DAILY NEWS Stream – August 22, 2026

US President Donald Trump announced on August 18 that He would delay 50% tariffs on about US$20 billion worth of Canadian imports for three days after the US and Canada reached a last-minute preliminary trade agreement. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said substantial progress had been made but important work remained, while negotiations continue to finalize the deal (AP)

President Trump said on August 18 that no talks with Iran are underway or scheduled and insisted the Strait of Hormuz is open, while Iran says the waterway remains effectively closed until the US meets its conditions. Ship traffic through the strait remained sharply reduced, with Kpler reporting 95 confirmed crossings last week, 19.5% fewer than the week before, and only three vessels crossing on August 16. Iran and Oman are meanwhile discussing a plan to manage shipping through the strait, while the US has objected to parts of the proposed arrangement including joint Iranian-Omani management and voluntary fees for vessels (AP)

The UAE [United Arab Emirates] suspended all trade, commercial exchanges, and financial transactions with Iran on August 18 until further notice, after saying it detected two ballistic missiles launched from Iran toward the country. UAE officials said both missiles fell into the sea and caused no casualties or damage, while Iran denied launching them. The UAE said the suspension was imposed in response to escalating regional tensions but emphasized that it remains committed to diplomacy (Fox News)

The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on August 18 that a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz was struck by an unknown projectile, damaging its starboard side and killing one crew member. Earlier the same day, UKMTO reported a separate vessel near the Omani coast had also been struck while transiting the strait, killing another crew member. Authorities are investigating both incidents (Fox News)

US President Donald Trump said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has responded to Mr. Trump’s recent outreach and described their exchange as “very positive” (Al Jazeera)

Singapore and China signed an agreement on August 17 to cooperate on the peaceful use of nuclear technology as Singapore builds expertise to assess whether nuclear energy could eventually be deployed in the country (Channel News Asia)

Grassroots organization Adfree Cities is campaigning for UK local councils to ban advertisements on council-owned land for animal-people meat, dairy, and products linked to animal-people factories. The group says such advertising can hide how intensively farmed animal-people meat and dairy are produced and argues that restrictions would help reduce promotion of food based on cruel treatment of animal-folk. Similar restrictions have already been introduced in several Dutch cities, including Amsterdam (Plant Based News)

Andrey Klepach has been removed as chief economist of Russia’s state development bank VEB after publicly warning about the growing economic costs of the war in Ukraine (Ureign) Mr. Klepach said Russia was falling behind technologically and economically, warned that the country could not win a prolonged war of attrition, and said mounting costs could eventually contribute to a social crisis. He also said Ukrainian (Ureignian) strikes on Russian energy and logistics infrastructure were testing the country’s resilience to sanctions and criticized what he described as deteriorating government decision-making (Al Jazeera)

Russian banks closed 1,370 branches between January and August 2026, the largest reduction in the country’s physical banking network in seven years, according to Russian Central Bank data analyzed by the Russian newspaper Izvestia (UNITED24 Media, Izvestia)

Russians withdrew nearly 286.4 billion rubles (about US$3.4 billion) from banks in the first two weeks of August amid fears that the government could seize or nationalize deposits to help finance the war in Ukraine (Ureign), according to The Washington Post (The Independent, The Washington Post)

Saudi Aramco resumed loading crude oil from inside the Strait of Hormuz last week after halting sales there for several weeks following attacks on its tanker fleet during heightened US-Iran tensions. News organization Reuters reported that the Saudi state oil company has additional tankers waiting to load and is offering heavy crude cargoes for near-term delivery to Asian refiners (Fox News, Reuters)

Iraq has approved a temporary three-month mechanism starting September 1 to export crude oil through multiple international and local companies and different export outlets, according to Reuters. The move is intended to give Iraq more flexibility in selling its oil and reduce reliance on Gulf shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz, which have been disrupted by the Iran war. Iraq, OPEC [Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries]’s second-largest producer, is also developing alternative export routes through Türkiye and Syria (Fox News, Reuters)

Brent crude oil rose above US$91 per barrel on August 18 after US President Donald Trump said there were no talks or negotiations underway or scheduled with Iran (Fox News)

UK health officials investigate a national Salmonella outbreak possibly linked to imported chicken-person eggs. Authorities identify 207 Salmonella Enteritidis cases between August 2025 and August 1, 2026, with 38% requiring hospitalization and one death. Genetic sequencing links cases across Britain (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine)

Research shows adults aged 60 and older face dangerous heat stress at global warming of just 1.5°C above preindustrial levels. Their reduced ability to regulate body temperature raises risks of dehydration, heart problems and death. Researchers warn risks will grow as populations age and temperatures rise (The Guardian)

A study of 135,725 adults in England [UK] finds nearly one in six often or always feel lonely, while more than one in five frequently lacks companionship or feels isolated. Loneliness is especially pronounced in major cities. Researchers call it a public health and community issue (Fox News)

Tropical storm Lala hits Hawaiʻi [US] on August 16 and damages or destroys more than 100 homes on Hawaiʻi Island. Preliminary totals show 1,106 millimeters of rain fall on the community of Laupāhoehoe during the storm. Power outages peak near 250,000 customers statewide. National Guard crews join recovery work (The Watchers, AP)

Dangerous heat persists across the US South, with forecasters expecting unusually hot conditions to last into late August. The affected zone stretches from the southern Plains through the Mississippi Valley to the Southeast. Warm nights offer little recovery, raising health risks for people without air conditioning (NTD)

The US’s two largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, both fall to record lows. Combined storage is the lowest since 1957. The reservoirs are fed by the Colorado River, which supplies water to more than 40 million people (Channel News Asia)

