AnewZ Morning Brief - 19th August, 2025
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 19th of August, covering the latest developments you need to k...
U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday they spoke about missing children due to conflict as Trump hosted European and NATO leaders in Washington to discuss Russia's war in Ukraine.
Trump's wife, Melania Trump, raised the plight of children in Ukraine and Russia in a personal letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, two White House officials said on Friday when Trump met Putin at a summit in Alaska. Trump hand-delivered that letter to Putin.
Trump and the European leader "have been discussing the massive Worldwide problem of missing children," the U.S. president said on social media late on Monday, without mentioning any particular country in his post. "This is, likewise, a big subject with my wife, Melania."
Ukraine has called the abductions of tens of thousands of its children taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territory without the consent of family or guardians a war crime that meets the United Nations treaty definition of genocide. Moscow has previously said it has been protecting vulnerable children from a war zone.
The UN's Human Rights Office has said Russia has inflicted suffering on millions of Ukrainian children and violated their rights since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
"The human cost of this war must end. And that means every single Ukrainian child abducted by Russia must be returned to their families," von der Leyen said on X, in reference to her discussion with Trump.
Images of suffering children during Russia's war in Ukraine and Israel's war in Gaza have caused alarm around the world, including the visuals of starving kids in the Palestinian enclave. The plight of children left devastated by years of violence in Syria had also sparked outrage.
A powerful eruption at Japan’s Shinmoedake volcano sent an ash plume more than 3,000 metres high on Sunday morning, prompting safety warnings from authorities.
According to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Oaxaca region of Mexico on Saturday.
'Superman' continued to dominate the summer box office, pulling in another $57.25 million in its second weekend, as theatres welcome a wave of blockbuster competition following a challenging few years for the film industry.
Honduras has brought back mask mandates as COVID-19 cases and a new variant surge nationwide.
International superstar Taylor Swift has revealed her 12th studio album, 'The Life of a Showgirl', during a podcast appearance with her partner, U.S. football star Travis Kelce, and his brother Jason.
Hamas has agreed to a 60-day ceasefire proposal with Israel that would see half of the hostages in Gaza freed in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners, an Egyptian official said on Monday.
Russian drones deliberately struck a SOCAR oil depot in Ukraine's southern Odesa region for the second time in two weeks on Monday (18 August), according to Ukrainian officials.
Afghanistan's growing flour industry now supplies more than half the country's annual demand, with domestic mills producing 3.5 million tons out of the 6 million-ton national requirement.
U.S. envoy Tom Barrack has arrived in Beirut for his fourth visit since June, seeking to reinforce a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, days after the Cabinet backed a plan to disarm Hezbollah and other non-state groups.
Since January, more than 1.7 million Afghan citizens have returned from Iran and Pakistan, the United Nations said on Friday, warning of mounting humanitarian pressures.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment