fredag 21 augusti 2026
Latest news
Norwegian air traffic controllers go on strike: “Completely incomprehensible”
Chaos is expected in Norwegian air traffic on Friday after air traffic controllers went on strike this morning, Norwegian media reports.
Employers' association Spekters CEO Anne-Kari Bratten calls the strike “completely incomprehensible” and tells NRK that air traffic controllers are one of the best-paid groups in Norway.
– After this wage settlement, they would have had an average salary of 1.7 million kronor, says Bratten.
But Robert Gjønnes at the Norwegian Air Traffic Controllers Association believes that the air traffic controllers are not primarily demanding more money, but better conditions.
The strike will cause delays and cancellations from Norway's largest airports.
Ebola outbreak
Over 2,500 dead in Ebola – could spread to neighboring countries
More than 2,500 people have been confirmed dead in the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Congo-Kinshasa, the UN says, according to Reuters.
Julien Harneis, who coordinates the UN relief effort, warns that the outbreak could reach neighboring countries if the spread is not controlled. The current funds for the relief effort will only last a few more weeks.
Harneis reiterates the warning that the spread is “growing exponentially”. The outbreak is already the largest in the country’s history with over 5,000 confirmed infections.
Middle East crisis • Situation in Iran
Imprisoned journalist in Iran: The regime is angrier and harsher than ever
The war has made the Iranian regime harsher than ever against the population, says Iranian photojournalist Yalda Moaiery in an interview with CNN. Moaiery was recently sentenced to 15 years in prison for her work as a journalist, which the Iranian regime believes threatens national security.
“The latest version is much angrier, much harsher,” she says.
As the war continues, the hope for change among the population has diminished, she says.
“Most people are thinking about the economic situation. People can’t afford to meet the most basic needs,” she says.
Security in Europe
German military recruits with QR codes on kebabs
Anyone who eats a kebab in Berlin these days will not only get garlic sauce and red cabbage for lunch – but also a job offer. Behind the initiative is the German military’s medical organization, which is using QR codes and the message “A career with everything included” to try to recruit personnel on the döner wrappers, reports Berliner-Kurier.
A spokesman for the German Armed Forces told the newspaper that the campaign aims to reach both young people who are about to choose a career, and those who are considering changing careers. The kebab wrappers are part of a larger effort to reach people in their everyday lives – at train stations, on social media and at kebab stands.
The German Armed Forces has no answer to how effective this type of campaign is.
Security around the Baltic Sea
Russian aircraft suspected of violating Finnish airspace
A Russian IL-20 reconnaissance aircraft is suspected of violating Finnish airspace, the Finnish Coast Guard said according to Reuters.
The violation is said to have occurred in the western part of the Gulf of Finland, southeast of Åland, and lasted about three minutes.
The Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned the Russian ambassador and requested an explanation for the incident, the ministry wrote in a post on X.
Spain: Five Ceuta smugglers arrested
Five men accused of smuggling people into Spain from the Spanish exclave of Ceuta have been arrested, according to Spanish police.
Four of the men are suspected of being part of a network that brings migrants from North Africa to the European mainland for payment. Two were arrested in Ceuta and two in Andalusia on the other side.
The fifth man has been detained for bringing seven migrants across the sea in a small boat, for a payment of more than 80,000 kronor per person.
In late July, unrest erupted in Ceuta, as up to 72,000 people entered the territory from neighboring Morocco. Dozens of people lost their lives in the unrest. It sparked a new political debate on migration in the EU.
Most of the migrants have since returned to Morocco, but thousands remained and have been sleeping rough.
Iranian President: Time to End the War
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says it is time to end the war with the United States because Iran has the upper hand.
– It is better that we end the war now when we are in a position of strength and dignity and when the whole world recognizes our victory, Pezeshkian said during a meeting on Friday.
The president also says that the United States is “hated around the world”.
The statement comes the day after US President Donald Trump threatened Iran with “economic warfare”, which prompted Iran’s Foreign Ministry to see red and call it “economic terrorism” and “crimes against humanity”.
Middle East crisis Iran war
After the alarms: Now the aircraft carrier is returning home to the US
The US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has begun its journey home to the US, sources tell CNN.
