Reported by: Cherry Meigh TimbolNews Content Editor Published August 11, 2026 TRIPOLI, Libya — A drone strike on Libya’s Zawiya oil complex triggered a massive fire at a fuel-storage facility, damaging a tank containing millions [...]
The fast moving fire threatens nearby structures.
A Damascus court has sentenced ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad and his brother to death for crimes against humanity, the first judicial verdict against the Assad inner circle since the family's half-century grip on power collapsed. Judge Fakhareddine al-Aryan read the sentence Tuesday from the Fourth Criminal Court in central Damascus, a session aired live […] The post Syrian court sentences Bashar Assad to death in absentia for war crimes appeared first on American Almanac .
A Damascus court has sentenced ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad and his brother to death for crimes against humanity, the first judicial verdict against the Assad inner circle since the family's half-century grip on power collapsed. Judge Fakhareddine al-Aryan read the sentence Tuesday from the Fourth Criminal Court in central Damascus, a session aired live on Syrian state television. Assad, his younger brother Maher, and their maternal cousin Atef Najib all received death sentences for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Syria's 14-year civil war, a conflict that killed roughly half a million people. The verdicts mark the first time a Syrian court has held any member of the Assad regime formally accountable since…Open
FEMA is deploying water trailers to Puerto Rico after the island's worst drought in more than a century forced rotating shutoffs for hundreds of thousands of households, and local officials say conditions could still get worse. Authorities began cutting water service on a rotating 48-hour schedule late last week in parts of San Juan, Carolina, […] The post More than 180,000 Puerto Rico households face water shutoffs as FEMA sends emergency trailers appeared first on American Almanac .
FEMA is deploying water trailers to Puerto Rico after the island's worst drought in more than a century forced rotating shutoffs for hundreds of thousands of households, and local officials say conditions could still get worse. Authorities began cutting water service on a rotating 48-hour schedule late last week in parts of San Juan, Carolina, Juncos, Gurabo, Trujillo Alto, Canovanas, and Loiza. More than 180,000 households now cycle between two days with water and two days without, a rationing plan that Gov. Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon announced at a Sunday press conference after declaring a state of emergency on July 31. FEMA confirmed Monday that it will provide water trailers for up to 30 days, following a formal request from the Puerto…Open
Congo's Ebola outbreak has killed more than 2,000 people in roughly three months, reaching that grim milestone almost three times faster than the deadliest Ebola epidemic in history, while health workers strike over unpaid wages and most new infections spread beyond the reach of contact tracers. Government data published overnight Tuesday showed 4,381 confirmed Ebola […] The post Congo's Ebola death toll hits 2,000 as outbreak outpaces every prior epidemic on record appeared first on American Almanac .
Congo's Ebola outbreak has killed more than 2,000 people in roughly three months, reaching that grim milestone almost three times faster than the deadliest Ebola epidemic in history, while health workers strike over unpaid wages and most new infections spread beyond the reach of contact tracers. Government data published overnight Tuesday showed 4,381 confirmed Ebola cases and 2,011 deaths across five eastern provinces, with Ituri province in the country's remote east serving as the epicenter. The case fatality rate stands at 45.9%, well above the 39.6% rate recorded during the catastrophic 2014, 2016 West Africa outbreak that the Associated Press described as the worst in history. That earlier epidemic killed more than 11,000 people…Open
New York City First Lady Rama Duwaji is planning a trip to Syria and Lebanon, both countries the U.S. State Department tells Americans not to visit, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani's office says taxpayer-funded NYPD officers should accompany her. Duwaji, the 29-year-old Syrian-American wife of Mayor Mamdani, intends to leave for the two countries on September […] The post NYC first lady plans Syria, Lebanon trip — and the mayor's office wants NYPD officers to go with her appeared first on American Almanac .
New York City First Lady Rama Duwaji is planning a trip to Syria and Lebanon, both countries the U.S. State Department tells Americans not to visit, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani's office says taxpayer-funded NYPD officers should accompany her. Duwaji, the 29-year-old Syrian-American wife of Mayor Mamdani, intends to leave for the two countries on September 20 to "visit family," according to a statement from mayoral spokesperson Dora Pekec. The spokesperson said the first lady's security detail would join her "upon the strong recommendation of the NYPD." But the NYPD itself quickly contradicted that claim, telling the New York Post early Tuesday that no officers would be making the trip. Both Syria and Lebanon sit on the State Department's…Open
A hospital doctor in Spain's North African exclave of Ceuta says the facility has treated at least five girls under 14 for alleged rape, cases she links to a massive border crossing that overwhelmed the small city's shelters and left migrant children living on the streets. Dr. Susana Ascaso, an emergency physician at the University […] The post At least five girls under 14 allegedly raped in Ceuta after 72,000 migrants crossed from Morocco appeared first on American Almanac .
