Gizem Nisa Demir
23 August 2026•Update: 23 August 2026
Here’s a rundown of all the news you need to start your Sunday, including a deadly crash in the UK that claimed seven lives, an Israeli drone strike that injured one person in southwestern Syria, and Iran’s announcement that its military doctrine is shifting from a defensive to an offensive posture.
TOP STORIES
7 killed, including 2 police officers, in crash involving police vehicle, car in UK
Seven people, including two police officers, were killed Saturday after a car traveling the wrong way collided with a police vehicle near Middlesbrough in northeast England, Sky News reported, citing police.
The crash occurred on the A66 in South Bank at around 3.39 am local time (0239GMT), Cleveland Police said.
The force said five members of the public were traveling in a vehicle, which was going the wrong way along the road when it collided with a marked police vehicle traveling in the correct direction.
Israeli drone strike injures 1 in southwestern Syria
One person was injured Saturday in an Israeli drone strike targeting a vehicle in southwestern Syria, according to Syrian media.
Alikhbariah TV said the drone hit the vehicle in the town of Beit Jinn in the western Damascus countryside, without providing details about the identity or condition of the injured person.
Syrian authorities have not commented on the attack, while Israel has not announced its target or the reason for the strike.
Iranian army says its military doctrine shifting from ‘defensive to offensive’
The Iranian army said Saturday that its military doctrine is shifting from a “defensive to an offensive” posture, citing lessons from the country’s recent wars.
Brig. Gen. Mohammad Akraminia, spokesman for the Iranian army, told state news agency IRNA that the shift had gradually taken place during what he described as the 12-day and 40-day wars.
“Our country’s military doctrine was defensive in the past, but gradually during these two wars, we witnessed the military doctrine moving from a defensive posture toward an offensive one,” Akraminia said.
NEWS IN BRIEF
- Iran warned neighboring countries against joining the US “economic war,” threatening to target their interests and prevent oil exports from the Gulf if they cooperate with Washington.
- Syria warned that continued Israeli attacks on its territory would fuel tensions and instability in the region and threaten the safety and security of civilians, calling on the UN Security Council and the international community to take action to halt the Israeli assaults.
- Several injuries were reported after a roadside bomb targeted a bus belonging to Syria’s Internal Security Forces in the Damascus countryside, Alikhbariah TV reported.
- Widespread power outages were reported across eastern Libya.
- Israeli forces used phosphorus shells and carried out airstrikes and heavy artillery fire across several areas of southern Lebanon overnight and early Saturday, Lebanese state media reported.
- Russian air defense forces shot down six drones flying toward Moscow, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said early Sunday.
- Haitian nationals protested outside their embassy in Santiago over alleged irregular charges for criminal record certificates needed to regularize their immigration status, according to media reports.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state in Gaza or the occupied West Bank for as long as he remains in office.
- The number of illegal Israeli settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank has reached 592, with Israel controlling about 42% of the territory, a Palestinian government body said.
- The Democratic Republic of Congo and AFC/M23 rebels have agreed to develop a roadmap setting out sequenced steps and timelines for peace negotiations under the Doha Framework Agreement signed last year, according to a joint statement issued Saturday.
- Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Tehran has no intention of making concessions and stressed the need to move beyond what he called a “no war, no peace” situation, Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported.
- Kenyan authorities have arrested four people and recovered toxic chemicals as investigations into suspected cyanide poisoning of elephants in the Amboseli ecosystem intensified, with the number of elephants reported dead rising to 18, the wildlife minister said.
- Police in South Africa arrested two people in connection with the murder of former world boxing champion Zolani Tete, who was gunned down Friday outside his home in Mdantsane, Eastern Cape province.
- Kazakhstan holds first elections for its new 145-seat unicameral legislature, the Kurultai, with 545 candidates from seven political parties competing for five-year terms.
- A Texas appeals court has cut a $50 million judgment against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to $1.5 million, according to local media reports.
- Finance ministers from six EU countries have renewed calls for an EU-wide excess profit tax on oil companies amid high fuel prices, German broadcaster NTV reported.
- A US Air Force tanker aircraft stationed at Bulgaria's Bezmer Air Base left the country on Friday, Bulgarian Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said Saturday, according to the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA).
- Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine and its Western backers had gained no advantage against Russia and would never do so.
- The death toll from a Russian drone strike on a shopping complex in the city of Kryvyi Rih in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region rose to 16, local authorities said.
- A Chinese humanoid robot named “Lightning” has set a new 100-meter sprint record, clocking 9.32 seconds in a test ahead of the second World Humanoid Robot Games, surpassing Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt’s human world record of 9.58 seconds, CGTN reported.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Canada suspends trade talks with US: Premier Carney
Canada has decided to suspend its trade negotiations with the US, Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement late Friday, citing insufficient progress in talks.
Carney said Ottawa had worked to “strike a fair deal that would provide the best access to the U.S. market and greater certainty to Canadian businesses and workers.”
“We made important progress toward improving Canada’s position as having the best deal in the world with the U.S.,” he said.
Colombia reactivates coal exports to Israel after Petro-era ban
The Colombian government on Friday signed a decree authorizing the resumption of coal exports to Israel, reversing a ban imposed under former President Gustavo Petro amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
“I authorized the resumption of coal exports to Israel, putting an end to ideological bans and restrictions of the past that harmed our economy, affected legal certainty and undermined international confidence,” President Abelardo de la Espriella said in a statement cited by the government.
Commerce, Industry and Tourism Minister Mauricio Gomez Amin said the government had already prepared the decree, describing the previous suspension as an “ideological” decision.