USA - President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced "the most crushing" economic operation against "maniacs" in Iran, while sternly warning other countries helping Tehran. "No one has given the Islamic Republic of Iran a greater opportunity to make a Deal than me," Trump began in a lengthy post on Truth Social. "TRAGICALLY, for them, they have failed to take it. Therefore, today, I am announcing the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY! This will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale. Their navy is gone, their air force is destroyed, their military factories are now rubble, their currency is worthless, and their country is hanging by a thread. Today, I am also announcing that ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences. This will be an ECONOMIC D-DAY, and we need all of our Allies to stand with the United States of America to isolate, and defeat, the Iran threat."

IRAN - Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warns Trump’s economic campaign will fail, as IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi threatens a more destructive Iranian response if another war breaks out. Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, says US President Donald Trump's 'economic D-day' on Iran will only bring 'further defeat' to the US in a post to X/Twitter on Thursday. “The so-called ‘Economic D-Day’ is a diversion from America's own crisis: unprecedented debt & surging interest costs,” Araghchi remarked. “Doubling down on failed policies will only bring further defeat - and enmity of Iranians. US economic terrorism threatens global economy and sovereignty worldwide.” He concluded. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) spokesman Hussein Mohabi said that Iran will use more destructive weapons if a new war breaks out.

USA - The current US national debt is $40.13 Trillion as of August 20, 2026, according to the latest data from the US Treasury Department. This US debt live counter equals approximately $119,790 per US citizen. The debt increases by roughly $1 trillion every 51 days and grows at approximately $19.5 billion per day, making this national debt clock live view a real-time snapshot of America's borrowing. Source: US Treasury Fiscal Data. These five numbers tell the core story of the US fiscal crisis. Your share of the debt — $119,789 — grows every second. The government spends $1.39 for every dollar it collects, adding to the debt daily. And at 141.0% of GDP, the US is deeper in debt relative to its economy than at any point since World War II. Interest is now the fastest-growing line item in the entire federal budget. At $952 billion per year, it exceeds every other spending category except Social Security and Medicare — and it's on track to surpass both within a decade. Every American effectively pays $2,800/year in debt interest on top of their regular taxes. This money funds nothing: no roads, no schools, no defense — just the cost of past borrowing. The debt grows ~$83,000 every second...

OMAN - Oman has been a long-standing ally to the West and especially the UK. British special forces have retained an enduring relationship with the sultanate ever since they played a pivotal role in putting down the Marxist Dhofar rebellion 60 years ago. Oman remains a friendly Arab nation in a volatile region so it is alarming to hear Donald Trump threatening to “bomb the s---” out of the country for allegedly thwarting an agreement with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. It says a great deal about the president’s braggadocio that no-one has taken his threat seriously. He routinely lashes out at perceived enemies without following through on his warnings. But to treat an ally in this way is extraordinary and tells us much about Mr Trump’s frustration over the progress of the Gulf conflict. The so-called 60-day Memorandum of Understanding between Iran and the UN expired this week with the two sides no nearer an agreement and with Tehran seemingly holding most of the cards.

USA - Students across the country are using AI models to complete assignments and write entire essays. Some of this constitutes cheating, but in many cases schools are allowing students to make some use of AI tools. This is a slippery slop. As some experts argue, any intrusion of automation into the writing process isn’t just threatening students’ composition skills, but their entire ability to think. “Writing is a technology for thinking,” cognitive psychologist Ronald T Kellogg told the New York Times in a new essay mulling the consequences of sidestepping the hard work of writing. Writing, the piece notes, helps develop all sorts of cognitive faculties, including building our working memory, executive planning skills, and our metacognition, or the ability to be aware of your own thinking.

CHINA - We live in a race to produce the stronger, faster, and more useful robots on the planet – and the Chinese seem to have gathered some pace. Robot firm Unitree has unveiled a ‘super-humanoid’ that – they are claiming – is faster than Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest sprinter. The droid also performs other athletic tasks. According to Unitree, the robot was developed in just three months but can already high jump 2 meters (6.56 feet) and achieve a top speed of 12.66 m/s (28.3 mph), allegedly eclipsing ‘the records of all humans around the world’. While these records have yet to be verified, Unitree claimed that there is ‘significant room for further improvement in the coming months’. We are yet to see how soon robots will become more reliable and less prone to malfunction.

CHINA -China is about to do to the global supply chains for grains, livestock and food products what it has already done to the world’s energy and transport systems. The country is pursuing what amounts to world dominance in the mass manufacture of protein, launching a breakneck plan to end its strategic dependence on food imports and insure its people against the long-term famine risks of climate change.The Politburo’s 15th five-year plan is marshalling all levers of finance and state power to overcome land and water limits, placing food security on a par with defence as an existential imperative for national survival.

UK - The number of foreigners claiming benefits hit a fresh high just days after Reform promised to ban claims by overseas nationals. Almost 1.3 million migrants were claiming Universal Credit (UC) in May 2026, according to figures published by the Department for Work and Pensions, roughly 20,000 higher than a year ago. Citizens from the EU accounted for the biggest proportion of the total, with about half of the foreigners claiming Britain’s main unemployment benefit coming from the Continent. Those with indefinite leave to remain, who have usually lived and worked in the UK for at least five years, accounted for 233,000 of the total.

UK - Britain faces a dual threat of flash flooding and the lingering risk of wildfires this week as rain returns at last to parched ground, a leading fire official has warned. Wisley in Surrey has gone 61 days without rain, while drought still grips the whole of Wales and most of England. Although cooler weather is arriving, the country’s top wildfire adviser warned that brief downpours would do little to dampen the threat of further blazes. “We’re not out of the woods yet,” said Dave Swallow of the National Fire Chiefs Council. “The forecast is for showers and they may be heavy in places. But it takes only a few hours of dry weather for conditions to become ripe for a wildfire just about anywhere.”

USA - The two largest reservoirs in the United States have fallen to record lows as a severe drought grips the country's West, according to data released over the weekend. The new records highlight the difficulties facing the Colorado River, a crucial resource for 40 million people. The river feeds both Lake Powell and Lake Mead, two reservoirs created by massive dams built to distribute water year-round and generate electricity. Their water levels are now just above the threshold at which electricity production would be affected. The seven states that depend on the Colorado River have been arguing for years about how to share the river's water without being able to reach an agreement.