US could not verify Israeli warnings of Iran plots against Trump, sources say – Reuters

  1. US could not verify Israeli warnings of Iran plots against Trump, sources say  Reuters
  2. Why officials decided to smuggle Trump out of Turkey with a catering truck and a secret plane  CNN
  3. The Flawed Logic of Trump’s Airplane Escape  The Atlantic
  4. CIA had ‘low confidence’ in Iranian threat before Trump switched planes in Turkey  washingtonpost.com
  5. Late Night Ribs Trump for Leaving Staff Behind on Air Force One  The New York Times
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Romania shuts only nuclear plant as heat causes drop in Danube River level – BBC

  1. Romania shuts only nuclear plant as heat causes drop in Danube River level  BBC
  2. Romania shuts its last nuclear reactor as drought-hit Danube river drops to record low  The Guardian
  3. Romania shuts nuclear plant, Hungary dams dry Danube River  DW.com
  4. Romania begins shutdown of nuclear plant’s 2nd reactor amid low water levels on Danube River  NBC News
  5. Romania's Nuclearelectrica starts shutting down sole working nuclear reactor over drought  Reuters
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‘Absolutely unacceptable’: Japan condemns visit by Vladimir Putin to disputed Kuril Islands – The Guardian

  1. ‘Absolutely unacceptable’: Japan condemns visit by Vladimir Putin to disputed Kuril Islands  The Guardian
  2. ‘Absolutely unacceptable’: Japan PM Takaichi condemns Putin’s visit to disputed Kuril Islands  CNBC
  3. Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 13, 2026  Institute for the Study of War
  4. US backs Japanese sovereignty over disputed islands after Putin visit  Euronews.com
  5. Putin visits disputed island near Japan, drawing Tokyo's ire  Reuters
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Taiwan says it was hit by ‘abnormal’ AI-assisted cyber-attack – The Guardian

  1. Taiwan says it was hit by ‘abnormal’ AI-assisted cyber-attack  The Guardian
  2. Hackers used autonomous AI agents to attack Taiwan. Is this the future of cyberwarfare?  CNN
  3. Autonomous AI attacks pose 'clear and present danger' to critical infrastructure  The Register
  4. Taiwan says it was targeted last month in AI-driven hacking campaign  Reuters
  5. Chinese Hackers Created a 'Near-Autonomous' Attack Using Open-Source AI  PCMag
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Russian plot to kill Ukrainian American thwarted in Warsaw, says Polish PM – The Guardian

  1. Russian plot to kill Ukrainian American thwarted in Warsaw, says Polish PM  The Guardian
  2. Poland arrests Russian allegedly hired to kill Ukrainian-American who was 'inconvenient to the Putin regime'  Fox News
  3. Poland says it thwarted a Russian plot to kill American citizen in Warsaw  NBC News
  4. Kremlin hired assassin to murder American on Polish soil, says Tusk  The Telegraph
  5. Russian plot to kill American citizen thwarted by Poland, prime minister says: "First situation of its kind"  CBS News
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Kennedy Center board votes again to renovate building and inscribe Trump’s name on it – report

The center has until next week to present plan to judge who had blocked earlier rehab and name change

The board of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington is said to have voted once again to move forward with Donald Trump’s controversial plan to temporarily shutter the building for substantial renovations, as well as to inscribe the US president’s name on the facade of its building, despite a federal order for his name to be removed from the signage.

The board – mostly handpicked, staunch allies of the president – voted “to close the Kennedy Center’s main building, while keeping a newer addition to the campus, known as the Reach, open for limited programming and to operate as an active memorial to John F Kennedy”, according to the New York Times, which was first to report the results.

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Judge dismisses Trump lawsuit that claimed Harvard failed to protect Jewish students

Federal court rules administration failed to plausibly show ongoing violation of civil rights law

A US federal ⁠judge ⁠has dismissed ​the Trump administration’s lawsuit that ⁠claimed ​Harvard ‌University failed ‌to protect Jewish ‌and Israeli students from harassment in the aftermath of the war in Gaza.

In a ruling on Thursday morning, US district ‌judge Richard Stearns in ​Boston said the administration’s lawsuit filed in March failed to plausibly ​show ​an ongoing ​violation ‌of ​federal ​civil rights law on Harvard’s campus.

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The U.S.-Led Middle East Order Is Over. The Mecca Agreement Proves It. – Council on Foreign Relations

  1. The U.S.-Led Middle East Order Is Over. The Mecca Agreement Proves It.  Council on Foreign Relations
  2. Turkey lays out plans for defence pact with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia  Reuters
  3. Mutual defence: The alliances that preceded Turkiye-Pakistan-Saudi pact  Al Jazeera
  4. The Mecca agreement’s message to Washington  The Hill
  5. What to make of a new Saudi-led defence pact  The Economist
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Israeli troops force families from homes amid settler terror campaign in West Bank

Former PM of Israel calls events ‘concerted and meticulous attempt at ethnic cleansing’ against Palestinians

Israeli troops have forced two Palestinian families to leave their besieged West Bank homes, the day after a top Israeli commander personally promised he would end a violent settler campaign to drive them out.

Israeli soldiers also took over eight other homes in Qusra early on Thursday, telling the village’s mayor, Abdul Azim Wadi, that the buildings were needed for a days-long operation to remove the settlers. They later relinquished six. Settlers still roam the village.

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What you need to know about the water crisis in Puerto Rico – Yale Climate Connections

  1. What you need to know about the water crisis in Puerto Rico  Yale Climate Connections
  2. One Puerto Rico condo building, 10 families, no water  NPR
  3. Puerto Rico is rationing water amid historic drought  Reuters
  4. With Puerto Rico’s water crisis, climate change meets ineptitude  Los Angeles Times
  5. Philly Puerto Rican community pressures federal officials to act amid ‘humanitarian crisis’  WHYY
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Behind England’s bumper A-level results lie record levels of regional disparities

Need for Burnham to tackle regional inequality could not be clearer as London becomes ‘educational outlier’

Andy Burnham has put regional inequality at the top of his agenda as prime minister, and nowhere is the need for doing so clearer than in education.

As England’s A-level results were published on Thursday morning, students across the country were pictured celebrating a bumper crop of results, with record rates of As and A*s.

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