The ship has been stationed in the Middle East as part of the US war on Iran. Last week, criticism of the nine-month mission exploded in the US media. Family members of the crew testified, among other things, to lousy food and widespread mental illness.
“They don't really treat them like people,” one of the crew members' wives told The Guardian.
According to information to several media outlets, several people have tried to jump overboard.
Yesterday, the aircraft carrier USS George Washington arrived in the Middle East. The idea is that it will take over the USS Abraham Lincoln's duties in the area.
Trump begins to take out his Iran anger on allies
The lack of progress in the Iran war means that Donald Trump has increasingly begun to take out his frustration on allies, writes the Washington Post.
He has threatened to bomb Oman if they "get in the way" of attempts to open the Strait of Hormuz, and published a map in which the area around the strait - including Omani and Saudi Arabian land - is called "new American territory".
On Thursday, Trump declared "economic D-Day" against Iran and promised "enormous consequences" for anyone who supports Iran in any way.
- You are either with us or against us, added his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
According to experts, Trump has painted himself into a corner and is afraid that allied Gulf states will make an agreement on the strait with Iran without him.
- This is a problem that neither military force nor shouting will solve. When he cannot force Iran to change course, he takes it out on others, says Middle East researcher Andrew Leber at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Pakistan's ex-leader back in prison
Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan is back in prison after a short stay in hospital, the country's information minister announced on Friday.
The minister wrote in a post on X that Khan was examined by a medical team who determined that he can be moved back to prison.
The 73-year-old former prime minister has complained of poor health and is said to have lost sight in one eye a year ago.
Khan, who is a former cricket star, has been imprisoned since 2023. He was removed as prime minister in 2022 by a vote of no confidence. Since then, he has been convicted in several trials for corruption, among other things, in cases that he himself believes are politically motivated.
Kurds: Integration with Syria's army complete
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on Thursday that integration with the regime in Damascus has been completed.
The agreement comes after negotiations between the Syrian government and the SDF to incorporate the Kurdish administration into the regime in Damascus.
- I want to say that the phase of integrating military, security-related and administrative institutions into the state's national institutions is completed and completed, says Mazlom Abdi, leader of the SDF, at an event in northeastern Syria.
Earlier this year, the new central government in Syria signed an integration agreement with Syria's Kurds. The country's interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has promised, among other things, to incorporate Kurdish forces into the government army, respect the rights of the Kurds and make Kurdish an official language in Syria.
Always by Trump's side – how Natalie Harp became a talking point
"Human scribe"
Natalie Harp's story with Donald Trump started in 2019, when she thanked the president in a Fox News interview for "saving her life". The deeply religious Harp said she had had bone cancer and that legislation that Trump wrote in 2018, which gave the green light for certain experimental treatments, gave her life back - a history that has, however, been questioned.
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But Trump liked the story and invited Harp to speak at a party convention. About two years later, she left the right-wing channel One America News Network and began working for Trump.
She now controls the flow of information both to and from the president, according to American media. She has been nicknamed the “human printer” because she carries a printer with her wherever she goes, ready to deliver selected news on paper to Trump, just as he wants it. It is also said that it is to Harp that the president dictates his many social media posts.
“Unhealthily obsessed”
The assistant has not taken a single day off since she joined the Trump administration, writes The New York Times. The 35-year-old has her desk in or just outside the Oval Office and travels wherever Trump travels, both within and outside the United States. She is so determined to be by the president's side that, according to CNN, she sat in a tailgate to attend his 2023 trial in New York.
Recently, Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff claimed that Trump "doesn't want to work" but only "travel with Natalie." The comment angered Trump and other Republicans, and a CNN reporter who dared to ask about the matter was called a "scumbag" whose children will be ashamed.
In an interview with CNN, Harp's brother Preston Harp said that his sister is "unhealthily obsessed" with the president.
- But I don't think it's a physical attraction.
torsdag 20 augusti 2026
Economy
Bessent's interest rate move could make it harder for the Fed
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's attempt to push down long-term market rates could make it harder for the US central bank to make interest rate decisions, according to experts Bloomberg spoke to. Lower long-term rates make it cheaper to borrow, which could stimulate the economy and increase the need for a rate hike.
