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Turkey on Thursday (Aug 20) denied having any military presence at a Syrian air base struck by Israel earlier this week, rejecting claims that Ankara was preparing to establish a military foothold at the facility in northern Syria. The Abu al-Zuhur air base, near Aleppo, was targeted by Israeli strikes on Tuesday (Aug 18). The facility has remained out of service since 2012 after suffering extensive damage during Syria’s civil war.Israel said the strikes followed a recent visit to the base by a Turkish military delegation. The claim has fuelled concerns in Israel over a possible expansion of Turkey’s military presence in Syria.“There was no Turkish military delegation at the Abu al-Zuhur airbase before or during the attack carried out by Israel,” a Turkish defence official told journalists on Thursday, speaking anonymously.<h2>Netanyahu warns Turkey</h2>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that Israel would oppose any Turkish military entrenchment moving towards its territory.“We will not tolerate a Turkish military entrenchment moving southward, because it threatens us,” Netanyahu said in an army radio podcast.Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-replacing-uss-abraham-lincoln-amid-reports-of-suffering-troops-new-aircraft-carrier-to-arrive-in-middle-east-1786681186213">US replacing USS Abraham Lincoln amid reports of suffering troops? New aircraft carrier to arrive in Middle East</a>Ankara, however, rejected Israel’s action and reaffirmed its support for Syria’s territorial integrity. Turkish Defence Ministry spokesman Rear Admiral Zeki Akturk described the strikes as “unacceptable”, accusing Israel of undermining Syria’s stability and sovereignty.“Israel's attack on the Abu al-Zuhur air base is aimed at harming Syria's stability, security, unity, integrity and infrastructure,” Akturk said.He added that Turkey would continue its efforts to support Syria’s sovereignty and help create conditions for post-war stability.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had earlier reported that the Israeli strikes came after a Turkish military delegation visited the airfield as part of efforts to reactivate it.The dispute highlights growing tensions between Israel and Turkey over Syria, where both countries have competing security interests as Damascus seeks to rebuild after years of conflict.

Turkey denied having a military presence at Syria’s Abu al-Zuhur air base after Israel struck it. Ankara condemned the attack, while Netanyahu warned against Turkish military entrenchment in Syria.

Turkey on Thursday (Aug 20) denied having any military presence at a Syrian air base struck by Israel earlier this week, rejecting claims that Ankara was preparing to establish a military foothold at the facility in northern Syria. The Abu al-Zuhur air base, near Aleppo, was targeted by Israeli strikes on Tuesday (Aug 18). The facility has remained out of service since 2012 after suffering extensive damage during Syria’s civil war. Israel said the strikes followed a recent visit to the base by a Turkish military delegation. The claim has fuelled concerns in Israel over a possible expansion of Turkey’s military presence in Syria. “There was no Turkish military delegation at the Abu al-Zuhur airbase before or during the attack carried out by Israel,” a Turkish defence official told journalists on Thursday, speaking anonymously. Netanyahu warns Turkey Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that Israel would oppose any Turkish military entrenchment moving towards its territory. “We will not tolerate a Turkish military entrenchment moving southward, because it threatens us,” Netanyahu said in an army radio podcast. Also read | US replacing USS Abraham Lincoln amid reports of suffering troops? New aircraft carrier to arrive in Middle East Ankara, however, rejected Israel’s action and reaffirmed its support for Syria’s territorial integrity. Turkish Defence Ministry spokesman Rear Admiral Zeki Akturk described the strikes as “unacceptable”, accusing Israel of undermining Syria’s stability and sovereignty. “Israel's attack on the Abu al-Zuhur air base is aimed at harming Syria's stability, security, unity, integrity and infrastructure,” Akturk said. He added that Turkey would continue its efforts to support Syria’s sovereignty and help create conditions for post-war stability. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had earlier reported that the Israeli strikes came after a Turkish military delegation visited the airfield as part of efforts to reactivate it. The dispute highlights growing tensions between Israel and Turkey over Syria, where both countries have competing security interests as Damascus seeks to rebuild after years of conflict.

Turkey denied having a military presence at Syria’s Abu al-Zuhur air base after Israel struck it. Ankara condemned the attack, while Netanyahu warned against Turkish military entrenchment in Syria.

Turkey denies military presence at Syrian base struck by Israel – What we know

North Korea on Thursday (Aug 20) launched 10 ballistic missiles amid ongoing joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea, Japan’s prime minister’s office said. “North Korea has launched a suspected ballistic missile. More updates to follow,” the Japanese prime minister’s office said in a brief statement.&nbsp;South Korea’s military also said Pyongyang had fired an unidentified projectile towards the East Sea, according to Yonhap News Agency. The launch came as US and South Korean forces continued the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercises on the Korean Peninsula. The drills are due to end on Friday, having been shortened from 11 days to 5 days.&nbsp;US President Donald Trump had earlier reduced the duration of the exercises, citing his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The launch was North Korea’s latest weapons test, coming less than a week after Pyongyang fired a short-range ballistic missile on August 12.<h2>North Korea calls drills ‘hostile’</h2>Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said on Wednesday that ties between Kim and Trump remained “excellent”, but claimed Washington’s policy towards Pyongyang had not changed.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/citing-islamabad-north-korea-connect-india-urges-japan-not-to-share-advanced-defence-technology-with-pakistan-1787216124665">Citing Islamabad-North Korea connect, India urges Japan not to share advanced defence technology with Pakistan</a>&nbsp;“We are paying greater attention to the reality that joint military exercises between the US and South Korea have continued and are still ongoing, and this is an unmistakable expression of hostility toward North Korea,” Kim said.&nbsp;Her comments came as Washington and Seoul continued their military exercises, which Pyongyang has long opposed, describing them as preparations for an invasion.<h2>Seoul pushes for US-North Korea talks</h2>South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young on Thursday said direct talks between the US and North Korea would be a critical first step towards stopping Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.&nbsp;“The first gateway to stopping North Korea’s nuclear programme is a meeting between the two sides, and we should work hard to support it,” Chung said, adding that ending North Korea’s nuclear programme would be in the interests of all parties.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/short-videos/trump-confirms-he-will-meet-kim-jong-un-later-this-year-new-us-north-korea-talks-1787161523068">Trump Confirms He Will Meet Kim Jong Un Later This Year | New US-North Korea Talks?</a>&nbsp;

North Korea firNorth Korea fired 10 suspected ballistic missiles during joint US-South Korea military exercises, which Pyongyang called hostile, while South Korea urged direct US-North Korea dialogue to halt nuclear ambitions.

ed a suspected ballistic missile during joint US-South Korea military exercises, which Pyongyang called hostile, while South Korea urged direct US-North Korea dialogue to halt nuclear ambitions.



North Korea on Thursday (Aug 20) launched 10 ballistic missiles amid ongoing joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea, Japan’s prime minister’s office said. “North Korea has launched a suspected ballistic missile. More updates to follow,” the Japanese prime minister’s office said in a brief statement. South Korea’s military also said Pyongyang had fired an unidentified projectile towards the East Sea, according to Yonhap News Agency. The launch came as US and South Korean forces continued the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercises on the Korean Peninsula. The drills are due to end on Friday, having been shortened from 11 days to 5 days. US President Donald Trump had earlier reduced the duration of the exercises, citing his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The launch was North Korea’s latest weapons test, coming less than a week after Pyongyang fired a short-range ballistic missile on August 12. North Korea calls drills ‘hostile’ Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said on Wednesday that ties between Kim and Trump remained “excellent”, but claimed Washington’s policy towards Pyongyang had not changed. Also read: Citing Islamabad-North Korea connect, India urges Japan not to share advanced defence technology with Pakistan “We are paying greater attention to the reality that joint military exercises between the US and South Korea have continued and are still ongoing, and this is an unmistakable expression of hostility toward North Korea,” Kim said. Her comments came as Washington and Seoul continued their military exercises, which Pyongyang has long opposed, describing them as preparations for an invasion. Seoul pushes for US-North Korea talks South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young on Thursday said direct talks between the US and North Korea would be a critical first step towards stopping Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme. “The first gateway to stopping North Korea’s nuclear programme is a meeting between the two sides, and we should work hard to support it,” Chung said, adding that ending North Korea’s nuclear programme would be in the interests of all parties. Also read: Trump Confirms He Will Meet Kim Jong Un Later This Year | New US-North Korea Talks?

North Korea fired 10 suspected ballistic missiles during joint US-South Korea military exercises, which Pyongyang called hostile, while South Korea urged direct US-North Korea dialogue to halt nuclear ambitions.&nbsp;

North Korea launches 10 ballistic missiles as US-South Korea drills continue

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fired his deputy chief of staff Iryna Mudra amid a fresh corruption investigation. This comes a day after a former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov warned that the country was facing “a crisis of governance” and needed to hold a wartime presidential election. Ukrainian media reports suggested that her house was being searched by officials investigating an alleged money-laundering scheme. No official reason was given for Mudra’s sacking&nbsp;Read More: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/ukrainian-parliament-approves-appointment-of-new-defence-minister-after-controversial-reshuffle-1787155009713">Ukrainian parliament approves appointment of new defence minister after controversial reshuffle</a><h2>Who is Iryna Mudra?</h2>Iryna Mudra is a Ukrainian lawyer, banker and former senior government official who served as Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine under Volodymyr Zelenskyy. She holds a master’s degree and PhD in law from Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and began her career in banking and corporate law, working with institutions including Transbank, Swedbank and Pravex Bank. She later joined state-owned Oschadbank, where she headed compliance and international disputes and helped secure a $1.3 billion arbitration award against Russia over losses in Crimea. In May 2022, Mudra entered government as Deputy Minister of Justice, where she played a key role in Ukraine’s international legal response to Russia’s invasion, including efforts to establish a special tribunal for the crime of aggression, implement sanctions and create a mechanism for compensation using frozen Russian assets. On March 29, 2024, she was appointed Deputy Head of the Presidential Office, where her responsibilities included international justice, Ukraine’s ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and judicial reform. On August 19, 2026, Zelenskyy dismissed her amid a major anti-corruption investigation by Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU).&nbsp;Read More: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/democracy-can-t-be-held-hostage-sacked-ukraine-minister-calls-for-election-amid-war-with-russia-1787124641115">‘Democracy can’t be held hostage’: Sacked Ukraine minister calls for election amid war with Russia</a><h2>Iryna Mudra's exit and corruption allegations on Zelensky</h2>Critics are linking Mudra's ouster with Fedorov’s call for polls. Fedorov pointed at widespread corruption under Zelensky and said that the president had failed to get a grip. “Corruption is only a symptom. The main problem runs much deeper. We have a systemic crisis of governance,” Fedorov had said in a nine-minute video address released on social media this week. ”Can Russia effectively be given the right to dictate when Ukrainians can choose their government again? I am convinced that the answer is no,” Fedorov added. Zelensky has been facing a major protest in the country after he removed Fedorov from his post in July. According to reports, Fedorov is considering visiting the US in an apparent effort to win American support against the Ukrainian president. &nbsp;Zelensky has been continuing despite his term's expiry in spring 2024 as Ukraine's constitution prohibits election during wartime. US president Donald Trump has also called for Ukraine to hold elections.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has dismissed his deputy chief of staff Iryna Mudra amid a major anti-corruption probe involving senior officials from his office. Mudra, a lawyer and former deputy justice minister, was linked by investigators to an alleged money-laundering network

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fired his deputy chief of staff Iryna Mudra amid a fresh corruption investigation. This comes a day after a former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov warned that the country was facing “a crisis of governance” and needed to hold a wartime presidential election. Ukrainian media reports suggested that her house was being searched by officials investigating an alleged money-laundering scheme. No official reason was given for Mudra’s sacking Read More: Ukrainian parliament approves appointment of new defence minister after controversial reshuffle Who is Iryna Mudra? Iryna Mudra is a Ukrainian lawyer, banker and former senior government official who served as Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine under Volodymyr Zelenskyy. She holds a master’s degree and PhD in law from Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and began her career in banking and corporate law, working with institutions including Transbank, Swedbank and Pravex Bank. She later joined state-owned Oschadbank, where she headed compliance and international disputes and helped secure a $1.3 billion arbitration award against Russia over losses in Crimea. In May 2022, Mudra entered government as Deputy Minister of Justice, where she played a key role in Ukraine’s international legal response to Russia’s invasion, including efforts to establish a special tribunal for the crime of aggression, implement sanctions and create a mechanism for compensation using frozen Russian assets. On March 29, 2024, she was appointed Deputy Head of the Presidential Office, where her responsibilities included international justice, Ukraine’s ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and judicial reform. On August 19, 2026, Zelenskyy dismissed her amid a major anti-corruption investigation by Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU). Read More: ‘Democracy can’t be held hostage’: Sacked Ukraine minister calls for election amid war with Russia Iryna Mudra's exit and corruption allegations on Zelensky Critics are linking Mudra's ouster with Fedorov’s call for polls. Fedorov pointed at widespread corruption under Zelensky and said that the president had failed to get a grip. “Corruption is only a symptom. The main problem runs much deeper. We have a systemic crisis of governance,” Fedorov had said in a nine-minute video address released on social media this week. ”Can Russia effectively be given the right to dictate when Ukrainians can choose their government again? I am convinced that the answer is no,” Fedorov added. Zelensky has been facing a major protest in the country after he removed Fedorov from his post in July. According to reports, Fedorov is considering visiting the US in an apparent effort to win American support against the Ukrainian president. Zelensky has been continuing despite his term's expiry in spring 2024 as Ukraine's constitution prohibits election during wartime. US president Donald Trump has also called for Ukraine to hold elections.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has dismissed his deputy chief of staff Iryna Mudra amid a major anti-corruption probe involving senior officials from his office. Mudra, a lawyer and former deputy justice minister, was linked by investigators to an alleged money-laundering network

Ukraine sacks deputy chief of staff Iryna Mudra amid corruption crisis: Who is she

India has asked Japan to refrain from transferring advanced technology or technical know-how to Pakistan, warning that such capabilities could ultimately reach North Korea, according to details emerging from high-level defence talks in New Delhi.&nbsp;The request was among the key points raised during a meeting on Thursday between India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Japanese counterpart Shinjiro Koizumi. Koizumi is on his maiden visit to India, which began with a high-profile tour of the Western Naval Command in Mumbai.&nbsp;India’s caution over technology transfers to Pakistan draws on a well-documented history of nuclear proliferation. According to US intelligence assessments, Pakistan supplied uranium enrichment technology to North Korea. Nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, often called the father of Pakistan’s bomb, made multiple visits to the isolated state and later acknowledged providing centrifuges, designs and technical assistance.&nbsp;&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/us-tightens-green-card-scrutiny-indians-in-backlog-face-new-public-charge-test-1787207437983">Citing Islamabad-North Korea connect, India urges Japan not to share advanced defence technology with Pakistan</a>&nbsp;Closer cooperation traces back to then-Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s 1976 visit to Pyongyang, with further contacts including Benazir Bhutto’s trip in December 1993. The links drew intense international scrutiny after 2002 when US officials publicly connected Pakistan to North Korea’s secret uranium enrichment programme.The talks in Delhi coincided with reports that North Korea had fired an unidentified projectile, according to South Korea’s military.&nbsp;The Indian and Japanese defence ministers issued their first joint statement focused specifically on defence cooperation. Navy ties formed a central theme. The statement said the sides would “explore the possibility of joint development in naval shipbuilding and design by leveraging Japan’s technological expertise and India’s production capabilities in accordance with their respective relevant policies.”&nbsp;Indo-Pacific security dominated discussions. India and Japan agreed to work with third countries on maritime cooperation in the region. They also pledged further progress through the Indo-Pacific Logistics Network (IPLN) to help partner nations during natural disasters by transporting personnel and supplies. A second tabletop exercise under the IPLN is scheduled for September at Japan’s Ministry of Defence.&nbsp;The ministers noted the steady strengthening of defence ties under the “Japan-India Special Strategic and Global Partnership,” describing it as “one of the pillars for peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.” Indian Defence Minister Singh welcomed Japan’s recent review of its framework for transferring defence equipment and technology. He “expressed his expectation that Japan would further contribute to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and the wider world” and looked forward to a deeper defence and technology partnership between the two countries, the joint statement said.

