“Crews rescued 211 people and recovered the body of a passenger from a ferry that caught fire in rough seas Wednesday near the Indonesian tourist island of Bali, authorities said. The Putri Yasmin ferry was traveling from Bali to the neighboring island of Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara province when the fire broke out at about 4:15 a.m. The ferry was also transporting 44 vehicles and 53 motorcycles. … The rescue agency said that as of Wednesday afternoon, rescuers evacuated 211 people from the burned vessel, including 2 Australian tourists, and recovered the body of a 19-year-old Indonesian woman.” (08/12/26)
“A key inflation reading Wednesday showed prices moderating across a range of goods and services, possibly taking the urgency out of an imminent interest rate hike. The consumer price index, part of the Federal Reserve’s inflation dashboard, showed a seasonally adjusted increase of 0.1% during July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Excluding food and energy, the so-called core CPI rose 0.2%. On an annual basis, the inflation rates were 3.4% and 2.5%, both down 0.1 percentage point from June.” (08/12/26)
“Tens of thousands of Canadians have signed a petition calling for U.S. President Donald Trump’s representative in Ottawa to be kicked out of the country. The online petition, which is set to be presented in the House of Commons in the fall, says Pete Hoekstra should be declared persona non grata and the Canadian government should request his removal as U.S. ambassador to Canada. Nearly 60,000 people had signed the petition as of Wednesday morning, almost double the number of signatures 24 hours earlier. The petition accuses Hoekstra of making statements that undermine the Canada-U.S. diplomatic relationship and of ‘making repeated interventions in Canadian political discourse inconsistent with diplomatic protocol.’ It says the Liberal government should also direct a parliamentary committee to review U.S. diplomatic interference in Canadian affairs.” (08/12/26)
“Lebanon’s parliament has approved a general amnesty law that is expected to benefit thousands of convicted prisoners, detainees and wanted people. The legislation passed Wednesday in a ‘show-of-hands vote’, reported Lebanon’s official National News Agency. It is the first law of its kind since 1991. … Long demanded by numerous Lebanese political factions, the amnesty law aims to reduce overcrowding in prisons, where many inmates await trial for years. However, it has faced backlash from some family members of Lebanese soldiers and servicemen killed in attacks, who fear the perpetrators could receive undue leniency.” (08/12/26)
“Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia will respond in kind if European countries seize ussian merchant vessels, the TASS state news agency reported. The comments come as the EU intensifies pressure on Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, expanding sanctions against hundreds of vessels and detaining some ships and their crews for checks. Some European governments have said they are exploring tougher maritime enforcement measures against ships suspected of sanctions evasion.” (08/12/26)
“Heavy monsoon rains triggered a landslide in a densely populated neighborhood in India’s financial capital, Mumbai, early Wednesday, killing at least seven people and injuring four others, authorities said. The landslide struck before dawn when a section of hillside collapsed onto two or three homes in a tightly packed cluster of houses in Mumbai’s suburb of Ghatkopar, said Tanaji Kambli, a civic official. Authorities immediately launched a rescue operation involving firefighters, police, the National Disaster Response Force and civic officials, but efforts were hampered by narrow access lanes that prevented the use of heavy machinery, officials said. Rescue teams pulled at least 10 people from the debris and rushed them to a government hospital. Six people, including two children and two teenagers, were declared dead on arrival, Tanaji said. Four others were hospitalized and were receiving treatment. Rescuers recovered a body later on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to seven, Tanaji said.” (08/12/26)
“A judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division against Minneapolis Public Schools that alleged the district violated Title VII by discriminating against teachers based on their race, gender and national origin, court records show. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota in December, claiming that teachers of color and ‘underrepresented’ teachers get preferential treatment in employment decisions due to a provision in the collective bargaining agreement between the teachers’ union and the district. … U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz wrote in his order that the lawsuit must be dismissed since the union was not an included party. The Department of Justice did not include the union in the claim due to federal law stating the U.S. attorney general can only bring lawsuits alleging a practice of discrimination against governmental entities, but not against private entities like labor unions.” (08/12/26)
“A British driver who was the first person to break the sound barrier in a car on land has set a new speed record, this time in a hydrogen-powered vehicle. Andy Green, a 64-year-old retired Royal Air Force pilot, reached a speed of 406mph (654km/h) at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, the fastest a hydrogen-powered car has ever travelled. Green’s record was measured as an average of two runs in a car powered by two hydrogen internal combustion engines, with a combined 1,600 brake horsepower (bhp). In 1997, Green drove the jet-powered ThrustSSC across Nevada’s Black Rock Desert at 763mph (1,228km/h), making him the first, and still the only person, to break the sound barrier on land. Twenty years ago, Green also set a world land speed record for a diesel vehicle in the JCB Dieselmax, attaining a speed of over 350mph (563km/h).” (08/12/26)
“New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon survived a confidence vote on Wednesday, seeing off a leadership challenge from his defence minister that exposed growing rifts in his National Party less than three months before a tight election. The bid by Chris Penk was the year’s second public test for Luxon, boosting concern over disquiet in his centre-right party as it struggles in opinion polls and fuelling fresh doubts about his grip on power ahead of the November 7 election. Luxon moved swiftly after the vote, sacking Penk from his defence, intelligence, space and building portfolios.” (08/12/26)
“The ongoing Ebola outbreak in Congo is on track to surpass the deadliest one in history that killed over 11,000 people out of more than 28,000 cases, the head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday. ‘At its current pace, it’s on track to eclipse the West African Ebola outbreak of 2014 to 2016,’ Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters. That outbreak horrified the world and jolted efforts to develop a vaccine. The outbreak in eastern Congo, considered the fastest-growing in history, has killed over 2,000 people out of more than 4,300 cases. The outbreak was declared on May 15, but health authorities now say sequencing showed it began months earlier, in February. It is unlike most previous Ebola outbreaks because the rare Bundibugyo virus responsible for it has no approved vaccines or treatments, though efforts to address that are underway.” (08/12/26)