- In theory, it makes the market's signals more difficult to interpret for the Federal Reserve, says Wolfe Research's chief economist Stephanie Roth.
At the same time, critics say that the buybacks do not solve the basic problem: the US's rapidly growing national debt, which has now exceeded $40,000 billion.
Crypto market
Authority on Clarity Act: "The rules will be tightened regardless"
The US crypto industry will get clearer market rules even if Congress fails to pass the Clarity Act bill. This is what the head of the regulatory authority CFTC, Michael Selig, told Bloomberg.
– We can do it through rules, we can do it through laws.
The Clarity Act could give the CFTC primary responsibility for overseeing digital assets, but it has stalled in the Senate. Selig believes that the agency has sufficient authority to act on its own if the legislation is not put in place.
The tariff crisis Trump's tariff policy
China removes tariffs on Swiss goods
Switzerland and China have agreed on an agreement that makes 99.8 percent of Swiss exports to China duty-free.
Watches, pharmaceuticals and precision instruments are covered, among other things.
While the US has tightened its tariff policy, China is trying to strengthen ties with Europe in the rivalry for global influence.
Chinese economy
Chinese real estate magnate gets life in prison
The founder of the now-collapsed real estate company Evergrande gets life in prison and all his assets are confiscated. This is reported by Reuters.
Hui Ka Yan, as the company's founder is called, made an unlikely journey from severe poverty to becoming Asia's second richest man. But when the loan crisis in his real estate company became a fact in 2021, Evergrande became a symbol of the entire real estate crisis in China.
Hui Ka Yan has pleaded guilty to eight charges, including fraud and bribery.
Swedish inflation
Erik Thedéen: Sweden is in a growth phase
The Riksbank's economists now feel more confident than before that the Swedish economy is in a growth phase. This is what Riksbank Governor Erik Thedéen said at a press conference after the interest rate announcement.
- This is driven not least by industry, which has a strong economic development and a very strong order intake, which indicates that the development will continue to be good during the autumn.
At the end of the second quarter, it also seems that consumption has increased, says Thedéen.
Today, the Riksbank left the interest rate unchanged at 1.75 percent.
Latest news
Trump's USA The President's Team
Trump's Assistant Natalie Harp Lacked Security Clearance
Donald Trump's assistant Natalie Harp, who has been the subject of much discussion in recent days, worked in the White House without a security clearance for more than a year, sources tell MS Now.
According to the information, Harp has been offered security clearance several times but declined it for unclear reasons. Only when Trump personally urged her did she agree to begin the background check.
This is just one of many red flags that have been raised internally about Harp since Trump's return to the White House. In other media sources have warned that the assistant and Trump have an unusually close relationship.
The relationship came under scrutiny when Democratic Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff said in a recent speech that Trump does not want to do his job, but only "build his ballroom and travel around with Natalie".
Political situation in Cameroon
Cameroon's president has appeared – after 73 days
Cameroon's 93-year-old President Paul Biya has returned home after being missing for 73 days. Reuters reports.
Biya left Cameroon on June 7 for what his cabinet describes as a "short-term private stay in Europe". He has not been seen in public until today.
When the president appeared at the airport, he got off a chartered flight from Geneva in Switzerland. His absence caused speculation about his health and ability to govern the country.
- It makes no difference whether he is here or over there. He does nothing when he is here, opposition leader Prosper Nkou Mvondo said, according to TT.
Drug Development
Professor: “Exciting – this is the future”
Experts are cheering the new results from a study on a personalized mRNA vaccine against skin cancer. The risk of relapse was reduced by 49 percent and the risk of spread to other organs by 59 percent, according to figures published by the companies Moderna and Merck on Wednesday.
“This is very exciting, this is the future,” says Matti Sällberg, professor of biomedical analysis at Karolinska Institutet, to SvD Näringsliv.
A number of Swedish patients have participated in the study. Lars Ny, professor of immuno-oncology at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, has been their responsible physician.
“This is big news. We have been on the pump so many times with similar treatments. This is precision medicine at its best,” he says.
