro released from Texas jail: Federal Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. ruled Wednesday in favor of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in an extradition dispute with Minnesota, finding Minnesota had not proven Abbott acted wrongfully by delaying action on a request to return ICE agent Christian Castro to face four charges of assault in Minnesota.

  • Rodriguez’s decision resulted in Castro’s release from a Texas jail Thursday under the state’s 90-day detention limit.

  • Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty warned the ruling risks letting Castro flee to Mexico, where he has discussed marrying a woman and buying a house.

  • Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a Democrat, said he disagreed with Rodriguez’s ruling and would “continue litigating this case.”

• Maine GOP governor nominee says he’ll seek ICE presence at polling places: Bobby Charles, the Republican nominee for Maine governor, told supporters at an August 20 event that he plans to ask White House border czar Tom Homan to send ICE agents and U.S. marshals to Maine polling places ahead of this fall’s election, according to audio first reported by the Bangor Daily News and cited by NBC News.

  • Charles later said the goal was to “prevent violence,” “intimidation,” and “illegality” at voting locations.

  • Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said in response to Charles’s remarks that ICE agents are legally barred from polling places.

• Van Hollen forces Senate resolution demanding accounting of Israel’s West Bank human rights record: Sen. Chris Van Hollen plans to introduce a privileged resolution Thursday, co-signed by 10 Senate Democrats, that would require the Trump administration to provide Congress with a detailed accounting of Israel’s human rights practices in the West Bank within 30 days, forcing a Senate vote regardless of Republican leadership’s cooperation.

  • The resolution focuses on at least nine American citizens killed in the West Bank since January 2022, including Aysenur Ezgi Eygi and journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

  • Van Hollen said “if the United States Senate shines a spotlight on this, we will save lives.”

• Pentagon panel claims it found “hidden” documents on Afghanistan withdrawal: Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, who also chairs War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s review panel investigating the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, said Wednesday the probe uncovered “highly relevant, classified documents” that had been “stashed and hidden away in safes where they would not be found.”

  • Parnell did not disclose the documents’ contents or say when they might be made public, adding only that “after the team reviewed these documents, it became clear why someone tried to hide them.”

  • Parnell’s panel, launched by Hegseth in May 2025, has reviewed 9 million documents and completed interviews with military figures involved in the withdrawal, which Parnell has argued will be more thorough than a 2024 congressional Republican report he criticized as “over-classified.”

• West Point professor sues, says he was fired for refusing to omit climate science: Dr. Adam Kalkstein, a tenured West Point science professor, is suing the U.S. Military Academy after he says he was ordered to cut information about human-caused climate change from his curriculum and was later told his contract would not be renewed, according to The New York Times.

  • Kalkstein, described by his attorney as a conservative Republican who believes understanding climate change is essential for national security matters like Arctic competition with Russia, said Brig. Gen. Shane R. Reeves, then West Point’s dean, stormed out of a meeting after Kalkstein declined a suggestion he resign.

  • The lawsuit accuses the academy of violating his First Amendment rights by requiring him “to omit a massive, fundamental, essential component of the course and to defy science.”

• Navy sailor who jumped overboard USS Abraham Lincoln faces disciplinary charges: A sailor who threw himself overboard from the USS Abraham Lincoln earlier this month in what his wife described as a suicide attempt is now facing disciplinary charges from the Navy, according to MS NOW. The sailor is accused of “absence without leave” and “malingering,” which is defined as a service member “intentionally faking an illness or hurting themselves to avoid work, duty or service,” according to the sailor’s wife and charging documents.

Other International News

• Russia threatens to strike UK military targets: Russia warned Thursday that it could strike British military installations and equipment “in Ukraine and beyond its borders” in response to Ukrainian attacks inside Russia using British-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles.

  • Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova accused London of being “one step away” from legal complicity in what Moscow calls terrorism against Russian civilians and warned that Britain’s policy could escalate the war “to an entirely new level.”

  • The threat followed Russia’s accusation that Ukraine fired Storm Shadows at a shopping center in Russian-controlled Donetsk, wounding civilians, including children. It also came days after Britain announced that Kyiv would receive classified technology to begin producing the long-range missiles domestically.

• Israeli forces fire shells near Syrian town: Israeli forces fired three artillery shells near the Syrian town of Beit Jinn, southwest of Damascus on Wednesday, the Syrian news agency ANHA reported.

  • Israeli forces reportedly fired the shells from the occupied Golan Heights towards a strategic hill overlooking the town.

  • Israeli forces have previously used the hill to stage raids on Beit Jinn, which an Israeli drone struck on Saturday.