A hospital doctor in Spain's North African exclave of Ceuta says the facility has treated at least five girls under 14 for alleged rape, cases she links to a massive border crossing that overwhelmed the small city's shelters and left migrant children living on the streets. Dr. Susana Ascaso, an emergency physician at the University Hospital of Ceuta, known locally as HUCE, confirmed the cases to the local newspaper El Pueblo de Ceuta . She described treating "cases of rape of migrant girls" in the roughly two weeks since approximately 72,000 migrants surged across the sea border from Morocco on the final day of July. The girls are believed to have arrived during that crossing. They ended up on the streets, Ascaso said, "because there…Open
A 7.4-magnitude earthquake tore through Colombia's coffee-growing heartland on Monday, killing at least 164 people and leveling roughly 1,600 buildings, and a new president barely three days into office now faces his first crisis. Rescue workers pulled a six-month-old baby and her mother from the wreckage of a collapsed building hours after the quake struck […] The post Colombia earthquake kills at least 164 as rescuers pull infant from rubble appeared first on American Almanac .
A 7.4-magnitude earthquake tore through Colombia's coffee-growing heartland on Monday, killing at least 164 people and leveling roughly 1,600 buildings, and a new president barely three days into office now faces his first crisis. Rescue workers pulled a six-month-old baby and her mother from the wreckage of a collapsed building hours after the quake struck early on August 10, 2026. The mother emerged covered in blood and dust. In Cali, Colombia's third-largest city, volunteers dug through concrete and rebar with sticks and bare hands while hospitals overflowed into the streets. In Pereira, the capital of Risaralda state, entire residential blocks lay in ruins. The earthquake, centered near the town of San Jose Del Palmar in the remote…Open
Andrew Lloyd Webber used the closing night of "Cats: The Jellicle Ball" to deliver a blunt warning about Broadway's financial future, calling the cost of producing new shows unsustainable and urging the industry to "come to their senses." The composer posted on Instagram as the curtain fell for the last time at the Broadhurst Theatre […] The post Andrew Lloyd Webber calls Broadway costs 'unsustainable' as 'Cats: The Jellicle Ball' closes five months early appeared first on American Almanac .
Andrew Lloyd Webber used the closing night of "Cats: The Jellicle Ball" to deliver a blunt warning about Broadway's financial future, calling the cost of producing new shows unsustainable and urging the industry to "come to their senses." The composer posted on Instagram as the curtain fell for the last time at the Broadhurst Theatre on August 8, announcing that the reimagined revival of his landmark musical was shutting down roughly five months ahead of schedule. The show had been pulling in between $900,000 and $1 million a week when it premiered on Broadway in April, but revenue dropped sharply after it lost the best revival of a musical Tony Award to "Ragtime." Variety reported that the financial slide proved fatal despite the…Open
Romy Reiner appeared in the final episode of Larry David's HBO series months after her father, Rob Reiner, gave his last screen performance in the same show, a connection that lands differently after the filmmaker's violent death. The 28-year-old played a nurse tending to an ailing President William Henry Harrison, portrayed by actor Fred Melamed, […] The post Romy Reiner's role in Larry David's HBO finale carries a quiet link to her late father appeared first on American Almanac .
Romy Reiner appeared in the final episode of Larry David's HBO series months after her father, Rob Reiner, gave his last screen performance in the same show, a connection that lands differently after the filmmaker's violent death. The 28-year-old played a nurse tending to an ailing President William Henry Harrison, portrayed by actor Fred Melamed, in the seventh and final episode of "Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness," which premiered Friday on HBO . Her father had appeared in the second episode of the same series, airing July 3, in what became his last screen performance, playing George Washington. Rob Reiner, 78, and his wife Michele, 70, were stabbed to death in their Brentwood, California, home last December. Their son Nick…Open