August 14 2026 News

More than 50 Muslim and Christian leaders have signed an interfaith peace accord in Abuja, launching a new body to promote religious harmony across Nigeria. Nigeria’s more than 200 million population is roughly evenly divided between a predominantly Muslim north and a largely Christian south, with other groups practicing traditional religions.

The Board of Peace confirms Jared Kushner’s trip to Israel next week and reveals that the top adviser to US President Donald Trump will make a subsequent stop in Cairo. Kushner will be joined by senior Board of Peace envoys Nickolay Mladenov and Tony Blair, an official from the US-controlled panel overseeing the postwar management of Gaza tells The Times of Israel. “In Israel, we will continue the constructive conversations that we are having on how to advance the President’s historic Comprehensive 20-Point Peace Plan,” the Board of Peace official says.

The IDF said Friday it had eliminated a Hamas company commander who participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack and held several Israeli hostages captive. Muhammad Bassam Muhammad Mushtaha, a commander in Hamas’ Shati Battalion, infiltrated Israel during the attack and took part in the massacre, according to the statement. The IDF said he oversaw the captivity of several hostages including Tsachi Idan, Cpl. Noa Marciano, Ziv Berman, Omri Miran, Ori Megidish, Naama Levy and Matan Angrest.

Kevin Rideout, an American missionary pilot who was kidnapped in Niger‘s capital Niamey in October last year, has been released and is in US hands, The New York Times reported late on Thursday, citing two US officials. Rideout is on his way to the United States, the Times said, adding that he was in good health based on proof-of-life images that were provided to American officials in the past 48 hours.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk revealed Thursday that his country arrested a Russian man hired by Moscow to kill a Ukrainian-American citizen who was “inconvenient to the Putin regime.” Tusk said the suspect was taken into custody Friday, with the alleged target being a man in Poland’s capital of Warsaw, according to a report from Reuters. “Thanks to the truly brilliant action of our services ... we detained a Russian citizen recruited by Russian intelligence services,” Tusk was quoted saying, adding that the target held both Ukrainian ‌and ⁠U.S. passports. “At the last minute, thanks to the action of the Internal Security Agency and the police, we managed to ⁠prevent this execution, this attack.”

Flock Safety, the police tech company that tracks Americans’ vehicle movements through a line of cameras, announced Thursday that it would implement several new safeguards to its products. The changes that Flock outlined include shrinking the period for how long it holds people’s movement data by default, going from one month to one week, the company said in a news release. In cases in which officers want to hold data longer, they will be prompted to enter case numbers. To address potential police abuse of Flock’s data on people, the company also plans to fully deploy a system it began testing earlier this year, called Audit Assistance, that will lock out a user whose searches display “abnormal activity,” the release said.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office purchased several pairs of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses for its undercover Internet Crimes Against Children unit, according to the records and the agency’s response reported by the New Times. In Okeechobee County, officials say the devices are simply a hands-free IT support tool that lets technicians troubleshoot equipment remotely.

Over 30 high school students from Humble ISD’s Kingwood High School and Atascocita High School were taken on a school-day field trip to the Centro Islamico, operated by IslamInSpanish in the Houston area. The visit included a tour, lunch from halal food trucks, observation of midday prayer, and a presentation. Students were even provided scarves. A CAIR Houston representative spoke to them about their “rights as Muslim students and allies.”

Authorities in Colombia continue to struggle to meet the needs of the tens of thousands estimated to have been injured, displaced, or otherwise affected by the devastating 7.4-magnitude earthquake this week, telling local media on Thursday that hospitals near the epicenter are totally overwhelmed and city streets are in a state of “total chaos.”