Nord Stream sabotage
Nord Stream suspect arrested during filming
A Ukrainian man suspected of involvement in the Nord Stream sabotage was arrested during the filming of a Hollywood film about the sabotage, reports the German LTO.
The film stars actors Adrien Brody and Sean Penn. The suspect, Volodymyr Zhuravlev, worked as an advisor for the film, according to media reports.
According to German prosecutors, Zhuravlev is a trained diver who helped place explosives at the natural gas pipelines.
Middle East Crisis
West Bank
Israel moves forward with condemned plan for West Bank
Israel is moving forward with the internationally condemned plan to build over 1200 homes in a new settlement in the occupied West Bank near Jerusalem, several media outlets report.
The new settlement, which is planned to be located in the E1 area near Jerusalem, would divide the West Bank in two. It would make a contiguous Palestinian state impossible, writes CNN.
France, Italy, Britain and Germany condemn the project in a joint statement, and urge Israel to withdraw the decision.
Critics believe that the settlement is being built to undermine the two-state solution. When the plan was approved last year, Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that "the Palestinian state is being erased - not with slogans, but with action".
Gaza War
Hind's Family: Investigation Seeks to Justify Murder
Yesterday, Israel decided to open a criminal investigation into the shootings that killed five-year-old Hind Rajab and her family. The girl's grandmother said in an interview that she was surprised by Israel's decision.
"But for us, it is not an admission, but rather an attempt by the Israeli army to justify to the world how they executed Hind," said the grandmother, who is also named Hind Rajab.
She said Israel will claim it was a mistake and that the soldiers will be prosecuted. She stressed that the family does not trust the Israeli justice system.
Political situation in Brazil
US turns its attention to Brazil in the hunt for metals
In the hunt for rare earth metals, countries such as the US and Australia are starting to see Brazil as an alternative to China. This is reported by AP, referring to a review of mining permits.
The number of applications for mining permits has skyrocketed in the past three years, and a large proportion comes from foreign mining companies.
The surge comes after China restricted the export of rare earth metals last year.
No Chinese companies have so far applied to mine rare earth metals in Brazil, but according to AP's analysis, they have shown some interest. China's deposits are estimated to be twice as large as Brazil's.
– The challenge today is that China dominates processing and refining, says Brazilian lawmaker Zé Silva, who wants to legislate for foreign mining companies to process rare earth metals in Brazil.
Extraction of rare earth metals could become a threat to the Amazon
Brazil has relatively large deposits of rare earth metals, and countries such as the United States and Australia are increasingly applying to extract them. This is reported by the AP in collaboration with Reporter Brasil.
But mining, which in some cases can take place near protected areas in the Amazon rainforest, carries risks for the environment and climate.
The federal government has discussed measures to speed up the approval of permits. This has been criticized by indigenous groups.
“The rights of indigenous peoples are not negotiable. This must be clear to anyone who wants to discuss mining on indigenous lands,” Alcebias Sapará of the interest group COIAB tells Reporter Brasil.
Criticism grows against Israel's settlement expansion
Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy have agreed on a statement calling on the Israeli government to end the expansion of new settlements.
In the joint statement, published by the Italian presidential office, the leaders of the four countries say that the building permits for some new settlements are "unacceptable".
The new settlement project, called E1 in Israel, "undermines attempts to reach a two-state solution by driving a wedge through the West Bank and damages the territorial integrity of Palestinian territories", the leaders write.
The statement criticizes in strong terms the violence that settlers are subjecting Palestinian residents to.
Hungary: TV news broadcasts resume
Hungarian public service channel M1 has made its first news broadcast in more than six weeks.
News programs were stopped in July as part of Prime Minister Péter Magyar's reforms to restore the independence of public service media.
The premiere broadcast, which took place on the morning of Hungary's National Day on August 20, was balanced according to the independent news website Telex. But earlier this week Telex criticized the fact that people who "previously produced propaganda" remain among the employees.
It was on July 7 that M1 suspended its broadcasts, after Magyar promised to tackle propaganda broadcasts under the rule of his predecessor Viktor Orbán.
"Public service should not lie. We are sorry that we have done it for so long," read a message in the box from M1.
Cameroonian President Returns After Disappearance
Cameroon President Paul Biya has been missing without a trace for 73 days.
