World
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World · 3 min readChina's AI export control draft — 23 of 40 technologies are AI, including model weights and agents
Scope — 40 technologies, 23 in AI; 14 prohibited and 26 restricted
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World · 3 min readUS-China super intelligence dialogue — an AI incident hotline with no rules yet
Deal — a new U.S.-China Super Intelligence Dialogue, next meeting by November, plus a bilateral channel for flagging SI incidents
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World · 2 min readCanada's retaliatory tariffs take effect September 8 — steel, furniture and clothing sit in the 50 percent tier
Effective — September 8, 2026, on about 700 categories of US goods worth 27.6 billion Canadian dollars (roughly 20 billion US)
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World · 2 min readKorea-France summit in Paris on September 8 — AI, nuclear and space, with Hormuz added
Schedule — September 8 in Paris: wreath and welcoming ceremony, then a one-on-one lunch at the Elysee, then expanded talks. The state visit runs September 6-9
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World · 2 min readNepal's national day of mourning (September 7) — the search for nine Koreans is barred from walking
Mourning — September 7 was Nepal's national day of mourning, day thirteen, following the Hindu thirteen-day mourning tradition
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World · 3 min readAnak Krakatau erupts (September 6) — ash to 15km, and Jakarta's airport stopped
Eruption — began the night of September 5, two more on September 6. Ash to 15,000m, 3km exclusion zone
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World · 3 min readLumière Summit, September 7 — a film summit whose first agenda item is generative AI
Event — September 7 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France; first Lumière Summit, co-chaired by Lee and Macron
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World · 3 min readUS strikes three Iranian oil tankers (September 5, 2026) — Seoul still won't call it a deployment
Strikes — CENTCOM hit three Iranian crude carriers on September 5. Two disabled, one destroyed, no US casualties
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World · 3 min readAnother survivor pulled from a Nepal flood tunnel (September 5, 2026) — at the plant where nine Koreans worked
Rescue — a Chinese worker pulled alive from a 225m tunnel on September 5 by a joint Nepali army and Korean team
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World · 3 min readTwo pulled alive from a Nepal flood tunnel on September 4, 2026 — voices were heard inside
Rescue — two Nepali workers pulled alive from the Trishuli 3A tunnel nine days after the flood
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World · 3 min readBrent at $96.20 on September 3, 2026 — Iran fires missiles at Kuwait
Price — Brent 96.20 dollars (+57 cents), above 97 intraday, up more than 7 percent on the week
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World · 2 min readUS-Iran escalation, September 2, 2026 — eight missiles at a Jordan base, three Gulf states intercepting
Escalation — US strikes near Hormuz for a second time; Iran promises retaliation
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World · 3 min readUS and Iran exchange fire on August 31, 2026 — Larak Island strike, then two US bases in Jordan
What — US forces hit two rocket launchers on Larak Island; Iran struck two US bases in Jordan
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World · 3 min readNepal-China flood: 804 dead on August 30, 2026 — 3,048 missing, 9 Koreans on day five
Scale — 804 dead and 3,048 missing as of the afternoon of August 30; the toll rose 178 in two days
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World · 3 min readIceland rejects EU talks on August 30, 2026 — 52.8% against, 82.5% turnout
Result — 52.8% No to 47.2% Yes across all six constituencies; a 13-year reopening fails
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World · 4 min readHow EU accession works — the 35 chapters between applying and joining
Structure — application, candidate status, negotiations, 35 chapters, treaty ratification
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World · 3 min readNepal flood: 626 dead as of August 29, 2026 — and a reversal on foreign help
Toll — 626 dead and more than 2,400 missing in Nepal as of August 29; Tibet reports 7 dead, 554 missing
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World · 3 min readIceland's EU referendum, August 29, 2026 — polls split by 3.2 points
The question — not whether to join, but whether to restart talks frozen since 2013
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World · 3 min readNepal-Tibet glacier collapse flood (August 26, 2026) — 472 dead, 1,535 missing
Toll — As of August 28: 472 dead (469 Nepal, 3 Tibet) and 1,535 missing (977 Nepal, 558 Tibet)
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World · 3 min readUS seizes China state-sponsored hacking platforms (August 26, 2026) — NASA and the Fed were on the victim list
Action — Justice Department and FBI seized the domains behind QScan and QTRouter under court order
