Stories followed in this country, with their framing set against the rest of the world.
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Donald Trump threatened to bomb Oman, a US ally, just as the memorandum framing the confrontation with Iran expired and Tehran announced an escalation around Hormuz. Muscat has served for fifteen years as a channel between Washington and Tehran. Twelve countries cover the sequence: the Gulf reads it as a warning about what allied status is worth, while Nigeria and Singapore read it through the price of crude.
Donald Trump announced on 16 August that he had asked the Pentagon to "substantially" reduce joint military exercises with South Korea, citing his "very good relations" with Kim Jong-un and echoing the word "hostile" long used by Pyongyang. The next day the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise nevertheless began, with Seoul saying it was proceeding as planned. Nine countries cover the sequence, and the gap between the announcement and the ground is the central divergence.
Deployed from San Diego in November 2025, the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its roughly 5,000 sailors are to be relieved by the USS George Washington. Reports of psychological distress aboard and warnings from senators preceded the rotation. Donald Trump dismissed concerns about the deployment's length, which the Pentagon separately denies.
Donald Trump said on 14 August that he would "very soon" make the Strait of Hormuz US territory. A White House official later described the remark as a joke, a nuance some countries report and others omit. Iranian deputy minister Kazem Gharibabadi hit back. About a fifth of the world's oil and gas passes through the channel between Iran and Oman, where traffic has collapsed since February.
A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off Flores island, Indonesia, on 15 August. The terminal of Maumere port collapsed onto boarding passengers. The tsunami alert, issued then lifted, mobilised the Peruvian and Ecuadorian navies thousands of kilometres away. The death toll ranges from 1 to 20 depending on which level of the Indonesian state is quoted.
Since 9 August, Israeli settlers have besieged three homes in Qusra, in the occupied West Bank, cutting water and electricity and trapping around fifteen people. US Ambassador Mike Huckabee, an avowed supporter of the settlements, called them "Israeli terrorists". France demands prosecutions; the UN calls it criminal.
Xinhua announced the death of Zhu Rongji, premier from 1998 to 2003, on 12 August in Beijing. He engineered China's WTO entry in 2001 and the restructuring of state-owned enterprises, at the cost of tens of millions of layoffs. A rare detail: Chinese agencies say he died at 98, the Western press at 97.
Copernicus recorded the hottest June-July ever measured in Western Europe (21.62 °C) and NOAA confirmed the hottest July in the contiguous United States. A fifth heatwave hits Europe: rivers at record lows, nuclear reactors under strain, 70% of France under water restrictions. At the same time, South Korea is mobilising its army against drought — with no narrative link to Europe.
"The only one that has control of the Strait of Hormuz is the United States Navy," Donald Trump said from the Oval Office, claiming to have swept it entirely for mines. The next day a CENTCOM helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles at a Panama-flagged cargo ship running the blockade. Tehran is holding to its conditions; Pakistan and Qatar simultaneously report a diplomatic breakthrough. Oil is climbing.
The Washington Post revealed that after the NATO summit in Ankara on 8 July, Donald Trump boarded an Air Force One in front of the cameras, then immediately left it via a catering truck to board a military aircraft. The press pool landed in Britain without him. Trump confirmed it on Tuesday evening: "I do what they tell me." Three questions remain: his security, the credibility of the threat, and the White House's communication.
On Tuesday, Damascus's Fourth Criminal Chamber sentenced Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia for war crimes and crimes against humanity — the killing of children, torture leading to death. His brother Maher and seven other officials were sentenced alongside him; only his cousin Atef Najib appeared in person. The verdict was read live on state television. Assad, living near Moscow since December 2024, has not been extradited.
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