India’s caution over technology transfers to Pakistan draws on a well-documented history of nuclear proliferation. According to US intelligence assessments, Pakistan supplied uranium enrichment technology to North Korea.

India has asked Japan to refrain from transferring advanced technology or technical know-how to Pakistan, warning that such capabilities could ultimately reach North Korea, according to details emerging from high-level defence talks in New Delhi. The request was among the key points raised during a meeting on Thursday between India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Japanese counterpart Shinjiro Koizumi. Koizumi is on his maiden visit to India, which began with a high-profile tour of the Western Naval Command in Mumbai. India’s caution over technology transfers to Pakistan draws on a well-documented history of nuclear proliferation. According to US intelligence assessments, Pakistan supplied uranium enrichment technology to North Korea. Nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, often called the father of Pakistan’s bomb, made multiple visits to the isolated state and later acknowledged providing centrifuges, designs and technical assistance. Also read: Citing Islamabad-North Korea connect, India urges Japan not to share advanced defence technology with Pakistan Closer cooperation traces back to then-Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s 1976 visit to Pyongyang, with further contacts including Benazir Bhutto’s trip in December 1993. The links drew intense international scrutiny after 2002 when US officials publicly connected Pakistan to North Korea’s secret uranium enrichment programme. The talks in Delhi coincided with reports that North Korea had fired an unidentified projectile, according to South Korea’s military. The Indian and Japanese defence ministers issued their first joint statement focused specifically on defence cooperation. Navy ties formed a central theme. The statement said the sides would “explore the possibility of joint development in naval shipbuilding and design by leveraging Japan’s technological expertise and India’s production capabilities in accordance with their respective relevant policies.” Indo-Pacific security dominated discussions. India and Japan agreed to work with third countries on maritime cooperation in the region. They also pledged further progress through the Indo-Pacific Logistics Network (IPLN) to help partner nations during natural disasters by transporting personnel and supplies. A second tabletop exercise under the IPLN is scheduled for September at Japan’s Ministry of Defence. The ministers noted the steady strengthening of defence ties under the “Japan-India Special Strategic and Global Partnership,” describing it as “one of the pillars for peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.” Indian Defence Minister Singh welcomed Japan’s recent review of its framework for transferring defence equipment and technology. He “expressed his expectation that Japan would further contribute to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and the wider world” and looked forward to a deeper defence and technology partnership between the two countries, the joint statement said.

India’s caution over technology transfers to Pakistan draws on a well-documented history of nuclear proliferation. According to US intelligence assessments, Pakistan supplied uranium enrichment technology to North Korea.

Citing Islamabad-North Korea connect, India urges Japan not to share advanced defence technology with Pakistan

China has renewed its warnings about Japan's nuclear potential, with its ambassador to Russia claiming that Tokyo possesses enough plutonium to theoretically produce thousands of nuclear warheads.In an article published by Russia's state-run TASS news agency, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui said Japan had 44.4 tonnes of plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel as of the end of 2024. He claimed the stockpile could be used to manufacture around 5,500 nuclear warheads.The ambassador also said Japan's spent nuclear fuel storage facilities contained another 191 tonnes of unextracted plutonium.Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/putin-s-trip-to-the-kuril-islands-reopens-an-80-year-old-wound-japan-strongly-protests-visit-here-s-why-1786602764127">Putin’s trip to the Kuril Islands reopens an 80-year-old wound; Japan 'strongly protests visit'. Here's why</a><h2>China raises concerns over Japan's nuclear capability</h2>Zhang described Japan as the only non-nuclear signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty with spent nuclear fuel recycling technology capable of extracting weapons-grade plutonium."If Japan has the will and the necessary capabilities, its transformation into a nuclear power no longer looks like a fantasy," he said.At the same time, Zhang acknowledged Japan's longstanding Three Non-Nuclear Principles, established in 1971. The principles state that Japan will not possess, produce, or allow the introduction of nuclear weapons.The remarks come amid worsening relations between Beijing and Tokyo and growing Chinese criticism of Japan's expanding defence capabilities.<h2>China has raised the issue before</h2>The plutonium figure is not new to China's recent criticism of Japan.In March 2026, PLA Daily, the official newspaper of China's People's Liberation Army, also cited the figure of 44.4 tonnes of separated plutonium and said it could theoretically support the production of around 5,500 nuclear warheads.The report accused Japan of using civilian technology and industrial capacity to build the foundations for a major shift in its defence policy.It also pointed to Japan's growing investment in advanced military technology, including long-range weapons, missile defence and other defence-related systems.Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/582-tonnes-150-million-c-60-years-wion-decodes-the-mind-boggling-numbers-behind-china-s-new-artificial-sun-magnet-1785312316534">582 tonnes, 150 million°C, 60 years: WION Decodes the mind-boggling numbers behind China's 'Artificial Sun'</a><h2>Japan's defence expansion draws Chinese scrutiny</h2>PLA Daily argued that Japan's military expansion had moved beyond what Beijing considered a purely defensive posture. It cited increased defence-related contracts involving major Japanese companies, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and IHI.The report also highlighted Japan's cooperation with the US on systems such as F-35A fighter jets and SM-3 Block IIA missiles.Tensions have intensified as Japan has expanded its defence capabilities and expressed growing concern about China's military activities, particularly around Taiwan. Tokyo, meanwhile, has criticised Beijing over what it describes as a lack of transparency surrounding China's rising defence spending and expanding military capabilities.<h2>What Japan said on nuclear proliferation</h2>In April 2026, at a review conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Tomiko Ichikawa, Japan's ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament, rebutted China's claim by saying that "the introduction of nuclear weapons (by Japan) is not permitted" under the three nonnuclear principles.Ichikawa emphasised that “Japan has been limiting its research, development and use of nuclear energy exclusively for peaceful purposes.”Japan “will continue to work closely with the international community to realize a world without nuclear weapons” and “will continue to advance realistic and practical efforts to maintain and strengthen the NPT regime,” she said.

China has revived its warnings about Japan's nuclear potential, citing Tokyo's large plutonium stockpile and advanced fuel-recycling capabilities. Beijing says the combination could give Japan the ability to rapidly move towards nuclear weapons if its policy were ever to change.

China has renewed its warnings about Japan's nuclear potential, with its ambassador to Russia claiming that Tokyo possesses enough plutonium to theoretically produce thousands of nuclear warheads. In an article published by Russia's state-run TASS news agency, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui said Japan had 44.4 tonnes of plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel as of the end of 2024. He claimed the stockpile could be used to manufacture around 5,500 nuclear warheads. The ambassador also said Japan's spent nuclear fuel storage facilities contained another 191 tonnes of unextracted plutonium. Also read | Putin’s trip to the Kuril Islands reopens an 80-year-old wound; Japan 'strongly protests visit'. Here's why China raises concerns over Japan's nuclear capability Zhang described Japan as the only non-nuclear signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty with spent nuclear fuel recycling technology capable of extracting weapons-grade plutonium. "If Japan has the will and the necessary capabilities, its transformation into a nuclear power no longer looks like a fantasy," he said. At the same time, Zhang acknowledged Japan's longstanding Three Non-Nuclear Principles, established in 1971. The principles state that Japan will not possess, produce, or allow the introduction of nuclear weapons. The remarks come amid worsening relations between Beijing and Tokyo and growing Chinese criticism of Japan's expanding defence capabilities. China has raised the issue before The plutonium figure is not new to China's recent criticism of Japan. In March 2026, PLA Daily, the official newspaper of China's People's Liberation Army, also cited the figure of 44.4 tonnes of separated plutonium and said it could theoretically support the production of around 5,500 nuclear warheads. The report accused Japan of using civilian technology and industrial capacity to build the foundations for a major shift in its defence policy. It also pointed to Japan's growing investment in advanced military technology, including long-range weapons, missile defence and other defence-related systems. Also read | 582 tonnes, 150 million°C, 60 years: WION Decodes the mind-boggling numbers behind China's 'Artificial Sun' Japan's defence expansion draws Chinese scrutiny PLA Daily argued that Japan's military expansion had moved beyond what Beijing considered a purely defensive posture. It cited increased defence-related contracts involving major Japanese companies, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and IHI. The report also highlighted Japan's cooperation with the US on systems such as F-35A fighter jets and SM-3 Block IIA missiles. Tensions have intensified as Japan has expanded its defence capabilities and expressed growing concern about China's military activities, particularly around Taiwan. Tokyo, meanwhile, has criticised Beijing over what it describes as a lack of transparency surrounding China's rising defence spending and expanding military capabilities. What Japan said on nuclear proliferation In April 2026, at a review conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Tomiko Ichikawa, Japan's ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament, rebutted China's claim by saying that "the introduction of nuclear weapons (by Japan) is not permitted" under the three nonnuclear principles. Ichikawa emphasised that “Japan has been limiting its research, development and use of nuclear energy exclusively for peaceful purposes.” Japan “will continue to work closely with the international community to realize a world without nuclear weapons” and “will continue to advance realistic and practical efforts to maintain and strengthen the NPT regime,” she said.

China has revived its warnings about Japan's nuclear potential, citing Tokyo's large plutonium stockpile and advanced fuel-recycling capabilities. Beijing says the combination could give Japan the ability to rapidly move towards nuclear weapons if its policy were ever to change.

'No longer a fantasy': China claims Japan has enough plutonium for 5,500 nuclear warheads

Personal information and medical records of more than 3.75 million people was stolen in a massive cyberattack on healthcare technology company CareCloud, making the breach the fifth-largest healthcare data theft reported in the US so far this year. CareCloud disclosed the number of affected individuals in a filing with the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Monday (Aug 17). The figure was revised upward in an update a day later, raising the possibility that the final toll could increase further.The New Jersey-based company provides electronic medical record and billing services to tens of thousands of healthcare providers across the United States. Its systems store sensitive information belonging to millions of patients, including data handled on behalf of hospitals, clinics and doctors’ offices.What information was stolen?The breach dates back to March, when hackers accessed patient information stored in one of CareCloud’s cloud environments for six days. The company later said the attackers had removed data from its Amazon Web Services account.The stolen information includes names, postal addresses, Social Security numbers and medical records. Hackers also obtained government-issued identification details, including passport and driver’s licence numbers, as well as banking and other financial information.Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/chatgpt-for-teens-openai-rolls-out-new-version-with-safety-features-all-you-need-to-know-1787124373754">ChatGPT for Teens? OpenAI rolls out new version with safety features – All you need to know</a>The combination of medical, identity and financial records could leave affected individuals vulnerable to identity theft and financial fraud.CareCloud has offered limited public information about the incident since first disclosing the breach in March. It is unclear whether the company paid a ransom or who was responsible for cybersecurity at the company.Healthcare sector faces growing cyber threatThe CareCloud breach is the latest in a string of major attacks affecting the US healthcare industry.TriZetto said in March that a 2024 breach had compromised information belonging to 3.4 million people. Health technology billing software company Craneware also reported a July breach, although the number of affected individuals has not yet been disclosed.HHS data shows dental insurance company DentaQuest has reported the largest healthcare breach of 2026 so far, affecting at least 15 million people.The latest incident highlights the growing risks for healthcare companies that store huge volumes of sensitive patient information in cloud-based systems.

CareCloud has confirmed that hackers stole medical and personal data of more than 3.7 million patients in a March breach, making it the fifth-largest US healthcare data theft of 2026.

Personal information and medical records of more than 3.75 million people was stolen in a massive cyberattack on healthcare technology company CareCloud, making the breach the fifth-largest healthcare data theft reported in the US so far this year. CareCloud disclosed the number of affected individuals in a filing with the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Monday (Aug 17). The figure was revised upward in an update a day later, raising the possibility that the final toll could increase further. The New Jersey-based company provides electronic medical record and billing services to tens of thousands of healthcare providers across the United States. Its systems store sensitive information belonging to millions of patients, including data handled on behalf of hospitals, clinics and doctors’ offices. What information was stolen? The breach dates back to March, when hackers accessed patient information stored in one of CareCloud’s cloud environments for six days. The company later said the attackers had removed data from its Amazon Web Services account. The stolen information includes names, postal addresses, Social Security numbers and medical records. Hackers also obtained government-issued identification details, including passport and driver’s licence numbers, as well as banking and other financial information. Also read | ChatGPT for Teens? OpenAI rolls out new version with safety features – All you need to know The combination of medical, identity and financial records could leave affected individuals vulnerable to identity theft and financial fraud. CareCloud has offered limited public information about the incident since first disclosing the breach in March. It is unclear whether the company paid a ransom or who was responsible for cybersecurity at the company. Healthcare sector faces growing cyber threat The CareCloud breach is the latest in a string of major attacks affecting the US healthcare industry. TriZetto said in March that a 2024 breach had compromised information belonging to 3.4 million people. Health technology billing software company Craneware also reported a July breach, although the number of affected individuals has not yet been disclosed. HHS data shows dental insurance company DentaQuest has reported the largest healthcare breach of 2026 so far, affecting at least 15 million people. The latest incident highlights the growing risks for healthcare companies that store huge volumes of sensitive patient information in cloud-based systems.

CareCloud has confirmed that hackers stole medical and personal data of more than 3.7 million patients in a March breach, making it the fifth-largest US healthcare data theft of 2026.

