Skip to main content
Member HubJoin
Intrigue

Daily flyovers

Latest news for 11 August 2026

Quick hits of consequential news from all corners of the world.

  1. 01

    COLOMBIA

    7.4 quake hits hard.

    Monday’s 7.4-magnitude earthquake in western Colombia has left at least 160 dead, thousands missing, and dozens of buildings collapsed, prompting a disaster declaration from the newly-elected ‘El Tigre’ de la Espriella. (Guardian)

    Comment: Barely days after taking office on promises to restore order, Mother Nature is already forcing the new president to prove he can first deliver on the basics: a rapid, competent, and visible disaster response. Reiterating its explicit backing for The Tiger, the US has already pledged $15M. While we’re on the grim topic of natural disasters, China has now evacuated a million residents as Typhoon Dolphin pummels the country’s east, while Canada’s British Columbia has declared a provincial emergency after a fast-moving wildfire nearly doubled in size overnight.

  2. 02

    UNITED STATES

    Secret flight from Turkey?

    The Washington Post has revealed President Trump left last month’s NATO summit in Turkey under an elaborate ruse that featured him boarding Air Force One, then secretly exiting via a catering cart to instead board a military jet! All amid a credible Iranian assassination threat. (WaPo $)

    Comment: Because nothing declares victory over Iran like a US president having to hide in a catering cart. Journalists who thought the president was with them on Air Force One are now marvelling at the sophistication of the decoy, seemingly not yet outraged that *they* were the decoy.

  3. 03

    INDIA

    Monitoring the situation.

    Delhi has said it’s “closely following” the bipartisan sanctions bill the US House has now introduced, days after it cleared the Senate. Named after — and inspired by — the late Lindsey Graham, it’d impose 100% tariffs on the biggest buyers of Russian energy (particularly India and China). (The Hill)

    Comment: Pending a vote some time this Fall, it’s a continuation of the same game of chicken: the US threatening secondary tariffs to squeeze Putin’s war machine, while Delhi keeps buying those discounted barrels under the mantra of sovereignty and energy security. In the meantime, it’s all fuelling a fierce and nerdy DC debate between those who want to end Putin’s war, versus those worried this particular measure will just push India closer to China. But lest you need a reminder of why that latter fear still feels distant, consider this…

  4. 04

    CHINA

    Map wars.

    Beijing has declared India’s decision to standardise the names of 27 places in Arunachal Pradesh “illegal, null and void”, insisting the border area (which Beijing calls Zangnan, or Southern Tibet) actually belongs to China. India controls all 27 locations, and was responding to China’s own periodic renaming of the area since 2017. (New Indian Express)

    Comment: With the actual border now frozen, the conflict moves to narrative control. And it’s hard to be optimistic about a genuine thaw when every thaw seems to be accompanied by a fresh batch of new maps reasserting their same irreconcilable positions. Speaking of which, China has finally confirmed that two of its coastguard sailors died in last year’s China-on-China collision while chasing a Philippine vessel at Scarborough Shoal.

  5. 05

    AUSTRALIA

    Cutting ties.

    Two critical subsea cables off Australia’s west coast suffered faults in quick succession over the weekend, with the owner now calling on federal police to investigate amid claims of “very suspicious activity” from a nearby vessel. (ABC)

    Comment: Accidental anchor damage is common. Two separate cables failing in the same protected zone, with a vessel acting suspiciously nearby? After years of suspected hybrid cable attacks around Europe and Taiwan, often attributed to Russia and China? A little less quotidian.

  6. 06

    LIBYA

    Central bank boss walks.

    Libya’s central bank governor (Issa) has resigned without explanation, barely a year or so after a UN-backed deal installed him to end a bitter east-west factional standoff over the country’s oil revenues. (Libya Herald)

    Comment: Libya’s two rival governments (and their foreign backers) still treat the central bank like a prize to be captured rather than an institution to be protected. Meanwhile, the parallel-market dinar has immediately weakened, underlining just how tightly Libya’s currency and liquidity remain tied to whoever controls the central bank.