Meta settles social media addiction suit; Canada strikes back in U.S. trade war; at least 95 killed in Nepal flash flood

Wednesday, August 26, 2026 – Israeli strikes kill six Palestinians in Gaza, wound pregnant woman. Israeli attacks in occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. UN chief “greatly alarmed” as Israeli forces seize UNRWA’s oldest training center. President Donald Trump’s Gaza Board warns Hamas over kites as Israel continues strikes. Israel Defense Minister Israel Katz visits troops illegally occupying Syria. Israel expels Dutch officials from U.S.-backed Gaza center over settlement trade ban. Forty-one U.S. lawmakers call for the release of Palestinian-American student. Iran and Oman discuss phased Hormuz deal. China condemns latest wave of Iran sanctions. Regional oil exports plunge, with Saudi and Iranian exports first among losers. Iraq loads largest single-day oil shipment. Iran says U.S. minesweepers would be “very good targets.” Iran slams U.S. sanctions as global coercion. Israel continues assault on southern Lebanon despite “ceasefire.” Meta agrees to up to $17.1 billion settlement with 47 states over child safety claims. Tuesday’s primary results. Second “Dan Sullivan” advances to Alaska Senate ballot. Canada announces up to 50% retaliatory tariffs on American goods. ICE arrests hit record 49,571 in July. Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers attends spate of AIPAC fundraisers in L.A as part of Senate campaign. Pro-Israel Democrats win key posts on House Foreign Affairs Committee. CIA director John Ratcliffe visited Moscow, holds talks with Russian intelligence officials. Ukrainian drones destroy Wildberries warehouse, strike Russian oil refinery. Nigerian President Bola Tinubu orders rescue operation after possible mass kidnapping of 600 in Nigeria. Nepal flash flood kills at least 95, hundreds missing. At least 14 infants killed in Islamabad hospital fire. Ethnic attacks in South Kordofan kill 27 civilians, including 4 children. Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces dissolve, folding fighters into Syria’s army. Sikh separatist leader warned of new credible death threat by FBI, Canadian police. Palestine Killed and wounded in Gaza: Over the past 24 hours, seven Palestinians were killed—five in new Israeli attacks and two due to wounds sustained in earlier attacks—and 10 were injured in attacks across Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. One body was recovered from beneath the rubble. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 73,438 killed, with 174,447 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 1,303 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 4,336, while 814 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble. Israeli strikes kill six Palestinians, wound pregnant woman: At least one Palestinian was killed and several others wounded in an Israeli strike Wednesday on a tent sheltering displaced people in Al-Mawasi, Khan Younis, Al Jazeera reported. A pregnant woman was wounded in a separate Israeli strike on Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. On Tuesday, Israeli forces killed four Palestinians and wounded others in the Jabalia refugee camp, with airstrikes hitting an area near the Abu Hussein schools. Drop Site’s Mohamed Ahmed reported from the scene. One resident, whose brother was killed in the attack, told Ahmed that “Every hour there is another attack.” “Whether there’s a ceasefire or not, it’s the same. There is no difference,” he said. Watch Ahmed’s video dispatch here. A separate Israeli strike on Al-Mawasi in Khan Younis killed another Palestinian. Israeli attacks in occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem: Nablus: An Israeli settler abducted two young brothers while they were traveling on the road linking Asira Al-Shamaliya to Nablus on Wednesday, WAFA reported, after stopping their truck and seizing its keys. Israeli settlers also attacked a home in Madama on Tuesday evening, with gunshots heard in the area. Israeli lawmaker Tzvi Succot was filmed taking a sledgehammer to a Palestinian memorial in the same village, while Israeli soldiers and police stood guard. In Qusra, Israeli forces installed a gate on the only remaining road leading to three homes in Ras Al-Ain, south of Nablus, that have been under siege by Israeli settlers and soldiers for 18 consecutive days, WAFA reported. The other roads leading to the area have already been blocked with earth mounds, effectively isolating the three families, who are facing shortages of food and medicine. Tulkarm: Israeli forces raided the Shuweika suburb of Tulkarm on Tuesday, ransacked several shops, and detained two young men after assaulting them, WAFA reported. Bethlehem: On Tuesday, Israeli settlers attacked a three-person AFP team covering settler attacks on Palestinians in the village of Jannatah, near Bethlehem, in violence that injured at least five people, AFP and medics said. East Jerusalem: Israeli forces shot and wounded a Palestinian child on Tuesday during an attack on the Qalandiya refugee camp, north of East Jerusalem, also wounding several journalists, according to WAFA. Israeli authorities also removed signs bearing the Arabic name “Bab Al-Amud” at Damascus Gate in occupied East Jerusalem and installed a sign reading “Old Gate.” The Jerusalem Governorate said the move was part of a broader policy of replacing the city’s historic Arabic place names with Hebrew names and reshaping its cultural and historical identity. UN chief “greatly alarmed” as Israeli forces seize UNRWA’s oldest training center: UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned on Tuesday the “unlawful” entry and seizure of the Qalandiya Training Center, an UNRWA vocational school in occupied East Jerusalem that has been training Palestinian refugees for more than 70 years. “The Secretary-General is greatly alarmed at this development, as it will deprive young people of the vocational education they were receiving,” UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said. Israeli officials entered the institute Wednesday and began what they described as “maintenance and renovation,” as part of plans to establish an Israeli-run educational complex there. Trump’s Gaza Board warns Hamas over kites as Israel continues strikes: The Board of Peace overseeing the Gaza plan warned Hamas on Tuesday to halt all “militant activity,” including flying kites, after Israel threatened further attacks over kites, drones or balloons, France 24 reported. The UN human rights office called Israel’s threat of expulsion over children flying kites “outrageous.” A Board official said Israel must also respect the ceasefire and restrict military action to “genuine and imminent threats”—a justification Israel has repeatedly invoked for attacks in Gaza without evidence. Since Hamas agreed to a second-phase plan with Trump’s Board on July 30, Israel has killed 89 Palestinians in Gaza. Katz visits Israeli troops illegally occupying Syria: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz visited Israeli troops illegally occupying the summit of Mount Hermon, also known as Jabal Al-Shaykh, in southern Syria on Tuesday, pledging to keep forces there indefinitely, according to the AFP. Katz justified Israel’s incursions and attacks, saying it sought to “thwart threats, to eliminate remnants of the old regime, [and] to prevent dangerous consolidation of the new regime.” He also directly addressed Syria’s president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, saying, “When you wake up in the morning in your palace in Damascus, look up at Mount Hermon and see the IDF.” Syria’s Foreign Ministry noted the visit was a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty and a breach of the 1974 disengagement agreement. It comes after two separate days of Israeli strikes near Damascus in the past week. Israel expels Dutch officials from U.S.-backed Gaza center over settlement trade ban: Israel is expelling Dutch representatives from the U.S.-backed Civil-Military Coordination Center for Gaza in Kiryat Gat, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said, citing “a series of anti-Israel moves by the Dutch government,” according to Israeli and international media. In explaining the expulsion, Sa’ar pointed to a Dutch law that bans trade in Israeli products from the illegally occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights, which is set to take effect on September 22. The representatives were given one week to leave. The Netherlands is the second country expelled from the center, which was set up under President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan and is run by U.S. Central Command. Spain was removed in April. Forty-one U.S. lawmakers call for the release of Palestinian-American student: Forty-one members of Congress are demanding Secretary of State Marco Rubio secure the immediate release of Sama Safi, a 20-year-old Palestinian-American citizen and Birzeit University student held by Israel without charge since June 2. Lawmakers say her severe chronic illness has rapidly deteriorated in detention and doctors warn she risks “irreversible and life-threatening” organ damage. The letter says Safi, who suffers from Familial Mediterranean Fever, has received medication inconsistently and, since being returned to detention August 16 after a brief medical release, has reportedly received none of her daily medication or seen a doctor. “Her life is at risk on your watch,” lawmakers told Rubio. Signatories to the letter include Sens. Bernie Sanders, Chris Van Hollen, and Elizabeth Warren, and Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Greg Casar. Iran Iran and Oman discuss phased Hormuz deal: Iran and Oman announced Tuesday that they are discussing a phased framework to restore safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. In a joint statement after talks in Tehran between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi, the two sides said the proposal includes establishing a “temporary joint navigation corridor” through Hormuz and launching a “joint project to clear the Strait of mines.” Following the talks, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the sides had agreed to close the U.S.-backed southern route, and that, per the agreement, vessels entering the Persian Gulf would travel through Iranian waters, and that those exiting would use both Omani and Iranian waters. He compared the corridor to a “two-way highway.” The agreement, once binding, would bar all military vessels from passing through, Gharibabadi said. “No military vessel will be permitted to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.” Iran and Oman said any arrangement must preserve their sovereignty and called for consultations with other Gulf coastal states. Technical talks will continue on a permanent navigation corridor, the future management of the Strait, and related maritime security services. An IRGC spokesperson said Wednesday that an agreement was reached between the two countries on the share of each “in the waters of the strait” and their respective shares of its revenues, according to Tasnim. China condemns latest wave of Iran sanctions: China’s Foreign Ministry condemned the Trump administration’s “economic D-Day” against Iran, saying Beijing “firmly opposes” sanctions that “have no basis in international law.” “Economic warfare and maximum pressure provide no solution,” the ministry said, warning they will fuel tensions, disrupt the global economic and financial order, and “hurt everyone else’s interests.” Regional oil exports plunge, with Saudi and Iranian exports first among losers: Saudi and Iranian oil exports collapsed in August, while the UAE and Iraq captured some of the displaced Gulf trade, Kpler data released on Tuesday indicates. Saudi exports fell to 1.93 million barrels per day (bpd) in August, down 2.68 million from July and 3.74 million from last August. Iran shipped only 277,000 bpd, falling by 616,000 month-over-month. Meanwhile, UAE exports rose by 631,000 bpd month-over-month to 3.58 million, while Iraq gained 699,000 bpd to reach 2.15 million. Iraq, which gained from the displacement, has still exported nearly half of what it shipped before the war, according to State Oil Marketing Organization figures obtained by Rudaw, with an average of 54 million barrels per month exported at present to 106 million barrels per month sold overseas previously. Iraq loads largest single-day oil shipment: Iraq loaded nearly 11 million barrels of crude onto seven tankers at Basra on Tuesday, marking its largest single-day surge in export activity in three months, according to Kpler data. The surge follows Iran’s decision Saturday to grant several Iraqi oil tankers special permission to pass through the Strait of Hormuz after repeated requests from Baghdad, Reuters reported. Iran says U.S. minesweepers would be “very good targets”: Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, Kazem Gharibabadi, warned that U.S. mine-detection vessels would become “very good targets” if they entered the region, according to remarks reported by The New Arab. He dismissed President Trump’s comments on demining as “only aimed at calming the markets.” Gharibabadi also said that Tehran still considers itself at war and warned it could take preemptive action against the U.S., but would change its posture if the U.S. adhered to the terms of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding. Iran slams U.S. sanctions as global coercion: Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei condemned the latest U.S. sanctions on Iran, part of a campaign U.S. officials have called an “economic D-Day,” in a post on X on Tuesday. “When a bully declares that every bank, company, port, and government must choose between obeying Washington’s whims or facing American vengeance, this is no longer just about Iran,” he wrote. Lebanon Israel continues assault on southern Lebanon despite “ceasefire”: Israeli forces heavily shelled along