“Russian forces have struck Ukraine’s Izmail port in southern Odesa, setting off a fire, authorities said, a day after Kyiv pounded Russia’s Novorossiysk port. In a statement on the Telegram app early on Thursday, the Izmail Regional State Administration said Russian forces struck ‘port infrastructure’, causing damage and a fire. … Izmail, close to the Romanian border, is home to Ukraine’s largest Danube port, handling grain and other commodities. The attacks came as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told CNN that the country needs 5 percent of the United States’s Patriot interceptor missiles to get through the winter and 10 percent to destroy all of Russia’s ballistic projectiles.” (08/13/26)
“US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)[gang members] may soon be equipped with gloves that can deliver electric shocks as they carry out their law enforcement duties. ICE plans to spend up to $20m (£14.8m) to buy the Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter (GLOVE), according to a note published on Monday by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The gloves can deliver up to 380 volts of electricity, roughly three times the charge of a standard US power outlet.” (08/12/26)
“Bitcoin retreated toward $63,500 during Thursday trading, declining approximately 0.5% for the session and approaching 2% losses for the week. July’s Consumer Price Index registered a monthly increase of 0.1% with annual inflation reaching 3.4%. The core measure, excluding volatile food and energy components, advanced 0.2% monthly while moderating to 2.5% annually. … Broader cryptocurrency weakness prevailed across major tokens. Dogecoin declined approximately 3% to 7 cents. XRP surrendered more than 1% to reach $1, extending weekly losses near 5%. Solana edged lower by under 1% to $76, while Ether dropped fractionally to $1,880.” (08/13/26)
“A top adviser to the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Wednesday that Iran could ‘prolong’ the war with the US until President Donald Trump is out of office. ‘We have to attain deterrence so that the enemy never dares to attack us, so we can live with security,’ Mohammad Reza Naqdi told PBS in an interview. … ‘One way is to prolong this war until we get to the next term of the presidency and cause attrition so that if anyone else wants to attack Iran, they will know there is a cost,’ he said.” (08/13/26)
“Karoline Leavitt will be stepping down from her role as White House press secretary at the end of the month, President Trump announced Wednesday in a Truth Social post. Leavitt is leaving to spend more time with her family, the president said. A member of Trump’s team who followed him from his presidential campaign to the White House, she’s been a fiercely loyal face of the White House. Trump said in the surprise post that Leavitt will become one of his top outside advisers and ‘an influential voice within the Republican Party’ heading into the midterm elections.” (08/12/26)
“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)
