Aug. 5, 2026 - Daily News Digest
On this day in 2010, thirty-three workers became trapped after a mine in the Atacama Desert of Chile collapsed, and the resulting rescue took 69 days, attracting international attention.
QotD: "Ballistic missile interceptors could have saved the lives of those killed today” — Ukrainian president Zelensky.
UKR/RUS/MIL – Russia kills 17 in missile strikes on Ukraine, destroys warehouses, logistics.
Ukrainian air defences downed nearly 90% of the 115 drones launched by Russia but failed to intercept a single one of the 24 ballistic missiles and four Zircon cruise missiles, the air force said.
Russia's Defence Ministry said it had struck seven logistics centres in Kyiv and the region, accusing them of being used to store or distribute dual-use goods and drone components.
For months, Ukraine has suffered from a critical shortage of air defence missiles for U.S. Patriot systems, the only weapon in its arsenal capable of downing Russia's ballistic missiles, which travel at many times the speed of sound.
Since the Iran war broke out in February, Patriots earmarked for Ukraine have been diverted to the U.S. military and U.S. allies in the Gulf.
Russia, meanwhile, has intensified its ballistic strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities as its advances on the frontline have slowed considerably this year.
ISRAEL/LEBANON/MIL – Israeli military strikes southern Lebanon after evacuation warning to village.
The Israeli military said it had begun targeted strikes in southern Lebanon on Wednesday in response to a "Hezbollah violation", a day after the latest round of U.S.-facilitated talks between Israel and Lebanon took place in Rome.
It dropped flyers on the village in late June telling residents to leave as Israel had added Mansouri to a self-declared buffer zone in southern Lebanon, a senior Lebanese military official told Reuters at the time.
On June 26, Lebanon and Israel agreed to a U.S.-brokered security arrangement intended to ease hostilities along the border, but Israel said it would maintain a security zone in southern Lebanon to eliminate the threat of Hezbollah.
HOUTHIS/SHIPPING – Houthis threaten to expand Red Sea attacks, and claim strikes on Saudi tanker.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/world/middleeast/houthis-claim-attack-saudi-arabia-tanker.html
The Houthis, an Iranian-backed militia in Yemen, said Wednesday that they had struck a Saudi oil tanker in the northern Red Sea, and they threatened to intensify attacks there in an effort to close “all access routes” to Saudi oil shipments.
The Houthi military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, said the group had fired ballistic missiles at a Saudi tanker called Wafa near the Saudi port city of Yanbu, though he did not say when the attack had occurred. The Saudi authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Houthis’ claim.
The Houthis declared a blockade of Saudi shipping last month. The territory they control in Yemen is near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a narrow waterway that leads into the southern end of the Red Sea.
The group claimed on Wednesday to have attacked eight ships linked to Saudi Arabia since the blockade. The strikes have forced some shipping companies to reroute to the northern part of the Red Sea. The group’s latest threat suggested that it would pursue Saudi tankers there also, in waters heading toward the Suez Canal, another crucial artery for global trade. The global oil price, after two days of declines, jumped 1 percent on Wednesday, to about $80 a barrel.
CEUTA/MIGRATION – Who is responsible for the Ceuta border surge?
It was not until Sunday that Moroccan Interior Ministry spokesperson Rachid El Khalfi said "the malicious exploitation of the digital space," "misleading information" and misinterpretations of a Spanish Supreme Court ruling were to blame for the incident.
Morocco has since said it never intended for the border surge to happen and has promised full cooperation with Spain.
Spain, however, was quick to suspect Moroccan involvement, with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez calling the border breach an "attack on our territorial sovereignty." Videos have, after all, surfaced showing Moroccan security forces doing nothing to stop the crowd surging forward.
Efforts have been made to try and explain what caused the migrant crisis. Some have said Spain's recent rapprochement with Algeria may have angered Morocco, while others have speculated US influence may have played a role, although there is no reliable evidence to support the latter theory.
Oltmer says Moroccan authorities carry considerable responsibility for the Ceuta crisis, as "such a border crossing could never have taken place if the Moroccan side hadn't looked the other way." It was this inaction that made possible a border breach of this magnitude in the first place, he told DW.
TAIWAN/MIL – Taiwan launches annual war games as pressure from China grows.
Taiwan's largest military drills of the year began Wednesday as the island democracy attempts to prepare its population for a potential Chinese invasion.
The annual "Han Kuang" exercise, which runs from August 5-14, stages combat scenarios for troops and reservists to practise responding to an attack on the island, defence officials say.
Civilians will also be put through their paces during exercises that include a temporary slowdown of mobile internet speeds as well as air raid drills.
China claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to seize the island of 23 million people.
Beijing has ramped up military pressure on Taiwan in recent years, deploying fighter jets and warships around the island on an almost daily basis and carrying out large-scale drills.
The Chinese coast guard has also stepped up its grey zone activities – actions that fall short of war – around Taiwan and its outer islands.
