Hurricane Lala Skirts Hawaii, Killing One and Cutting Power to More Than 130,000 Households

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

Hawaii is assessing widespread damage and continuing rescue and recovery efforts after Hurricane Lala skirted the islands without making landfall but still delivered flash flooding, mudslides and hurricane-force gusts, particularly to the Big Island. The storm weakened to a tropical storm on Sunday, yet tropical storm warnings remained in place for some islands as it tracked west, and officials warned the danger was not over. One person died, more than one hundred and thirty thousand households lost power, and the governor said at least one hundred homes were damaged or lost. In at least one community, residents were trapped after the only road in and out was washed away, while others returned to find homes flooded and roads closed. Higher windward slopes had been forecast to receive nearly three feet of rain, turning rivers into torrents.

Meanwhile, in the United States, Florida primary voters set the November matchups for the state's open U S Senate seat and governor's mansion. In the Democratic Senate primary, progressive state Representative Angie Nixon, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, defeated former Army intelligence officer Alexander Vindman despite entering the race with far less funding, according to projections by the Associated Press. She will face Republican incumbent Senator Ashley Moody, who is heavily favored in November. In the governor's race, Trump-backed U S Representative Byron Donalds captured the Republican nomination, easily defeating three rivals including Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins, Governor Ron DeSantis's handpicked choice. Former Republican U S Representative David Jolly won the Democratic nomination. Donalds has pledged to implement President Trump's agenda if elected to succeed the term-limited DeSantis.

Elsewhere in the U S Wladimir Klitschko, the former heavyweight boxing champion and ex-partner of Hayden Panettiere, posted a tribute saying his family is going through "profound shock and grief" after the actor's death on Sunday at age thirty-six. Klitschko wrote that he would raise their daughter, Kaya, to remember Panettiere's "immense talent" and "incredible career." A police report released Tuesday said Panettiere was with her on-and-off boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, and his brother, Zach Hickerson, at a Greenville, South Carolina, apartment when she was found unresponsive; the brothers made the nine hundred and eleven call that brought first responders to the scene. The county coroner's office said Panettiere was found in cardiac arrest and that the official cause and manner of death remain under investigation, though there were no signs of foul play.

In Las Vegas, the murder trial of Duane "Keffe D" Davis opened on Monday, with prosecutors accusing the former gang leader of orchestrating the one thousand nine hundred and ninety-six drive-by shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur. Davis, the only person ever charged in connection with the killing, is alleged to have plotted the shooting to avenge the beating of his nephew by Shakur's entourage. Opening statements were followed by testimony from a crime scene analyst and a witness to the shooting as the jury began weighing the evidence.

In technology news, a federal jury trial pitting more than half of U S states against Meta began over claims that the company deliberately designed addictive features on Instagram and Facebook to hook children and worsen a youth mental health crisis. The states' attorneys general allege Meta intentionally crafted products that lured young users and caused them harm. The federal trial is expected to examine whether social media platforms can be held legally responsible for the mental health effects of their design choices on minors.

In Pennsylvania, Attorney General Dave Sunday announced charges against fourteen people, most of them current or former Penn State University students, accusing them of running a cocaine trafficking ring that used two off-campus fraternity houses as its main hubs. The operation allegedly cut and packaged cocaine at the houses of Delta Upsilon and Sigma Chi; Delta Upsilon has been placed on interim probation. One parent was also among those charged. Prosecutors described the scheme as a major cocaine trafficking operation.

On the Korean peninsula, the United States is scaling back joint military exercises with South Korea at President Trump's direction, part of an apparent effort to ease tensions with North Korea and encourage talks with Kim Jong-un. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise will end on twenty-one August, six days early, at Washington's request. Trump had ordered the Pentagon to reduce the drills, which he called "hostile" toward Pyongyang. The move has left some officials in Seoul uneasy even though South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has previously sought stronger homegrown defenses and a less confrontational posture toward the North.

In Britain, Prime Minister Andy Burnham pledged to offer every rough sleeper in England a route off the streets by Christmas, launching a national drive likened to the pandemic-era "Everyone In" initiative. Burnham said he would commit an additional one hundred million pounds toward ending street homelessness, building on an earlier four hundred and forty-two million pounds promise, and urged local leaders to help provide housing and support. Homelessness campaigners welcomed the pledge but said more comprehensive action is needed to address the underlying causes of rough sleeping.

Also in the United Kingdom, Queen Camilla said it was "difficult" to keep the King's cancer diagnosis secret, speaking publicly for the first time about the experience in a video marking the thirtieth anniversary of the Maggie's cancer charity. She described the emotional challenge of withholding the news while supporting her husband.

In music news, Frank Beard, the drummer for Texas rock band Z Z Top for fifty-six years, has died at age seventy-seven. A band spokesperson said Beard died on seventeen August in hospice care at his ranch in Richmond, Texas, with his family by his side. Bandmate Billy Gibbons paid tribute to him as "one of the most naturally innovative drummers and a great and true son of Texas."

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 dot com.