“Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian for the first time since war broke out in the Gulf following US and Israeli attacks on Tehran. PM Modi met Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. In a post on X, Modi shared pictures from the meeting and said the two leaders discussed the prevailing situation in the region. He added that India would continue to support all efforts aimed at ensuring lasting peace in the region.” (08/31/26)
“Viktoria Haidai surveys the mangled remains of the printing press, which should have been busy churning out textbooks ready for the new school year. The plant, on the edge of Kyiv, was hit during the night by a Russian missile, just as production was ramping up to deliver 1.3 million books – 10% of Ukraine’s schoolbooks. In the ashes there is a charred page from an English language textbook: ‘My name is William, I’m from the UK. My grandmother lives in Nottingham. It’s a beautiful city.’ Russia has hit printing presses and publishing houses across Ukraine in a series of recent attacks, destroying 12 million books and damaging other icons of Ukrainian history and culture. Local media report that Russia has destroyed one third of all the books printed in Ukraine this year.” (08/31/26)
“The third and final witness to the [murder] of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston’s Magnolia Park in July has been released from ICE custody, according to Attorney Ruby Powers. Powers shared the news with ABC13’s Daniela Hurtado on Sunday evening. Victor Salgado was [abducted] after an ICE agent shot and killed his brother, Lorenzo, on July 7, 2026. His nephew, Ronaldo Salgado, released a statement on social media confirming that his uncle was released Sunday morning.” (08/30/26)
“An India-born cab driver sentenced to 20 years behind bars for kidnapping and raping a woman at knifepoint in 2011 has had his citizenship revoked, the Justice Department confirmed Monday. Gurmeet Singh, now 55, was convicted in 2014 of the violent sexual assault of his young female passenger, who fell asleep as he drove her to her East Village apartment after picking her up from Williamsburg in May 2011, weeks before he filed his naturalization application. According to a victim impact statement read by prosecutors at Singh’s sentencing, the woman woke up to find the cabbie on top of her and holding a knife against her throat, asking her if she wanted to live.” (08/31/26)
“North Korea has reaffirmed its hardline stance towards the US and defended the further expansion of its nuclear weapons programme, a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Pyongyang said on Monday. The spokesman accused the US government of having failed to change its hostile policy, pointing to Washington’s continued insistence on the complete nuclear disarmament of North Korea as evidence. He also noted that the US was planning to hold a military exercise with South Korea and Japan the following week.” (08/31/26)
“A Sydney woman who survived a shark attack has described the moment she came face-to-face with a 4m great white before repeatedly punching it. Leah Stewart, 34, was dragged under the water at Coogee Beach in June as the shark bit into her thigh and arms, leaving her with extreme blood loss and injuries so severe that doctors had to amputate her left arm. In an interview which aired on Sunday, the mother-of-one said she was determined to live for the sake of her baby daughter. ‘In my head, I was like, … ‘You are not taking me away from my daughter’, and I twisted myself around and I just started punching it over and over and over again – it was like fighting a dinosaur’. Moments earlier, Stewart had just finished her regular Saturday morning swim and was heading back to shore when she was alerted to danger.” (08/31/26)
“The House returns Monday from its five-week recess, with approving a short-term funding bill to head off a government shutdown topping its to-do list. Funding is set to lapse Sept. 30 without a deal, and lawmakers are planning to take another weeklong break for Labor Day. In July, the House passed a GOP-led bill to punt government funding past the November midterm elections. But the House measure, which would have extended funding at current levels until Dec. 4, met resistance in the Senate.” (08/31/26)
“The online prediction market platform Kalshi said Monday that it has permanently banned former U.S. Rep. George Santos after concluding the former Republican congressman likely engaged in insider trading when he bet against his attendance at the State of the Union address. The company announced the ban after saying its compliance department had established reasonable cause to believe Santos engaged in insider trading over his attendance at the address, when he turned a $17,839 profit on his trading activity. The convicted ex-congressman had repeatedly discussed his intention to attend the State of the Union …. On the eve of Trump’s speech, Kalshi put the odds of Santos attending at close to 75%. Then, minutes into the speech, Santos posted on X that he had been waylaid at the airport. Immediately, several social media users accused him of running another scheme.” (08/31/26)
“Niger’s army, backed by Russian paramilitary forces, regained control of a key military airbase on Sunday after it was attacked by mutinous soldiers a day earlier, the latest challenge to military ruler Abdourahamane Tiani as his government struggles to contain a jihadist insurgency. The attack highlighted tensions within Niger’s armed forces, which have suffered repeated battlefield losses while fighting West Africa’s al Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates. Tiani took power in a coup in 2023 vowing to turn the tide against the jihadists, but both affiliates have staged high-profile attacks in the capital earlier this year. … Residents said the capital appeared calm on Sunday and Monday, while aircraft circled overhead on Sunday and authorities dismantled roadblocks erected during the unrest.” (08/31/26)
“Iran and the United States traded attacks for the first time in over a month overnight into Monday, in an exchange that risks reigniting the damaging conflict after weeks of relative military calm. Iran fired missiles toward US military targets in Jordan in retaliation for a strike on Iranian rocket launchers that the US said were trying to launch sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz –– the key shipping route that’s become the center of regional tensions and diplomatic efforts. Later Monday morning, the United Arab Emirates said it had intercepted a drone approaching from Iran over its territorial waters.” (08/31/26)
