Zero's Briefs

Foreign Affairs and Geopolitics — Thirteen ships pass through the Strait of Hormuz in one day — The UAE Ministry of Defence reported that two tankers linked to Adnoc were hit while exiting the Strait. On August 14, 13 transits were recorded — 4 inbound and 9 outbound — compared with roughly 73 per day in the period before the crisis, according to monitoring by Windward and dispatches carried by Britannica. Four outbound ships sailed with their AIS transponder switched off for periods ranging from eleven hours to about a month.

Foreign Affairs and Geopolitics — Ukraine’s General Staff counts 194 engagements in twenty-four hours — On August 14, Kyiv’s forces recorded 194 clashes along the front, with 27 Russian attacks in the Kostiantynivka sector alone, according to the bulletin carried by Ukrinform. Zelensky announced measures to reinforce the Sloviansk and Kostiantynivka fronts after a briefing with commander-in-chief Mykhailo Drapatyi. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that there will be no ceasefire, reports Pravda EN.

News in Brief — Colombia earthquake death toll rises to 181 — Official figures cited by UNICEF on August 13 indicate 181 dead, more than 2,700 injured and 195 missing following the magnitude 7.4 earthquake on August 10, centred near San José del Palmar in Chocó. On August 12 the European Commission allocated 2.1 million euros in emergency humanitarian assistance. On August 14, Mexico stated that Bogotá had turned down its rescue team, accepting instead medical supplies and equipment.

Europe — Eurostat: eurozone GDP grows 0.4% in the second quarter — According to the preliminary estimate reported by La Notte Online, seasonally adjusted gross domestic product rose 0.4% in the eurozone and 0.5% across the Union as a whole compared with the previous quarter. Spain leads the major economies with +0.7%, while Italy, France and Germany stand at +0.2%; at the top of the overall ranking is Ireland with +3.9%. The report currently comes from a single source; no independent confirmation is available.

Economy and Markets — Renewables nearly matched coal in 2025 — According to reports from the International Energy Agency, the share of renewables in global electricity generation rose to 34% in 2025, up from 32% in 2024 and from 23% ten years earlier. Coal-fired generation fell by around 0.5%, the first decline outside crisis periods since 2015. New renewable installations grew by 16%, reaching a record 800 GW.

Economy and Markets — Nintendo gains 7% in Tokyo after five million «Pokémon Pokopia» units — The company announced on Thursday, August 13 that the game had surpassed 5 million units sold on the Switch 2 console; on Friday the stock closed up 7% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, reports CNBC. Investors are tracking sales of individual titles because hit games can drive shipments of the console, which has faced some difficulties. The report traces back to a single source, the company’s statement carried by the outlet.

Economy and Markets — Reddit joins the S&P 500 from August 18 — The stock gained more than 10% on Friday after the announcement of its inclusion in the index starting August 18, disclosed by S&P Dow Jones Indices and reported by TheStreet. Inclusion in a benchmark index forces funds that track it to buy the stock, generating demand independent of the company’s own results.

Health — In three African countries, malaria vaccine linked to one death averted in eight — An observational evaluation of the RTS,S/AS01E vaccine rollout, published in The Lancet in 2026 (Mwapasa et al.) and described by Gavi, estimates that over four years about one death in eight was averted among children eligible for vaccination in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi. As this is an observational study of a cluster-randomised implementation, the findings are population-level associative estimates, not measures of individual efficacy; the authors note that substantial reductions are possible even with only moderate coverage.

Health — Uganda declared its Ebola outbreak over on July 28 — Ugandan authorities declared the outbreak over after twenty confirmed cases and two deaths, according to the bulletin from the World Health Organization. The figure should be read alongside the Congolese one: same viral species, outcomes two orders of magnitude apart. The risk assessment for Europe is published by ECDC.

Sport — In Paris, Italy tops the medal table at the European Swimming Championships with 34 podiums — With the competition nearing its close, the Italian team is first, ahead of Great Britain, according to results reported by Sky Sport. On August 14, Simona Quadarella won gold in the 1500m freestyle; on the 13th, Sara Curtis had won the 50m backstroke with a world record. Today Simone Cerasuolo and Nicolò Martinenghi are in the 50m breaststroke final with the two fastest times, alongside Curtis in the 50m freestyle and Alberto Razzetti in the 200m butterfly.

Tech & AI — Ten artificial intelligence models released in two weeks — The LLM Gateway tracker recorded ten new models published by six providers in the first half of August 2026. Among them are Google’s Gemini 3.7 Flash and DeepSeek-V4-Pro-0813, both on August 13, and Z.ai’s GLM-5.3 on the 14th, identified as the most recent by AI Release Tracker, which has logged 228 models from eleven companies since November 2022. The month also included ByteDance’s Seed 2.1 Turbo and xAI’s Grok Imagine Image 2.0.

Italy — On September 3 the government becomes the longest-serving of the Republic — According to Milano Finanza, which published an interview with the Prime Minister on August 14, on September 3, 2026 the government will cross the threshold for the longest-serving administration in the Republic’s history. In the same interview, Meloni links the government’s longevity to the economic results she claims credit for, from the reduction of the spread to the prospect of exiting the excessive deficit procedure.

Number of the Day — Twelve Saudi ships round the Cape of Good Hope — Twelve vessels linked to the Saudi state are circumnavigating Africa to avoid Hormuz: 4,000-6,000 additional nautical miles and 10-14 extra days per voyage, according to Windward monitoring from August 14. It is the measurable logistical cost of the de facto closure of the Strait.

On This Day — On August 15, 2021, the Taliban returned to Kabul — Five years ago, Taliban forces retook control of Afghanistan following the withdrawal of US and NATO troops, reconstructs the Associated Press. Since then, girls over the age of twelve have been barred from education.