Portal:Current events/2026 August 12
August 12, 2026 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Sudanese civil war
- Kordofan campaign, Siege of El Obeid
- The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launch eight drone and land attacks across El Obeid, North Kordofan. Two people are reported to be killed during the attacks. (Reuters)
- The RSF launch drone strikes across multiple cities in Sudan, including its capital Khartoum, Bahri, and Omdurman in Khartoum State, and the River Nile cites of Ad-Damir and Atbara. (AFP via Arab News) (The National News)
- Kordofan campaign, Siege of El Obeid
- Colombian conflict
- Two Colombian soldiers are killed and 17 more are wounded in an ambush by FARC dissidents in Algeciras, Huila. (El Colombiano in Spanish) (Sociedad Media)
- Libyan crisis
- A drone strike is reported on a electrical substation in Zawiya, western Libya, causing a fire and power outages. (The Hill)
- Mexican drug war
- A failed attack against the Tayoltita Airfield, in San Dimas Municipality, Durango, Mexico, leaves one gunman killed and two soldiers wounded. Authorities deploy an operation in the zone to secure the area and search for the remaining attackers. (La Jornada in Spanish)
- Red Sea crisis
- Pakistani foreign minister Ishaq Dar reports that three Pakistanis were killed in a attack on a commercial vessel in the Red Sea. (DW)
Disasters and accidents
- A woman is killed and 172 other people are rescued after a ferry catches fire off the coast of Bali, Indonesia. (AFP via RFI)
Law and crime
- Four people are killed, including the perpetrator, in shooting and stabbing attacks at a daycare and a house in Hopkins, Minnesota, United States. (CBS News)
Politics and elections
- 2026 Cook Islands general election
- Cook Islanders vote to elect all 24 seats of Parliament amid a cost-of-living crisis and debate regarding a past partnership agreement with China. Incumbent prime minister Mark Brown faces a challenge from Cook Islands United leader Teariki Heather. (RNZ) (The Guardian)
- The Rapid Support Forces-appointed governor of Sudan's Kordofan region, Hamad Mohammad Hamad Khalifa, resigns and announces he will defect. (Sudan Tribune) (Al-Arabiya)
Science and technology
- Solar eclipse of August 12, 2026
- A total solar eclipse occurs in Greenland, Iceland, and Spain, with partial eclipses visible over much of northern North America, Europe (except most of Ukraine, Greece, Bulgaria and Russia), northwestern Africa and northern Asian Russia. It is the first total eclipse observable in mainland Europe since August 1999. (Time and Date) (EclipseWise)
- MoM-BH*-1
- Astronomers studying a little red dot found by the James Webb Space Telescope announce in Nature the discovery of the first black hole star. The first object classed as such, MoM-BH*-1, in the constellation of Cetus, is the size of the Solar System and emits a light that outshines its host galaxy. (The Guardian) (PopSci)
Category: