While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Aug 27, 2026

The US said it had disrupted a Chinese hacking operation responsible for break-ins at the US Justice Department, NASA, the US Federal Reserve, the US Senate, and other sensitive government agencies.

Listen US says Chinese hackers broke into Justice Dept, others The United States said on Aug 26 that it had disrupted a Chinese hacking operation responsible for break-ins at the US Justice Department, NASA, the Federal Reserve, the US Senate, and other sensitive government agencies.

In a statement, the Justice Department said that it had seized domains used by two hacking platforms, dubbed “QScan” and “QTRouter,” which it said had been used as part of the campaign.

An affidavit identified the US Department of Energy, the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, and four unnamed companies in the US and South Korea as being among the hackers’ victims.

The Justice Department said that the platforms were run by a China-based firm, the Nanjing Xinjiuwei Network Technology Company, whose clients it said included China’s civilian intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security and its military, the People’s Liberation Army.

US President Donald Trump said on Aug 26 that CIA director John Ratcliffe’s visit to Moscow was “semi-routine,” while implying that the intelligence chief was in the Russian capital to discuss the Ukraine war.

“He’s there, very sort of semi-routine. I hate to disappoint people. We would like to see the war with Ukraine end,” Trump said, during an interview with conservative radio host Glenn Beck.

Ratcliffe is one of the highest-ranking US officials to visit Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine started in 2022.

A huge wall of mud and rock collapsed into a river on the Himalayan border of Nepal and China’s Tibet on Aug 26, triggering catastrophic flooding on the Nepali side that killed scores of people and left hundreds of tourists missing.

In a still-unfolding disaster, verified videos showed dozens of people swept away at the border, with authorities on both sides fearing far higher casualties and massive destruction.

Houses, roads and power projects were washed away in Nepal, while officials in Tibet said they feared “major casualties” after a mudslide hit a border land crossing in the county of Gyirong.

A Frenchman was arrested in Italy on arms trafficking charges after a police check found three anti-tank missiles and other military equipment in his van, authorities said Aug 26.

The man, identified as Regis Normand, 46, was arrested in the southern port of Bari in June and remains in custody, prosecutors told AFP.

The arrest, which first came to light this week, came after police inspected the man’s van as it disembarked from a ferry arriving from Patras in Greece.

Vietnam retained the ASEAN Championship after they twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with Thailand in Hanoi on Aug 26 to secure a 4-2 aggregate win in the final.

Own goals by goalkeeper Chatchai Bootprom and Wanchai Jarunongkran plus a missed penalty by Kakana Khamyok undermined Thailand’s hopes of overturning a 2-0 first-leg deficit despite strikes by Yotsakon Burapha and Wanchai.

“It’s something amazing,” Vietnam’s Brazil-born winger Do Hoang Hen, also known as Hendrio, said of the win.