Morning Brief - 20 August 2026
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 20th of August, covering the latest developments. ...
A train driver has been killed and nine people remain in a critical condition in hospital, after two trains collided near Beford in the east of England on Friday. The passenger trains heading to London collided at around 17:15 local time (1615 GMT).
Speaking on Saturday, British Transport Police Chief Constable Lucy D'Orsi said more than 80 people had received hospital treatment on Friday night.
"As of this morning, 28 remain in hospital, and nine are in a critical condition," she said.
Investigators were working to establish what caused the accident, D'Orsi added.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described it as a "devastating incident" in a post on X.
Buckingham Palace also issued a statement, saying: "His Majesty [King Charles] is greatly saddened by the rail crash in Bedford yesterday evening and is being kept regularly updated on developments.
"His thoughts and sympathies are with the family of the deceased and with all those injured or affected by such a tragic incident."
A video posted on social media on Friday showed what appeared to be the front of one train entangled with the back of another, with both still on the tracks.
The East of England Ambulance Service dispatched an air ambulance on Friday and urged people to avoid the area
Transport Minister Heidi Alexander said she was "deeply concerned" by reports of the collision in a post on X.
Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service said on Friday that crews were at the scene of the incident just south of the town of Bedford.
Train operator East Midlands Railway was unable to run services in or out of London for the rest of the day on Friday, while Thameslink said all lines between Luton and Bedford were blocked due to a problem under investigation.
Peter Knapp, a doctor who said on social media site Bluesky he was on board one of the trains, described a "sudden crash" with one carriage off the rails and said he had sustained minor injuries.
The collective-defence agreement between Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signals that regional powers no longer want to rely solely on external security guarantees. Whether it becomes a stabilising deterrent or another axis of rivalry remains unresolved.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has slowed, according to the latest data, as uncertainty over the waterway’s reopening kept most shipowners away. Six commodity vessels crossed the strait on Tuesday, down from nine the day before and below the 10-day daily average of 11.
Iran has said the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the U.S. fulfils the terms of an interim deal, including lifting the maritime blockade and sanctions and releasing Iran’s frozen assets.
Ukraine has targeted at least 20 Wildberries warehouses across Russia since 18 July, disrupting a major logistics network. Kyiv says the strikes aim to disrupt alleged military-linked supplies, while the attacks have caused billions of dollars in losses and wider economic pressure.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 19th of August, covering the latest developments.
A Russian ballistic missile attack on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv has killed at least eight people and injured more than two dozen others, Ukrainian officials said, with fires reported across the city and Poland activating defensive air operations.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 20th of August, covering the latest developments.
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains limited on Thursday, with no increase in vessel crossings as U.S.-Iran talks to resolve the conflict remained stalled. Nine commodity vessels transited the key waterway on Wednesday, unchanged from the previous day, according to Kpler data.
Britain has summoned Israel’s chargé d’affaires and demanded that the Israeli government withdraw a tender for construction in the controversial E1 settlement area in the West Bank.
The death toll from last week’s powerful earthquake in Colombia has risen to at least 314, while 262 people remain missing, President Abelardo De La Espriella said on Wednesday.
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