Aug 13, 2026 · 4 min listen · Last updated August 13, 2026
From storyflo. This is your daily audio brief. Jessica here. August 13th. The news in ten — let's start at home. Let's get into it. First, from BBC News (Top). Polls open in Clacton by-election. Voters will take to the ballot box to elect the next MP for Clacton when polls open from 07:00 BST on Thursday.
Listen · storyflo · news
Daily News Brief · August 13th
0:00-4:21
Pick your daily storyteller
Subscribe to match with Theo, Jessica, Chloe, Mason, Brock — your voice, every brief.
Audio pre-rendered by Storyflo · cached + delivered from the edge
Polls open in Clacton by-election
Voters will take to the ballot box to elect the next MP for Clacton when polls open from 07:00 BST on Thursday. An electorate of 79,785 registered voters have the chance to vote for one of 34 candidates standing in the Essex resort - the most ever to stand in a British election. Fifty-one polling stations will open, covering Clacton and the surrounding towns of Jaywick, Frinton and Walton-on-the-Naze. The constituency also has rural villages including St Osyth, Weeley and Great Bentley.
Can UK's hard-right Farage bin financial probe with by-election win?
Nigel Farage – leader of the anti-immigration Reform UK party – will be fighting for his parliamentary seat on Thursday, going head to head with parody candidate Count Binface in snap polls. The by-election was called after Farage resigned amid a probe into his finances. But the surprise move threatens to backfire as none of the major political parties has fielded a candidate.
PM Wong sends condolences to China over death of former premier Zhu Rongji
Zhu Rongji, who served as China's premier from 1998 to 2003, died from illness on Wednesday at the age of 97. SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Thursday (Aug 13) conveyed his condolences to Chinese Premier Li Qiang, following the death of former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji. Zhu, who served as China's premier from 1998 to 2003, died from illness on Wednesday morning at the age of 97. Mr Wong described Zhu as an "old friend of Singapore" who played an important role in strengthening ties between the two countries.
Congress demands declaring Assam floods as 'national problem'
The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) on Wednesday (August 13, 2026) submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to declare the state's recurring flood and river erosion crisis a 'national problem'. A delegation led by Pranjit Das, Chairman of the APCC Relief & Rehabilitation Department, met Assam Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya and submitted the memorandum in this regard.
Italy's Meloni has a youth problem as election approaches
ROME, Aug 13 - Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government is increasingly unpopular among young voters, opinion polls show, a trend that could prove costly ahead of a national election due next year.
Putin can no longer claim victory in Ukraine, Nobel Peace Prize winner tells BBC
At the Moscow offices of newspaper Novaya Gazeta, the corridors are silent. There is an overwhelming sense of emptiness. "There is no newspaper anymore," former chief editor Dmitry Muratov tells me. Mr Muratov co-founded Novaya Gazeta more than thirty years ago. It became the flagship for hard-hitting independent journalism in Russia, shining a light on human rights abuses and high-level corruption.
Bombay High Court interprets Supreme Court order on law exam protection
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday (August 11, 2026) ruled that the Supreme Court's one-time protection for law students applies to any semester-end examination missed during the 2025-2026 academic session, not just to final-year or final-semester exams. A division bench of the Bombay High Court, comprising Justice Riyaz Chagla and Justice Farhan Dubash, delivered an order on a petition filed by students of the Indian Law Society (ILS) College, Pune.
China Mourns Zhu Rongji While Debating His Painful Reform Costs
The death of China’s former Premier Zhu Rongji has set off a heated debate on social media over the true costs of his forceful reforms that helped transform the nation into an economic powerhouse, including the tens of millions of people those same policies left behind.