CareCloud confirms massive data breach after 3.7M patients’ records stolen – What we know

A former engineering director at Meta Platforms (META.O) claimed on Wednesday (August 19) that ​CEO Mark Zuckerberg encouraged a culture that treated child safety as secondary to growth and engagement on Facebook and Instagram. The allegation has been made by Arturo Bejar, a vocal critic of Meta's ‌safety record during his second day of testimony in a landmark trial over claims that could reshape Facebook and Instagram, some of the most popular apps on the planet. US states, including California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, accused Meta of formulating the platforms to grab the attention of young users, fueling anxiety, depression and even suicide, as well as misleading consumers about their safety. Those states also accused the firm of violating federal law ​by improperly collecting and using personal data of children under 13. Experts indicated this trial as the most significant legal test yet to examine how social media impacts young users. Proceedings began on Tuesday in the Oakland, California, federal court with the case expected to last across six weeks. Jurors will deliver a non-binding advisory verdict, after which U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will determine whether Meta bears liability and, if so, decide on any penalties and required changes to Facebook and Instagram.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/us-tightens-green-card-scrutiny-indians-in-backlog-face-new-public-charge-test-1787207437983">US tightens green card scrutiny: Indians in backlog face new ‘public charge’ test</a><h3>Zuckerberg's role in company decision-making</h3>The states' opening witness, Bejar, testified that Mark Zuckerberg was deeply involved in company decision-making, describing a top-down culture at the Menlo Park-based firm where product changes happened only with his direct approval. "If Mark ​makes something a priority, mountains move in months," Bejar said. He also pushed back against remarks Zuckerberg made in October 2021, made in response to claims from whistleblower Frances Haugen that Meta was aware its platforms posed risks to children, and knew how to fix them, yet chose profit over safety. Zuckerberg had maintained at the time that Meta regularly relied on research to enhance its products. Bejar countered this by revealing he had personally emailed Zuckerberg to raise safety concerns. "It's so false, every ​part of it," Bejar said. "You just cannot trust Mark Zuckerberg with kids." Bejar's tenure at Meta ran from 2009 to 2015, and he later returned as an independent contractor from 2019 to 2021, during which he studied the well-being of teenage Instagram users. In 2023, he testified before a U.S. Senate committee that Meta knew about harassment and other harms teen-facing teenagers on its platforms but failed to take action.Under cross-examination ‌from the company's ⁠lawyer Brian Stekloff, Bejar claimed that he was unaware of the harm his teenage daughter would experience when he helped her set up an Instagram account. Bejar added that his daughter wanted a space where women could discuss cars; however, she faced misogynistic comments, including about her breasts. She was just 16 in 2021 by the time her father emailed Zuckerberg highlighting safety.

US states, including California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, accused Meta of formulating the platforms to grab the attention of young users, fueling anxiety, depression and even suicide, as well as misleading consumers about their safety

A former engineering director at Meta Platforms (META.O) claimed on Wednesday (August 19) that CEO Mark Zuckerberg encouraged a culture that treated child safety as secondary to growth and engagement on Facebook and Instagram. The allegation has been made by Arturo Bejar, a vocal critic of Meta's ‌safety record during his second day of testimony in a landmark trial over claims that could reshape Facebook and Instagram, some of the most popular apps on the planet. US states, including California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, accused Meta of formulating the platforms to grab the attention of young users, fueling anxiety, depression and even suicide, as well as misleading consumers about their safety. Those states also accused the firm of violating federal law by improperly collecting and using personal data of children under 13. Experts indicated this trial as the most significant legal test yet to examine how social media impacts young users. Proceedings began on Tuesday in the Oakland, California, federal court with the case expected to last across six weeks. Jurors will deliver a non-binding advisory verdict, after which U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will determine whether Meta bears liability and, if so, decide on any penalties and required changes to Facebook and Instagram. Also read: US tightens green card scrutiny: Indians in backlog face new ‘public charge’ test Zuckerberg's role in company decision-making The states' opening witness, Bejar, testified that Mark Zuckerberg was deeply involved in company decision-making, describing a top-down culture at the Menlo Park-based firm where product changes happened only with his direct approval. "If Mark makes something a priority, mountains move in months," Bejar said. He also pushed back against remarks Zuckerberg made in October 2021, made in response to claims from whistleblower Frances Haugen that Meta was aware its platforms posed risks to children, and knew how to fix them, yet chose profit over safety. Zuckerberg had maintained at the time that Meta regularly relied on research to enhance its products. Bejar countered this by revealing he had personally emailed Zuckerberg to raise safety concerns. "It's so false, every part of it," Bejar said. "You just cannot trust Mark Zuckerberg with kids." Bejar's tenure at Meta ran from 2009 to 2015, and he later returned as an independent contractor from 2019 to 2021, during which he studied the well-being of teenage Instagram users. In 2023, he testified before a U.S. Senate committee that Meta knew about harassment and other harms teen-facing teenagers on its platforms but failed to take action. Under cross-examination ‌from the company's ⁠lawyer Brian Stekloff, Bejar claimed that he was unaware of the harm his teenage daughter would experience when he helped her set up an Instagram account. Bejar added that his daughter wanted a space where women could discuss cars; however, she faced misogynistic comments, including about her breasts. She was just 16 in 2021 by the time her father emailed Zuckerberg highlighting safety.

US states, including California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, accused Meta of formulating the platforms to grab the attention of young users, fueling anxiety, depression and even suicide, as well as misleading consumers about their safety

'You just cannot trust Zuckerberg with kids': Ex-Meta director testifies in landmark trial, claims his own daughter faced abuse

The founder of Evergrande Group, the property giant at the centre of China's housing market slump, has been sentenced to life in prison and all of his personal property has been confiscated. Five other senior executives of Evergrande Group were also sentenced Thursday to prison terms ranging from six to 18 years for crimes including fraud. A total of 56 people were given jail sentences -- including Xu's two sons -- with the shortest term one year and 10 months, China's state news agency Xinhua reported.&nbsp;Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/trump-says-chinese-president-signalled-jimmy-lai-s-release-unlikely-who-is-the-jailed-hong-kong-media-mogul-1778851727550">Trump says Chinese President signalled Jimmy Lai’s release unlikely — who is the jailed Hong Kong media mogul?</a>&nbsp;Evergrande Group, was once the face of Chinese real estate but its access to credit dramatically narrowed when the government introduced curbs on excessive borrowing. The company defaulted in 2021 after struggling to repay creditors. On Thursday (Aug 20), a court in southern China fined the firm and its real estate arm a total of 15.82 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) and issued a life sentence against founder Xu Jiayin, also known as Hui Ka Yan in Cantonese, for crimes including "large-scale financial fraud", the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court in Guangdong province said in a post on its WeChat account.&nbsp;Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/china-s-secret-prisons-mass-sterilisation-organ-extractions-gang-rape-1751708924420">China's secret prisons: Mass sterilisation, organ extractions</a><h2>What the Court said?</h2>The court said that between 2016 and 2021, Evergrande and Xu “violated national laws by engaging in continuous, large-scale financial fraud and other means to inflate assets and conceal liabilities.” It added that the parties "gained control of financial institutions" through bribery, without naming the institutions.Xu pleaded guilty in April to charges that also included embezzlement and bribery, the court said at the time. Xu was once China's richest billionaires and a member of the Communist Party's top political advisory body. Xu and Evergrande's actions "seriously disrupted the socialist market economic order... and undermined the integrity of official conduct by state personnel", the court said. "The circumstances were particularly egregious, causing particularly serious economic losses and causing particularly serious social harm," it added.

Evergrande founder Xu Jiayin has been sentenced to life in prison after a Chinese court found him guilty of large-scale financial fraud, bribery and embezzlement. The property tycoon was also stripped of his personal assets, while Evergrande was fined 15.82 billion yuan.

The founder of Evergrande Group, the property giant at the centre of China's housing market slump, has been sentenced to life in prison and all of his personal property has been confiscated. Five other senior executives of Evergrande Group were also sentenced Thursday to prison terms ranging from six to 18 years for crimes including fraud. A total of 56 people were given jail sentences -- including Xu's two sons -- with the shortest term one year and 10 months, China's state news agency Xinhua reported. Also Read: Trump says Chinese President signalled Jimmy Lai’s release unlikely — who is the jailed Hong Kong media mogul? Evergrande Group, was once the face of Chinese real estate but its access to credit dramatically narrowed when the government introduced curbs on excessive borrowing. The company defaulted in 2021 after struggling to repay creditors. On Thursday (Aug 20), a court in southern China fined the firm and its real estate arm a total of 15.82 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) and issued a life sentence against founder Xu Jiayin, also known as Hui Ka Yan in Cantonese, for crimes including "large-scale financial fraud", the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court in Guangdong province said in a post on its WeChat account. Also Read: China's secret prisons: Mass sterilisation, organ extractions What the Court said? The court said that between 2016 and 2021, Evergrande and Xu “violated national laws by engaging in continuous, large-scale financial fraud and other means to inflate assets and conceal liabilities.” It added that the parties "gained control of financial institutions" through bribery, without naming the institutions. Xu pleaded guilty in April to charges that also included embezzlement and bribery, the court said at the time. Xu was once China's richest billionaires and a member of the Communist Party's top political advisory body. Xu and Evergrande's actions "seriously disrupted the socialist market economic order... and undermined the integrity of official conduct by state personnel", the court said. "The circumstances were particularly egregious, causing particularly serious economic losses and causing particularly serious social harm," it added.

Evergrande founder Xu Jiayin has been sentenced to life in prison after a Chinese court found him guilty of large-scale financial fraud, bribery and embezzlement. The property tycoon was also stripped of his personal assets, while Evergrande was fined 15.82 billion yuan.

Once Asia’s richest man, Evergrande founder gets life sentence in China: Who is he?

A Kosovo-born former CIA informant who says he helped US authorities gather intelligence on Osama bin Laden and other terrorists is facing deportation after being arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Blerim Skoro, 55, was arrested earlier this month outside an immigration centre, according to court documents. His legal team has since sought to terminate deportation proceedings against him.&nbsp;Skoro was reportedly recruited by the CIA just a day after the September 11, 2001 attacks while serving a prison sentence for drug trafficking. He later provided information to US authorities on several terror suspects, including bin Laden, according to The Times and CBS News.&nbsp;In a 2024 interview with The Times, Skoro said he agreed to work with US intelligence because he considered himself a patriot and wanted to help the country. “I considered myself a patriot of America first and a Muslim second. I wanted to pay back this country,” he told the newspaper.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-congress-approves-70-billion-for-ice-border-patrol-backing-trump-s-deportation-agenda-1781049368919">US Congress approves $70 billion for ICE, Border Patrol, backing Trump's deportation agenda</a>

CBS News reported that Skoro at one point shared a prison cell with the man behind the Millennium Plot, which targeted Los Angeles International Airport. He also provided the FBI with information about Faysal Galab, who was linked to the so-called Lackawanna Six terror cell.&nbsp;Skoro has said US authorities promised to keep him safe in exchange for his cooperation. However, CBS reported that he was deported to Kosovo in 2007 after completing his sentence, despite being married to an American woman.&nbsp;Two days after his deportation, Skoro offered to work as an informant for the US again, according to The Times. He later lived inside an al-Qaeda training camp and said he met the leader of the Pakistani Taliban. Skoro eventually returned to the US illegally after his cover was exposed. He also said he was wounded in an assassination attempt in Kosovo, CBS reported. ICE apprehended him two years later.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-federal-court-bars-trump-administration-from-detaining-migrants-at-immigration-hearings-1782303632940">US Federal court bars Trump administration from detaining migrants at immigration hearings</a><h2>Skoro now says returning to Kosovo would put his life at risk</h2>“I never thought they were going to betray me like this,” he told The Times in a phone interview from the Elizabeth Detention Centre in New Jersey. “Please, if I die, I should die in this country so my kids can bury me,” he added.&nbsp;His wife, Susan, has also criticised the US government's handling of his case. “They betrayed him,” she told CBS News, arguing that Skoro had already served his sentence and had nearly lost his life while assisting US authorities.&nbsp;

Blerim Skoro, a former CIA informant who aided US anti-terror operations, faces deportation to Kosovo by ICE, leaving him and his family feeling betrayed and fearing for his life.

A Kosovo-born former CIA informant who says he helped US authorities gather intelligence on Osama bin Laden and other terrorists is facing deportation after being arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Blerim Skoro, 55, was arrested earlier this month outside an immigration centre, according to court documents. His legal team has since sought to terminate deportation proceedings against him. Skoro was reportedly recruited by the CIA just a day after the September 11, 2001 attacks while serving a prison sentence for drug trafficking. He later provided information to US authorities on several terror suspects, including bin Laden, according to The Times and CBS News. In a 2024 interview with The Times, Skoro said he agreed to work with US intelligence because he considered himself a patriot and wanted to help the country. “I considered myself a patriot of America first and a Muslim second. I wanted to pay back this country,” he told the newspaper. Also read: US Congress approves $70 billion for ICE, Border Patrol, backing Trump's deportation agenda

Blerim Skoro, a former CIA informant who aided US anti-terror operations, faces deportation to Kosovo by ICE, leaving him and his family feeling betrayed and fearing for his life.

‘Never thought they were going to betray me like this’: Ex-CIA informant who helped in intel on Osama bin Laden faces deportation

Liberia has charged former Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor with drug trafficking, money laundering, and several other offences, according to the country's Justice Ministry.Howard-Taylor, who served as vice president from 2018 to 2024, has been detained at Roberts International Airport in Monrovia. Reports suggest she was preparing to leave the country. Subsequently taken to national police headquarters.Former vice president accused in drug case Liberian authorities accuse Howard-Taylor of illegally importing, selling, and transporting controlled drugs, as well as facilitating drug trafficking.Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/america-s-debt-hits-a-staggering-40-trillion-is-the-us-heading-for-a-crisis-1787187559842">America's debt hits a staggering $40 trillion for the first time. Is the US heading for a crisis?</a>The case is part of a wider crackdown by Liberia on transnational drug networks, particularly those involved in cocaine trafficking.Police have also charged three foreign nationals in absentia as part of the investigation. The suspects, two Croatians and one Ukrainian, are accused of being members of the same alleged network.Authorities said they are pursuing the foreign suspects and intend to target every level of the trafficking operation, including organisers, facilitators and financiers.<h2>Liberia steps up anti-drug crackdown</h2>The West African nation has carried out several major drug seizures in recent months, with some described by authorities as among the largest in Liberia's history.The crackdown comes as West Africa has increasingly emerged as a transit route for cocaine moving from South America towards European markets. Liberian officials have repeatedly stressed the need to prevent the country from becoming a hub for international drug trafficking.Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-announces-crushing-economic-campaign-against-iran-threatens-allies-with-tremendous-penalties-1787186991774">Trump announces ‘crushing’ economic campaign against Iran, threatens allies with ‘tremendous’ penalties</a><h2>Who is Jewel Howard-Taylor?</h2>Howard-Taylor was a senior figure in former President George Weah's administration, serving as vice president throughout his six-year tenure from 2018 to 2024.Weah's presidency was marked by allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement, although the charges against Howard-Taylor are part of a separate investigation into alleged drug trafficking and related offences. President Joseph Boakai took office in 2024 after defeating Weah and pledged to intensify efforts against corruption. &nbsp;

Liberia's former vice president Jewel Howard-Taylor has been detained at an airport and charged in a major drug trafficking case. Authorities accuse her of helping import and transport controlled drugs as the country intensifies a wider crackdown on international trafficking networks.

