Tensions and Political Developmentsactive

U.S. President Trump mentioned that Iran attempted to attack the U.S. military stationed in the Middle East and stated, "We will attack Iran fiercely," indicating his intention to retaliate against Iran. Concerns are growing that the cycle of attacks between the U.S. and Iran may escalate again.

In a tit-for-tat response, President Donald Trump said the United States would hit Iran "very hard" after US military personnel were attacked in Jordan. DW has more.

Former Republican Senator Jeff Flake says the standoff over Todd Blanche's attorney general nomination shows the limits of President Trump's influence over the Senate. He predicts Republicans will retain the Senate but lose the House in November, saying divided government could produce more resistance to Trump and a "more normal Washington." The former US ambassador to Turkey also says Ankara should be allowed to rejoin the F-35 program, but only after it gives up possession of Russia's S-400 missile system. He speaks with Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz on the late edition of Bloomberg's "Balance of Power." (Source: Bloomberg)

The PRI expressed its "most energetic, total, and forceful rejection" of the "unusual" resolution of the National Electoral Institute (INE), which orders its national leader, Alejandro Moreno, to remove from social media posts in which he states that Morena is a narco-party at the service of organized crime. "This ruling is nothing more than a crude political intimidation maneuver dictated from power, a desperate attempt to impose censorship, and an unequivocal sign that the regime seeks to establish a dictatorship where no one questions them, no one criticizes them, and no one dares to expose their unmentionable links with organized crime," the party affirmed. It pointed out that it is "the height of cynicism" for the government to "pretend to use state institutions to censor and attack the freedoms of opposition voices." It also denounced that the INE's resolution reveals a concerning and alarming loss of autonomy. "Mexico urgently needs seriousness, impartiality, independence, and adherence to the law in the application of electoral justice, especially on the eve of the 2027 electoral process, a historic election in which the destiny, freedom, and future of Mexico are at stake." "Mexicans demand a truly reliable and autonomous electoral arbiter..."

Producers and producers of the cooperative society Bioproductores del Llano Alto de Papantla de Olarte, Veracruz, exported a volume of 40.4 tons of lemon, of which 19 are destined for McAllen, United States, and 21.4 for Moscow, Russia, reported the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. "In the Papantla territory, around 10,000 planters work, organized into ten work routes within more than 42 municipalities, and they went from marketing locally to establishing direct links with international buyers during the last year and a half," highlighted the agency. The product destined for the United States will travel by road to McAllen, Texas, for 11 hours, while the shipment departed from the municipality of Martínez de la Torre, Veracruz, heading to the port of Altamira and will continue by sea in an estimated journey of between 22 and 23 days to Moscow, Russia. Read also: The young man building robots to boost agriculture in Mexico Through a statement, it was indicated that these shipments consist of fruit from orchards established between 2021 and 2022, whose trees are between three and five years old, with a high-quality citrus production that meets international export standards. The producers affirmed that the Veracruz persian lemon stands out among international buyers for its extraordinary shelf life…

Representatives from the State Department and federal agencies work in cooperation on energy, technology, connectivity, security, and development.

President Trump said Wednesday he respects former President Biden’s pardon of Dr. Anthony Fauci, after the retired health official invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times during a Senate hearing on the COVID-19 pandemic. “The most powerful thing a president has, they say, is the power of pardon,” Trump told reporters in the Oval…

Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) says maintaining sanctions and a blockade on Iran will be "painful" for Americans ahead of the midterms, but argues that sustaining the pressure for several more months may be the most effective way to move Tehran. The Louisiana Republican calls inflation "pernicious" and says the Federal Reserve will have to raise rates if it is not brought under control. Sen. Kennedy also says that, "if I had to bet," the Senate Judiciary Committee will not vote on Todd Blanche's nomination for attorney general tomorrow. He speaks with Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz on the late edition of Bloomberg's "Balance of Power." (Source: Bloomberg)

Hadi Matar, 28, was convicted of attempting to help Hezbollah by attacking the British-Indian author.