• Sudan’s army shoots down drone that crossed into Sudan from Ethiopia: Sudan’s army said Thursday it shot down a hostile drone that crossed into southeastern Blue Nile state from Ethiopian territory, intercepting it north of Sarkam, marking the third such incident reported in the border area in recent days, according to Sudan Tribune.

  • The military did not identify the drone’s operator, origin, or intended target.

• RSF closes markets and cuts off internet in West Kordofan amid intensifying fighting: Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) indefinitely closed all public markets and cut off Starlink internet access in Al-Nuhud, West Kordofan on Wednesday, according to the Dar Hamar Emergency Response Room, a local volunteer group.

  • The group warned that the blackout disables mobile banking and remittance services residents depend on amid severe cash shortages. It also accused RSF forces of widespread looting and harassment and urged international humanitarian organizations to intervene

• U.S. official condemns Sudanese Army strike in Chad: U.S. advisor Massad Boulos condemned Sudan’s military for airstrikes inside Chad, writing on X on Wednesday that there is “absolutely no justification for expanding the violence beyond Sudan’s borders.”

  • The Sudanese army says the August 20 strikes hit a Rapid Support Forces resupply convoy of roughly 200 combat vehicles moving from Libya’s Kufra region, Sudan Tribune reported.

  • Chad’s army confirmed that aircraft “belonging to the Sudanese Armed Forces or forces supporting them” bombed a convoy more than 100 km inside its territory, and condemned it as a violation of its sovereignty.

• DR Congo Suspends 11 Universities in M23-Held Goma and Bukavu: The Democratic Republic of Congo has suspended academic operations until further notice at 11 public universities and institutes in Goma and Bukavu, two eastern cities controlled by the Rwanda-backed M23, the AFP reported on Wednesday. Registration, teaching, examinations and deliberations are suspended for 2026–2027, with students in their final year of school being sent to Kinshasa to complete their studies.

• Taiwanese parliament rejects government’s $6.6 billion military drone plan: Taiwan’s opposition-controlled parliament rejected the government’s proposed $6.6 billion special budget to acquire roughly 210,000 military drones through 2031, instead approving a smaller plan to acquire drones over the next six years.

  • The government has argued the expansion is urgent given lessons from the wars in Ukraine and Iran and the growing threat from China. The defense ministry said its original plan had been coordinated with unnamed allied countries, while the United States has strongly backed Taiwan’s effort to build a large domestic drone force.

• Death toll from Nepal-China border floods rises to at least 353, with 826 missing: Nepal Police reported at least 353 dead and 826 missing Thursday following a catastrophic glacial-collapse flood that swept through communities the day before, according to CBS News, while Chinese state broadcaster CCTV separately reported 558 people missing in Tibet, including 260 foreigners.

  • The tourism board later said 27 foreign nationals, including two Americans, had been rescued from Nepal’s Rasuwa district.

  • The U.S. Geological Survey revised its initial assessment of a magnitude 4.4 earthquake to instead identify a magnitude 5.2 glacial collapse as the cause.

• Nigerian kidnappers collected nearly $5.8 million in ransom over past year, report finds: Nigerian kidnappers collected roughly $5.79 million in ransom payments between July 2025 and June 2026, according to a report from security consultancy SBM Intelligence.

  • 7,825 people were kidnapped between July 2025 and June 2026, up 66% from the year before, according to the report, with at least 1,142 people killed in the region.

  • A faction of Boko Haram collected 90% of recorded ransom payments, roughly 7 billion naira, largely from two mass kidnappings involving more than 300 victims each.

• Forest fires kill 12 in northeastern Algeria, dozens injured: Forest fires killed 12 people and injured dozens across northeastern Algeria’s Bejaia, Jijel, and Tizi Ouzou provinces Wednesday, according to Interior Minister Said Sayoud.

  • 54 people were being treated for burns, including six serious cases, at a hospital in Bejaia, where an eight-year-old boy and a 22-year-old woman were among the dead, according to local radio.

  • Algeria has recorded nearly 2,000 fires nationwide this year, part of a pattern authorities and scientists say climate change is intensifying through more frequent droughts and heat.

• WHO: Uganda’s Ebola outbreak over, but DRC’s continues to rise: The World Health Organization declared Uganda’s Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak over, following the country’s own July 28 declaration after 20 cases and two deaths, but WHO official Dr. Marie Roseline Belizaire said the outbreak remains uncontrolled in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, where cases continue to climb despite some progress.

  • The Congolese outbreak, now the second-deadliest in history, has caused more than 2,700 deaths and 5,600 cases as of Tuesday.

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