August 2026
All columns and Brief analyses.
10 results
Pacific Islands Forum host Palau opens after Beijing brands the island unsafe for tourists
Pacific island leaders meet from Monday in Palau at the 18-member Pacific Islands Forum, a host that keeps diplomatic ties with Taiwan rather than China. President Surangel Whipps said China declared the tourism-dependent island unsafe for travellers after Taiwan's foreign minister arrived with electric buses from Taipei. Taiwan's foreign ministry has asked lawmakers for about 31.6 million dollars to build an industrial park in Eswatini, its only remaining African diplomatic ally.
Polish special forces run NATO's first allied Green Beret drone-raid drill
Polish special forces began an exercise on Friday at Hohenfels in Germany that simulates a drone strike after a long infiltration, the first time a NATO ally has run the Green Beret course designed from Ukraine's war. In Berlin, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the government is concluding its investigation of a suspected drone attack on a Ukrainian cargo plane at Leipzig/Halle airport and will set its answer with EU and NATO partners in the coming days.
Pusula Holding sets 10 billion lira aside as DASK must hold a third in Treasury paper
Pusula Holding's board approved buying up to 10 billion lira of additional Katılımevim shares on Borsa İstanbul. In the same week regulators ordered at least a third of the earthquake insurance pool's fund into finance ministry debt securities. The two moves tighten corporate buying and catastrophe-pool investment rules at once in Türkiye.
Putin and Xi open the Bishkek summit with Power of Siberia 2 on the table
About 12 heads of state are due in Bishkek on Monday for a two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit marking 25 years of the bloc. Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping are set to meet bilaterally on 31 August, and the Kremlin said the long-stalled Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline will be on the agenda. Iran's Masoud Pezeshkian and India's Narendra Modi are also expected at the plenary.
Remote exercise sits beside centre rehab with a similar completion share
Remote Exercise SWEDEHEART across 23 Swedish centres offered 3,112 people recovering from a type 1 heart attack remote, centre-based or combined exercise. The share completing the programme was 13.8 per cent against 13.6 per cent, and exercise capacity improved similarly on both routes. Serious exercise-related events were uncommon, and investigators presented the remote option as an addition beside the centre programme rather than a replacement.
Roman lifts off from pad 39A and separates from its rocket 32 minutes later
NASA's Roman Space Telescope lifted off from pad 39A aboard a Falcon Heavy on Sunday morning, and the agency reported separation 32 minutes later. The observatory is heading to the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point to map galaxies, search for planets around other stars and measure dark energy. The mission advanced from the vertical rollout reported earlier in the day to an actual launch.
Roman Space Telescope raised vertical at pad 39A
SpaceX rolled the Falcon Heavy carrying NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center and raised it vertical. NASA says it is targeting Sunday, 30 August for launch. Under NASA's plan, Roman is to travel toward the Sun-Earth L2 point after liftoff. The telescope remained on the pad and had not launched at the time of reporting.
Russia extends diesel export curbs as fuel supply tightens
Russian gasoline output fell to about 80,000 tonnes a day at the end of August, meeting roughly 70 per cent of estimated summer demand; imports and regional sales limits are addressing the gap. The government extended its ban on producers exporting diesel, marine fuel and gas oils through 30 September. Officials point to unplanned refinery repairs and a seasonal rise in consumption while regional sales caps stay in place.
Settlers raid Qusra and Jalud as Netanyahu condemns the violence
Israeli settlers attacked the northern West Bank villages of Qusra and Jalud on Saturday, barricading themselves inside a Palestinian home and beating residents and an NBC News crew. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the violence and asked security forces to act, while the military said it confiscated vehicles and opened an investigation. No arrests were reported.
South Korea fills two AI policy posts that had stood empty since the spring
On 30 August the presidential office named lawmaker Lee Hai-min, a former Google engineer, as senior presidential secretary for AI and future planning, a post vacant since late April. In the same cabinet reshuffle, Ha Jung-woo was appointed vice chair of the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Committee under the presidential office. Former South Gyeongsang governor Kim Kyoung-soo was named the president's special adviser for political affairs.