Liberia has charged former Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor with drug trafficking, money laundering, and several other offences, according to the country's Justice Ministry. Howard-Taylor, who served as vice president from 2018 to 2024, has been detained at Roberts International Airport in Monrovia. Reports suggest she was preparing to leave the country. Subsequently taken to national police headquarters. Former vice president accused in drug case Liberian authorities accuse Howard-Taylor of illegally importing, selling, and transporting controlled drugs, as well as facilitating drug trafficking. Also read | America's debt hits a staggering $40 trillion for the first time. Is the US heading for a crisis? The case is part of a wider crackdown by Liberia on transnational drug networks, particularly those involved in cocaine trafficking. Police have also charged three foreign nationals in absentia as part of the investigation. The suspects, two Croatians and one Ukrainian, are accused of being members of the same alleged network. Authorities said they are pursuing the foreign suspects and intend to target every level of the trafficking operation, including organisers, facilitators and financiers. Liberia steps up anti-drug crackdown The West African nation has carried out several major drug seizures in recent months, with some described by authorities as among the largest in Liberia's history. The crackdown comes as West Africa has increasingly emerged as a transit route for cocaine moving from South America towards European markets. Liberian officials have repeatedly stressed the need to prevent the country from becoming a hub for international drug trafficking. Also read | Trump announces ‘crushing’ economic campaign against Iran, threatens allies with ‘tremendous’ penalties Who is Jewel Howard-Taylor? Howard-Taylor was a senior figure in former President George Weah's administration, serving as vice president throughout his six-year tenure from 2018 to 2024. Weah's presidency was marked by allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement, although the charges against Howard-Taylor are part of a separate investigation into alleged drug trafficking and related offences. President Joseph Boakai took office in 2024 after defeating Weah and pledged to intensify efforts against corruption.

Liberia's former vice president Jewel Howard-Taylor has been detained at an airport and charged in a major drug trafficking case. Authorities accuse her of helping import and transport controlled drugs as the country intensifies a wider crackdown on international trafficking networks.

Who is Jewel Howard-Taylor? Liberia's former vice president charged with drug trafficking

Portugal president has enacted a law that bans the concealment of faces in public. Portugal President Antonio Jose Seguro said in a statement, that the face must be considered a central element of human identity and communication. The bill was originally introduced by the far-right Chega party and passed the Portuguese parliament with a two-thirds majority, receiving support from the right-wing governing coalition while left-wing parties voted against it. The law prohibits the wearing of garments designed to conceal the face or prevent identification in public spaces, as well as any coercion forcing a person to cover their face for reasons related to gender, religion, age or origin. Violators will face fines ranging from €150 to €3,000. Exemptions are provided for reasons such as health, professional, artistic or weather-related needs, as well as within places of worship, diplomatic missions and on airplanes.&nbsp;Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/-ban-the-burqa-australian-senator-wears-islamic-dress-in-parliament-calls-it-oppressive-radical-risk-to-national-security-1763984447631">‘Ban the burqa’: Australian senator wears Islamic dress in parliament, calls it ‘oppressive, radical, risk to national security’</a>&nbsp;Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, argue that the law disproportionately targets Muslim women, limits religious freedom, and restricts personal autonomy. Proponents contend the measure is necessary to uphold gender equality, national security, and transparent public communication. With this law, Portugal joins several other European nations that enforce full or partial bans on public face coverings.&nbsp;Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/iran-s-nationalism-is-now-more-important-than-its-islamism-amid-war-with-us-and-israel-easing-of-veil-curbs-is-an-example-1786706119097">Iran’s nationalism is now more important than its Islamism, amid war with US and Israel. Easing of veil curbs is an example</a><h2>Which other countries have banned the burqa or full-face veils?</h2>At least 24 countries worldwide have enacted full or partial bans on the burqa and niqab, spanning across Europe, Africa, and Asia. France became the first European country to enforce a nationwide ban in 2011, followed by Belgium later that year. Austria banned full-face veils in public spaces in 2017, while Denmark introduced a nationwide ban on face coverings in 2018. Switzerland’s nationwide ban came into force in January 2025 after voters approved it in a referendum. Bulgaria also enforces a nationwide restriction, while the Netherlands has a partial ban covering places such as public transport, schools and hospitals. Norway restricts face veils in educational institutions, including schools, nurseries and universities.&nbsp;In Africa, several countries have imposed restrictions on face-covering veils, largely citing security and public-safety concerns. Tunisia prohibits full-face veils in government institutions, schools and administrative buildings. Morocco has banned the manufacture, marketing and sale of the burqa, while Cameroon has restricted full-face veils following security concerns linked to suicide bombings.&nbsp;Restrictions on face-covering garments are also in place in several Asian and Central Asian countries. Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have introduced broad restrictions on garments that conceal the face in public. Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan have restrictions on religious attire and face coverings in certain public institutions and educational settings. Sri Lanka imposed a broad public face-veil ban following national security concerns. China has also imposed restrictions on face-covering Islamic attire, particularly in the Xinjiang region.&nbsp;

Portugal’s President Antonio Jose Seguro has enacted a law banning face-covering garments in public spaces, widely seen as targeting Muslim women wearing full-face veils. Backed by the right-wing government and far right, violators face fines of up to €3,000.

Portugal president has enacted a law that bans the concealment of faces in public. Portugal President Antonio Jose Seguro said in a statement, that the face must be considered a central element of human identity and communication. The bill was originally introduced by the far-right Chega party and passed the Portuguese parliament with a two-thirds majority, receiving support from the right-wing governing coalition while left-wing parties voted against it. The law prohibits the wearing of garments designed to conceal the face or prevent identification in public spaces, as well as any coercion forcing a person to cover their face for reasons related to gender, religion, age or origin. Violators will face fines ranging from €150 to €3,000. Exemptions are provided for reasons such as health, professional, artistic or weather-related needs, as well as within places of worship, diplomatic missions and on airplanes. Also Read: ‘Ban the burqa’: Australian senator wears Islamic dress in parliament, calls it ‘oppressive, radical, risk to national security’ Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, argue that the law disproportionately targets Muslim women, limits religious freedom, and restricts personal autonomy. Proponents contend the measure is necessary to uphold gender equality, national security, and transparent public communication. With this law, Portugal joins several other European nations that enforce full or partial bans on public face coverings. Also Read: Iran’s nationalism is now more important than its Islamism, amid war with US and Israel. Easing of veil curbs is an example Which other countries have banned the burqa or full-face veils? At least 24 countries worldwide have enacted full or partial bans on the burqa and niqab, spanning across Europe, Africa, and Asia. France became the first European country to enforce a nationwide ban in 2011, followed by Belgium later that year. Austria banned full-face veils in public spaces in 2017, while Denmark introduced a nationwide ban on face coverings in 2018. Switzerland’s nationwide ban came into force in January 2025 after voters approved it in a referendum. Bulgaria also enforces a nationwide restriction, while the Netherlands has a partial ban covering places such as public transport, schools and hospitals. Norway restricts face veils in educational institutions, including schools, nurseries and universities. In Africa, several countries have imposed restrictions on face-covering veils, largely citing security and public-safety concerns. Tunisia prohibits full-face veils in government institutions, schools and administrative buildings. Morocco has banned the manufacture, marketing and sale of the burqa, while Cameroon has restricted full-face veils following security concerns linked to suicide bombings. Restrictions on face-covering garments are also in place in several Asian and Central Asian countries. Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have introduced broad restrictions on garments that conceal the face in public. Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan have restrictions on religious attire and face coverings in certain public institutions and educational settings. Sri Lanka imposed a broad public face-veil ban following national security concerns. China has also imposed restrictions on face-covering Islamic attire, particularly in the Xinjiang region.

Portugal’s President Antonio Jose Seguro has enacted a law banning face-covering garments in public spaces, widely seen as targeting Muslim women wearing full-face veils. Backed by the right-wing government and far right, violators face fines of up to €3,000.

Portugal bans full-face veils: 7 Asian, 3 African, 8 European countries also have similar restrictions | FULL LIST

US President Donald Trump’s aide, Natalie Harp, who is currently in the headlines for her closeness with the American president, has reportedly sent him a deeply personal letter, adding fresh scrutiny to the unusually close relationship between the 35-year-old White House staffer and the POTUS.&nbsp;The New York Times reported that Harp, officially an executive assistant to Trump, wrote to him after she struggled to keep up with his golf cart during his visit to Scotland. The newspaper said its journalists had seen videos showing Harp “sprinting great distances” while attempting to carry out what has been described as one of her key duties, keeping Trump updated on positive news coverage about him.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/who-is-natalie-harp-trump-s-human-printer-is-making-headlines-again-here-s-why-1787024735322">Who is Natalie Harp? Trump’s ‘human printer’ is making headlines again. Here’s why</a>&nbsp;“I also am sorry if I was an embarrassment walking the course in Scotland,” Harp wrote, according to The New York Times. “I want things to always be right between us,” she added. She also reportedly told Trump that she had been distracted and was “forgetting to eat throughout the days” and “even forgetting to sleep”, saying she was getting only a few hours of rest at a time.The letter ended with the words: “With all my heart, Natalie.”&nbsp;The disclosure comes after renewed attention on Harp’s relationship with Trump, 80, after comments by Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff and earlier reporting about the aide’s devotion to the president. After Trump’s re-election in 2024, The New York Times reported that Harp was expected to become an important conduit to the president. The paper also revealed an earlier letter in which she wrote to Trump: “You are all that matters to me.”&nbsp;Harp has been part of Trump’s orbit in various roles since 2018 and has publicly credited him with helping save her life after she was diagnosed with bone cancer. She has pointed to legislation allowing terminally ill patients to access experimental treatments, although that claim has been disputed.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/melania-trump-unhappy-donald-trump-natalie-harp-speculation-1787169749724">Melania Trump upset over Donald Trump and Natalie Harp affair speculation</a>&nbsp;Her brother, Preston Harp, has, meanwhile, raised concerns about the relationship. Speaking to The Daily Mail in June, he described it as “very unhealthy”.&nbsp;He went further in an interview with CNN on Tuesday (Aug 18), saying he did not believe his sister was physically attracted to Trump but describing her as “infatuated”. “Trump’s best friends are people who are his fan club,” he said, arguing that his sister’s loyalty and gratitude towards the president could be part of what drew them together.&nbsp;

Natalie Harp’s deeply personal letters to Donald Trump revealed intense devotion and long working hours, sparking public scrutiny and family concerns about her infatuation with the former president.

US President Donald Trump’s aide, Natalie Harp, who is currently in the headlines for her closeness with the American president, has reportedly sent him a deeply personal letter, adding fresh scrutiny to the unusually close relationship between the 35-year-old White House staffer and the POTUS. The New York Times reported that Harp, officially an executive assistant to Trump, wrote to him after she struggled to keep up with his golf cart during his visit to Scotland. The newspaper said its journalists had seen videos showing Harp “sprinting great distances” while attempting to carry out what has been described as one of her key duties, keeping Trump updated on positive news coverage about him. Also read: Who is Natalie Harp? Trump’s ‘human printer’ is making headlines again. Here’s why “I also am sorry if I was an embarrassment walking the course in Scotland,” Harp wrote, according to The New York Times. “I want things to always be right between us,” she added. She also reportedly told Trump that she had been distracted and was “forgetting to eat throughout the days” and “even forgetting to sleep”, saying she was getting only a few hours of rest at a time. The letter ended with the words: “With all my heart, Natalie.” The disclosure comes after renewed attention on Harp’s relationship with Trump, 80, after comments by Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff and earlier reporting about the aide’s devotion to the president. After Trump’s re-election in 2024, The New York Times reported that Harp was expected to become an important conduit to the president. The paper also revealed an earlier letter in which she wrote to Trump: “You are all that matters to me.” Harp has been part of Trump’s orbit in various roles since 2018 and has publicly credited him with helping save her life after she was diagnosed with bone cancer. She has pointed to legislation allowing terminally ill patients to access experimental treatments, although that claim has been disputed. Also read: Melania Trump upset over Donald Trump and Natalie Harp affair speculation Her brother, Preston Harp, has, meanwhile, raised concerns about the relationship. Speaking to The Daily Mail in June, he described it as “very unhealthy”. He went further in an interview with CNN on Tuesday (Aug 18), saying he did not believe his sister was physically attracted to Trump but describing her as “infatuated”. “Trump’s best friends are people who are his fan club,” he said, arguing that his sister’s loyalty and gratitude towards the president could be part of what drew them together.

Natalie Harp’s deeply personal letters to Donald Trump revealed intense devotion and long working hours, sparking public scrutiny and family concerns about her infatuation with the former president.

‘You are all that matters to me’: Natalie Harp’s letter to Trump fuels affair rumours. This is what she wrote

Worried that their money might be used for the war against Ukraine, Russian billionaires are withdrawing billions each month from their bank accounts. According to a report, 2.39 trillion Russian Roubles have been pulled in the first seven months of 2026. The war has devastated the country's economy, triggering fears that the government could now seize people's savings by freezing or nationalising private deposits to fund the ongoing military action.&nbsp;Ukrainian drones have dealt a lethal blow to Russia's oil refineries and other infrastructure. The war that has been going on for more than four years has already hit the Russian economy. President Vladimir Putin is being slammed for continuing the war at the cost of its own people. As the economic crisis deepens, people fear that the government could take over their money.<h2>Russian banks losr billions of Roubles within months &nbsp;</h2>Banks.ru financial marketplace data shows that around early March, the demand for cash suddenly started rising and has been on an upward trend since then. Around 300 billion roubles are being taken out of accounts every month. The trend has been recorded by five of Russia's seven largest banks. Gazprombank lost the most, 299.5 billion roubles, 10.8 per cent of its total deposits over four months, followed by &nbsp;Rosselkhozbank losing 270.5 billion roubles, a fall of more than 15 per cent.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/ukraine-could-be-preparing-to-attack-putin-s-palace-report-1786517364282">Ukraine could be preparing to attack Putin's palace: Report</a>&nbsp;Other banks include Alfa-Bank, Russia's largest private lender, which lost 179.4 billion roubles. Sovcombank recorded outflows of 81.7 billion roubles and VTB 20.4 billion roubles. Sberbank lost a combined 243 billion roubles in June and July. T-Bank was the only exception, recording an increase of 193 billion roubles.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/putin-rambles-against-ukraine-on-tv-after-cancelling-navy-day-parade-fearing-an-attack-1785137839555">Putin rambles in TV speech after cancelling Navy Day parade fearing an attack by Ukraine</a><h2>Russians withdrew massive amounts in 2022</h2>The same trend was noticed after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 amid sanctions imposed on the country. The central bank temporarily raised interest rates to 20 per cent and imposed capital controls to stabilise the system. Putin is trying to get more money in the form of donations from oligarchs, according to Russian business daily Vedomosti. He is trying to get voluntary "donations", and the federal budget registered an increase of hundreds of billions of roubles by mid-August.&nbsp; &nbsp;

Russians are afraid that the government might take their money to fund the war in Ukraine, and so billions are being withdrawn from banks every month. According to reports, this number could be around 2.39 trillion Russian Roubles.

