August 4, 2026

MIDDLE EAST WAR | Day 158.

• The Iranian Foreign Ministry claimed yesterday that its current negotiations are with Persian Gulf neighbor Oman, not with the United States, while U.S. President Donald Trump insisted that the U.S. and Iran are actively engaged in talks. [more]
• According to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center, a cargo ship reported being struck and damaged by an "unknown projectile" overnight in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman. [more]
• U.S. President Donald Trump suggested yesterday that new talks with Iran centered on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and addressing concerns about the Islamic Republic's nuclear program are a "last chance" to avoid an escalation of U.S. military strikes. [more]
• Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebel group said today that it has carried out a drone strike on Saudi Arabia's Najran Airport in response to alleged Saudi drone incursions into ​the airspace over northwestern Yemen. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1,620 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Reports say Ukraine carried out drone strikes on three warehouses across Russia overnight, killing at least five people and damaging at least two facilities run by ‌major Russian online retailer Wildberries. [more]
• Russian officials yesterday claimed Ukraine was responsible for a Saturday bombing of a Moscow restaurant in which five people were killed and 19 others were injured. The Russian Embassy in Rome described the incident as an attempt by Ukraine to intimidate the Italian community in Russia. [more]

WASHINGTON | Authorities in Spokane County, Washington, say 37-year-old Aaron F. Farinacci has been arrested on suspicion of arson in connection with the Old Trails Fire – one of several ongoing wildfires that have burned about 12.5 square miles in and around Spokane. [more]

U.S. TARIFFS | Twenty-five U.S. states sued the Trump administration yesterday over a new round of import tariffs announced last month on goods from 59 countries and the European Union, calling them an improper pretext for replacing tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court in February. [more]

U.S. FEDERAL PROGRAM DATA | Twenty-four states and the District of Colombia filed a lawsuit yesterday seeking to block the Trump administration's plan to share the personal information of participants in a benefits program for low-income families across parts of the government or potentially with private entities. Federal administrators proposed a rule earlier this year that would allow the sharing of immigration status, Social Security numbers, and additional personal information of participants in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families aid program. [more]

NEW YORK | Saying the underlying issue is one of constitutionality, U.S. District Judge Mae D’Agostino ruled yesterday that New York cannot ban federal agents from wearing face coverings or require that they wear visible identification. In her ruling, D’Agostino said the state bans likely violate the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, which bars state governments from regulating federal law enforcement. [more]

MICHIGAN | The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has reported two deaths in the ongoing outbreak of cyclosporosis – the first two fatalities linked to surges of the intestinal illness that has sickened thousands of people in at least nine states. [more]

JAPAN | An annual defense policy paper adopted by Japan's Cabinet today outlines the country's military priorities, identifies China as Japan's most critical strategic challenge, and says Japan needs to both adapt to new methods of warfare, such as drones and artificial intelligence, and strengthen its defense industry. [full defense paper (in Japanese)] [more]

DANUBE RIVER | Reports say the governments of Hungary, Serbia, and Romania have taken steps to reduce electricity usage and avert energy crises amidst record-low water levels in the Danube River that have affected cooling, and therefore operations and output, at multiple nuclear power plants. [more]

SYRIA AND IRAQ | Amidst regional security concerns, Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa and Iraq’s Kurdish regional President Nechirvan Barzani met in Damascus yesterday to discuss security and stability cooperation efforts. [more]

ISRAEL AND GAZA | Amidst continuing Israeli airstrikes on suspected Hamas militant sites in Gaza, Nikolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza on the Board of Peace, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday and urged him to halt military attacks on the Palestinian enclave. [more]

SOUTH KOREA | President Lee Jae Myung characterized South Korea's ongoing heatwave today as a national disaster. Nineteen deaths have been linked to the country's recent record-high temperatures, which have included a high of 108.5 degrees Fahrenheit (42.5 degrees Celsius) in the southern inland city of Yangsan – the highest temperature measured there in 122 years of weather observations. [more]

ETHIOPIA | Authorities in Ethiopia’s Amhara region say 14 people were killed, seven others were injured, and a yet-unknown number of people remain missing following a landslide triggered by heavy rainfall that struck a monastery where hundreds of people had gathered for a ritual. [more]

SRI LANKA | The Sri Lankan government's Disaster Management Center says schools have been closed in some regions, five people have been killed, 129 houses have been damaged, and nearly 2,000 people have been evacuated amidst the South Asian nation's ongoing heavy rains that have triggered floods and landslides. [more]

GUATEMALA | Authorities have ordered the evacuation of at least two villages and closed a major highway in southern Guatemala due to the eruption of the Fuego volcano, which began yesterday morning and increased throughout the day. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1944, during World War II, 15-year-old diarist Anne Frank was arrested with her sister, parents, and four others by the Gestapo after hiding for two years inside a building in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Anne and her sister, Margot, later died at Nazi Germany's Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. [more history]