This roundup summarises the most important news stories around the world in the last month (August 2026).

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Spain deployed its army to the autonomous city of Ceuta on the North African coast after tens of thousands of migrants swam, walked, and climbed across its border with Morocco. It triggered a severe humanitarian and political crisis, with dozens of deaths reported. Eventually about 69,500 returned to Morocco, though thousands still remain stranded and live in legal limbo.

Legal developments

Technology company and social media giant Meta agreed to pay about US$18 billion (S$22.9 billion) as part of a settlement to resolve a multistage lawsuit. It has also agreed to make changes to its Facebook and Instagram platforms. Meta denied wrongdoing, but is said to have intentionally designed addictive platforms that negatively affected the mental health of young people.

In France, the country’s top court struck down a ball that would have banned social media for children under 15. In Hong Kong, a higher court convicted two pro-democracy activists of inciting subversion for organising annual vigils remembering Beijing’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. In Syria, the former president Bashar al-Assad was sentenced to death in absentia, as he was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the country’s civil war. Assad remains in Moscow, where he has been since December 2024.

Separately, in Myanmar, in her first public meeting with a foreign official in several years, detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Following widespread opposition and threats to boycott the World Cup, FIFA reversed plans to sell a stake in its commercial and event operations to private investors.

A slew of natural and man-made disasters

In Colombia, a powerful earthquake left hundreds dead. In DR Congo, the country is experiencing its deadliest Ebola outbreak on record. The outbreak surpasses the country’s 2018-20 epidemic, which killed 2,299 people. In Indonesia, a large earthquake struck the country, leading dozens dead. In Nepal, catastrophic flash flooding left hundreds of people dead. In Nigeria, the capsizing of an overloaded boat killed at least 50 people. And in Zimbabwe, the capsizing of an overloaded government-owned ferry killed at least 94 people.