Worried that their money might be used for the war against Ukraine, Russian billionaires are withdrawing billions each month from their bank accounts. According to a report, 2.39 trillion Russian Roubles have been pulled in the first seven months of 2026. The war has devastated the country's economy, triggering fears that the government could now seize people's savings by freezing or nationalising private deposits to fund the ongoing military action. Ukrainian drones have dealt a lethal blow to Russia's oil refineries and other infrastructure. The war that has been going on for more than four years has already hit the Russian economy. President Vladimir Putin is being slammed for continuing the war at the cost of its own people. As the economic crisis deepens, people fear that the government could take over their money. Russian banks losr billions of Roubles within months Banks.ru financial marketplace data shows that around early March, the demand for cash suddenly started rising and has been on an upward trend since then. Around 300 billion roubles are being taken out of accounts every month. The trend has been recorded by five of Russia's seven largest banks. Gazprombank lost the most, 299.5 billion roubles, 10.8 per cent of its total deposits over four months, followed by Rosselkhozbank losing 270.5 billion roubles, a fall of more than 15 per cent. Also Read: Ukraine could be preparing to attack Putin's palace: Report Other banks include Alfa-Bank, Russia's largest private lender, which lost 179.4 billion roubles. Sovcombank recorded outflows of 81.7 billion roubles and VTB 20.4 billion roubles. Sberbank lost a combined 243 billion roubles in June and July. T-Bank was the only exception, recording an increase of 193 billion roubles. Also Read: Putin rambles in TV speech after cancelling Navy Day parade fearing an attack by Ukraine Russians withdrew massive amounts in 2022 The same trend was noticed after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 amid sanctions imposed on the country. The central bank temporarily raised interest rates to 20 per cent and imposed capital controls to stabilise the system. Putin is trying to get more money in the form of donations from oligarchs, according to Russian business daily Vedomosti. He is trying to get voluntary "donations", and the federal budget registered an increase of hundreds of billions of roubles by mid-August.

Russians are afraid that the government might take their money to fund the war in Ukraine, and so billions are being withdrawn from banks every month. According to reports, this number could be around 2.39 trillion Russian Roubles.

Why have billionaires pulled nearly 2.39 trillion Roubles from Russian banks?

Indian nationals in the US waiting for employment-based green cards could face increased scrutiny from September 18, when new US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) guidance on the “public charge” rule takes effect.The change matters particularly for Indians who have spent years in the employment-based green card backlog and are now preparing to file Form I-485, the application used to adjust status to permanent residence.Under the revised guidance, USCIS officers will assess an applicant’s circumstances as a whole, looking at factors including age, health, family situation, assets, financial resources, education and skills. Officers may also seek evidence of future employment, including job offers and expected wages.According to USCIS, “The updated guidance aligns with Congressional intent that aliens in the US be self-sufficient and not dependent on taxpayer-funded government benefits.”Employment-based applicants could be particularly affected after years in the backlog. However, routine H-1B petitions, including extensions, amendments and changes of employer, as well as H-4 extensions and changes of status, are not covered by the public charge ground.Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-may-force-more-visa-applicants-to-make-social-media-accounts-public-under-trump-s-new-plan-1786065871292">US may force more visa applicants to make social media accounts public under Trump's new plan</a>The policy has also raised concerns among Indian professionals following a wave of layoffs. A layoff alone does not make someone a public charge, but an officer could examine previous employment, wages, education, skills, job prospects, household income and assets.The revised guidance also broadens the benefits USCIS can consider. Benefits such as SNAP, housing assistance, CHIP and regular Medicaid, which were excluded under the Biden-era framework, may now be considered for benefits received from September 18, 2026.Still, receiving such assistance does not automatically make an applicant inadmissible. USCIS will make a case-by-case assessment.The rule could particularly affect elderly parents with health problems whose sponsors may struggle to meet the new requirements.In some cases, USCIS may allow applicants deemed inadmissible solely on public-charge grounds to post a financial bond. If the bond conditions are met, the green card application could still be approved.

Indian nationals awaiting US employment-based green cards may face tougher scrutiny from Sept 18 as USCIS expands the public charge test to assess jobs, finances, health and benefits.

Indian nationals in the US waiting for employment-based green cards could face increased scrutiny from September 18, when new US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) guidance on the “public charge” rule takes effect. The change matters particularly for Indians who have spent years in the employment-based green card backlog and are now preparing to file Form I-485, the application used to adjust status to permanent residence. Under the revised guidance, USCIS officers will assess an applicant’s circumstances as a whole, looking at factors including age, health, family situation, assets, financial resources, education and skills. Officers may also seek evidence of future employment, including job offers and expected wages. According to USCIS, “The updated guidance aligns with Congressional intent that aliens in the US be self-sufficient and not dependent on taxpayer-funded government benefits.” Employment-based applicants could be particularly affected after years in the backlog. However, routine H-1B petitions, including extensions, amendments and changes of employer, as well as H-4 extensions and changes of status, are not covered by the public charge ground. Also read | US may force more visa applicants to make social media accounts public under Trump's new plan The policy has also raised concerns among Indian professionals following a wave of layoffs. A layoff alone does not make someone a public charge, but an officer could examine previous employment, wages, education, skills, job prospects, household income and assets. The revised guidance also broadens the benefits USCIS can consider. Benefits such as SNAP, housing assistance, CHIP and regular Medicaid, which were excluded under the Biden-era framework, may now be considered for benefits received from September 18, 2026. Still, receiving such assistance does not automatically make an applicant inadmissible. USCIS will make a case-by-case assessment. The rule could particularly affect elderly parents with health problems whose sponsors may struggle to meet the new requirements. In some cases, USCIS may allow applicants deemed inadmissible solely on public-charge grounds to post a financial bond. If the bond conditions are met, the green card application could still be approved.

Indian nationals awaiting US employment-based green cards may face tougher scrutiny from Sept 18 as USCIS expands the public charge test to assess jobs, finances, health and benefits.

US tightens green card scrutiny: Indians in backlog face new ‘public charge’ test

More than 100 individuals lost their lives after an artisanal gold mine collapsed in western Central African Republic near the border with Cameroon, officials confirmed. The incident took place on Tuesday (August 18) in the village of Zamboye, located a few kilometres from Garoua-Boulai, a town in eastern Cameroon. Following the incident, the deputy mayor of Nana-Mambere prefecture in the Central African Republic, Souleymane Bi, stated that rescuers and residents pulled 30 bodies from the collapsed mine over several hours on Wednesday, and all injured miners were receiving treatment. “It is horrible, and we are calling for help from organisations and all people of goodwill to help,” Bi said. A local civil servant said around 40 people died at the site. “At this stage it’s difficult for us to establish a formal toll,” Baboua local official Laurent Ngon Baba told news agency AFP. A miner at the site identified as Cedric Mbango, described the incident as “catastrophic”. “The ground completely collapsed and buried people. As I speak to you, other people are still buried. Rescue attempts are under way,” he told AFP.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-announces-crushing-economic-campaign-against-iran-threatens-allies-with-tremendous-penalties-1787186991774">Trump announces ‘crushing’ economic campaign against Iran, threatens allies with ‘tremendous’ penalties</a><h3>Informal mining operations carry significant danger</h3>Government spokesperson Evariste Ngamana offered condolences to the victims' families and said officials are making efforts to deliver aid and support to those impacted. Such mine collapses are a recurring problem in the Central African Republic, where thousands of people are involved in small-scale, informal mining operations that fall outside state oversight. This kind of work carries significant danger, as miners often lack adequate safety measures, making fatal accidents common. A similar incident occurred in June 2026, when a mine collapse near the Cameroon border at the Be-Mbari gold site claimed dozens of lives. Earlier, in mid-March, seven people died in a landslide at a mining site in Ngourroum, located in the country's west. And in February, 20 more lives were lost in a mining accident in Gordi, in the northeast.

The deputy mayor of Nana-Mambere prefecture in the Central African Republic, Souleymane Bi, stated that rescuers and residents pulled 30 bodies from the collapsed mine over several hours on Wednesday, and all injured miners were receiving treatment.

More than 100 individuals lost their lives after an artisanal gold mine collapsed in western Central African Republic near the border with Cameroon, officials confirmed. The incident took place on Tuesday (August 18) in the village of Zamboye, located a few kilometres from Garoua-Boulai, a town in eastern Cameroon. Following the incident, the deputy mayor of Nana-Mambere prefecture in the Central African Republic, Souleymane Bi, stated that rescuers and residents pulled 30 bodies from the collapsed mine over several hours on Wednesday, and all injured miners were receiving treatment. “It is horrible, and we are calling for help from organisations and all people of goodwill to help,” Bi said. A local civil servant said around 40 people died at the site. “At this stage it’s difficult for us to establish a formal toll,” Baboua local official Laurent Ngon Baba told news agency AFP. A miner at the site identified as Cedric Mbango, described the incident as “catastrophic”. “The ground completely collapsed and buried people. As I speak to you, other people are still buried. Rescue attempts are under way,” he told AFP. Also read: Trump announces ‘crushing’ economic campaign against Iran, threatens allies with ‘tremendous’ penalties Informal mining operations carry significant danger Government spokesperson Evariste Ngamana offered condolences to the victims' families and said officials are making efforts to deliver aid and support to those impacted. Such mine collapses are a recurring problem in the Central African Republic, where thousands of people are involved in small-scale, informal mining operations that fall outside state oversight. This kind of work carries significant danger, as miners often lack adequate safety measures, making fatal accidents common. A similar incident occurred in June 2026, when a mine collapse near the Cameroon border at the Be-Mbari gold site claimed dozens of lives. Earlier, in mid-March, seven people died in a landslide at a mining site in Ngourroum, located in the country's west. And in February, 20 more lives were lost in a mining accident in Gordi, in the northeast.

The deputy mayor of Nana-Mambere prefecture in the Central African Republic, Souleymane Bi, stated that rescuers and residents pulled 30 bodies from the collapsed mine over several hours on Wednesday, and all injured miners were receiving treatment.

Over 100 people dead after gold mine collapses in Central African Republic

Bangladesh is holding its 23rd presidential election today (Thursday) with voting being scheduled to take place from 2:00pm to 5:00pm at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban. Lawmakers will vote to choose the president for the first time since 1991. The ruling BNP and its like-minded parties have nominated Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, while Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party opposition alliance have nominated Oli Ahmed, president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).&nbsp;&nbsp;Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/opposition-slams-bangladesh-govt-on-energy-economic-failures-1787071520630">Opposition slams Bangladesh govt on energy, economic failures</a>&nbsp;However, as the ruling party (BNP) holds two-thirds majority in the parliament their candidate, Mirza Fakhrul, is all set to become the 23rd President of the country. BNP has 247 seats in the 350 seat-Jatiya Sangsad, while the Jamaat-led alliance has 81 MPs. The remaining seats are held by several smaller parties and independent lawmakers. A total of 349 Members of Parliament will cast their vote. The Chattogram-4 constituency remains vacant following the cancellation of the elected candidate's candidacy by a court order. The Presidential polls was necessitated after former president 76-year-old Mohammed Shahabuddin on July 24 stepped down from the presidency, citing severe health complication. Shahabuddin had been President since April 2023.&nbsp;Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/bangladesh-seeks-interpol-red-notice-for-ex-army-chief-aziz-ahmed-details-here-1787120808591">Bangladesh seeks Interpol Red Notice for ex-army chief Aziz Ahmed. Details here</a>&nbsp;The BNP has already announced that Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, who is set to become Bangladesh's new president, will take the oath of office at Bangabhaban on Friday evening (Aug 21), Chief Whip Nurul Islam Moni said.<h2>Who is Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir?</h2>BNP's Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was nominated as the party's candidate for the presidency of Bangladesh. Alamgir, 78, served as secretary general of the BNP and local government minister. Born on January 26, 1948, and trained as an economist, he began his political career as a student activist during the era of East Pakistan. He joined the BNP in late 1990s and in 1992, he was appointed as the president of the Thakurgaon district unit of the BNP, marking the beginning of his rise within the party's formal leadership. In 2016, he became the General Secretary of the party. Following the BNP's victory in the parliamentary elections, he assumed office as the local government minister, having previously held state portfolios for agriculture, civil aviation, and tourism during 2001–2006.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Bangladesh is holding its presidential election on Thursday, with BNP nominee Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir set to win due to the ruling party’s two-thirds majority. The 78-year-old BNP leader will succeed Mohammed Shahabuddin, who stepped down on July 24.

Bangladesh is holding its 23rd presidential election today (Thursday) with voting being scheduled to take place from 2:00pm to 5:00pm at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban. Lawmakers will vote to choose the president for the first time since 1991. The ruling BNP and its like-minded parties have nominated Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, while Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party opposition alliance have nominated Oli Ahmed, president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Also Read: Opposition slams Bangladesh govt on energy, economic failures However, as the ruling party (BNP) holds two-thirds majority in the parliament their candidate, Mirza Fakhrul, is all set to become the 23rd President of the country. BNP has 247 seats in the 350 seat-Jatiya Sangsad, while the Jamaat-led alliance has 81 MPs. The remaining seats are held by several smaller parties and independent lawmakers. A total of 349 Members of Parliament will cast their vote. The Chattogram-4 constituency remains vacant following the cancellation of the elected candidate's candidacy by a court order. The Presidential polls was necessitated after former president 76-year-old Mohammed Shahabuddin on July 24 stepped down from the presidency, citing severe health complication. Shahabuddin had been President since April 2023. Also Read: Bangladesh seeks Interpol Red Notice for ex-army chief Aziz Ahmed. Details here The BNP has already announced that Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, who is set to become Bangladesh's new president, will take the oath of office at Bangabhaban on Friday evening (Aug 21), Chief Whip Nurul Islam Moni said. Who is Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir? BNP's Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was nominated as the party's candidate for the presidency of Bangladesh. Alamgir, 78, served as secretary general of the BNP and local government minister. Born on January 26, 1948, and trained as an economist, he began his political career as a student activist during the era of East Pakistan. He joined the BNP in late 1990s and in 1992, he was appointed as the president of the Thakurgaon district unit of the BNP, marking the beginning of his rise within the party's formal leadership. In 2016, he became the General Secretary of the party. Following the BNP's victory in the parliamentary elections, he assumed office as the local government minister, having previously held state portfolios for agriculture, civil aviation, and tourism during 2001–2006.

Bangladesh is holding its presidential election on Thursday, with BNP nominee Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir set to win due to the ruling party’s two-thirds majority. The 78-year-old BNP leader will succeed Mohammed Shahabuddin, who stepped down on July 24.

Bangladesh holds first voted presidential poll in 35 years today: Who is set to win?

The United States' gross national debt has crossed the $40 trillion mark for the first time, according to data from the US Treasury Department. The whopping debt highlights the growing pressure on government finances as borrowing costs rise and long-term spending commitments expand.Total public debt outstanding reached $40.05 trillion at the close of business Tuesday (Aug 18). The figure is higher than an earlier Congressional Budget Office forecast, which had projected that total borrowing would reach $39.4 trillion by the end of fiscal year 2026.Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-announces-crushing-economic-campaign-against-iran-threatens-allies-with-tremendous-penalties-1787186991774">Trump announces ‘crushing’ economic campaign against Iran, threatens allies with ‘tremendous’ penalties</a><h2>Why is US debt rising?</h2>The US government routinely borrows to cover the gap between its spending and revenue. But the scale of that borrowing has grown sharply in recent years.Long-term obligations linked to Social Security and healthcare are increasing, while higher interest rates have made servicing existing debt more expensive. Government spending, including costs linked to the war in the Middle East, and tax cuts have added to the borrowing requirement.Jessica Riedl, a budget and tax fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the US has been running deficits of roughly $2 trillion even during periods of peace and economic growth."Over the last few years, the United States has moved into roughly $2 trillion deficits, even during peace and prosperity," she told AFP.Riedl noted that deficits that once stood at around 3 per cent to 4 per cent of GDP are now closer to 6 per cent to 7 per cent, making financial markets increasingly nervous.Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/someday-your-children-will-white-house-attacks-cnn-reporter-after-question-about-trump-aide-natalie-harp-1787018113542">'Someday, your children will...': White House attacks CNN reporter after question about Trump aide Natalie Har</a><h2>Higher interest costs add to the pressure</h2>The rise in debt comes as investors are already concerned about inflation, government spending, and the economic impact of the war in Iran.Long-term Treasury yields rose Tuesday to their highest level since 2007, increasing the cost of refinancing government debt. The Treasury moved to calm the long-term bond market early Wednesday, sending yields lower.Higher borrowing costs do not affect the government alone. If Treasury yields remain elevated, consumers and businesses could also face more expensive borrowing, potentially weighing on economic growth.<h2>Is $40 trillion a crisis?</h2>The $40 trillion milestone is significant, but it does not automatically mean the US is facing a debt crisis.Economists generally consider debt held by the public more meaningful when assessing the economic impact of government borrowing than gross national debt. Still, the milestone is a warning sign for financial markets."It has made markets more nervous," Riedl said, adding that such landmarks can prompt investors to take another look at the country's borrowing trajectory.Caleb Quakenbush of the Bipartisan Policy Center said US spending trends have not been addressed by Congress or successive administrations in a "meaningful or durable way."The US Treasury has previously set a goal of reducing the federal deficit to 3per cent of GDP, but the latest figures underline the scale of the challenge facing Washington.

