The Eastern Herald: US and World News, Politics, Business, Sports

Conflicts

An anti-US billboard on a Tehran street as the US-Iran memorandum expires and oil prices today hold near $88 a barrel

Oil Prices Today, August 17, 2026: Brent $88.31 as the US-Iran Deadline Passes

August 17, 2026

Oil prices today, August 17, 2026: Brent crude is at $88.31 a barrel and WTI just above $82, barely moved on the day the US-Iran memorandum expired with no extension. The reserve that absorbed six months of Hormuz disruption is now below 300 million barrels.

Iranian woman walks past anti-US billboard at Enghelab Square in Tehran as the US-Iran war MoU expires, August 2026

Iran War: US-Iran Peace Deal Expires as Trump Threatens to Seize Hormuz and Tehran Hardens

August 17, 2026

The US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding expired Monday with no extension and no

Wildberries delivery point in Russia, the logistics network that became a primary target for Ukrainian drone strikes in the Ukraine war

Ukraine War: 600-Drone Barrage Targets Wildberries and Moscow Region in One of the War’s Largest Attacks

August 17, 2026

Ukraine launched one of its largest-ever drone attacks on August 16, directing

Rescue workers search rubble of destroyed house in Deir al-Zahrani Lebanon after Israeli airstrike August 15 2026

Israel Attacks Lebanon Despite Ceasefire, Killing 11 in Nabatieh

August 17, 2026

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 11 people, including children, in southern Lebanon's

Epstein Files

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham in London on July 20, 2026, who Epstein survivors will press for a public inquiry into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

Epstein Survivors to Press Burnham for Public Inquiry Into Andrew

Members of the UK Epstein Survivors Campaign will meet Prime Minister Andy Burnham within the month to press for a public inquiry into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Six months after his arrest, he has

by Europe Desk

August 16, 2026

Jeffrey Epstein file photo from the New York Division of Criminal Justice Services sex offender registry

Judge Orders Epstein Victim Files Unsealed, Overriding Maxwell’s Last Legal Defense

Judge Loretta Preska ordered the unsealing of Epstein victim records from Giuffre's civil suit, ruling the 2025 transparency law overrides Maxwell's secrecy claims. Thousands of pages identifying roughly 200 people in Epstein's

by Olivia Taylor

Undated photographs released by the US Department of Justice on January 30 2026 as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files release

What Are the Epstein Files

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche who oversaw the Epstein files release and faces Senate confirmation vote

State AG Files Federal Suit to Pry Epstein Files from DOJ

Jeffrey Epstein files as the DOJ faces scrutiny over blocking a 2015 DEA drug probe memo

Epstein Files Shadow Massachusetts Senate Race as DOJ Blocks Key Drug Probe Memo

Opinion

Sheikh Hasina and the US role in Bangladesh's August 2024 political crisis

America’s Regime Change Machine: From Tehran to Dhaka, the Paper Trail Does Not Lie

Drawing on declassified CIA operational histories, FARA filings at the Department of Justice, an 87-page Senate committee report, and a diplomatic cipher confirmed by a foreign Supreme Court, this opinion traces America's

by Muzaffar Ahmad Bajwaa

August 16, 2026

Government & Politics

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives at Los Angeles Superior Court February 2026

Meta Social Media Addiction Trial: Four States Seek $1.4 Trillion as Federal Case Opens in Oakland

Four states are taking Meta to federal court in Oakland, seeking up to $1.4 trillion in penalties over claims the company deliberately designed Facebook and Instagram to addict children and then concealed

August 17, 2026

by Jennifer Hicks

Bangladesh Criminal Charges: Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus Faces Sedition Allegations Carrying Death Penalty

Bangladesh criminal complaints filed against former interim PM Muhammad Yunus include sedition

by Kiranpreet Kaur

Trump Orders Cuts to US-South Korea Military Drills, Calling Them ‘Hostile’ to Kim Jong Un

South Korea's Ministry of Defence publicly defied a Trump order to cut

by Akihito Muranaka

Gaza War: Kushner Meets Hamas in Egypt to Push Peace Deal Netanyahu Already Rejected

Jared Kushner met Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya in Egypt on Saturday, alongside

by Dilnaz Shaikh

Iran War: Tehran Puts $30,000 Bounty on US Troops as Persian Gulf Ceasefire Nears Collapse

