The full edition
Sunday, 16 August 2026
21 pieces published that day.
- Chronicle · Lead Story
Earthquake in Flores, Indonesian death toll at least 51 with around 5,000 displaced
The magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck the Indonesian island on Saturday has a provisional toll: 51 victims, over a hundred injured, 341 aftershocks recorded by the national disaster agency. A few hours later a second magnitude 6.9 quake hit Sumatra.
- Italy · Analysis
2027 budget, the price tag of two promises: 1.2 billion for personal income tax, 1.1 for pensions
Work has begun on the last budget law of the legislature. The main hypothesis extends the 33% rate up to 60,000 euros in income; on the European front the government is aiming for 35-36 billion in flexibility between energy and defence. Two dates: September 22 and October 15.
- Europe · Analysis
France, a stopgap budget law and 124 billion to recover by 2030
The French government is working on the 2027 budget, the last before the presidential election: spending growth limited to 0.4% and ministries split between increases and cuts. A mission of independent experts puts the correction needed over the coming years at 124 billion euros.
- World & Geopolitics · Analysis
Kuril Islands, Japanese protest reported by a single Russian source
Russian media report a visit by the Russian president to the disputed islands and the summoning of the ambassador in Tokyo. No independent confirmation at present: the facts remain attributed statements. A story distinct from the morning's lead on Sudan.
- Economy & Markets · Analysis
Short week on the markets: oil below 90 dollars, gold heading towards 4,400, Seoul races ahead
A different story from the one on the yen opened this morning: with reduced volumes for the mid-August holiday, markets close out an interlocutory week, but three movements remain readable — crude oil supported by the Strait of Hormuz issue, precious metals approaching recent highs, the Korean index driven by semiconductors.
- Culture · Analysis
Green flag in Siena: the Palio dell'Assunta postponed to Monday, August 17
A downpour in the early afternoon made the tufa of Piazza del Campo unsafe. At 3.43pm the Comune displayed the green flag from the mullioned windows of the Palazzo Pubblico: the Historical Procession and the race are postponed to Monday. It is the fifth postponement of the last six Palios.
- Tech & AI · Analysis
Artificial intelligence models, competition shifts to inference pricing
OpenAI cuts the cost of GPT-5.6 Luna, Anthropic prices Claude Opus 5 at half its flagship model, DeepSeek raises the price of V4 Flash by 93%. In the same landscape, Alibaba releases Qwen 3.8 under an open licence and Google presents a compiler for inference on encrypted data.
- Zero's Briefs
Zero's Briefs
Drones over the Moscow region, Ceuta at the Council of Interior Ministers, peat fire in Belgium, Rhine at record low, West Nile in Europe, flag football, HBO Max and Hormuz.
- Editorial
The afternoon of August 16: a rising toll, a Palio postponed
Eight pieces update the day: the Flores earthquake, the Italian budget, artificial intelligence models, the postponed Palio, France, the Kurils, the markets and the Briefs. For everything else, the 6:30 edition remains valid and published.
- World & Geopolitics · Lead Story
Sudan, half a million people locked inside el-Obeid
The RSF tighten the siege on the capital of North Kordofan. The UN Human Rights Office speaks of the risk of catastrophe; a few hundred kilometres away, in al-Fasher and Kadugli, famine has already been confirmed.
- Italy · Analysis
Schengen suspended with Spain, the 15 August deadline has passed with no measures
Palazzo Chigi had confirmed the suspension of the agreement for third-country nationals arriving from Spain at least until 15 August, a date linked to the expectation of a new wave in Ceuta announced by the Spanish authorities. A rumour about the opening of the border was also circulating around the same date, which a journalistic fact-check judged false.
- Chronicle · Analysis
Ash over Etna, four days of halted airport operations in Catania: around 700 flights cancelled
Since August 7, volcanic ash emissions have limited or blocked operations at the Sicilian airport, with the suspension extended until the afternoon of the 15th. Just over 250 flights were rerouted elsewhere; the cloud moved towards Malta and northern Libya.
- Economy & Markets · Analysis
Yen stays close to 160 per dollar: the sticking point is the gap between Tokyo and Washington
Sanae Takaichi's government is open to a Bank of Japan rate hike between September and October, but the currency is not moving away from the threshold that in the past has preceded public intervention. On the other side of the gap, US data for July and August come in weaker than expected.
- Culture · Analysis
Edinburgh counts 3,649 shows, India celebrates a song: two ways of doing public culture
The 2026 Fringe declares 258 venues and works from 71 countries, then goes past four thousand titles; in New Delhi, August 15 sees the anniversary of Vande Mataram take the stage. Organizer figures and government communications: two information channels with different levels of solidity.
- Sport · Analysis
Birmingham and Paris, the two continental championships Italy leads at the halfway point
On the evening of August 14 four Italian medals at the European Athletics Championships and gold for Simona Quadarella in the 1500m freestyle in Paris. The two medal tables tell a story of squad depth that individual titles alone do not explain.
- Health · Analysis
Ebola in eastern DRC: WHO counts nearly 4,500 confirmed cases and over 2,000 deaths
This is the seventeenth outbreak recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo, caused by the Bundibugyo virus, against which the only licensed vaccine has no proven efficacy. A WHO advisory group has recommended it be evaluated in a randomized study.
- Film & Entertainment · Analysis
Venice 83 opens on September 2 with «Ink» by Danny Boyle
The 83rd Exhibition will be held at the Lido from September 2 to 12: opening in competition with Boyle's film, closing with «Dio ride» by Giovanni Veronesi, Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement to George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn. Behind it, Locarno has just closed its award list.
- Zero's Briefs
Zero's Briefs
Drones over Russia, the strait that remains closed, the Brazilian poll, the Italian budget, the monsoon in the Philippines, the yen near 160, and three stories from the tech front.
- Editorial
A siege in the lead, two sections without an article
Today the newspaper leads with el-Obeid and closes with two declared gaps: Europe and Tech & AI remain without analysis. Here is how the other eight stories were chosen and what doubts remain open.
- Logbook
Logbook: $122.95, 214 visits and a lesson on quotations
The week's accounts, the pieces held back by checks, what the tools measure and what they cannot measure.
- The Blind Spot
The economic ledger of the European heat: a $180 billion estimate that goes unreported here
A report by the Dutch bank Triodos calculates that temperature-related disruptions could reduce the European Union's output by about 1% in 2026, almost as much as the growth forecast by the Commission. The estimate has not been picked up by Italian outlets.