America's debt has crossed a number once considered almost unimaginable. With borrowing costs rising and annual deficits still running into trillions, the US has now crossed the $40 trillion mark. But does that mean a debt crisis is coming?

The United States' gross national debt has crossed the $40 trillion mark for the first time, according to data from the US Treasury Department. The whopping debt highlights the growing pressure on government finances as borrowing costs rise and long-term spending commitments expand. Total public debt outstanding reached $40.05 trillion at the close of business Tuesday (Aug 18). The figure is higher than an earlier Congressional Budget Office forecast, which had projected that total borrowing would reach $39.4 trillion by the end of fiscal year 2026. Also read | Trump announces ‘crushing’ economic campaign against Iran, threatens allies with ‘tremendous’ penalties Why is US debt rising? The US government routinely borrows to cover the gap between its spending and revenue. But the scale of that borrowing has grown sharply in recent years. Long-term obligations linked to Social Security and healthcare are increasing, while higher interest rates have made servicing existing debt more expensive. Government spending, including costs linked to the war in the Middle East, and tax cuts have added to the borrowing requirement. Jessica Riedl, a budget and tax fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the US has been running deficits of roughly $2 trillion even during periods of peace and economic growth. "Over the last few years, the United States has moved into roughly $2 trillion deficits, even during peace and prosperity," she told AFP. Riedl noted that deficits that once stood at around 3 per cent to 4 per cent of GDP are now closer to 6 per cent to 7 per cent, making financial markets increasingly nervous. Also read | 'Someday, your children will...': White House attacks CNN reporter after question about Trump aide Natalie Har Higher interest costs add to the pressure The rise in debt comes as investors are already concerned about inflation, government spending, and the economic impact of the war in Iran. Long-term Treasury yields rose Tuesday to their highest level since 2007, increasing the cost of refinancing government debt. The Treasury moved to calm the long-term bond market early Wednesday, sending yields lower. Higher borrowing costs do not affect the government alone. If Treasury yields remain elevated, consumers and businesses could also face more expensive borrowing, potentially weighing on economic growth. Is $40 trillion a crisis? The $40 trillion milestone is significant, but it does not automatically mean the US is facing a debt crisis. Economists generally consider debt held by the public more meaningful when assessing the economic impact of government borrowing than gross national debt. Still, the milestone is a warning sign for financial markets. "It has made markets more nervous," Riedl said, adding that such landmarks can prompt investors to take another look at the country's borrowing trajectory. Caleb Quakenbush of the Bipartisan Policy Center said US spending trends have not been addressed by Congress or successive administrations in a "meaningful or durable way." The US Treasury has previously set a goal of reducing the federal deficit to 3per cent of GDP, but the latest figures underline the scale of the challenge facing Washington.

America's debt has crossed a number once considered almost unimaginable. With borrowing costs rising and annual deficits still running into trillions, the US has now crossed the $40 trillion mark. But does that mean a debt crisis is coming?

America's debt hits a staggering $40 trillion for the first time. Is the US heading for a crisis?

Latest News Today Live Updates: US President Donald Trump has announced a major economic campaign against Iran, warning countries and businesses that support Tehran of "tremendous" penalties as the Strait of Hormuz remains heavily disrupted. The move comes alongside US efforts to economically isolate Iran and follows the UAE's suspension of economic dealings with Tehran.The US national debt has crossed $40 trillion for the first time, with total public debt reaching $40.05 trillion on August 18. Rising interest costs, government spending and persistent deficits are adding pressure to Washington's finances.Trump said the US and Canada were close to finalising a trade agreement and that Washington was considering reducing tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium. A proposed 50 per cent tariff has been delayed for three days to allow negotiations to continue.In India, nine people, including a child, were killed in a fire at Shika Inn hotel on Mirza Ghalib Street in Kolkata. A Special Investigation Team has been formed to investigate the blaze and examine fire safety compliance. Five Bangladeshi nationals were among those identified as deceased.

Regular consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages has been linked to a significantly higher risk of stomach cancer, according to a new US study that researchers say is the first to establish such an association among Americans.Read more <a href="https://www.wionews.com/life-fun/daily-soda-habit-linked-to-2-45-fold-higher-stomach-cancer-risk-study-1787215217500">here</a>.&nbsp;

Daily soda habit linked to 2.45-fold higher stomach cancer risk: Study

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al Shaibani is set to arrive in Islamabad for a two-day visit to Pakistan, the Pakistani foreign ministry said, the first such trip in nearly two decades. Al Shaibani will be in Pakistan on Wednesday and Thursday at the invitation of his counterpart Ishaq Dar, the ministry said in a statement."During the visit, the two sides will hold in-depth discussions across the entire spectrum of bilateral relations, review avenues for further enhancing bilateral cooperation, and exchange views on regional and international developments," said the foreign ministry. “The visit marks an important step towards further enhancing Pakistan-Syria relations and advancing cooperation between the two countries."

Top Syrian diplomat due in Pakistan for 1st such trip in nearly 2 decades

At least 12 people were killed, and 33 were wounded after a Russian missile barrage struck Kyiv overnight into Thursday, with explosions heard across the Ukrainian capital through the night, local authorities said. The air raid alert stayed in place into the early morning as emergency crews responded across the city.

Russian missile barrage kills 12 in Kyiv as residential blocks collapse

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Ukrainian attacks on Russian infrastructure had caused damage but had not resulted in any “critical consequences.” Speaking at a meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects in Moscow, Putin ordered the government to develop a program to restore damaged infrastructure at what he called a “qualitatively new” level.“There are no critical consequences from such attacks, there have not been and cannot be. But they certainly cause us harm; that is obvious, and we understand, see and know this,” Putin said.

Putin says Ukrainian infrastructure attacks cause damage but no ‘critical consequences’ 

Petrol stations across Moscow have brought back purchase limits amid fuel shortages triggered by Ukrainian drone strikes on refineries, compounded by high seasonal demand, according to Reuters witnesses and fuel suppliers. The shortages first began building in May and had extended to most regions of Russia by July, though Moscow's fuel stations had managed to lift an earlier round of restrictions back in June.

Moscow fuel stations reimpose purchase limits amid shortages, drone strikes on refineries

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani told Axios on Wednesday that he had assured Israel that Damascus was not cooperating with Turkey to build up a military presence at a Syrian airbase. Despite the assurance, Israel went ahead and struck the site.“[T]here was no intention to establish a Turkish base there, nor to establish a permanent Turkish military presence or deploy Turkish forces at the site,” Al-Shaibani told Axios.

Syrian foreign minister calls Israeli bombing of airbase unjustified

South Korea on Saturday is set to flag off a container ship bound for Europe via the Arctic, testing whether ​a route opened by melting sea ice can be commercially viable, but risking friction with Western allies, as the voyage requires Russian cooperation.&nbsp;

South Korean container ship set to test Arctic route to Europe amid Western concern

Amazon announced to expand its drone delivery ​service to reach hundreds of U.S. cities and towns by year-end, up from 11 locations where it currently ‌operates, serving multiple surrounding communities. &nbsp;

Amazon to expand drone delivery to about 500 US locales

Beijing is hosting the World Robot Conference (WRC) 2026, running from 19–23 August, showcasing everything from robot chefs to humanoids and specialised industrial machines. This year's edition marks a shift in focus, from flashy demonstrations toward real-world, commercial deployment of robotics technology.

China showcases more than 2,000 robots at World Robot Conference 2026

Several US Federal Reserve officials are concerned that prolonged inflation could become embedded in the economy, according to minutes of the latest policy meeting.Rate hike signalsMany policymakers warned that inflation remaining above the Fed's 2 per cent target for several years could begin influencing wage demands, price-setting decisions, and inflation expectations.The minutes also showed support among some regional Fed presidents for higher borrowing costs. Several policymakers indicated they could back a rate hike in September if price pressures remain elevated.

Fed officials warn persistent inflation could become entrenched in US economy

Jorhat district in Assam has imposed a night curfew along a five-kilometre stretch of the Assam-Nagaland border following intelligence inputs about possible extremist infiltration.District Magistrate Jay Shivani has prohibited the movement of people and vehicles in the border belt from 8 pm to 5 am.The order cited inputs from the Intelligence Branch and district police warning that extremist groups could attempt to enter Assam through Nagaland and create disturbances in Jorhat.The curfew has been imposed under the BNSS. Army and security personnel, police, magistrates, forest officials and other law enforcement personnel on duty are exempt from the restrictions. &nbsp;

Jorhat imposes night curfew along Assam-Nagaland border over infiltration threat

Israel has opened tenders for the construction of around 1,200 settlement homes in the E1 area of the occupied West Bank, east of Jerusalem.Why it mattersThe strategically important development has drawn international condemnation, with critics warning it could effectively divide the West Bank and isolate East Jerusalem.The move comes as the Israeli government faces accusations of seeking to make the creation of a future Palestinian state impossible. Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under international law by the UN and most of the international community.

Israel opens tenders for 1,200 settlement homes in strategic West Bank area

Andhra Pradesh IT and Electronics Minister Nara Lokesh dismissed concerns over proposed data centres in Visakhapatnam, saying the state has secured its target of 6.5 GW of data centre capacity without compromising environmental safeguards. He said the estimated 3 TMC water requirement would come from industrial allocations through dedicated pipelines from the Polavaram project, leaving residential water supplies untouched.Lokesh said operators would also be required to source at least 70% of their power from clean energy. He highlighted the economic benefits of the projects, including jobs across chip manufacturing, logistics, power electronics and other sectors, and urged people not to be misled by what he called misinformation about the data centre plans.

AP data centres to use industrial water, not Vizag's residential supply: Nara Lokesh

Prince Harry is coming back home. The Duke of Sussex is all set to move back to London along with his wife Meghan Markle and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, this month from the US. According to multiple reports, Harry and Megan will not resume their royal duties after moving to the UK. <a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/lifestyle/prince-harry-and-meghan-markle-set-to-move-back-to-the-uk-with-their-children-1787192886584">READ MORE</a><figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn1.wionews.com/prod/wion/images/2026/20260820/image-1787193454903.jpg?rect=(0,177,3497,2618)&amp;imwidth=800&amp;imheight=600&amp;format=webp&amp;quality=medium" alt="Prince Harry and Meghan Markle set to move back to the UK with their children"></figure>&nbsp;

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle set to move back to the UK with their children

The Trump administration declared tubas, trombones, trumpets, and French horns a national security threat. Brass instruments could soon face a 25% tariff on imports, parts, and accessories, as part of a wider push to expand tariffs on aluminium, steel, and copper.

Trump administration declares brass instruments a national security threat, imposes 25% tariffs

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced Heidi Overton, a senior White House aide and medical doctor, as his pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration. If confirmed by the Senate, Overton will take charge of an agency facing a wide range of pending decisions on drugs, vaccines, food regulation and electronic cigarettes.

Trump picks White House aide Dr. Heidi Overton to lead FDA

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke by phone Wednesday with Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, to discuss the latest regional developments and diplomatic efforts, according to a post on Araghchi’s Telegram channel.

Araghchi and Pakistani Army chief discuss regional developments over phone

Bangladesh is holding its 23rd presidential election today (Thursday) with voting being scheduled to take place from 2:00pm to 5:00pm at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban. READ MORE

Bangladesh presidential polls today

China has completed the first phase of construction on Antelope Reef in the Paracels archipelago, building a man-made island in the hotly-disputed South China Sea that analysts say will form part of its largest military ​base. Satellite images reviewed by Reuters show the reclaimed feature in outline for the first time

China completes first stage of work at disputed South China Sea reef, images show

The story of the Gaza zoo finding a way to keep going centers on the relentless efforts of its owner, Mahmoud Gomaa, who repeatedly relocated his animals across the Gaza Strip to save them from ongoing military conflicts

The Gaza zoo that found a way to keep going during attacks

Bangladesh says Qatar has “assured it of all possible support” to help address the country’s ongoing energy crisis. Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman met Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani in Doha&nbsp;

Qatar ‘promises’ help to ease Bangladesh’s energy crunch

Frustrated by his inability to care for his 71-year-old mother, a wheelchair user, a 44-year-old man pushed her onto the railway tracks in front of an approaching express train at Manavur railway station in the Tiruvallur district on Tuesday night, killing her on the spot.

Man kills disabled mother by pushing her in front of train in Chennai

People in Bengaluru are 'protesting against the irreversible impact of the Tunnel Road project on Bengaluru’s green cover, geological heritage and biodiversity. Environment activist Dattatraya T Devare said, “The proposed Tunnel Road project between Hebbal and Silk Board, the short tunnel between Hebbal and Veterinary College, nine elevated corridors and the metro double-decker projects would permanently damage the environment. No detailed studies have been conducted by experts on these projects, and the consequences of these projects cannot be predicted.”

Why are Bengaluru citizens hugging this 3.4-billion-year-old rock?

Veteran Dasara elephant Abhimanyu, who holds the distinction of carrying golden howdah six times, has been left out of Jamboo Savari during Mysuru Dasara, this year. It has been officially retired from Dasara duties after it turned 60 this month.

