Morning Top Stories — 19 August 2026

Three stories shaping the global morning on 19 August 2026.

China's National Climate Centre says a super El Nino could become the strongest on record. The forecast follows a July in which natural disasters left 318 people dead or missing in China, and the UN weather agency has warned that a strong El Nino is likely to push global temperatures higher. 1

Wall Street fell again as AI stocks declined and bond yields stayed high. Higher yields can raise mortgage costs and make the data-centre investment behind the AI boom more expensive. 2

OpenAI launched ChatGPT for teenagers aged 13 to 17, with parental controls and tighter restrictions around self-harm and sexual content. 3