Microsoft reported its quarterly results that exceeded market expectations. The software manufacturer reported revenues of $90.010 billion compared to the forecasted $87.620 billion and grew 18% versus the previous quarter. "The strength of Microsoft Cloud and AI drives the fourth quarter (fiscal) results," the company said in a statement. Meanwhile, profits were $35.800 billion and increased 31% "according to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)." "Several specific factors impacted our financial results for the quarter compared to the projections published on April 29, 2026, resulting in a benefit of $0.27 in diluted earnings per share," Microsoft said in a statement. In detail, the company mentioned that the good performances occurred in a context that "includes a gain of $3.200 billion from our investment in Anthropic and lower-than-expected expenses related to the Voluntary Retirement Program, which were partially offset by severance costs and impairment charges on Xbox." "By adjusting for these factors, we exceeded expectations in revenue, operating profit, and diluted earnings per share," it added. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s president and CEO, highlighted that "this year, Azure revenue surpassed $100 billion for the first time, and Microsoft 365 Copil…

President Donald Trump said he would be “disappointed” in China if they provided weapons to Iran during remarks with reporters at the White House. (Source: Bloomberg)

Donald Trump’s demands that American allies in the Asia-Pacific region share more of the defensive burden have renewed questions about how far they can rely on the United States to help deter the likes of China and North Korea. Such concerns have led to an increasing focus on developing their own defence industries – but analysts have said that may eventually weaken American dominance in the global arms trade. Questions over Washington’s commitment In the National Security Strategy released in...

Over the last decade, China’s Coast Guard has developed into one of the world’s largest maritime law-enforcement agencies, operating a vast fleet of about 680 vessels. While it performs many of the same functions as its global counterparts — responding to emergencies at sea and enforcing maritime law in its jurisdiction — it is increasingly being used for a different purpose: advancing Beijing’s territorial claims.

Also in today’s newsletter: Mark Zuckerberg says US should not ban Chinese AI and SK Hynix profits disappoint

Just as he did with NATO members, Donald Trump's administration now seeks Latin American countries to increase their defense spending to strengthen security in the hemisphere. U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Elbridge Colby argues that countries in the region should invest more in defense and security as part of the new national security strategy promoted by the Trump administration, considering that drug trafficking, organized crime, and the influence of hostile actors pose growing threats to regional stability. "It is essential that our neighbors in the region invest more in their own defense and security. There is no reason for any country, especially those facing significant narco-terrorist threats, to allocate so little to defense," Colby wrote in Americas Quarterly magazine. The senior Pentagon official described as "absurd" that some Latin American countries "allocate less than 1% of their GDP to national defense," though he did not specify which ones. "This goes against common sense," Colby states in his article. "Meanwhile, our allies around the world, including Europe, are significantly increasing their spending: 3.5% on basic military expenses and an additional 1.5% on security-related expenses," alluding to NATO members. The American official frames this call within the so-called "Donroe Doctrine," a reint...

A man was convicted on Wednesday of federal terrorism charges in the 2022 stabbing of Salman Rushdie, the author who has faced a decades-old death threat over his novel The Satanic Verses. A jury found Hadi Matar guilty of all the charges against him, including engaging in an act of transnational terrorism. A message seeking comment was sent to Matar’s lawyers. Matar, 28, is already serving a 25-year New York state prison sentence on an attempted murder conviction in the August 2022 attack on an...

A source in the Turkish foreign ministry separately said that Hakan Fidan reiterated his commitment to ensuring that the Israeli government’s actions in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, as well as attacks on holy sites, "remain on the international community’s agenda"

China may increasingly seek to use its dominance in the global electric vehicle industry as geopolitical leverage, giving Beijing greater influence over countries dependent on its technology and supply chains, according to analysts. “With China, the strategy is different. It’s to overwhelm the industry, capture it, and use it ultimately as leverage,” said Michael Dunne, CEO of Dunne Insights, an auto advisory firm. “When it comes to crunch time, they say, ‘Oh, by the way, we’re the source of all...

An explosion at a port on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast set fire to two ships, including a U. S. gas storage tanker, according to maritime tracking firms.

The US president added he would "always hit back"

SEOUL, July 30 (Yonhap) -- New U. S. Ambassador to South Korea Michelle Steel is ...

International oil prices rose sharply this Wednesday after new military episodes in the Middle East increased market concern about possible disruptions in the global crude supply. The Brent benchmark barrel rose to $90.74, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI), used as a reference in the United States, closed at $84.46. September delivery Brent increased by 7.91%, while the futures contracts for WTI for the same month rose by 6.56%, with an increase of $5.20 compared to the previous close. The movement reflected investors' reaction to a new escalation between Washington and Tehran, after several days in which tensions had shown signs of moderation. The rally occurred after the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) reported that its forces intercepted missiles launched from Iran against U.S. positions deployed in the Middle East. Subsequently, official Iranian media reported U.S. attacks against areas in northwestern Iran. Additionally, the United States and Saudi Arabia carried out military operations against armed groups linked to Iran in Iraqi territory. The offensive took place after attacks on U.S. and Saudi interests in the region, increasing concern over a possible expansion of the conflict. In the oil market, it…

President Trump announced a $22 billion makeover for Dulles International Airport on Wednesday that includes new terminals and will do away with the airport’s infamous “people mover” shuttles. “Whether you’re Republican or Democrat, you don’t want to be subjected to this airport. It’s a terrible place to be,” Trump said in the Oval Office surrounded…

The US president added he did not see the need for the House of Representatives to interrupt the parliamentary recess in August to review the sanctions bill promptly

President Donald Trump said he would be disappointed in China if they provided weapons to Iran, repeating assurances he said Xi Jinping had made to him that Beijing would not sell arms to Tehran.

