Aug 3, 2026 · 13 stories

Morning Edition · 3 August 2026

Cuba's national electricity grid collapses, plunging the island's roughly 10 million people into darkness in the country's sixth nationwide blackout of 2026

Cuba's National Electric System disconnected entirely at about 10:43 p.m. on Sunday, the state Electric Union said, cutting power across the island of some 10 million people for the sixth time this year. The grid has repeatedly failed in 2026 amid chronic shortages of fuel and spare parts and breakdowns at thermoelectric plants, some more than 30 years old. Havana has struggled to import fuel since the loss of its main ally, Venezuela, and amid renewed US pressure.Reuters, Al Jazeera · Aug 3, 2026

A darkened Havana skyline at night during a nationwide power blackout in Cuba.

Historical

Literary

Musical / Artistic

Politics

The headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva.

Myanmar's military releases photos of detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi meeting a Red Cross official, her first confirmed outside contact in about two and a half years

Reuters, BBCAug 3, 2026

Conflict

The building of Iran's judiciary in Tehran.

Iran executes two men convicted of passing coordinates of military sites to Israel's Mossad, as executions mount during the war with Israel and the US

Reuters, The Times of IsraelAug 3, 2026

Economy

Japanese yen banknotes fanned out beside US dollar bills, illustrating a currency intervention.

The United States and Japan jointly intervene in currency markets to support the yen, a rare coordinated move that sends the dollar sharply lower

BBC, APAug 3, 2026

The AstraZeneca headquarters, the Discovery Centre, in Cambridge, England.

AstraZeneca shares fall about 7%, the biggest drop on the FTSE 100, after reports it held early talks with Bristol Myers Squibb on a possible merger worth around $400 billion

Reuters, CNBCAug 3, 2026

Climate

Onshore wind turbines and solar panels in a European countryside.

Shell agrees to sell its European onshore wind, solar and battery business, a roughly four-gigawatt portfolio, to France's TotalEnergies as it retreats from renewables

Reuters, AOLAug 3, 2026

Plug-in solar panels mounted on an apartment balcony railing.

The UK clears the way for plug-in balcony solar panels, letting households plug low-cost panels into a wall socket from 27 August to cut energy bills

Dezeen, Ideal HomeAug 3, 2026

Science

A greater crested tern standing on a rocky shore.

Australia confirms its first mass die-off of seabirds from H5N1 bird flu, with about 50 greater crested terns found dead on the South Australian coast

Reuters, IBTimesAug 3, 2026

Ships passing through the Suez Canal in Egypt.

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake strikes near the northern end of the Suez Canal in Egypt, shaking Cairo, Alexandria and neighbouring countries but causing no serious damage

Reuters, The NationalAug 3, 2026

Technology

A data-center server hall with rows of racks, illustrating AI model inference.

DeepSeek releases what a research firm calls the cheapest well-known AI model to run, hours after Alibaba unveils its largest model yet, escalating China's AI price war

Reuters, ReutersAug 3, 2026

Vaduz Castle above the capital of Liechtenstein, the Alpine financial principality.

A cyberattack on Liechtenstein's business register exposes information on about 31,000 companies and foundations, including the people behind them, officials say

AP, ReutersAug 3, 2026

Culture

A concert stage lit in blue with a crowd silhouetted in front, illustrating a live music performance.

British band Massive Attack say Singapore has barred them from returning after they displayed a Palestinian flag and led 'free Palestine' chants at a 29 July concert

BBC, Malay MailAug 3, 2026

The snow-covered summit of Broad Peak in Pakistan's Karakoram range.

Nepal mourns record-setting mountaineer Nirmal Purja, who died at 43 in an avalanche on Pakistan's Broad Peak, with tributes gathering at his former school

BBC, DawnAug 3, 2026