Breaking news of Saturday, 15 August 2026
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8 checks · 17 flash
- 23:31
Kabul, five years of Taliban rule: UN denounces rights crisis
Taliban leaders gathered on Saturday in the Loya Jirga hall in Kabul to mark the fifth anniversary of their return to power, claiming stability and an end to conflict after decades of war. In a video message, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, spoke of a deep rights crisis in a country where girls over the age of twelve are denied education. In Kabul, convoys of vehicles and flags, checkpoints along the road leading to the venue. The account currently stems from a single source, the Associated Press news agency. Sources: U.S. News, Boston Globe.
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- 20:31
Lebanon, Israeli raids in the South: 11 dead according to Beirut's Health Ministry
Eleven dead, including three children and two women, and 19 wounded: this is the toll reported Saturday by the Lebanese Health Ministry following Israeli raids on a house on the outskirts of Ansar, in the Nabatiye district, and on the village of Deir al-Zahrani (Reuters via U.S. News; ABC News/AP). The Israeli prime minister’s office describes it as a response to a Hezbollah attack that seriously wounded three soldiers; the army says it killed a Radwan Force commander in Ansar, acknowledging that his family was present (Times of Israel). It is the deadliest day since the June 20 truce. President Joseph Aoun speaks of a “clear message” ahead of the next round of negotiations.
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- 20:31
Birmingham, gold medals for Stano and Fiorini in race walking: Italy rises to 15 medals
On the morning of Ferragosto at the European Athletics Championships, Italy collects five medals from the road events: Massimo Stano wins the men’s marathon race walk ahead of Spain’s Miguel Ángel López, Sofia Fiorini, 22, wins the women’s event with a world record of 3h15:11 (Il Messaggero). Silver for Francesco Fortunato and Alexandrina Mihai, bronze for Andrea Cosi in the half marathon. Italy’s medal table rises to 15 medals — 7 gold, 4 silver, 4 bronze — ahead of Great Britain (Radio Kiss Kiss). Fiorini: “The gold gives me a feeling of lightness, after this period of long training sessions.” The championships close on Sunday, August 16.
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- 18:54
Ceuta, Morocco disperses hundreds of migrants at Fnideq: Spanish armored vehicles head to Tarajal
August 15, the date indicated by social media calls to reach Ceuta, ended without mass entries. Moroccan security sources cited by the EFE agency speak of hundreds of migrants, mostly sub-Saharan, blocked in the mountainous area at the gates of Fnideq (Castillejos): around midday, about 300 people came down from the slopes of a hill and were stopped without clashes. They remain in the area. On the Spanish side, the army has moved armored vehicles closer to the Tarajal border crossing; the deployment numbers around 4,000 personnel, including national police, civil guard, riot police and 2,000 soldiers (Infobae, El Plural).
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- 12:50
Latvia, an Italian Eurofighter shoots down a foreign drone: Riga expresses thanks
On the night between August 13 and 14, two Italian Eurofighters from the Nato Baltic air policing mission took off from Šiauliai, and one shot down a drone that had entered Latvian airspace, in the Balvi area, near the Russian border. Two Turkish F-16s from Ämari were also airborne. The Latvian Armed Forces lifted the alert at 4:50 in five municipalities. The Ministry of Defence links the incursion to Russian electronic warfare activity; the origin of the aircraft has not been confirmed, and analysis of the wreckage is awaited. “Nato guarantees the protection of our skies,” a spokesperson for the Alliance wrote (ANSA, Tgcom24).
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- 12:50
Etna, Fontanarossa closed even on Ferragosto: shutdown extended until 3pm
Ash from Etna is keeping Catania airport grounded on Ferragosto: the closure has been extended until 3pm today, after management company Sac had extended it until 2am last night on August 13. In just over a week, more than 700 flights have been cancelled and 630 diverted, at an airport that handles at least 40,000 passengers a day in August. The Region has activated more than a hundred bus services and five special trains between Palermo and Catania. The lava front has descended to 1,300 metres (TorreSette, ANSA, Il Fatto).
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- 10:01
Indonesia, magnitude 7.7 quake off Flores: rescuers report 20 dead
Magnitude 7.7 quake at dawn on Saturday off Flores, eastern Indonesia: epicenter about 68 kilometers north-northwest of Ende, depth 10 kilometers according to the USGS as reported by Al Jazeera. The BMKG agency reports three aftershocks within half an hour, between 5.6 and 6.1. In Maumere rescuers speak of 20 dead, six injured and two people trapped under rubble (CNBC/Reuters); the official count from the national BNPB agency stands at one dead and four injured, with data collection ongoing. The tsunami warning has been lifted (CBS News). Teams have not yet reached the Nagekeo regency.
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- 10:01
Wildfires, England and Wales surpass 2025 record: German village evacuated
The number of wildfires in England and Wales has surpassed last year’s record total of 1,017, National Fire Chiefs Council chair Phil Garrigan told Reuters: “We have significantly exceeded the previous high figures from 2025” — Jerusalem Post/Reuters. On Thursday the UK reached 38.1 °C in west London, the hottest day of the year according to the Met Office (AP). In Germany, the 1,800 residents of Gey were evacuated, with nearly 300 hectares of the Hürtgen forest ablaze; more than 500 people were displaced in Luglon, in the Landes region (CNN).
