Portal:Current events/2025 August 26

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Colombian conflict
  • August 2025 FARC dissidents clashes
    • Colombian defense minister Pedro Sánchez reports that at least 34 soldiers have been kidnapped by armed civilians in Guaviare after clashes with dissident factions of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia that killed eleven fighters, including a commander, on Sunday. (Al Jazeera)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • Israeli incursions in the West Bank during the Gaza war
    • Israeli forces carry out a daytime raid on Ramallah in the West Bank, wounding at least 58 Palestinians with gunfire and tear gas. (AP)

Arts and culture

• France repatriates three colonial-era skulls from the National Museum of Natural History in Paris to Madagascar under a 2023 law enabling the restitution of human remains, marking the first such handover between the two countries. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• India–Pakistan relations
  • Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority evacuates more than 100,000 people from Punjab after India releases water from dams into the Sutlej river, raising flood risks amid heavy monsoon rains. (AP)
• At least 14 people are killed and six others are seriously injured when a four-story building collapses in Virar, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. (India TV)

International relations

• Australia–Iran relations, Terrorism in Australia, Antisemitism in Australia
  • Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese announces the closure of the Australian embassy in Tehran, the expulsion of Iranian ambassadors from Australia, and designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization after an Australian Security Intelligence Organisation investigation links the IRGC to least two antisemitic attacks, including the 2024 Melbourne synagogue attack and an arson attack on a North Bondi kosher restaurant. (Sydney Morning Herald) (Reuters)
• International sanctions against Iran, Nuclear program of Iran
  • Representatives of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom fail to reach an agreement with Iran in Geneva, Switzerland, on avoiding the possible reimposition of UN sanctions under the 2015 nuclear deal's snapback mechanism, following concerns about Iran's compliance. (AP)

Law and crime

• Corruption in Sri Lanka
  • Former Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe is granted bail after being arrested on allegations of misusing public funds, becoming the first former president of the country to face arrest. (AP)
• Haitian conflict
  • Haitian police regain control of the Téléco telecommunications hub in Port-au-Prince after it was seized by the Viv Ansanm gang, an operation that briefly disrupted air traffic and internet services. (AP)
• Mass shootings in the United States
  • One person is killed and six others are wounded in a mass shooting near Interstate 35 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. (MPR) (WCCO-TV)
• Porepunkah police shootings
  • Two police officers are shot and killed and a third is wounded in a suspected sovereign citizen terrorist attack in Porepunkah, Victoria, Australia, sending the town into lockdown. The perpetrator remains at large. (ABC News Australia)

Politics and elections

• 2026 Colombian presidential election
  • Miguel Uribe Londoño, the father of assassinated Colombian senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, announces his candidacy for president in the upcoming election, seeking the Democratic Centre's nomination. (AP)
• Martial law in Ukraine
  • Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko announces that men aged 18 to 22 may now freely cross the border under martial law, reversing earlier restrictions that barred men aged 18 to 60 from leaving the country. (Reuters)
• The Lithuanian Seimas elects Inga Ruginienė as the country's new prime minister. (Euronews)
• The Marshall Islands' parliament building in Majuro, including its library and archives, burns down in a fire. (The Guardian)