Hungary has adopted new legislation banning the use of wild animal-people in circuses from January 1, 2027. The move brings Hungary closer to other European countries that have introduced national restrictions on the use of animal-individuals in circuses (Vegan Food & Living)

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research- National Institute of Natural Fibre Engineering and Technology, Kolkata [ICAR-NINFET] partners with a Bengaluru [India] firm to commercialize natural fiber vegan leather, offering a sustainable alternative to animal-person leather and synthetic [petroleum-based] leather in fashion and footwear products (ICAR-NINFET)

US-based vegan travel company Veggies Abroad has achieved 40% growth since 2025 and projects US$500,000 in sales by the end of 2026. Nearly all of its sustainable vegan tours during 2026 are sold out, with destinations like Thailand (Travel Weekly)

Chef Tarik “Reeky” Ryant transforms classic American comfort foods into vegan creations at his restaurant the Cheezy Vegan in Philadelphia [US], such as the McReeky [American cheese, crispy tofu, sausage and a spicy English muffin] and the Morning Breeze breakfast sandwich (6 ABC Action News)

Egyptian entrepreneur Mark Morad, 20, develops ScribeMe, an artificial intelligence app that helps blind people understand their surroundings by describing images, objects, distances and activities. Developed with his blind sister, Karen, the app reaches thousands of users in 140 countries, supports 20 languages and integrates with Meta smart glasses (Channel News Asia)

British firefighters rescue a tiny field mouse-person from a wildfire in Kings Sutton [Northamptonshire, England] after spotting it fleeing through flames. Crews give it water and move its family to safety. Authorities say sunlight reflecting off broken glass sparks the blaze amid a severe UK wildfire season (Daily Mail)

Kimie Smothermon dedicates her life to rescuing guinea pig-people and currently has about 400 at her Massachusetts [US] sanctuary. Her mission grows from her grandson’s love of guinea pigs but continues after a 2019 fire sadly kills him, two dog-persons and dozens of guinea pig-folk. Despite grief, she keeps providing refuge to animal friends in need (AP News)

Wise quote of the day: “All things are our relatives; what we do to everything, we do to ourselves. All is really One.” -Black Elk Holy Man of the Oglala Lakota First Nation (AZ Quotes)

In this multipart series on Reverend Dr. Ray Catania’s near-death experience, American author, ordained minister, and teacher of metaphysics Ray shares how dying from a gas leak at age 20 was one of many unexplained experiences throughout his life— experiences he would only come to understand decades later. Ray grew up in what he calls a chaotic, unhappy home filled with drama, trauma, and violence, and by his teens, he had stopped caring whether he lived or died. At 20, after drinking, experimenting with drugs, and taking risks with his life, Ray was nearly killed by something completely unexpected. Overnight, natural gas leaking from the kitchen stove downstairs rose into the bedroom above while he slept. The next morning, when his mother turned on the stove, the gas ignited in a flash of flame that his father quickly extinguished. But by then, the gas had already left Ray barely able to move.

And I hear the commotion, I hear the fire trucks, I hear the police downstairs, and I hear people shouting. I hear the radios, I hear the sirens. And so I go to get up out of bed to find out what’s happening in my house, and I find, in this moment, that I can’t get out of the bed. And I can’t move certain parts of my body. My brain is telling them to move, but they’re not listening. My legs, they felt like tree trunks. So, what I did was I grabbed hold of the edge of the bed, and I pulled myself, to the best of my ability, to get to the edge, to try to get out of it. So, I would get close to the edge, and I would pass out again because the fumes were just so— the room was just filled with the fumes— and it would just make me tired and sleepy, but I knew if I fell asleep, I was going to die. There was no question. I had to get out of that bed. So I continued to try to pull myself, even if it was just an inch at a time, and then, finally, I got to the edge of the bed, and I tumbled out, like tumbled forward. And I landed on my face, face first. That pain, when I hit the floor, never came. There was no pain. And it’s because I wasn’t in that body anymore. The body feels the physical pain, but I wasn’t in it. I was above it. And I was in the corner of the room, looking down at what was my lifeless body. And this didn’t scare me. You would think that this is a very scary thing. It’s quite the opposite. It was beautiful.

My energetic self is on this side, in the corner, and the Light— the Light that I wish I could find a better word for— is on the other side, and it’s facing me, and it’s like a spotlight on my energetic self. It’s not on my dead body. It’s not on anything else in the room. It’s only my energetic self. And this Light, for lack of a better word, is love, peace, euphoria, every positive emotion you could possibly ever want. And not only is the Light on me, but I’m a part of it. So the Light and I are one. At the end of the Light is a being, and the being says, “Ray, it’s OK to come into the Light.” And I was shocked, like, the Light knows my name. I don’t know who the being is. I just know that it’s safe to go in. So I proceed to go into the Light, and as I go in a little bit further, the euphoria increases, if that’s possible. Everything is becoming more vivid. I never felt so alive than when I was dead. Everything was more real. Colors, smells, sounds, feelings— everything was just magnified and beautiful and incredible. In Part 2, Ray returns from the Light— but later, the same being comes back when his life is in danger.

So, I’m frozen. I’m under the bar. I know if I get up, somebody’s going to see me— the shooter or shooters. And the same being from the end of the tunnel during my NDE (near-death experience) comes back and says, “Side door. Side door. Side door.” Three times, always in threes. Join us tomorrow for Part 2 of Ray Catania’s near-death experience. (IANDS [International Association for Near-Death Studies] Podcast)