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World · 3 min readIran names 45 ships in violation of Hormuz rules (August 23, 2026) — five belong to Korea's Sinokor
Action — Iran's Persian Gulf and Strait Authority listed 45 tankers as transit rule violators
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World · 3 min readHormuz declared clear of mines (August 25, 2026) — the same day Iran and Oman agreed to clear it
Declaration — Trump, August 25: all mines cleared from Hormuz international waters; new mine-layers to be destroyed
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World · 3 min readTanker struck off Oman (August 25, 2026) — hours after new Iran sanctions
Where and when — nine nautical miles NE of Ash Shishah, Oman, at 20:57 UTC on August 24
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World · 4 min readUS launches 'Operation Economic Outcast' on August 24 — five sectors, about 60 targets
Name — Operation Economic Outcast. Bessent had trailed it as an 'economic D-Day'
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World · 3 min readIran lets some Iraqi tankers through Hormuz on August 22, 2026
Decision — Iran permitted a number of vessels carrying Iraqi crude to transit. Reported August 22
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World · 5 min readWhat a naval blockade is — why declaring one is not enough
Definition — cutting off maritime access to a coast or ports. In law, an act of war
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World · 4 min readWhat secondary sanctions are — how the US punishes companies in third countries
Definition — sanctioning a third-country company for trading with a sanctioned state, with no direct US connection required
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World · 3 min readTrump pushes for a November meeting with Kim Jong-un — the venue floated is Shenzhen, not Seoul
Report — WSJ on August 18, citing US officials. Timing as early as this autumn; venue floated as APEC in Shenzhen in November
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World · 4 min readThe history of US–North Korea summits — what Singapore, Hanoi and Panmunjom actually agreed
June 12, 2018, Singapore — the first summit. A four-point joint statement pledging security guarantees and complete denuclearisation, with no deadline or verification
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World · 3 min readUlchi Freedom Shield ends August 21 — a running exercise cut short for the first time
Schedule — the exercise moves from August 17-28 to August 17-21, a reduction of six days
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World · 4 min readWhat Korea-US joint exercises are — Ulchi Freedom Shield vs Freedom Shield
Two cycles — Freedom Shield in spring and Ulchi Freedom Shield in late summer, twice a year
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World · 3 min readUS-Iran memorandum expires August 17, 2026 — it broke after ten days
The 60-day memorandum signed June 17 expired August 17 with no extension sought
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World · 3 min readHormuz traffic falls to zero on Sunday — 31 ships crossed the weekend before
Weekend traffic — five vessels Saturday, zero registered Sunday, down from 31 the prior weekend
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World · 2 min readUlchi Freedom Shield 2026 begins August 17 — battalion field drills cut from 17 to 14
Dates and scale — August 17 to 27, 2026, eleven days; about 18,000 South Korean troops (US Forces Korea did not disclose its numbers)
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World · 2 min readHamas wants Netanyahu to commit publicly first — where the disarmament plan stalled
The Hamas condition — a public commitment from Netanyahu must come first, before implementation of the Board of Peace disarmament plan begins
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World · 3 min readTrump says he will declare the Strait of Hormuz US territory
Where and when — Friday, August 14, 2026, at the Nassau County Police Academy in Garden City, New York, at an event for a Republican gubernatorial candidate
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World · 2 min readMagnitude 7.7 quake off Flores kills at least 38, agency count 47
Location and time — 68km north-northwest of Ende, East Nusa Tenggara; 5:58am local (21:58 GMT Friday); depth 10km per USGS
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World · 3 min readJapan's defence minister visits Yasukuni on August 15, 2026
The visit — Koizumi Shinjiro, defence minister, at about 7am; the first sitting defence minister at the shrine in two years. Okinawa and Northern Territories minister Kikawada Hitoshi also visited
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World · 4 min readHormuz transits at 3% of pre-war levels — both sides claim they closed it
Hormuz tanker transits — around 3% of the pre-war baseline on a weekly average, with at least one day recording zero
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World · 3 min readTwo Russian grain terminals stopped — Chicago wheat jumped 4% the same day
Two grain terminals stopped work — a loading gallery collapsed and several silos were damaged
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World · 3 min readColombia earthquake death toll passes 250 — more than 3,000 still missing