August 17, 2026

Trump Orders Pentagon to Curtail South Korea Military Drills, Calling Ulchi Freedom Shield ‘Hostile’

August 17, 2026

Iran War Deployment Crisis: Trump Says USS Abraham Lincoln Crew’s Nine-Month Stretch Was ‘Not Nearly Long Enough’

August 17, 2026

Iran War: Qatar Denies Holding Three Pilots from Al Udeid Strike as Tehran Demands Investigation

August 17, 2026

Horoscope

Horoscope Today, 17 August 2026: The Moon Goes Void in Libra for 10 Hours, and Every Zodiac Sign Should Wait Before Signing

Horoscope Today, 17 August 2026 opens on a Monday; the sky spends most of its evening refusing to commit. At 17:01 IST, the Moon

by Kiranpreet Kaur

August 17, 2026

The Milky Way rises above Earth's atmospheric glow in a night sky photograph taken from the International Space Station

The 12 Houses in Astrology: What Each House Rules and How to Find Yours

by Internet Desk

August 16, 2026

Horoscope today 16 August 2026 as the crescent Moon meets Venus at greatest elongation in Libra over India

Horoscope Today, 16 August 2026: Moon Meets Venus at Her Farthest Reach Before Saturn Sends the Bill at Night

by Kiranpreet Kaur

August 15, 2026

Horoscope today 15 August 2026 with the void Moon in Virgo, Venus at greatest elongation and Mercury meeting Jupiter in Leo

Horoscope Today, 15 August 2026: A 43 Hour Void Moon Shadows Independence Day Until Libra Breaks It at 7.50pm

by Kiranpreet Kaur

August 15, 2026

Sports

Arsenal players celebrate after defeating Manchester City 3-0 in the Community Shield at Principality Stadium Cardiff

Community Shield 2026: Arsenal 3-0 Manchester City in Premier League Title Warning

Arsenal dismantled Manchester City 3-0 in the Community Shield at Cardiff, with Riccardo Calafiori scoring in 37 seconds, Kai Havertz heading in a second,

17 Aug

by Sports Desk

Dana White speaking at the UFC 330 post-fight press conference

Dana White Blasts Ian Machado Garry After UFC 330: ‘Drives Me F–king Crazy’

Dana White publicly blasted Ian Machado Garry for failing to finish Islam Makhachev despite out-striking him at UFC 330 on Saturday. White said Garry's

17 Aug

by Sports Desk

Tommy John pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1970s

Tommy John, Namesake of Baseball’s Most-Performed Surgery, Dead at 83

Tommy John, the left-hander whose 1974 ulnar collateral ligament surgery gave baseball its most-performed procedure and launched fourteen more seasons, died Saturday night in

17 Aug

by Sports Desk

Islam Makhachev vs Ian Machado Garry UFC 330 welterweight title fight in Philadelphia

Islam Makhachev Breaks Anderson Silva’s UFC Record at UFC 330 in Philadelphia

Islam Makhachev retained his UFC welterweight title at UFC 330 in Philadelphia by unanimous decision, extending his winning streak to 17 and breaking Anderson

16 Aug

by Sports Desk

Tua Tagovailoa throwing at Atlanta Falcons preseason camp 2026

Tua Tagovailoa Fumbles in Falcons Preseason Loss as Penix Sits Out Rehab

Tua Tagovailoa went 3-for-5 for 22 yards and fumbled a snap in Atlanta's 27-7 preseason loss to Denver. Penix Jr. remains in 7-on-7 drills

15 Aug

by Sports Desk

Action from the Australia vs Bangladesh first Test match at Marrara Stadium in Darwin, August 2026

Bangladesh Six Wickets From Historic First Test Win in Australia as Smith Falls to Miraz

Bangladesh ended Day 3 at Darwin's Marrara Stadium with Australia at 161 for four, trailing by 67 runs. Mehidy Hasan Miraz scored 65 in

15 Aug

by Sports Desk

Finlay Tarling of NSN Development Team British cyclist who died in Tour of Portugal crash 2026

British Cyclist Finlay Tarling, 19, Dies in Tour of Portugal Stage Crash

British cyclist Finlay Tarling, 19, has died after a civilian vehicle struck him head-on during Stage 8 of the Tour of Portugal. NSN Development

