US President Donald Trump. (Photo: AP)Hegseth Disputes Warship Reports: Hegseth also pushed back on reports of worsening conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, calling them misrepresented, though he did not directly address claims of supply shortages or crew welfare concerns during its deployment since November.
Oil supply is expected to fall 4% this year, the International Energy Agency said, as the standoff continues.
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Iranian forces have shot down an MQ-9 drone over Hormozgan province using a "new advanced defence system", state television reported. The report said the drone was intercepted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, but did not provide independent evidence of the claim. The MQ-9 Reaper is widely used by the United States for surveillance and strike missions across the Middle East.
NATO fighter jets operating under the Baltic Air Policing mission shot down a foreign drone that entered Latvian airspace over the Balvi region near the Russian border, Latvian authorities said on Friday.
The military said the drone crossed into Latvia "as a result of Russian electromagnetic warfare" but did not identify its origin. Additional air defence units have been deployed along Latvia's eastern border, while authorities said airspace alerts issued in Balvi, Rezekne, Preili, Augsdaugava and Aluksne had been lifted. NATO said an investigation was underway and it remained in close contact with Latvian officials.
(ANI inputs)
Severe rainfall in cities east of Tokyo last night left roads and homes flooded and stranded thousands of people. The rain caused power outages across the city, which left five people killed and one missing
https://platform.x.com/widgets.jsRecord-breaking rainfall that pounded cities east of Tokyo overnight flooded roads and dozens of homes, stranded thousands of people, caused power outages and left at least five people dead and one missing. pic.twitter.com/thlugqTo1A
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 14, 2026
Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar has told US Chargé d’Affaires Natalie Baker in Islamabad that “the implementation of the Islamabad MoU … in letter and spirit is the only way forward”.
Dar, who is also Pakistan's Foreign Minister, in a statement on X, said that the discussions centred on Pakistan-US bilateral cooperation and recent regional developments.
Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine is not possible, Reuters reported. "Ceqasefire should be declared only after a long-termsettlement is reached."
The UK Parliament website showed a parliamentary standards probe into Reform UK leader Nigel Farage as active, after previously being shown as suspended, Reuters reported. The update came after Farage was re-elected to House.
Farage made headlines in May after the country’s Parliamentary Standards Commissioner launched an inquiry into an undeclared $7 million gift he received in the run-up to the 2024 election.
The Reform UK party founder has maintained that the money from Thailand-based billionaire Christopher Harborne was a “reward for campaigning for Brexit for 27 years”. He told news website The Sun that he was under “no obligation” to declare the gift because it had been given before he became an MP.
More than 600 visas had been revoked in a single month as part of a crackdown on birth tourism, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said, declaring that “American citizenship is not for sale”.
What did Rubio say about ‘birth tourism’?Rubio said in a post on X that birth tourism rings were profiting from the exploitation of America’s laws by coaching foreign nationals to defraud the US visa system, arranging travel and housing, and forging documents to help foreign nationals secure citizenship for their children. Read more
American citizenship is not for sale.
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) August 12, 2026
But elaborate birth tourism rings are profiting off the exploitation of America's laws- coaching foreigners to defraud the U.S. visa system, arranging travel and housing, and even forging documents, all to enable foreign nationals to obtain…
The first India-Israel Hackathon, held on the theme of “Restorative Healthcare,” has drawn a large turnout of young innovators from both countries working on technology-based ideas for healthcare and rehabilitation, PTI reported.
India’s Ambassador to Israel, JP Singh, honoured the winners of the hackathon this week.
What did the winning teams build?One of the winning entries in Israel was a device fitted to a wheelchair that uses the natural turning of the wheelchair’s front wheel to move a person’s leg, without needing any electricity. The idea is to offer a simple, low-cost way to help with limb movement and rehabilitation.
The United States has accused more than 40 countries, including India, of taking part in what it called a shadow network that helps China get around steep American tariffs. Officials also outlined plans to use artificial intelligence to spot and act on such shipments, PTI reported.
What does the US report say?A report titled ‘The Great Transshipment Scam’ was released by Peter Navarro, the top trade adviser to President Donald Trump. According to PTI, Navarro said the practice grew more common after 2018, when the Trump administration first placed Section 301 tariffs on China over trade practices it considered unfair.
Eighteen people were injured, two of them seriously, after a passenger train derailed in southern England on Thursday, trapping passengers inside carriages that had toppled onto their sides, CNN reported.
Four key points:
The United States said on Thursday it can keep up its naval blockade of Iran for as long as needed, and warned of tougher economic measures against Tehran as ceasefire talks stall, oil supplies tighten and tensions build across the region.
Four key points:
US President Donald Trump is ordering the US Navy to remove the advanced system used to launch fighter jets from its newest type of aircraft carrier and return to using older steam catapults that he has long said he prefers, according to a directive issued Thursday.
The new mandate would likely cost billions of dollars and revert the Navy’s most advanced ships to a system that takes more sailors to operate and is more difficult to maintain.The memo directs the Pentagon and the Navy to present Trump with plans to remove the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, also known as EMALS, within two months. It also says the Ford-class carrier's electromagnetic weapons elevators should be replaced.
The move comes after years of Trump railing against the new, magnetically powered catapult system that shoots fighter jets off the deck of the carriers. It also comes at a time when the US military is trying to find funding from Congress for all its desired equipment and as the Navy is struggling to fill its ships with enough sailors.
Trump's ire with the new technology goes back to at least 2017 in his first term, when he claimed the new system is “not good” and “doesn't have the power” of the older, steam systems in an interview with Time magazine.“You're going to goddamned steam,” Trump said at the time.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insisted reports of deteriorating conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln were "completely misrepresented," pushing back against growing congressional pressure over the carrier's record-breaking, nearly nine-month deployment. His remarks came a day after Senator Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to Pentagon leadership raising serious concerns.
Key points from Blumenthal's letter:
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday that the United States is going to apply measures that have "never been seen" on Iran.
"Watch this space for more announcements coming next week because we are going to apply measures like have never been seen in the history of economic isolation on a country," Bessent said in an interview on on Newsmax's "Rob Schmitt Tonight" program.
"It will be a combination of economic isolation like the world has never seen before, and the continued blockade in the Strait of Hormuz that will keep anything from going in or out of the Iranian ports," Bessent said.
The Emirati Ministry of Foreign Affairs has “strongly condemned” Iran’s targeting of two of Abu Dhabi’s energy vessels while transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
The ministry said the attacks constitute a “flagrant violation” of UNSC Resolution 2817, which affirms freedom of navigation and rejects the obstruction of international maritime routes.
It added that the “targeting of commercial shipping” and the use of the strait as a tool of “economic coercion or blackmail” represent an act of “piracy by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps”.
The UAE called on Iran to “halt these unprovoked attacks” and ensure full commitment to “the cessation of hostilities” – which it said are a “threat to the stability of the region and its people”.
The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company said no injuries were reported in the attacks and the situation was brought under control.
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