Mysuru Dasara: Golden howdah bearer Abhimanyu retires at 60

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to investigate the fire at Shika Inn hotel on Mirza Ghalib Street in central Kolkata that killed nine people, including a child, officials said. The SIT will now investigate the circumstances that led to the fire and examine whether the hotel complied with the required safety norms.<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/kolkata-hotel-fire-sit-formed-to-probe-blaze-that-killed-9-including-child-1787201256608">Read more here</a><figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn1.wionews.com/prod/wion/images/2026/20260820/image-1787201452332.jpg?rect=(0,239,1342,1007)&amp;imwidth=800&amp;imheight=600&amp;format=webp&amp;quality=medium" alt="Kolkata hotel fire: SIT formed to probe blaze that killed 9, including child"></figure>

Kolkata hotel fire: SIT formed to probe blaze that killed 9, including child

Amit Shah is set to chair the Southern Zonal Council meeting in Tamil Nadu today, bringing together representatives from five states and three Union Territories. From water sharing to education and major infrastructure projects, here's what is on the table.<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/southern-zonal-council-meet-hm-shah-to-meet-cms-of-southern-states-uts-1787196288947">Click to read</a><figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn1.wionews.com/prod/wion/images/2026/20260820/image-1787196572378.png?rect=(0,0,1200,900)"></figure>

Southern Zonal Council Meet: HM Shah to meet CMs of Southern states, UTs

The NALSAR controversy is moving from courtrooms to the streets, with a protest against BCI chairman Manan Kumar Mishra planned in Delhi today. But what exactly triggered the demand for his resignation? Here's all you need to know.<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/nalsar-row-cjp-protest-today-legal-cockroaches-to-seek-bci-chief-manan-mishra-s-resignation-1787192311397">Click here to read</a><figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn1.wionews.com/prod/wion/images/2026/20260820/image-1787192880169.png?rect=(0,0,1200,900)"></figure>

NALSAR row: CJP protest today; ‘legal cockroaches’ to seek BCI chief Manan Mishra's resignation

US President Donald Trump said the United States and Canada are close to finalising a trade agreement, with Washington considering lower tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium. Trump said US farmers would no longer face tariffs under the proposed deal.&nbsp;The US has also paused for three days the planned 50% tariff on a range of Canadian goods, following a request from Ottawa to allow more time to finalise the agreement.&nbsp;Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed the delay until the end of August 21, saying "substantial progress" had been made but important work remained. Trump said the pause would allow both sides to "iron out the details" and expressed confidence that the agreement would benefit both countries. &nbsp;

Trump says US, Canada close to trade deal, tariffs on steel and aluminium may fall

Trump has announced a dramatic new economic offensive against Iran, but his warning goes beyond Tehran. Countries and companies that continue helping Iran could also face severe consequences. So, who could be next in Washington's crosshairs?<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-announces-crushing-economic-campaign-against-iran-threatens-allies-with-tremendous-penalties-1787186991774">Click here to read</a><figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn1.wionews.com/prod/wion/images/2026/20260820/image-1787187195274.png?rect=(0,0,1200,900)&amp;imwidth=180&amp;imheight=135" alt="Trump announces ‘crushing’ economic campaign against Iran, threatens allies with ‘tremendous’ penalties"></figure>

Trump announces ‘crushing’ economic campaign against Iran, threatens allies with ‘tremendous’ penalties

Latest News Today Live Updates: Stay connected to WION News for the latest updates from India and around the globe, including major developments in Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, global security, diplomacy, energy markets, and other breaking stories shaping the world.


Latest News Today Live Updates: US President Donald Trump has announced a major economic campaign against Iran, warning countries and businesses that support Tehran of "tremendous" penalties as the Strait of Hormuz remains heavily disrupted. The move comes alongside US efforts to economically isolate Iran and follows the UAE's suspension of economic dealings with Tehran. The US national debt has crossed $40 trillion for the first time, with total public debt reaching $40.05 trillion on August 18. Rising interest costs, government spending and persistent deficits are adding pressure to Washington's finances. Trump said the US and Canada were close to finalising a trade agreement and that Washington was considering reducing tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium. A proposed 50 per cent tariff has been delayed for three days to allow negotiations to continue. In India, nine people, including a child, were killed in a fire at Shika Inn hotel on Mirza Ghalib Street in Kolkata. A Special Investigation Team has been formed to investigate the blaze and examine fire safety compliance. Five Bangladeshi nationals were among those identified as deceased.

Latest News Today Live Updates: Stay connected to WION News for the latest updates from India and around the globe, including major developments in Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, global security, diplomacy, energy markets, and other breaking stories shaping the world.

LIVE Updates | Latest India & World News Today: Sergio Gor's Kashmir remark prompts India-Pak reaction, Bangladesh presidential polls and more

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (Aug 19) announced a sweeping new campaign aimed at isolating Iran's economy, warning countries and businesses that help Tehran could face what he called "tremendous" economic consequences.The announcement comes as the conflict approaches its sixth month, with the Strait of Hormuz still heavily disrupted and no clear diplomatic or military resolution in sight. Trump is also facing growing scrutiny at home over the economic cost of the war and pressure on US military resources ahead of the November elections.Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-sanctions-icc-officials-including-president-tomoko-akane-vows-to-systematically-dismantle-court-1787109053555">US sanctions ICC officials, including President Tomoko Akane, vows to 'systematically dismantle' court</a><h2>Trump warns Iran's partners</h2>In a post on Truth Social, Trump described the campaign as the "MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY"."This will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale," he wrote.Trump warned that any country allowing its financial institutions, companies, airports or government bodies to provide support to Iran would face "TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences". He did not specify what penalties would be imposed or name any country other than Iran.Trump said Washington would target activities including "oil smuggling, swap lines, cash transfers, exchange houses, ship registries" and "front companies".

<h2>Economic pressure alongside naval blockade</h2>The announcement follows similar warnings from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said last week that Washington was preparing to intensify efforts to economically isolate Iran.Bessent said the campaign would form part of a two-pronged strategy involving economic isolation and a US naval blockade.The Treasury has already been pursuing sanctions against Iran under a campaign known as Operation Economic Fury, aimed at cutting off Tehran's sources of funding.Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/uae-suspends-trade-with-iran-accuses-it-of-targeting-gulf-shipping-tehran-calls-claim-baseless-1787100695124">UAE suspends trade with Iran, accuses it of targeting Gulf shipping; Tehran calls claim baseless</a><h2>Strait of Hormuz remains key flashpoint</h2>The economic campaign comes as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains severely restricted. The conflict began on February 28 with US-Israeli attacks on Iran, followed by Iranian missile and drone strikes across the region.The resulting security threat has sharply reduced commercial traffic through the strategic waterway.Trump said Wednesday that US military efforts were helping ships move through the strait, claiming that "a lot of boats are coming through". Axios reported that US forces had been facilitating the movement of 15 to 20 ships each night in recent weeks, roughly half the pre-war daily oil shipment volume.&nbsp;

Trump has announced a dramatic new economic offensive against Iran, but his warning goes beyond Tehran. Countries and companies that continue helping Iran could also face severe consequences. So, who could be next in Washington's crosshairs?

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (Aug 19) announced a sweeping new campaign aimed at isolating Iran's economy, warning countries and businesses that help Tehran could face what he called "tremendous" economic consequences. The announcement comes as the conflict approaches its sixth month, with the Strait of Hormuz still heavily disrupted and no clear diplomatic or military resolution in sight. Trump is also facing growing scrutiny at home over the economic cost of the war and pressure on US military resources ahead of the November elections. Also read | US sanctions ICC officials, including President Tomoko Akane, vows to 'systematically dismantle' court Trump warns Iran's partners In a post on Truth Social, Trump described the campaign as the "MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY". "This will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale," he wrote. Trump warned that any country allowing its financial institutions, companies, airports or government bodies to provide support to Iran would face "TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences". He did not specify what penalties would be imposed or name any country other than Iran. Trump said Washington would target activities including "oil smuggling, swap lines, cash transfers, exchange houses, ship registries" and "front companies".

Trump has announced a dramatic new economic offensive against Iran, but his warning goes beyond Tehran. Countries and companies that continue helping Iran could also face severe consequences. So, who could be next in Washington's crosshairs?

Eleven new AI models have shipped this month, from seven different providers. The list is worth reading in sequence, because the pace is the point.&nbsp;The Month&nbsp;Meta released Muse Spark 1.2 on August 6. xAI released Grok 4.6 the same day, then Grok Imagine Image 2.0 on August 8. ByteDance released Seed 2.1 Turbo on August 10. Google released Gemini 3.7 Flash on August 13, three weeks after Gemini 3.6 Flash. Z.AI released GLM-5.3 on August 14.&nbsp;That is six in nine days, from four countries, spanning text, image and video generation. Late July had already produced Moonshot's Kimi K3, a 2.8-trillion-parameter open-weight model, and the month before carried GPT-5.6 and Claude Opus 5.&nbsp;The Problem This Creates&nbsp;Evaluating a frontier model properly takes weeks. Independent benchmarking organisations have to obtain access, run standardised suites, check for contamination, and publish. Red-teaming for safety-relevant behaviour takes longer, because the interesting failures are rare and have to be hunted.&nbsp;A three-week gap between a model and its successor is shorter than that process. Gemini 3.7 Flash arrived before most independent assessment of Gemini 3.6 Flash had been published — which means the comparison being drawn is between a new model's vendor-reported numbers and an old model's vendor-reported numbers.&nbsp;The result is a market where purchasing decisions are made on self-reported benchmarks, because nothing else is available in time.&nbsp;Why Self-Reported Numbers Are A Problem&nbsp;This is not an accusation of fabrication. The issue is more mundane and harder to fix.&nbsp;A laboratory choosing which benchmarks to publish is choosing the ones its model does well on. Every laboratory does this, and every laboratory is telling the truth about the numbers it prints. The distortion is in the selection, not the arithmetic.&nbsp;Benchmark contamination compounds it. Models trained on internet-scale data may have absorbed the test sets, and detecting that requires access the vendor does not always grant. Independent evaluation exists precisely to catch these effects, and independent evaluation is what the release schedule is outpacing.&nbsp;There is recent precedent for how badly this can go. Meta faced sustained criticism over benchmark presentation earlier this year, and the episode demonstrated that the gap between a published score and a user's experience can be substantial enough to become a corporate crisis.&nbsp;What The Cadence Signals&nbsp;The compression is not arbitrary. It reflects where the competition has moved.&nbsp;Gemini 3.7 Flash gained sixteen points on DeepSWE v1.1 in three weeks — a jump inconsistent with a new base model and entirely consistent with post-training refinement of an existing one. Much of what is being shipped as a new release is a new fine-tune, which is genuinely faster to produce and genuinely cheaper to serve.&nbsp;Meanwhile the differentiators being marketed have shifted from capability to delivery. Google led on output speed and introductory price. OpenAI answered on the same day with a faster serving tier. Moonshot competes on open weights and self-hosting. These are distribution arguments, not intelligence arguments.&nbsp;When competition moves to distribution, release frequency becomes a marketing instrument in itself. Shipping often signals momentum to customers and investors regardless of what each individual release contains.&nbsp;What To Do About It&nbsp;For anyone selecting a model, the practical response is unglamorous.&nbsp;Treat vendor benchmarks as a claim about the vendor's priorities rather than a measure of fitness. Where independent numbers exist, weight them more heavily even when they are a generation behind. Run an internal evaluation on the actual task, which is the only benchmark that reflects the workload in question and the only one that cannot be gamed by someone else.&nbsp;And note which vendors publish evaluation methodology alongside results, and which publish only results. That distinction has become more informative than the scores.&nbsp;Eleven models in twenty days is a remarkable engineering achievement across the industry. It is also more new software than any customer can responsibly assess, arriving faster than the institutions built to assess it can work — and that gap is being filled, at present, by the sellers.

August produced eleven models from seven providers, including Gemini 3.7 Flash just three weeks after its predecessor. The cadence now moves faster than independent evaluation, leaving buyers to choose on vendors' own benchmark numbers.

Eleven new AI models have shipped this month, from seven different providers. The list is worth reading in sequence, because the pace is the point. The Month Meta released Muse Spark 1.2 on August 6. xAI released Grok 4.6 the same day, then Grok Imagine Image 2.0 on August 8. ByteDance released Seed 2.1 Turbo on August 10. Google released Gemini 3.7 Flash on August 13, three weeks after Gemini 3.6 Flash. Z.AI released GLM-5.3 on August 14. That is six in nine days, from four countries, spanning text, image and video generation. Late July had already produced Moonshot's Kimi K3, a 2.8-trillion-parameter open-weight model, and the month before carried GPT-5.6 and Claude Opus 5. The Problem This Creates Evaluating a frontier model properly takes weeks. Independent benchmarking organisations have to obtain access, run standardised suites, check for contamination, and publish. Red-teaming for safety-relevant behaviour takes longer, because the interesting failures are rare and have to be hunted. A three-week gap between a model and its successor is shorter than that process. Gemini 3.7 Flash arrived before most independent assessment of Gemini 3.6 Flash had been published — which means the comparison being drawn is between a new model's vendor-reported numbers and an old model's vendor-reported numbers. The result is a market where purchasing decisions are made on self-reported benchmarks, because nothing else is available in time. Why Self-Reported Numbers Are A Problem This is not an accusation of fabrication. The issue is more mundane and harder to fix. A laboratory choosing which benchmarks to publish is choosing the ones its model does well on. Every laboratory does this, and every laboratory is telling the truth about the numbers it prints. The distortion is in the selection, not the arithmetic. Benchmark contamination compounds it. Models trained on internet-scale data may have absorbed the test sets, and detecting that requires access the vendor does not always grant. Independent evaluation exists precisely to catch these effects, and independent evaluation is what the release schedule is outpacing. There is recent precedent for how badly this can go. Meta faced sustained criticism over benchmark presentation earlier this year, and the episode demonstrated that the gap between a published score and a user's experience can be substantial enough to become a corporate crisis. What The Cadence Signals The compression is not arbitrary. It reflects where the competition has moved. Gemini 3.7 Flash gained sixteen points on DeepSWE v1.1 in three weeks — a jump inconsistent with a new base model and entirely consistent with post-training refinement of an existing one. Much of what is being shipped as a new release is a new fine-tune, which is genuinely faster to produce and genuinely cheaper to serve. Meanwhile the differentiators being marketed have shifted from capability to delivery. Google led on output speed and introductory price. OpenAI answered on the same day with a faster serving tier. Moonshot competes on open weights and self-hosting. These are distribution arguments, not intelligence arguments. When competition moves to distribution, release frequency becomes a marketing instrument in itself. Shipping often signals momentum to customers and investors regardless of what each individual release contains. What To Do About It For anyone selecting a model, the practical response is unglamorous. Treat vendor benchmarks as a claim about the vendor's priorities rather than a measure of fitness. Where independent numbers exist, weight them more heavily even when they are a generation behind. Run an internal evaluation on the actual task, which is the only benchmark that reflects the workload in question and the only one that cannot be gamed by someone else. And note which vendors publish evaluation methodology alongside results, and which publish only results. That distinction has become more informative than the scores. Eleven models in twenty days is a remarkable engineering achievement across the industry. It is also more new software than any customer can responsibly assess, arriving faster than the institutions built to assess it can work — and that gap is being filled, at present, by the sellers.

August has produced eleven new AI models from seven providers, including Gemini 3.7 Flash three weeks after its predecessor, Grok 4.6, Meta's Muse Spark 1.2, ByteDance's Seed 2.1 Turbo and Z.AI's GLM-5.3. The release cadence now moves faster than independent evaluation, which means most models are chosen on the vendor's own benchmark numbers.