Magnitude 7.4 on August 10 — epicentre San José del Palmar, about 240km west of Bogotá
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World · 3 min readTurkey passes PKK pardon bill 468 to 88 — the condition that ends 40 years
Passed 468 to 88 — twelve articles covering disarmament and reintegration procedures
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World · 3 min readHormuz transit fees: Iran wants 7%, Oman offers 3%, Washington says zero
Lanes are split — inbound to the Gulf via northern Iranian waters, outbound via southern Omani waters
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World · 3 min readHormuz deal odds fall to 9% — and another tanker burned while the talks were on
Prediction markets put an Aug 15 deal at 9%, down 39 percentage points
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World · 2 min readNetanyahu rejects the 15-point Gaza plan — "genuine disarmament, not fictitious"
Netanyahu told ministers Sunday he wants "genuine disarmament, not fictitious disarmament" before any withdrawal
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World · 3 min readIran puts a price on reopening Hormuz — reparations, and about a week left
Foreign Minister Araghchi says Iran and Oman are "very close" on a new maritime routing through the strait
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World · 2 min readA day after the roadmap, the deadlock is about sequence
Israel: no withdrawal before full disarmament. Hamas: withdrawal is the precondition
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World · 2 min readHow disarmament is verified — the hard art of counting guns
Verification runs in stages: declaration, handover, sealing or destruction, then long-term monitoring
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World · 2 min readFrom draft to roadmap — mediators finalize Hamas disarmament plan
Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the US announced a finalized roadmap for Hamas disarmament
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World · 1 min read'Language has been drafted' — Qatar confirms a US-Iran text exists
Qatar's spokesperson said deal language 'has been drafted and is being circulated'
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World · 1 min readThirty days before launch, the government looks first
The White House convened OpenAI, Anthropic and Google on a new testing framework
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World · 1 min readOnly the Dow: a fifth straight record as the US rally splits
The Dow added 263 points (+0.5%) for a fifth consecutive record close
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World · 1 min readFirst Oman, now Qatar — the Gulf's second mediator
It was Qatar — not the US or Iran — that confirmed the draft deal's existence
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World · 1 min readDow closes at 54,085.88 on August 4, 2026 — first finish above 54,000
The Dow added 907.47 points (1.71%) to close above 54,000 for the first time
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World · 1 min readA draft Iran deal is circulating — but it only lasts months
Qatar's foreign ministry says draft agreements are circulating, 'very progressive'
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World · 1 min readUS interceptors nearly 80% spent — 'dangerously low'
The US military has spent nearly 80% of interceptors for a key defense system
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World · 1 min readWhy Oman sits between Washington and Tehran
Iran says its Hormuz shipping talks with Oman are in their 'final stages'
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World · 1 min readTrump says 'last chance.' Iran says there are no talks.
Trump called his offer Iran's 'last chance' after scrubbing planned strikes
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World · 1 min readDow closes at a record 53,178.41 on August 3, 2026 — Amazon tops $3 trillion
The Dow rose 693 points (1.32%) to a record close of 53,178.41
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World · 1 min readThe Strait of Hormuz: 34km that price the world
Hormuz is the only sea route between the Persian Gulf and the open ocean
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World · 1 min readTrump calls off Iran strikes, conditionally
Trump said he is cancelling a planned attack if both sides rapidly reach a deal
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World · 1 min readFerry fire off Indonesia: five dead, 41 missing
The Mutiara Sentosa 2 caught fire early Sunday en route from Surabaya to Makassar
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World · 2 min readThe bases behind Iran's threats, mapped in words
Every Gulf state Iran has struck or threatened hosts US forces or supports US operations
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World · 2 min readKuwait downs drones as Iran warns US base hosts
Kuwait's military intercepted drone threats over its airspace early Saturday
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World · 2 min readSenate blocks Iran war powers, 49-50
The chamber voted 49-50 against discharging S.J.Res.181, Gillibrand's war powers resolution