15 Aug

by Sports Desk

Cricket batsman in Test match action during the 2026 season

Zimbabwe National Cricket Team vs Australia National Cricket Team Match Scorecard

Blessing Muzarabani's bowling restricted Australia to 146 as Zimbabwe won by 23 runs in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2025-26 Group B match

14 Aug

by Sports Desk

Economy

Iran crisis Strait of Hormuz US negotiations ceasefire

US Retail Sales Fall Most in Over a Year; Iran Ceasefire Expires Sunday

by Amanda Graham

Iran conflict and Strait of Hormuz oil standoff as Bessent threatens unprecedented sanctions

Bessent Warns Iran of Economic Measures ‘Never Seen in History’ as Hormuz Standoff Tightens

by Synthia Rozario

US and China flags over shipping containers at a port

Japan Economy Grows Just 1.1% in Q2 2026, Missing Forecasts as Consumer Spending Retreats

Japan's economy expanded 1.1 percent annualized in the second quarter of 2026, missing market expectations as household spending pulled back despite record nominal wage

by Sam Bowman

August 17, 2026

USDA chart showing U.S. cattle and cow inventory declining to near 70-year lows, driving Tyson Foods beef plant closures and restructuring

Tyson Foods Closes Eagle Mountain Beef Plant, Cutting 723 Utah Jobs in Industry-Wide Restructuring

Tyson Foods is eliminating 723 positions at its Eagle Mountain, Utah beef plant as part of a restructuring that will concentrate North American beef

by Sam Bowman

August 16, 2026

Ships in the Strait of Hormuz near Bandar Abbas Iran, the waterway whose closure is holding oil prices today near 90 dollars a barrel

Oil Prices Today, August 16, 2026: Brent at $88.52 as the US Blockade Holds Hormuz Shut

Oil prices today, August 16, 2026: Brent settled Friday at $88.52 a barrel and WTI at $82.40, both more than five percent higher on

by Economy Desk

August 16, 2026

Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella speaks about earthquake reconstruction and US tariff suspension request

Colombia Asks Trump to Suspend Tariffs as Earthquake Death Toll Reaches 294

Colombia's President de la Espriella asked Trump to suspend tariffs as a 7.4-magnitude earthquake killed 294, wounded 3,935, and left a $6.4 billion reconstruction

by News Room

August 16, 2026

PayPal Rejects Stripe’s $53B Bid, Pushes for Higher Price in Acquisition Talks

PayPal's board rejected Stripe and Advent International's opening bid of $60.50 per share, roughly $53 billion, and is pushing for a higher price as

by Economy Desk

August 15, 2026

Daily Games

NYT Mini Crossword Answers Today (May 3, 2026) – Full Solutions

May 3, 2026

NYT Spelling Bee Answers Today: Full Solution May 3, 2026

May 3, 2026

Contexto game answer today showing SPONGE solution with hints and word puzzle breakdown

Contexto Answer Today SPONGE Hints and Solution Explained for May 3 2026

May 3, 2026

NYT Strands Answers Today – May 3, 2026 (Puzzle #791) Full Solution, Spangram & Hints

May 3, 2026

Quordle Today May 3, 2026: Answers, Hints & Full Solution for Game #1560

May 3, 2026

Climate

Firefighters battling the High Fens wildfire in the Hautes Fagnes nature reserve near Eupen, Belgium

August 16, 2026

Belgium Wildfire Burns 3,000 Hectares in High Fens as EU Deploys Emergency Water Bombers

Belgium's High Fens nature reserve has been devastated by a 3,000-hectare wildfire — the largest in

GOES-17 GeoColor satellite image of Hurricane Lala approaching Hawaii's Big Island in August 2026

Hurricane Lala Kills One and Knocks Out Power Across 124,000 Hawaiian Homes

August 16, 2026

A driver died near South Point on Hawaii's Big Island as Hurricane Lala, downgraded to a tropical storm Sunday morning, left 124,000 homes without power, swept two houses away in flash floods,

The half-sunken oil tanker Caroline Bezengi, a sanctioned Russian shadow fleet vessel, adrift off the coast of Oman after a June 2026 explosion

Shadow Fleet Tanker Caroline Bezengi Spills Oil Into Oman’s Protected Marine Reserve

by Dmitri Agafonov

Firefighters battle a wildfire that destroyed 19 homes in Stourbridge, West Midlands, England

