Trump halts Iran strikes, claims deal talks set for Monday

This is the morning edition of the One News Page Global Briefing, for Monday, the third of August, twenty twenty-six. Here is what matters now.

President Donald Trump says he is calling off planned strikes on Iran for now and that negotiations with Tehran will begin on Monday, after claiming that the perimeters of a deal had been agreed to. He also demanded the immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Mediators disputed that any deal outline exists, however, and no formal agreement has been independently confirmed. Trump had threatened to hit Iran very hard on Friday and said he was losing faith in a peace deal before reversing course. He did not say where Monday's meeting would take place or who would attend, and he declined to set a deadline for an agreement. The United States and Israel have been at war with Iran since launching surprise strikes on twenty-eight February, though months of on-and-off diplomacy have produced periods of relative calm; Tehran and Oman have also been discussing a possible arrangement over the strait.

In Myanmar, detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi met a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Monday, the I C R C and a Myanmar government spokeswoman said. The eighty-one-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate was deposed in the February twenty twenty-one military coup and jailed; her whereabouts and health have been largely unknown since. Her son, Kim Aris, said photographs of the meeting gave him a reason to hope for the first time since the coup. The coup triggered an ongoing civil war that has killed more than one hundred thousand people on all sides.

Meanwhile, in Indonesia, an Indonesian passenger ferry carrying at least two hundred and fifty people, and as many as two hundred and seventy-one according to one official tally, caught fire in waters off Madura island, killing at least five people and leaving forty-one others missing, Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency, Basarnas, said. A total of two hundred and twenty-five people were rescued, while some passengers jumped into the sea to escape the flames.

In the United States, wildfires in eastern Washington have destroyed about six hundred buildings and forced roughly five thousand homes to be evacuated near Spokane, officials said. Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown called the blazes the worst natural disaster our region has faced. Firefighters were hopeful that improving weather conditions would help contain the blaze, which officials described as the largest natural disaster in Spokane's history.

Also in the U S, a shooting at an In-N-Out Burger restaurant in Twin Falls, Idaho, on Saturday afternoon left at least three people dead and two injured, police said. Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks said the shooter was among the dead. Authorities cautioned that the number of victims was expected to rise and said they were still working to determine the shooter's identity and motive. The gunfire brought panic to a busy shopping center.

In Washington, D C, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a formal order late Sunday terminating President Donald Trump's one point eight billion dollar anti-weaponization fund, which was intended to compensate political allies. The move came ahead of Blanche's nomination hearing for attorney general. The fund had been widely criticized as a slush fund. The order followed weeks of negotiations with two Republican senators who had been blocking his nomination.

In other news, Capital One Financial told a court it closed hundreds of Trump Organization accounts in twenty twenty-one after a months-long internal anti-money-laundering review, not because of the January six Capitol riot. The bank is asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Trump-affiliated businesses. The disclosure marks the first time a bank has formally tied money-laundering concerns to Donald Trump, according to the filing.

In the United Kingdom, Reform U K says it would use the Royal Navy to stop small boats carrying migrants across the English Channel, with the party's home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf calling it the largest military operation in the English Channel since World War Two. A retired Royal Navy commander criticized the plan as lacking substance and said warships would be better used countering actual military threats. Labour accused the party of a desperate attempt to distract from sleaze.

In entertainment news, Ariana Grande announced she will step back from visibility and pull out of the upcoming London revival of Sunday in the Park with George after her world tour ends next month, citing endless, ongoing public scrutiny. Her representative confirmed the decision. The thirty-three-year-old singer had been due to appear opposite her Wicked co-star Jonathan Bailey in the production.

Also in Britain, drivers have stolen an average of almost two hundred thousand pounds worth of fuel from U K forecourts every day since the start of the Iran war, according to industry analysis. Incidents of fuel being taken without payment have risen by a fifth in five months.

In sport, Dutch sprinter Lorena Wiebes won stage two of the Tour de France Femmes in Geneva, securing back-to-back victories and extending her overall lead in the nine-day race. Her team still intends to sue cycling's governing body, the U C I, over her disqualification from the Giro, a separate matter.

That was the morning edition of the One News Page Global Briefing. Read the complete briefing and explore its supporting coverage at One News Page.