🇬🇧🇮🇱🇵🇸⚡️ — The UK government is preparing a series of tougher measures on Israel, including a potential ban on goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, according to Middle East Eye.

Additional sanctions targeting settlers, organizations linked to the settlement movement, and Israeli ministers, alongside tighter restrictions on arms exports, are being discussed.

The measures are expected to be announced after parliament returns in September.

🇬🇱🇩🇰🇺🇸⚡️ — Greenland has postponed a planned U.S.-linked oil drilling project in East Greenland, ruling out drilling during the winter of 2026–2027 because authorities cannot complete the approval process in time, DR reports.

The decision also covers preparatory work, delaying plans to begin exploration as early as this autumn.

Greenland’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources raised concerns about the project’s tight timetable during talks with White Flame Energy A/S, which already holds exploration rights in the area. Authorities have not said when approval could be granted.

🇮🇱🇱🇧🇬🇧🇮🇹🇨🇭🇮🇩⚡️ — Israel and Lebanon have agreed on Britain, Italy, Switzerland and Indonesia as possible contributors to a proposed international mechanism for verifying Hezbollah’s disarmament, Reuters reports.

The shortlist emerged from U.S.-mediated talks in Rome last week on implementing the June agreement linking Israel’s gradual withdrawal from Lebanon to Hezbollah’s disarmament.

The countries could help establish the mechanism, provide personnel to oversee it, or deploy troops to participate in inspections and verify that disarmament is taking place.

The proposal remains at an early stage and would require Lebanon to formally invite any foreign forces under an arrangement accepted by Israel.

🇨🇩🦠 — The World Health Organization has warned that the Ebola outbreak in the DRC is on track to surpass the 2014–2016 West Africa epidemic, the deadliest Ebola outbreak on record, which killed more than 11,000 people from around 28,000 cases.

The current outbreak has already caused more than 2,000 deaths among roughly 4,300 confirmed cases and continues to spread.

Efforts to contain the outbreak are particularly difficult because it involves the rare Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no approved treatment, and it is spreading through a conflict-affected region between the borders of the DRC, Uganda, and Rwanda.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — BREAKING: Multiple sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln have attempted to jump overboard as its crew faces mounting mental health pressures during the extended deployment supporting operations against Iran, The Guardian reports.

The carrier’s roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines are in their ninth month at sea and have spent a record 250 consecutive days without making land. Families have raised concerns about severe burnout, deteriorating living conditions, and inadequate support aboard the ship.

Reports describe moldy showers, broken toilets and laundry facilities, shortages of hot water and basic hygiene products, and limited food.

Several suicide attempts have been thwarted aboard the aircraft carrier. One wife said her husband had tried to jump overboard after his spell at sea kept being extended, adding, "He’s scared." She received a call about the incident after her husband jumped but has not heard from anyone with the Navy in several weeks now.

In one of many incidents, a sailor on watch spotted a shipmate preparing to go overboard and intervened, pulling them back onto the deck. In another incident, watchstanders prevented a crew member from jumping from the carrier.

The carrier originally deployed in November 2025 for operations in the Pacific but was redirected to the Middle East after the war with Iran began, with its planned return repeatedly postponed.

🇺🇦❌🇷🇺 — The Ukrainian General Staff has claimed that four Russian warships were hit in Novorossiysk.

According to the General Staff, two frigates, Admiral Makarov and Admiral Essen, as well as a Buyan-M-class small missile ship and the patrol ship Vasily Bykov, sustained damage of varying severity.

🇦🇪🇮🇷⚡️ — A UAE government VIP jet, a Boeing 737-700 BBJ operated by Royal Jet, made brief visits to Iran on two consecutive days.

On August 11, the aircraft flew from Abu Dhabi to the Tehran area, remaining there for roughly an hour before departing.

The same jet returned on August 12, landing at Karaj/Payam Airport around 40 kilometers west of Tehran. It stayed for approximately 30 minutes before leaving Iran.

🇺🇦🇺🇸⚡️ — Ukrainian drone units decisively defeated a U.S. armored brigade during the Combined Resolve military exercise in Germany earlier this year, highlighting shortcomings in the U.S. military’s adaptation to modern drone warfare, WSJ reports.

Operators from Ukraine’s 412th Nemesis Regiment quickly located American armored vehicles, which were particularly visible because of the dust they generated, before using simulated explosive-dropping and FPV drone attacks to destroy them.

The Ukrainian teams eliminated U.S. vehicles so rapidly that American units had to repeatedly “respawn” to keep the exercise running. Around 3,500 U.S. personnel, primarily from the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Cavalry Division, participated.

U.S. forces improved during subsequent rounds by dispersing vehicles, improving concealment and making greater use of electronic warfare. Ukrainian operators later switched sides and helped the Americans employ drones offensively.

🇺🇦❌🇷🇺 — A Russian resident in Novorossiysk captured the intense air defense fire during last night's Ukrainian drone attack on the port.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — CENTCOM says U.S. forces have redirected 59 commercial vessels, disabled 3, and boarded 2 to ensure compliance since the reinforcement of the blockade on Iranian ports.

🇺🇦🇷🇺⚡️ — WATCH: An intercepted Russian Geran-2 drone fell on a road in Ukraine's Kyiv region earlier today, almost hitting a car.

🇨🇦🇺🇸⚡️ — Canada and the U.S. are not yet close to reaching a tariff agreement, with Canadian officials dissatisfied with Washington’s latest proposal, CBC reports.

The U.S. presented a new offer on Tuesday that would reduce some sector-specific tariffs, but not by as much as Canada is seeking. Washington is seeking preferential access to Canadian critical minerals as part of a broader agreement covering trade, security, and energy.

Negotiators have exchanged several proposals in recent weeks ahead of President Trump’s August 19 deadline for imposing a 50% tariff on hundreds of Canadian goods.