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- 10:01
France, the Constitutional Council strikes down ban on social media for under-15s
With decision no. 2026-911 DC of 14 August, the Conseil constitutionnel struck down the article that, from next September, would have banned access to social networks for those under 15: the measure constitutes a disproportionate interference with freedom of expression and communication, and could affect services whose risks to minors have not been established (franceinfo). The judges also challenged the age verification requirement extended to everyone, including adults, without guarantees on privacy (Le JDD). The law had been approved on 26 January with 130 votes in favour and 21 against.
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- 08:30
No update.
Last check: 08:30 — no news from the past few hours meets the threshold set by the charter.
- 05:00
London protests to Israel over Netanyahu's remark on the United Kingdom
The British government has raised with Israel the words of Benjamin Netanyahu, who in a podcast released on Thursday described the United Kingdom as “the Islamic Republic of Britannia,” criticising British media coverage of Israel. A Downing Street spokesperson said on Friday that the comments were “completely unacceptable.” Former Conservative chief of staff Gavin Barwell called it “blatant Islamophobia” on X, while Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer downplayed the remark to the BBC. London has already suspended trade talks with Israel and recognised the State of Palestine. Sources: CP24/AFP, Al Jazeera.
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- 05:00
India, Modi at the Red Fort for the 80th anniversary of independence: self-sufficiency and semiconductors
Narendra Modi speaks from the ramparts of the Red Fort in New Delhi for the 80th anniversary of Indian independence: it is his thirteenth consecutive address to the nation on August 15. At the centre, production self-sufficiency (“Atmanirbhar Bharat”), semiconductor manufacturing and the recent trade agreements, which according to the prime minister “offer a great opportunity”. For the first time in the ceremony the national song Vande Mataram was performed alongside the anthem, in the year of its 150th anniversary. Coordination of the event is entrusted to the Indian Army; broadcast live on Doordarshan and on Press Information Bureau channels. Sources: India.com, IBTimes SG.
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- 05:00
Hormuz, 13 transits in one day: first movement in a corridor stalled since February
In the Strait of Hormuz, 13 transits were counted on August 14 — 4 inbound and 9 outbound — against 3 the previous day, according to the bulletin from the maritime intelligence center Windward: the news currently comes from a single source, without independent confirmation. Four outbound vessels traveled with the automatic identification system (AIS) switched off for periods ranging from eleven hours to about a month; one reappeared with an estimated cargo of 2 million barrels of Saudi crude oil. Before the crisis the average was 73 transits per day. Sources: Windward, straits.live/IMF PortWatch.
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- 05:00
Ebola in Congo, over 2,000 dead: fastest-growing outbreak ever recorded in the country
The Bundibugyo ebolavirus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has surpassed 2,000 deaths: the official Congolese count updated to August 11 indicates 2,011 deaths out of 4,381 confirmed cases across five provinces, with an estimated fatality rate of 45.9%. About a thousand deaths are concentrated in the previous three weeks. According to the WHO, between 60 and 70% of deaths occur in communities, far from care centers. For this strain there are no approved vaccines or therapies; trials are underway whose results will take months. The most recent verifiable data remains that of August 11. Sources: Al Jazeera, UN News, ECDC.
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- 01:52
Trump: after Iran's defeat, the Strait of Hormuz will be "United States territory"
Speaking Friday evening in Garden City, New York State, US President Donald Trump announced that “I will soon declare the Strait of Hormuz United States territory,” claiming credit for the ongoing naval blockade against Iran. From Tehran, the reply: the strait “has been, is and will remain Iranian,” and will be opened or closed only on Iranian command. The spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards reiterated that no ship passes without permission. On August 14, Defense Secretary Hegseth had said the naval presence could last indefinitely (ABC News, Al Jazeera).
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- 01:52
Earthquake in Colombia, 285 dead and 379 missing: decision not to request foreign rescuers criticized
Five days after the 7.4 magnitude earthquake in western Colombia, the official toll rises to 285 dead and 379 missing: on Thursday President Abelardo de la Espriella had reported 281 dead and 3,971 injured. The epicenter, according to the USGS, was about 5 kilometers from San José del Palmar; the hardest-hit cities were Cali, Pereira, Manizales and Quibdó. The national disaster risk management unit counts over 12,000 destroyed houses and more than 74,000 damaged. Under fire is the initial decision not to request international search and rescue teams (The City Paper Bogotá, ABC News).
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- 01:52
Swimming, Quadarella wins gold in the 1500 in Paris: fourth consecutive European title
At the Swimming Europeans in Paris, Simona Quadarella won the 1500 freestyle in 15’46”22, a championship record and her fourth consecutive continental title over the distance. Italy closed the day at the top of the pool competition’s medal table: before Friday’s finals, the Italian delegation had 32 medals, including 10 golds, with Sara Curtis’s world record in the 50 backstroke. In the same session, Curtis swam the 50 freestyle semifinals and Simone Cerasuolo improved the Italian record in the 50 breaststroke (Il Messaggero, Open).
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- 01:52
Athletics, Tamberi and Battocletti win gold in Birmingham: Italy leads the medal table
An Italian evening at the European Athletics Championships at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. Gianmarco Tamberi won the high jump with 2.32, cleared on his second attempt, two centimetres more than Ukraine’s Oleh Doroshchuk; third place went to Matteo Sioli, who stopped at 2.30 due to a muscle strain. Nadia Battocletti won the 10,000 metres in 31:41.17, ahead of the Netherlands’ Maureen Koster: a 5,000-10,000 double after Rome 2024. Bronze for Fausto Desalu in the 200 in 20”26. After the fifth day, Italy is first with 10 medals, 5 of them gold, ahead of Great Britain and Germany (OA Sport, Open).
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