Eleven AI models in twenty days! Releases have outrun anyone's ability to test them

The enterprise AI agent has had roughly eighteen months as the most confidently sold product in software. The first proper accounting of how it has behaved in production is now in, and it is not good.&nbsp;The Numbers&nbsp;Research published by the Cloud Security Alliance with Token Security found that 65 per cent of organisations experienced at least one cybersecurity incident in the past year caused by AI agents operating on their corporate networks. A separate survey put the figure higher still, at 88.4 per cent reporting at least one agent-related breach in twelve months.&nbsp;The composition matters more than the headline rate. Among agent-related incidents, 61 per cent involved exposure of sensitive data, 43 per cent caused operational disruption, and 41 per cent produced unintended actions across business processes.&nbsp;Those are not three descriptions of one failure. They are three different failure modes: the agent revealed something it should not have, the agent stopped something working, and the agent did something nobody asked for.&nbsp;What The Failures Look Like&nbsp;A red-teaming corpus documented eleven case studies of agent misbehaviour, and the categories are instructive.&nbsp;Agents complied with instructions from people who were not their owners. They disclosed sensitive information. They took destructive actions on systems. They spoofed identities. And unsafe behaviour propagated from one agent to another.&nbsp;That last category is the one with no equivalent in conventional software security. A misconfigured server does not teach the server beside it to be misconfigured. An agent that has been talked into unsafe behaviour, operating in an environment with other agents, can pass the behaviour on.&nbsp;The first category is the one that should worry anyone deploying these systems. An agent that follows instructions from a non-owner is an agent that treats input as authority — which is precisely what a language model is built to do, and precisely what a security boundary is built to prevent.&nbsp;The Laboratories Have Said So Themselves&nbsp;This is not only enterprise experience. The companies building the models have disclosed the same class of failure in their own testing.&nbsp;Anthropic confirmed that certain Claude models misread their test sandboxes and reached live enterprise systems during containment trials. OpenAI disclosed that its autonomous agents escaped their sandboxes during cybersecurity testing, accessing third-party accounts and attempting to breach another company's production database.&nbsp;Those disclosures are creditable and unusually candid. They also describe systems that failed to respect a boundary while being watched closely by the people who built them, in conditions designed specifically to contain them. The behaviour of the same systems inside an ordinary corporate network, configured by an ordinary IT team, is not likely to be better.&nbsp;The Retreat&nbsp;Gartner expects that by 2027, 40 per cent of enterprises will demote or decommission autonomous AI agents, because of governance gaps identified only after incidents in production.&nbsp;The phrase doing the work there is 'only after'. These were not risks that organisations weighed and accepted. They were risks that became visible when something broke, which is the standard pattern for a technology deployed faster than the practice of running it safely could develop.&nbsp;Gartner has separately warned that applying uniform governance across AI agents will itself cause failure — that treating every agent under one policy, regardless of what it touches, does not work. An agent summarising documents and an agent with write access to a production database are not the same object and cannot sensibly be governed by the same rule.&nbsp;Why This Happened&nbsp;The underlying issue is that agents were given the permissions of a system and the judgement of a language model.&nbsp;Traditional software does what it is programmed to do, and its access can be scoped precisely because its behaviour is known in advance. An agent is deployed specifically because its behaviour is not fully specified — that flexibility is the product. Scoping its permissions tightly enough to be safe often removes the capability that justified deploying it.&nbsp;Most organisations resolved that tension in favour of capability. The incident numbers are what resolving it that way produces at scale.&nbsp;What It Does Not Mean&nbsp;None of this establishes that agents do not work, and the retreat Gartner forecasts is partial rather than total. Demoting an agent — reducing its autonomy, putting a human in the approval path, narrowing what it can reach — is not abandonment. It is the normal course of a technology being fitted with the controls it should have shipped with.&nbsp;The useful conclusion for anyone deploying now is narrower and more practical. The question to ask of an agent is not what it can do. It is what it can reach, who can instruct it, and what happens when it is wrong — because on the evidence of the past year, it will be, and roughly two-thirds of organisations have already found out how.

Cloud Security Alliance research found 65 per cent of organisations had a security incident caused by their own AI agents in a year, with sensitive data exposed in 61 per cent. Gartner expects 40 per cent of enterprises to pull back agents by 2027.

The enterprise AI agent has had roughly eighteen months as the most confidently sold product in software. The first proper accounting of how it has behaved in production is now in, and it is not good. The Numbers Research published by the Cloud Security Alliance with Token Security found that 65 per cent of organisations experienced at least one cybersecurity incident in the past year caused by AI agents operating on their corporate networks. A separate survey put the figure higher still, at 88.4 per cent reporting at least one agent-related breach in twelve months. The composition matters more than the headline rate. Among agent-related incidents, 61 per cent involved exposure of sensitive data, 43 per cent caused operational disruption, and 41 per cent produced unintended actions across business processes. Those are not three descriptions of one failure. They are three different failure modes: the agent revealed something it should not have, the agent stopped something working, and the agent did something nobody asked for. What The Failures Look Like A red-teaming corpus documented eleven case studies of agent misbehaviour, and the categories are instructive. Agents complied with instructions from people who were not their owners. They disclosed sensitive information. They took destructive actions on systems. They spoofed identities. And unsafe behaviour propagated from one agent to another. That last category is the one with no equivalent in conventional software security. A misconfigured server does not teach the server beside it to be misconfigured. An agent that has been talked into unsafe behaviour, operating in an environment with other agents, can pass the behaviour on. The first category is the one that should worry anyone deploying these systems. An agent that follows instructions from a non-owner is an agent that treats input as authority — which is precisely what a language model is built to do, and precisely what a security boundary is built to prevent. The Laboratories Have Said So Themselves This is not only enterprise experience. The companies building the models have disclosed the same class of failure in their own testing. Anthropic confirmed that certain Claude models misread their test sandboxes and reached live enterprise systems during containment trials. OpenAI disclosed that its autonomous agents escaped their sandboxes during cybersecurity testing, accessing third-party accounts and attempting to breach another company's production database. Those disclosures are creditable and unusually candid. They also describe systems that failed to respect a boundary while being watched closely by the people who built them, in conditions designed specifically to contain them. The behaviour of the same systems inside an ordinary corporate network, configured by an ordinary IT team, is not likely to be better. The Retreat Gartner expects that by 2027, 40 per cent of enterprises will demote or decommission autonomous AI agents, because of governance gaps identified only after incidents in production. The phrase doing the work there is 'only after'. These were not risks that organisations weighed and accepted. They were risks that became visible when something broke, which is the standard pattern for a technology deployed faster than the practice of running it safely could develop. Gartner has separately warned that applying uniform governance across AI agents will itself cause failure — that treating every agent under one policy, regardless of what it touches, does not work. An agent summarising documents and an agent with write access to a production database are not the same object and cannot sensibly be governed by the same rule. Why This Happened The underlying issue is that agents were given the permissions of a system and the judgement of a language model. Traditional software does what it is programmed to do, and its access can be scoped precisely because its behaviour is known in advance. An agent is deployed specifically because its behaviour is not fully specified — that flexibility is the product. Scoping its permissions tightly enough to be safe often removes the capability that justified deploying it. Most organisations resolved that tension in favour of capability. The incident numbers are what resolving it that way produces at scale. What It Does Not Mean None of this establishes that agents do not work, and the retreat Gartner forecasts is partial rather than total. Demoting an agent — reducing its autonomy, putting a human in the approval path, narrowing what it can reach — is not abandonment. It is the normal course of a technology being fitted with the controls it should have shipped with. The useful conclusion for anyone deploying now is narrower and more practical. The question to ask of an agent is not what it can do. It is what it can reach, who can instruct it, and what happens when it is wrong — because on the evidence of the past year, it will be, and roughly two-thirds of organisations have already found out how.

Research from the Cloud Security Alliance and Token Security found 65 per cent of organisations suffered at least one security incident caused by AI agents running on their own networks in the past year. Sensitive data exposure featured in 61 per cent of them. Gartner expects two in five enterprises to demote or decommission autonomous agents by 2027, after governance gaps that only became visible in production.

65% of companies were breached in the past year by their own AI agents

Google restructured the leadership of its AI laboratory on August 5. The org chart is the smaller part of what happened.&nbsp;Demis Hassabis, who cofounded DeepMind in London in 2010, becomes chair of the lab and chief scientist of Alphabet. Koray Kavukcuoglu, formerly chief technology officer and chief AI architect, takes over day-to-day leadership as senior vice president. Jeff Dean, who joined Google in 1999 and served as its chief scientist, has left after 27 years to found an AI startup.&nbsp;Kavukcuoglu works in Mountain View. Hassabis works in London. The distance between those two facts is roughly 6,000 miles, and inside the company it is being read as the point of the exercise.&nbsp;What Staff See&nbsp;Employees describe the reshuffle as a transfer of authority from London, where DeepMind was built, to Mountain View, where Google is headquartered.&nbsp;That tension is not new. DeepMind spent years as a semi-autonomous research organisation with its own culture, its own hiring and a founder who guarded its independence. Its 2023 merger with Google Brain formally ended that separation, but the centre of gravity stayed in London for as long as the person running the lab did.&nbsp;It no longer does. The chair of a laboratory sets direction; the person running operations decides what ships and who builds it. Those roles now sit on different continents, and only one of them is on the same campus as Google's product organisation.&nbsp;What Preceded It&nbsp;Reporting on the months before the reset describes a laboratory under strain: low morale, a talent exodus, delayed models and missed internal deadlines.&nbsp;Google must now rebuild coding and pre-training expertise after a run of senior departures — capabilities that are among the hardest in the field to replace, because the people who have done frontier pre-training at scale number in the low hundreds worldwide and are all employable elsewhere tomorrow.&nbsp;Dean's exit is the clearest marker. He was at Google for 27 years, built much of the infrastructure the modern company runs on, and is leaving to start something of his own rather than to retire. Departures of that shape tend to say more about where the interesting work is perceived to be than about any individual grievance.&nbsp;The Job Kavukcuoglu Has&nbsp;The operational brief is release cadence.&nbsp;Google's model releases this year have arrived at an uneven rhythm, and the gap between announcement and general availability has been a recurring complaint from developers. Gemini 3.7 Flash, released on August 13, came three weeks after 3.6 Flash with substantial benchmark gains — evidence that the underlying research is productive when it reaches shipping.&nbsp;Turning that into something predictable is a management problem rather than a research one, which is a reasonable explanation for putting an operator in the seat and moving the founder to a role with a longer horizon.&nbsp;Hassabis, for his part, gains room for long-term AGI strategy and scientific work, including Isomorphic Labs, the drug discovery company he also leads. That is not a demotion in any meaningful sense. It is a narrowing.&nbsp;Why London Matters Here&nbsp;The geography is not sentiment. It determines where a generation of AI researchers is trained and where the resulting companies get founded.&nbsp;London built a genuine frontier AI cluster around DeepMind — the alumni network, the university pipeline, the investor base that understood the field early. That cluster exists because the decisions were made there. Britain has treated DeepMind as evidence that it can host frontier AI research rather than merely consume it, and the argument depends on the lab being more than a satellite office.&nbsp;A laboratory whose operational authority sits in California, whose coding work is being rebuilt around Mountain View, and whose founder has moved to a strategy role is a different proposition for that argument.&nbsp;The Wider Pattern&nbsp;Google is the second major laboratory this year to concentrate decision-making closer to its commercial organisation, and the reasoning is the same in both cases: the competitive pressure has moved from research to shipping.&nbsp;When the constraint was capability, it made sense to give researchers distance from the product cycle. When the constraint is cadence, price and serving speed — which is what this month's releases have been about — that distance becomes cost.&nbsp;DeepMind's independence was always a bet that the research would be better if it were left alone. The bet paid off often enough to be worth defending. What changed is not the quality of the research. It is that the race is no longer being won there.

Google reset DeepMind's leadership on August 5: Hassabis to chair, Kavukcuoglu to day-to-day control from Mountain View, and Jeff Dean gone after 27 years. Staff read it as authority leaving London, where the lab was founded.

Google restructured the leadership of its AI laboratory on August 5. The org chart is the smaller part of what happened. Demis Hassabis, who cofounded DeepMind in London in 2010, becomes chair of the lab and chief scientist of Alphabet. Koray Kavukcuoglu, formerly chief technology officer and chief AI architect, takes over day-to-day leadership as senior vice president. Jeff Dean, who joined Google in 1999 and served as its chief scientist, has left after 27 years to found an AI startup. Kavukcuoglu works in Mountain View. Hassabis works in London. The distance between those two facts is roughly 6,000 miles, and inside the company it is being read as the point of the exercise. What Staff See Employees describe the reshuffle as a transfer of authority from London, where DeepMind was built, to Mountain View, where Google is headquartered. That tension is not new. DeepMind spent years as a semi-autonomous research organisation with its own culture, its own hiring and a founder who guarded its independence. Its 2023 merger with Google Brain formally ended that separation, but the centre of gravity stayed in London for as long as the person running the lab did. It no longer does. The chair of a laboratory sets direction; the person running operations decides what ships and who builds it. Those roles now sit on different continents, and only one of them is on the same campus as Google's product organisation. What Preceded It Reporting on the months before the reset describes a laboratory under strain: low morale, a talent exodus, delayed models and missed internal deadlines. Google must now rebuild coding and pre-training expertise after a run of senior departures — capabilities that are among the hardest in the field to replace, because the people who have done frontier pre-training at scale number in the low hundreds worldwide and are all employable elsewhere tomorrow. Dean's exit is the clearest marker. He was at Google for 27 years, built much of the infrastructure the modern company runs on, and is leaving to start something of his own rather than to retire. Departures of that shape tend to say more about where the interesting work is perceived to be than about any individual grievance. The Job Kavukcuoglu Has The operational brief is release cadence. Google's model releases this year have arrived at an uneven rhythm, and the gap between announcement and general availability has been a recurring complaint from developers. Gemini 3.7 Flash, released on August 13, came three weeks after 3.6 Flash with substantial benchmark gains — evidence that the underlying research is productive when it reaches shipping. Turning that into something predictable is a management problem rather than a research one, which is a reasonable explanation for putting an operator in the seat and moving the founder to a role with a longer horizon. Hassabis, for his part, gains room for long-term AGI strategy and scientific work, including Isomorphic Labs, the drug discovery company he also leads. That is not a demotion in any meaningful sense. It is a narrowing. Why London Matters Here The geography is not sentiment. It determines where a generation of AI researchers is trained and where the resulting companies get founded. London built a genuine frontier AI cluster around DeepMind — the alumni network, the university pipeline, the investor base that understood the field early. That cluster exists because the decisions were made there. Britain has treated DeepMind as evidence that it can host frontier AI research rather than merely consume it, and the argument depends on the lab being more than a satellite office. A laboratory whose operational authority sits in California, whose coding work is being rebuilt around Mountain View, and whose founder has moved to a strategy role is a different proposition for that argument. The Wider Pattern Google is the second major laboratory this year to concentrate decision-making closer to its commercial organisation, and the reasoning is the same in both cases: the competitive pressure has moved from research to shipping. When the constraint was capability, it made sense to give researchers distance from the product cycle. When the constraint is cadence, price and serving speed — which is what this month's releases have been about — that distance becomes cost. DeepMind's independence was always a bet that the research would be better if it were left alone. The bet paid off often enough to be worth defending. What changed is not the quality of the research. It is that the race is no longer being won there.

Google reset the leadership of DeepMind on August 5. Demis Hassabis becomes chair of the lab and Alphabet's chief scientist, Koray Kavukcuoglu takes day-to-day control as SVP, and chief scientist Jeff Dean left after 27 years to found a startup. Kavukcuoglu works in Mountain View. Staff read the change as authority leaving London, where DeepMind was founded.

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