MYANMAR/DIPLOMACY – Myanmar civil war nears a rare opening for talks as diplomacy gains ground.
After more than five years of fighting, a rare window for talks over Myanmar's devastating civil war is appearing, driven by a shift on the battlefield where the military has regained ground and mounting regional pressure to engage.
Analysts say the change is most visible in the position of an umbrella body that brings together several major ethnic armed organisations and the shadow government that includes remnants of the last elected administration.
The Steering Council for the Emergence of a Federal Democratic Union (SCEF) said after a meeting last month with Thai and Philippine foreign ministers, who separately also met with Myanmar's military negotiation committee, that it is committed to pursuing a political settlement.
Myanmar's junta chief turned president Min Aung Hlaing has yet to accept the SCEF as a negotiating partner, but his visit this week to Thailand, which is pushing for the gradual re-engagement of the regional ASEAN bloc with its war-torn neighbour, highlights wider efforts for a truce.
US/CHINA/BATTERIES – US to halt key metal waste exports in push to break China reliance.
The U.S. is banning the export of lithium-ion battery and tungsten waste in an effort to curb its reliance on China and secure more of the critical materials its defense industry needs.
Beginning later this month, certain battery scrap and tungsten waste in the U.S. must be sold domestically, according to a Department of Commerce rule published on the Federal Register. The ban will be in effect for a year.
The move comes as the U.S. and other Western governments race to secure the raw materials that are crucial for defense and other industries, but are largely controlled by China. Beijing began throttling exports of some of those materials in recent years, raising global alarm.
Tungsten is a chemical element that is used in tank armor, weapons and engine components because of its high strength and heat resistance. China is the world’s largest producer of tungsten, according to the United States Geological Survey, and has included the element in its export restrictions.
Lithium-ion battery scrap—often referred to as black mass—contains lithium and other critical materials such as cobalt, nickel, manganese and graphite. Those materials can be recovered from black mass through recycling processes such as chemical processing or smelting.
MEXICO/ENERGY – Sheinbaum weighs pilot fracking projects to boost gas production, sources say.
Mexico already produces a small amount of crude oil and gas through fracking, but the government and state company Pemex are evaluating a much broader rollout as the country seeks to reduce its reliance on U.S. gas imports.
Hydraulic fracturing is a technique in which water, sand and chemicals are injected at high pressure to break apart rock and extract resources. The technique has long raised concerns over groundwater contamination, methane emissions and earthquakes, while also delaying the transition to renewable energy.
Once an opponent of fracking, Sheinbaum has recently changed her position and has said that new techniques exist with lower environmental impact and more efficient water use.
A few weeks ago, Sheinbaum received the findings of a panel of specialists in geology, water, engineering and environmental issues tasked with helping the government "make the best possible decision," three of the sources said.
If approved, Pemex could begin work on the first pilot projects as early as September, one of the three sources said.
US/IRAN – Trump says deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could come as early as Wednesday.
https://apnews.com/article/iran-war-us-hormuz-trump-august-5-2026-ecdbd96f2b46c70beb5926d8508f9c55
The U.S. president was asked by reporters traveling with him in California about a report on the Axios news site that an announcement on the Strait of Hormuz could be made on Wednesday.
“It could happen. Tomorrow or the next day,” he said, speaking Tuesday evening California time. “A lot of progress has been made.”
Iranian and Omani negotiators have finalized the draft deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and are awaiting a final approval from Iran’s supreme leader, two regional officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The officials, who were briefed on the negotiations, portrayed the potential deal as a temporary solution to the U.S.-Iranian dispute over vessels’ transit through the Strait of Hormuz. They said it is tied to the agreement reached between the U.S. and Iran in June that aimed at ending the fighting and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, but which ultimately collapsed.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter, said the potential deal will pave the way for the U.S. and Iran to resume negotiations to reach a final deal on Tehran’s nuclear program.
Earlier, they had said the possible agreement between Iran and Oman calls for ships to enter the Persian Gulf through an Iranian-controlled route and exit through a route controlled by Oman. Service fees would be charged for providing security and preserving the maritime environment, the officials said.
DENUBE/WWII – Low water levels in the Danube revealing Nazi shipwrecks.
https://www.dw.com/en/low-water-levels-in-the-danube-revealing-nazi-shipwrecks/a-78242343
Europe's second-longest river, the Danube, has reached levels so low that sunken German battleships from World War II have emerged from the dried-out riverbed.
Near Prahovo, a Serbian port where the Danube separates the country from Romania, a rusty hull and broken mast has become visible where the Nazis once purposely sunk their own ship to avoid capture by the Russians.
The Serbian government has long sought help from the European Union to remove what are believed to be hundreds of ships, some still laden with weapons, from the river floor. But pinpointing their exact locations without accidentally disturbing the explosives still onboard has been an issue.
Low water levels in the Danube have pushed some power plants in parts of Central and Eastern Europe to the brink of shutting down.