the Litani River in the Marjayoun district on Wednesday, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported. An Israeli Apache helicopter also flew over the area and conducted a sweep above the same section of the river that had been shelled. In the Tyre (Sour) district, Israeli forces carried out a large demolition in Buyout Al-Sayyad, opposite Mansouri. On Tuesday, Israeli warplanes launched a wave of airstrikes across southern Lebanon, hitting the village of Dohat Kfar Roummane, the nearby village of Dabsha, and the important Ali Al-Taher hills outside Nabatieh. Strikes also targeted Al-Qantara and the outskirts of Srebbine in the Bint Jbeil district, Lebanon’s Al-Nahar reported. Journalist Courtney Bonneau documented artillery fire on 11 towns and areas, airstrikes on six, home demolitions in ten and machine-gun fire in three. U.S. News Meta agrees to up to $17.1 billion settlement with 47 states over child safety claims: Meta reached a landmark settlement Wednesday with 47 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories, agreeing to pay up to $17.1 billion in penalties and impose major product changes after it had been accused of endangering children with addiction to its social media platforms. The product changes for users under 18 include two-hour daily time limits on Instagram and Facebook, notification blackouts between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., and restrictions on features like beauty filters and “like” counters linked to negative social comparison. The agreement follows a suit filed by four states in the U.S. Northern District of California, in which the plaintiffs sought roughly $200 billion. Tuesday’s primary results: Darline Graham won Tuesday’s Republican Senate runoff in South Carolina, CBS News projects, defeating Rep. Ralph Norman to secure the party’s nomination for a full six-year term following the death of her brother, longtime Sen. Lindsey Graham, last month. Graham, appointed by Gov. Henry McMaster to serve out her brother’s current term, will now face Democratic nominee Dr. Annie Andrews in November. Former Gwinnett County School Board Chairman Everton Blair won Tuesday’s runoff election to serve the remainder of the late Rep. David Scott’s term in Georgia’s 13th District, defeating Scott’s daughter, Marcye Scott. Blair, who campaigned on progressive policies including a tax on households earning over $50 million, “Medicare for All,” and universal childcare, will serve only a short term, as State Rep. Jasmine Clark, who did not run in the special election, is the heavy favorite to win the regularly scheduled November election for the deep-blue Atlanta-area seat; Blair had run against Clark in that separate primary and lost. Second “Dan Sullivan” advances to Alaska Senate ballot: Former teacher Dan J. Sullivan will appear alongside Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democratic challenger Mary Peltola on Alaska’s general election Senate ballot. Alaska’s elections are ranked choice, with the top four candidates advancing regardless of party in the primary. While voters could rank both Sullivans in the general, which is also ranked choice, some may rank only one, a dynamic that could matter in what’s expected to be one of the closest Senate races in the country this year. State and federal prosecutors are investigating whether the second Sullivan’s candidacy is part of a coordinated effort to sow confusion, with a grand jury issuing subpoenas last week related to his campaign. Canada announces up to 50% retaliatory tariffs on American goods: Canada announced retaliatory tariffs of up to 50% on about 700 American products Tuesday, set to take effect September 8, following the collapse of trade talks and new U.S. tariffs. The measures, covering roughly $20 billion in annual U.S. imports to match the value of Canadian exports hit by American tariffs, include a doubling of tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum to 50%, and levies on appliances like dishwashers and stoves. Canada also announced it would maintain its 25% tariffs on American-made cars. Mélanie Joly, Canada’s industry minister, said that some of the items on the tariff list were chosen to target states that voted for Trump. ICE arrests hit record 49,571 in July: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 49,571 people in July, the highest monthly total of Trump’s second term and a 15% jump from June, according to data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the Deportation Data Project and analyzed by the Associated Press. The surge, which follows a February dip after fatal shootings in Minnesota sparked public backlash, has come through