News from around the world: regional politics, global trends, and the problems that cross borders.
The United States formally asked the Philippines in July to extradite detained church leader Apollo Quiboloy on federal sex-trafficking and fraud charges. Philippine courts must first address the request, and the countries' treaty leaves room to defer or temporarily arrange his surrender.
Victoria's lower house passed a bill on July 30 that would give eligible employees a right to work from home for up to two days a week where reasonable. The measure still needs approval from the Australian state's upper house before its proposed September 1 start.
Houthi forces attacked Yemen's government-held port of Mokha twice on August 9 and claimed a drone strike on Saudi Aramco's Jazan refinery. The raids followed deadly attacks on Saudi-backed troops and widened an escalation threatening Yemen's 2022 de facto truce.
A US Senate committee voted 8-5 on August 6 to hold former federal health official Anthony Fauci in contempt after he declined to answer questions about the COVID-19 response. The dispute centers on whether a 2025 presidential pardon removed his risk of prosecution and therefore his basis for invoking the Fifth Amendment.
The Trump administration is drafting a ban on imports of new Chinese optical transceiver models, according to a Reuters report published August 4. The US Federal Communications Commission could still change or abandon the proposal, while replacement suppliers may face capacity constraints.
Nagasaki marked 81 years since the US atomic bombing on August 9, with Mayor Shiro Suzuki warning that reliance on nuclear deterrence raises the risk of war. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Japan currently maintains its three non-nuclear principles but did not commit to preserving them unchanged.
Antananarivo's $173 million cable-car system stopped carrying passengers after only a few weeks of operation. Fares six to eight times the minibus price put the service beyond many commuters' budgets, while a coup left its future undecided.
The US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network imposed a record $125 million penalty on UBS Financial Services on August 3, 2026. Regulators said the broker-dealer failed to fix known gaps in foreign-currency wire monitoring and customer checks after a 2018 settlement.
UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on August 5 for talks centered on Iran, Ukraine and Gaza. Afterward, Miliband declined to revisit his past criticism of US President Donald Trump and called the United States the United Kingdom's closest ally.
The US Senate confirmed Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a 51-44 vote on August 5. She takes over after repeated leadership changes and the loss of more than one-quarter of the agency's workforce.
A media estimate put revenue from US-managed Venezuelan oil sales above $13 billion by late July 2026. The money remains Venezuelan property under a US order, but lawmakers say public records do not show a full account of its custody and use.
An aviation publication reported that Bamboo Airways halted scheduled passenger flights on August 1 during a restructuring. Affected travelers may need to pursue the ticket seller, card issuer or a national passenger-rights process, depending on how and where they booked.
Aso Kumamoto Airport said flights were expected to operate normally from August 2 after the July 28 earthquake, subject to aftershock conditions. Rail and road access can change separately, while ticket and insurance options depend on the booking and contract.
US Assistant Secretary of State S. Paul Kapur began a weeklong trip to India and three Central Asian countries on August 5, with trade, investment and supply-chain resilience on the agenda. The visit follows two years of US efforts to turn the C5+1 diplomatic forum toward critical-minerals projects, although many deposits and deals remain at an early stage.
US regulators linked 345 salmonella cases in 27 states to jalapeños grown in Sinaloa, Mexico, on August 5. A distributor recalled the peppers after Chipotle and QDOBA removed affected supplies from their restaurants.
Hungary kept one turbine at the Paks nuclear plant running at 240 MW on August 3, avoiding an expected full shutdown. Record-low Danube levels had cut the plant to 12 percent of its usual 2,000 MW output and prompted emergency conservation measures.
Russian missile and drone attacks killed 17 people and wounded at least 44 in Kyiv and the surrounding region overnight into August 5, Ukrainian officials said. None of the incoming missiles was stopped, while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said interceptor deliveries had fallen sharply.
Drone attacks killed seven people at a Russian Black Sea resort on August 3 as strikes across Russia and Ukraine caused more civilian casualties. Two Turkish-owned ships were also hit after leaving Novorossiysk, extending the danger to merchant shipping.
