While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Aug 12, 2026
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Vessels are seen in the Strait of Hormuz, off the port city of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran, on Aug 10.
PHOTO: AFP
Hormuz to stay closed unless US meets Iran’s conditions
The Strait of Hormuz will remain closed as long as the US does not change its behaviour and accept Iran’s conditions to end the war, the newly appointed secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said on Aug 11.
His comments are the strongest indication so far that any deal in talks with Oman over the waterway would not immediately reopen it to shipping if the US does not also abide by its commitments in a memorandum of understanding towards ending the conflict reached between Washington and Tehran in June.
“As long as America does not change its behaviour and does not accept Iran’s conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened,” Mohsen Rezaei, a close ally of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, was quoted by semi-official Tasnim news agency as saying.
“America must end the war, pay Iran’s frozen assets, the war must end throughout the region, including in Lebanon and Gaza,” he said.
Air India pilot tests positive for marijuana after mid-air plunge
PHOTO: REUTERS
The captain of an Air India aircraft that suddenly dropped about 90m on a flight last week tested positive for marijuana in a second test, according to people familiar with the matter.
On Aug 9, the Indian government said the pilot in command of AI2379, which flew from Phuket to Delhi, would undergo a second round of drug screening to confirm whether he was under the influence of a psychoactive substance when the aircraft suddenly lost altitude.
The incident, which occurred on Aug 4 and is being probed by India’s Aircraft Accidents Investigation Bureau, left several passengers and cabin crew members injured.
Quake death toll tops 250, amid race to find survivors
PHOTO: REUTERS
Rescue crews on Aug 11 dug through mountains of rubble in western Colombia, shouting for quiet so they could listen for survivors still trapped under the buildings that collapsed in a powerful earthquake estimated to have killed at least 250 people.
The 7.4-magnitude quake, the most devastating to strike Colombia this century, tore through its coffee-growing heartland early on Aug 10, leaving apartment blocks, homes, schools and health centers cracked, leaning or flattened.
Separate reports from affected cities put the death toll at 254 on the morning of Aug 11, with 101 people killed in Pereira, deep in coffee country, and 95 in Cali, the country’s third-biggest city.
Ukraine gives US negotiators proposals for ending war
PHOTO: REUTERS
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Aug 11 that Ukraine had handed proposals to US negotiators for a plan to end the war with Moscow and suggested that Russia would use its parliamentary election in September as a pretext to declare a new mobilisation.
Zelensky’s announcement of fresh proposals for peace talks, largely stalled since the outbreak of the conflict with Iran, comes amid suggestions by both Russia and Ukraine that US negotiators would soon pay a visit to their two countries.
“We have conveyed our proposals to the American side,” Zelensky said, in his nightly video address.
Ash cloud from Sicily’s Mount Etna disrupts Malta flights
PHOTO: AFP
An ash cloud from Sicily’s Mount Etna volcano drifted over Malta on Aug 11, forcing airlines to cancel some flights to the Mediterranean island at the height of the tourism season.
“We’re currently experiencing flight disruptions due to volcanic ash clouds over the Maltese Islands following recent activity at Mount Etna,” Malta International Airport said in a Facebook message.
A spokesperson said 19 flights had been cancelled by mid-afternoon on Aug 11 and several other flights had been significantly delayed.