Residents wondered if the 93-year-old Biya was dead – and who was really running the country.
But on Thursday, Biya returned to Yaounde airport, on a flight from Geneva. The president's office told wondering subjects that Biya had been on a "short private visit" to Switzerland.
Biya has led Cameroon since 1982 and is currently the oldest sitting head of state in the world. He was welcomed home by supporters, many wearing T-shirts with his portrait on them.
Rumors of a hospital stay have been denied.
But the opposition was mildly amused:
“It makes no difference whether he is here or over there. He doesn’t do anything when he is here,” said opposition leader Prosper Nkou Mvondo.
Academics suspended after professor's death
A Belgian university has suspended an American academic who was behind plagiarism allegations against Cambridge professor Jason Arday.
Arday, who in 2023 became the youngest black professor at the prestigious Cambridge, left his post in early August after allegations of plagiarism in a thesis. Just over a week later, he was found dead, aged 41.
The allegations, which were made by American academic Nathan Cofnas, were widely reported in the media in Britain and the United States.
Cofnas, who himself had to leave his post at Cambridge two years ago, writes on X that he has now been suspended from Ghent University in Belgium and is likely to be dismissed.
The university confirms that an academic is being investigated and has been suspended as a "precautionary measure".
Russian invasion
The world's response
Romanian F16 planes destroyed drones near gas projects
Romanian F16 fighter jets destroyed a naval drone on Thursday just a few hundred meters from the Neptun Deep fossil gas project in the Black Sea. This was stated by the country's Defense Minister Radu Miruta according to TT.
The drone was said to have been "filled with explosives". According to Miruta, he has received confirmation that the drone was not launched from Ukraine. However, he does not explicitly point out Russia as responsible either.
The incident underlines the growing threat that drones pose to critical energy infrastructure in the Black Sea, writes AFP.
On Thursday, both Romania and Poland temporarily raised their readiness due to major Russian attacks on Ukraine.
The fighting
103 Ukrainians were allowed to come home: "They need to know that someone is waiting for them"
103 prisoners of war on each side have been handed over in the first prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine since June, the 77th since the invasion began in February 2022. This is reported by several media outlets.
In Chernihiv, Ukrainian soldiers were welcomed with cigarettes and phone calls from relatives. Several of the former prisoners of war have been isolated from the outside world for several years, writes DN, which is on site. The very first thing they need to know when they are released across the border into Ukraine is that someone is waiting for them, crisis psychologist Olha Koval tells the newspaper.
- During captivity, they are constantly told that they are forgotten, that no one cares anymore, says Koval.
Middle East Crisis
Iran War
Iran dismisses Trump's threat: "A diversionary maneuver"
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi dismisses Donald Trump's threat to subject Iran to an "economic D-Day", reports AFP.
He writes in a post on X that Trump's plan is a continuation of the US's "failed policy".
"The so-called 'economic D-Day' is a diversion from the US's own crisis, record-high debts and rising interest rates", writes Araghchi.
Houthi Rebels
Houthi: Have attacked an airport in Saudi Arabia
The Houthi rebels have attacked an airport in Saudi Arabia, the military spokesman for the Iran-backed Shia militia, Yahya Saree, said according to AFP.
According to the group, they carried out two drone attacks. One targeted a "sensitive" location at the Najran airport.
The second attack reportedly targeted a facility owned by state-owned oil giant Aramco, also located in the Najran region in southern Saudi Arabia.
Ship hijacked off Yemen coast
Gunmen have hijacked an oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Yemen. The ship has since set course for Somalia.
The Sibu 1 sent out a distress signal when it was about 136 nautical miles, just over 250 miles, east of the Yemeni port city of al-Mukalla, according to the maritime monitor Vanguard.
“The tanker is reported to have been boarded by six armed individuals, who are now in control of the vessel and are redirecting it towards Somalia,” the EU’s Maritime Security Centre in the Indian Ocean (MSCIO) said.
A similar incident occurred earlier this week, when a cargo ship was hijacked off Marraye, Somalia.
Pirates were active off the coast of Somalia from around 2000 until 2011. After that, pirate activity declined, thanks in part to international efforts. However, pirate attacks have been reported again this year.
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