Late Summer Recap

By Sam N. '29

Welcome back to school! Below are brief recaps of recent news from the summer, organized into national and international news. 

This article was inspired by former Editor-in-Chief Jinane Ejjed’s (‘26) summer recap from 2024, which you can find here.

Sources include: CNN, NBC News, PBS NewsHour, Britannica, US NOAA, NPR, Associated Press, Al Jazeera, Reuters, and Euronews.

National News

Iran War Resumes: After a shaky ceasefire and the June 17 Islamabad Memorandum meant to end the conflict, fighting between the U.S. and Iran resumed on July 8th when Iran struck commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, prompting renewed U.S. strikes on Iranian targets throughout July. 

No Kings Protests: A wave of decentralized nationwide protests, tied to immigration enforcement, the Iran war, and concerns over the executive’s undemocratic tendencies, drew roughly four million protesters across more than 2,100 U.S. cities

Epstein Files: Despite a transparency law requiring the full release of the DOJ’s Epstein records, the files have been disclosed in slow, incomplete, heavily redacted batches. Congress was preparing to vote on another push for the release (the Epstein Files Transparency Act II) to force additional records out; however, the vote was delayed by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson until after the midterms. This was likely done to avoid a controversial vote for republicans right before they are up for reelection.

Domestic National Guard Deployments: National Guard troops remained deployed in several U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, D.C., Memphis, Minneapolis, Chicago, and New Orleans, as part of the Trump Administration’s crime reduction* and immigration-enforcement push. This policy fueled much of the protests and opposition over the summer.

Government shutdown averted (barely!): After a 7-Day partial shutdown earlier in the year, Congress passed a stopgap funding bill on September 2nd, funding the government through December 11th and pushing the fight over the full Appropriations bills until after the midterms. Hottest summer on record: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed that the US had its hottest summer on record, surpassing even the highest estimates. 

International News

Spain wins the World Cup: Hosted jointly by the US, Canada, and Mexico, the 2026 FIFA World Cup concluded July 19th with Spain defeating the defending champion Argentina 1-0 in extra time. Spain, winning their second title, only conceded one goal all tournament!

Israel-Lebanon ceasefire framework: Following months of war, the US brokered a truce between Israel and Hezbollah in mid-June; by late June, Iran, the US, and Lebanon agreed to form a committee overseeing the war's conclusion, with the full Israeli withdrawal from Southern Lebanon remaining incomplete as of last month.

Major earthquakes: A magnitude 7.4 earthquake hit Colombia on August 10th, and a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Indonesia on August 14th, making this year unusually deadly in terms of tectonic activity.

Indonesian wildfires: Massive wildfires across Kalimantan and Sumatra produced more than 19.7 million metric tons of CO2 emissions in a single week in September, which makes up more than a third of global fire emissions.

Amazon deforestation: Brazil's National Space Agency reported that Amazon deforestation dropped 30% year over year, which is the lowest since satellite monitoring began in 2016.

New Russian sanctions bill: The US Senate voted 86 - 11 in August to pass sweeping sanctions on Russia's energy and financial sectors, plus authorization for tariffs of up to 100% on major buyers of Russian oil.

Pakistan-Saudi-Turkey defense pact: The three countries signed the Mecca Joint Defense agreement in August, a mutual defense declaration stating an attack on one constitutes an attack on all three.

*Studies have found that immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, are consistently less likely to commit crime than citizens. (Stanford, American Immigration Council, UC Irvine)