less visible tactics including traffic stops and expanded 287(g) partnerships with state and local police. Data shows more than half of those arrested in July had no criminal convictions or pending charges. It also shows that more than half were “non-custodial,” meaning that ICE arrested people in the community rather than people already in prison or held by local police. Rogers attends spate of AIPAC fundraisers in L.A.: Michigan Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers attended four AIPAC-hosted fundraisers in Los Angeles on Sunday and Monday, according to the Detroit News. At the fundraisers, Rogers reportedly conveyed “significant” reservations to AIPAC board chair Michael Tuchin about the pro-Israel group’s planned ad campaign against Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed, fearing it could galvanize El-Sayed’s supporters. AIPAC’s super PAC, United Democracy Project, spent $32 million trying to defeat El-Sayed in his primary against Haley Stevens. UDP spokesman Patrick Dorton said the group’’ board has not yet decided how it will help Rogers but remains “unequivocal in its goal of defeating Abdul El-Sayed.” Pro-Israel Democrats win key posts on House Foreign Affairs Committee: Three vocally pro-Israel House Democrats—Reps. Jared Moskowitz (Fla.), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), and Wesley Bell (Mo.)—were appointed to the House Foreign Affairs Committee Tuesday. Moskowitz will lead Democrats on the subcommittee overseeing U.S.-Middle East policy, with the congressman noting that if Democrats retake the House, he would be positioned to “help steer U.S. policy on Israel and the Middle East” as the subcommittee’s chair. All three appointees defeated left-wing primary challengers who had targeted their stances on Israel this election cycle. Progressive Rep. Mark Pocan (Wisc.) was also appointed to the subcommittee. CIA director John Ratcliffe visited Moscow, holds talks with Russian intelligence officials: Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow on Tuesday for talks with Russian intelligence officials, with officials from the Kremlin acknowledging the meetings. Ahead of the visit, Washington reportedly asked Kyiv to pause strikes on Ukraine until the American delegation departed Russia. The trip, Ratcliffe’s first known visit to Moscow as CIA director, followed the sighting of a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane and a diplomatic motorcade in the Russian capital, and comes as U.S.-mediated peace talks between Ukraine and Russia remain largely stalled. 📥 Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email DC Correspondent Julian Andreone at [email protected] Other International News Ukrainian drones destroy Wildberries warehouse, strike Russian oil refinery: Ukrainian long-range drones struck a Wildberries warehouse in Russia’s Tambov region on Wednesday, hitting the facility for the second time in five weeks and burning it to the ground. Two people were injured in the attack. Ukraine’s General Staff also announced that a drone hit a Lukoil refinery in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region overnight. The facility, which has a processing capacity of about 125 million barrels annually, remained on fire after the attack. Separately, Russia struck a residential building in northern Ukraine’s Chernihiv, killing a woman and a 4-year-old child, and a house in Lipetsk, killing two more. Tinubu orders rescue operation after possible mass kidnapping of 600 in Nigeria: Nigerian President Bola Tinubu ordered security agencies to launch an immediate rescue operation Tuesday after an armed group allegedly kidnapped about 600 women, children, and elderly people during an attack on a mosque in Niger State, according to a video posted by the group and cited by residents. A district official said 30 people were killed in the attacks. At least 2,000 people fled into neighboring Benin, according to a tribal official. Nepal flash flood kills at least 95, hundreds missing: A massive flash flood swept away villages in Nepal’s mountainous Rasuwa district near the Tibet border Wednesday, killing at least 95 people and leaving hundreds missing, including 384 tourists and eight South Korean employees at a hydropower project. Across the border in Tibet’s Gyirong county, a mudslide caused “major casualties” and cut off roads, communications, and power, prompting Chinese President Xi Jinping to call for “all-out” search efforts. At least 14 infants killed in Islamabad hospital fire: At least 14 infants were killed when a fire broke out in the mother and child health ward of Pakistan’s state-run Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. Health Minister Mustafa Kamal attributed the blaze to an air conditioner explosion that spread quickly amid ample oxygen in the ward. Grieving parents claimed that the ward lacked proper fire exits, that doctors and nurses were absent at the time of the fire, and that bodies were removed “in boxes” without allowing families to view them. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif suspended his health secretary and ordered an investigation into the incident. Ethnic attacks in South Kordofan kill 27 civilians, including 4 children: Attacks in Sudan’s South Kordofan killed at least 27 civilians, including four children, a Sudanese medical group said Tuesday, in the latest bloodshed from an ethnic conflict layered on top of the country’s civil war. The killings were carried out by the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) in Qardud and Abu Hamama, areas home to the Otoro tribe, a minority in the Nuba Mountains, according to the Sudan Doctors Network, which tracks casualties nationwide. Separately, the SPLM-N claimed that it re-established control over its regional stronghold of Kauda on Wednesday, releasing footage showing its forces entering civil administration offices in the city. Kurdish-led SDF dissolves, folding fighters into Syria’s army: The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces announced its dissolution as an independent military force, completing its merger into the Syrian state, commander Mazloum Abdi said in a televised speech from the presidential palace in Damascus, Rudaw reported. “We announce today the end of the mission of the Syrian Democratic Forces and announce with full responsibility its dissolution as an independent military force,” Abdi said. The U.S.-backed SDF, which spearheaded the fight against the Islamic State and once controlled an autonomous zone in Syria’s northeast, agreed to integrate in January after losing most of its territory in a government offensive led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa. U.S. envoy Tom Barrack praised the outcome, crediting Trump’s “leadership.” The core Kurdish YPG had already been folded into state forces, with its commander named deputy defense minister for eastern Syria in March. Sikh separatist leader warned of new credible death threat by FBI, Canadian police: Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun said Tuesday that FBI agents visited him August 12 to warn him of a new credible threat to his life and advise against travel, followed by a Tuesday phone warning from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, though neither agency disclosed details of the plot. Pannun, who is considered a terrorist by India for advocating a separate Sikh state, said he remains “unfazed and undaunted.” The warnings, issued under a U.S. “Duty to Warn” law requiring notification of credible murder threats, come as Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national who pleaded guilty to conspiring in a 2023 plot to assassinate Pannun after being directed by an Indian government employee to do so, awaits a November sentencing in Manhattan federal court. 📖 READ “Access to Oxygen Is Not a Medical Luxury”: With No Spare Parts Allowed In, Gaza’s Hospital Equipment Is Collapsing 🛒 SHOP for your Drop News/Not Bombs Hoodie 💬 JOIN our Whatsapp Broadcast Channel for the latest reporting, podcasts, and breaking news, delivered directly ⚠️ TOO MANY EMAILS? You can go to your account settings to unsubscribe from the Drop Site Daily newsletter—while still getting the rest of our reporting “Pro-Israel Democrats win key posts on House Foreign Affairs Committee: Three vocally pro-Israel House Democrats—Reps. Jared Moskowitz (Fla.), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), and Wesley Bell (Mo.)—were appointed to the House Foreign Affairs Committee Tuesday.” The upper echelon of the Democratic Party shows no signs of decreasing political malfeasance. It seems increasingly clear that the uniparty theory of Congressional loyalty to the Israeli Zionist project is no longer debatable. AIPAC representatives seem unworried of voter blowback. More important than ever that the search for justice continues! The work that the Hind Rajab Foundation is doing to track down and bring Israeli criminals to justice is one that is vital in the effort to hold Israel accountable. Let us hope they will also turn their sights on the criminal leaders of the countries of the west who are co-perpetrators of these crimes. Find out what they’re doing here: https://www.hindrajabfoundation.org The least we can do is donate to help them: Support the Hind Rajab Foundation https://donate.stripe.com/cN228hbY5g7jaM84gg