Blanche Rescinds Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund, Wins GOP Backing

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

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has issued a formal order terminating President Donald Trump’s one point eight billion dollars “anti-weaponization fund,” a compensation pool for political allies that had become the central obstacle to his Senate confirmation. Republican Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who had threatened to block Blanche’s nomination, announced Monday that they will advance it after receiving written assurance that the fund is dead. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Blanche’s nomination on Tuesday. The rescission is completed, though Trump is reportedly exploring ways to revive the fund.

Meanwhile, in the United States, firefighters are battling about fifteen major wildfires across Washington state. The largest complex, around Spokane, has been described by Mayor Lisa Brown as the worst natural disaster the region has faced. The blazes have destroyed hundreds of buildings—one report put the toll at roughly six hundred—and forced tens of thousands of people from their homes, with evacuation estimates reaching sixty thousand. Brown said nearly half of Spokane’s neighborhoods have either been evacuated or are at risk. David Upthegrove, who leads the state natural resources agency, called the season extraordinary as drought and extreme heat continue to fuel the flames.

In Myanmar, detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi met a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the aid organization and a Myanmar government spokeswoman confirmed. The meeting is the first known contact with an outside official in years for the eighty-one-year-old Nobel laureate, whose health and whereabouts have been largely unknown since the military ousted her in February twenty twenty-one. Her son, Kim Aris, said photographs of the encounter gave him “a reason to hope” for the first time since the coup. The military takeover triggered an ongoing civil war that has killed more than one hundred thousand people on all sides.

On Capitol Hill, the House Ethics Committee has recommended censure for Representative Chuck Edwards, a Republican from North Carolina. A months-long investigation found persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct toward two young female staffers. The bipartisan panel concluded there is substantial reason to believe Edwards violated House rules by fostering a hostile work environment and sexually harassing the aides through lavish gifts and attention.

In the Pacific, the island country of Nauru has officially changed its name to the Republic of Naoero, matching the spelling and pronunciation in the national language, the president announced. The country’s international code will shift from N R U to N R O and its people will be known as dei-Naoero rather than Nauruan. The change is the latest move by a former colonial territory to reclaim its traditional name.

Back in Washington, President Donald Trump accused U S Attorney Jeanine Pirro of folding “like an umbrella” after she dropped vandalism charges against a former Olympian accused of damaging the recently renovated Reflecting Pool. Trump, who said Pirro “choked,” ignored a question about whether he was considering removing her from the post, though reports suggest he is weighing her dismissal. Pirro serves as the top federal prosecutor in Washington, D C

In mixed martial arts, Brazilian U F C flyweight Allan Nascimento has died at age thirty-four after suffering an apparent heart attack in his sleep, the organization announced. He was found dead at home. Nascimento’s last bout was a split-decision loss in June.

In Japan, three lions at a Tokyo zoo have died from suspected heatstroke, and several others are receiving treatment, a zoo spokesperson said. Most of the facility’s sixteen lions have struggled with high humidity this summer as Japan endures another severe heat wave.

In Australia, Bob Montgomery, an eighty-two-year-old charity cyclist, died unexpectedly a day after completing a roughly five thousand two hundred-kilometer ride across Australia with his teenage grandson. His family confirmed that he was killed in a single-vehicle crash in Sydney on Monday, a day after finishing what he had called “One Last Ride” from Broome to Bowral.

In business news, President Donald Trump criticized major U S oil companies, including ExxonMobil and Chevron, for “making too much money” from the surge in oil prices caused by the conflict with Iran. He said the firms should “give some of that back to the public” and cut gasoline prices. Brent crude had been trading near seventy dollars a barrel before U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran began in February and climbed sharply in the months that followed.

In British media, B B C Radio five Live presenter Tony Livesey has left the broadcaster after sixteen years, the B B C announced, following allegations about his previous career as editor-in-chief of David Sullivan’s Sport newspapers. He stepped back from his late-night show last month after the claims about his former boss surfaced.

In health news, a new analysis suggests current N H S criteria for referring women at risk of breast cancer miss nearly all under-50s who go on to develop the disease within a decade. Researchers warned that up to ninety-five percent of younger women at higher risk are being overlooked by existing checks, leaving GPs without the tools to identify them early.

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.