The new U. K. prime minister can’t benefit as Canada’s PM did from the U. S. president’s blustering.

Antonín Panenka assured that the decisive penalty of Euro 1976 was not just a technical gamble: he executed it under the pressure of the Czechoslovak communist regime, convinced that a mistake against West Germany could cost him up to 50 years of forced labor in a mine or a factory. The play that defined the title was thus linked, according to his own account, to a political threat that completely exceeded football. In an interview with FourFourTwo, Panenka added a detail that sheds light on the atmosphere of that night: he was the only Czechoslovak player who kept his national team jersey during the award ceremony. His teammates had already exchanged theirs with the Germans and, some time later, a recording captured the country’s president asking who had won, because on the podium almost only West German jerseys could be seen. “The 70s were a period of political tension and, on that occasion, the two blocs faced each other on the field,” recalled Panenka, who was 28 years old when he played the final in Belgrade. The most famous penalty was born from bets involving chocolate and beer The play that ultimately bore his name did not come from an improvisation on the night of the final. Panenka had practiced it during long sessions after training with Bohemians Prague, in penalty shootouts with the club’s goalkeeper, with a chocolate bar or a beer as a reward. In that context of repeated practice, in…

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N. Y.) on Wednesday urged Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) to stay in the Senate Democratic Conference and praised him as a “very good” member of Congress, despite growing tensions between Fetterman and the progressive Democratic base. Asked if he wants Fetterman to remain a Democrat, Schumer responded: “Yes, and he is…

The Federal Reserve held its key interest rate steady on Wednesday despite persistently high inflation and an Iran war-driven surge in energy prices.

CENTCOM has disabled two vessels, the Central Command of the US Armed Forces siad

Americans are split on their understanding of democratic socialism as candidates aligned with the movement lock down wins in Democratic primaries across the country, according to a new poll. In the Reuters/Ipsos poll, 27 percent of respondents said democratic socialists have, at minimum, several valid beliefs, while 23 percent were unsure or did not respond…

New York Times’ White House correspondent Maggie Haberman called President Trump’s $15 billion lawsuit against the publication a “bullying campaign.” In an interview with host Michael Steele, he asked how Haberman and her colleagues “suffer through this BS from this administration” while Trump is “calling and trying to get your attention to drop stories.” She…

CAIRO.– In what could be an expansion of the scenario of the war affecting the Middle East, a drone struck on Wednesday a gas storage tanker owned by the United States at the Egyptian Mediterranean port of Damietta, reported the British maritime security company Ambrey, which mentioned an initial assessment of the incident. In its statement, the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum confirmed that a fire had broken out at the port, but made no mention of a drone attack. The port services company Inchcape specified in another statement that two gas tankers had caught fire in Damietta. 🚨🇮🇷🇺🇸🇪🇬 LAST MINUTE: An Iranian drone just hit a U.S. gas tanker at the Egyptian port of Damietta. It is the first Iranian attack on Egyptian soil. 🔥 Emergency teams are working to cool the vessel and contain the consequences of the attack. pic.twitter.com/lUSJ5gjYWz — Isaac2 (@isaacrrrr7) July 29, 2026 The drone hit the floating storage tanker “Energos Winter,” causing a fire that later spread to another ship, the “Gaslog Salem,” according to three industry sources familiar with the incident. Two independent security sources indicated that the probable cause of the explosion was attributed to a drone attack, which could indicate a wider propagation…

Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Photo: Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., has made it his mission to put Dr. Anthony Fauci in prison. Last month, the chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee subpoenaed Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who led the nation’s response to the Covid pandemic, to answer still more questions related to the origins of the disease. Related Rand Paul’s Attack on Anthony Fauci Chills Scientific Debate Over Gain-of-Function Research Paul insists the novel coronavirus was the result of the National Institutes of Health having funded gain-of-function research at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology — essentially that the virus was created in a lab in China and unleashed on an unsuspecting public. Fauci has maintained that while the most likely source of the Covid-19 virus was animal-to-human transmission, we cannot know for certain. Paul thinks he deliberately misled the public about the coronavirus’s origins and called him to testify before the Homeland Security Committee based on supposed new evidence that comes from Fauci’s diaries. Over 7 million people worldwide have died from Covid, with about 1.2 million of those deaths occurring in the U.S. While the quick work to produce a vaccine undoubtedly sav…