Britain Declares Wildfire Emergency as PM Burnham Warns Nation Is a ‘Tinderbox’

by Europe Desk

Satellite image of Tropical Storm Lala approaching Hawaii with hurricane warning issued for Big Island

Hurricane Warning Issued for Hawaii’s Big Island as Tropical Storm Lala Approaches

by Dilnaz Shaikh

Smoke from the Bald Range wildfire blanketing the outskirts of Penticton in British Columbia Okanagan region

British Columbia Declares Emergency as Bald Range Wildfire Forces 20,000 to Flee Okanagan

by Akihito Muranaka

Technology

Grok AI chatbot interface xAI class action CSAM lawsuit 2026

Grok AI CSAM Lawsuit: Stepfather Created 7,000 Deepfakes, Wyoming Woman Joins Class Action

A Wyoming woman whose childhood photographs were turned into 7,000 sexually explicit deepfakes by her stepfather using xAI's Grok has joined a class action against the company. The case now has four

by Miranda Novell

August 17, 2026

Stripe Acquires AI Gateway OpenRouter for $7 Billion, Betting the Future Runs Through AI

Stripe has finalized an acquisition of AI gateway startup OpenRouter for more than $7 billion, absorbing a platform built on the promise of preventing AI vendor lock-in. The deal comes three months

by Miranda Novell

A Waymo autonomous robotaxi operating in an American city after CPUC approved California expansion to Sacramento and San Diego

Waymo Wins California Approval to Expand Robotaxi Service to Sacramento and San Diego

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei speaking at the company Builder Summit in Bengaluru India

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei Says AI Backlash Is a ‘Crisis of Trust’ While Admitting Promises Undelivered

France Constitutional Council ruling on social media ban for under-15s

France’s Top Court Blocks Social Media Ban for Under-15s, Orders Macron Government to Start Over

Entertainment

Hayden Panettiere Heroes Nashville actress dead at 36 celebrity death 2026

Hayden Panettiere Dead at 36: ‘Heroes’ and ‘Nashville’ Star Dies as Investigation Continues

Actress Hayden Panettiere, known for 'Heroes' and 'Nashville,' died at 36 on Sunday. Three months after publishing her memoir about addiction and survival, an

August 17, 2026

by Olivia Taylor

Star Wars Starfighter official poster featuring Ryan Gosling as Jedi pilot Kade Auberon, opening May 2027

Ryan Gosling to Star in Star Wars: Starfighter as Lucasfilm Bets on Original Story

August 16, 2026

Courtney Love photographed in 2026 by Stuart C. Wilson for Getty Images

Courtney Love Announces First Solo Album in 22 Years, Reveals 2019 Near-Death Crisis

August 15, 2026

X-Men cast announcement at D23 2026 Disney Entertainment Showcase in Anaheim California

Marvel’s X-Men Reboot Cast Revealed at D23: Sadie Sink, Adam Driver Lead 2028 MCU Debut

by Internet Desk

Duane Keffe D Davis in Las Vegas court at Tupac Shakur murder trial August 2026

Keefe D Murder Trial Opens: Jury Seated in Tupac Shakur Killing After 30 Years

by Olivia Taylor

Selena Gomez, who denied her 'lol' comment on a Taylor Swift post was an insult

Selena Gomez Named in $1.2M Fraud Lawsuit Over Mental Health Startup Wondermind

by Shivam Chopra

Apple TV+ app showing 19 classic Hollywood movies added free for subscribers in 2026

Apple TV+ Adds 19 Classic Films for Subscribers, Including Titanic and The Sixth Sense

by Synthia Rozario

Promotional image for A Great Book with Barack Obama podcast launching on Audible September 2026

Barack Obama Launches ‘A Great Book’ Literary Podcast Exclusively for Audible

by Dmitri Agafonov

Business

An employee displays a silver bar in a safe deposit room, the metal behind the silver rate today quoted across India

Silver Rate Today, August 17, 2026: ₹2,49,900 a Kg as the Counter Cuts and the Exchange Climbs

Silver rate today, August 17, 2026: ₹2,49,900 a kilogram nationally, a hundred rupees lower than Sunday, while Chennai, Hyderabad and Kerala hold a ₹5,000 premium. MCX September silver reopened about ₹2,800 a

by Economy Desk

August 17, 2026