Former President Obama on Wednesday endorsed Josh Turek, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Iowa In a roughly two-minute video Turek’s campaign shared on YouTube, the state representative takes on Obama in a game of IOWA — a variation of the basketball shoot-around game HORSE. Turek, who was born with spina bifida and has used…

Hundreds of migrants are swimming from Morocco to the Spanish territory of Ceuta

Federal Reserve officials decided to keep interest rates unchanged, but a fractured vote reveals rising concerns about inflation.

The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday, a choice that may intensify questions about how US central bank chief Kevin Warsh will deliver on his commitment to bring inflation back down to the 2 per cent target. The widely ‌expected decision to leave the benchmark interest rate in the 3.50 per cent to 3.75 per cent range drew dissents from three of the 12 members of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee who “preferred” a quarter-percentage-point hike at this...

The Standing Committee of the Congress of the Union approved a request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) "to prevent possible acts of foreign interference such as digital disinformation campaigns, external political or media financing, informational manipulation, or coordinated actions to undermine national sovereignty" as well as the "political use of foreign accusations." In a point of agreement promoted by Morena senator Manuel Huerta Ladrón de Guevara and published in the Parliamentary Gazette, it is emphasized that the request aims to protect "national sovereignty, democratic stability, and the self-determination of the people of Mexico." Likewise, the request is made to the INE and the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary to, within the scope of their competencies and attributions, "maintain surveillance and prevention measures against possible schemes of foreign financing, covert propaganda, digital manipulation, or intervention." Read also "Let the Prosecutor's Office see if an investigation is necessary," says Sheinbaum regarding allegations of "El Chapo" against Ruffo The arguments indicate that "Mexico is going through a period of high political, media, and geopolitical dispute in which national sovereignty is no longer only threatened by traditional means of diplomatic and economic pressure but also by indirect mechanisms such as digital disinformation campaigns." It is also added that the country is...

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) has decided this Wednesday to keep interest rates in the target range of 3.50% to 3.75%, thus meeting the consensus forecasts of analysts. In this way, the central bank has gone five meetings without changing the reference rate, which has remained stable since January, after a streak of three 25 basis point cuts. However, unlike the June meeting, the governing body of the U.S. central bank did not make its decision unanimously, but by a majority of nine votes in favor, against three, who preferred to raise the cost of money by a quarter of a point. In its analysis, the entity highlights that economic activity is expanding at a solid pace, despite high uncertainty, partly due to the conflict in the Middle East. Thus, it points out that productivity growth and capital investment are strong, while job creation has kept pace with the labor force and the unemployment rate has remained virtually unchanged. Regarding inflation, the Fed admits that it remains high relative to the 2% target, partly reflecting supply disruptions that have caused price increases in certain sectors, including energy. In this regard, the Fed Committee states that “guarantee…

Armando Mema believes Iran can take retaliatory measures in accordance with international law

The U.S. Federal Reserve Board decided to keep its policy interest rate unchanged at its meeting and announced this on the 29th. This is the fifth consecutive meeting to hold the rate steady. Amid recent tensions in Iran causing crude oil prices to rise again, it is believed that the aim is to assess the risk of inflation accelerating again. Chairman Powell emphasized the stance of controlling inflation, and attention will be on what he says in the subsequent press conference regarding the outlook for inflation and the future direction of monetary policy.

The San Salvador Central City Mayor's Office announced special hours for the handling of procedures and municipal services during the August Festivities 2026, with the aim of facilitating access for the population and organizing commercial activity during these holidays. On Saturday, August 1, the population will be able to carry out procedures at all Business Attention Points (PAE) located at the main headquarters and in the municipalities of Mejicanos, Ciudad Delgado, Ayutuxtepeque, and Cuscatancingo, as well as in the six administrative zones of the San Salvador Central district. Service will be offered from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with no midday closure, allowing users and merchants to process their procedures without interruptions. For those requiring services from the Family Registry, the Metrocentro Agency will be the only one open on Saturday, August 1, from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. On other days, all municipal branches will remain closed. The reopening of municipal offices and their services is scheduled for Monday, August 10. Service hours at municipal markets During the August Festivities 2026, the San Salvador Central City Mayor's Office also changed the hours of operation for municipal markets. Between August 1 and 6, the Central Market will maintain its usual hours from August 1 to 5, closing only on August 6. Peripheral markets will operate normally from August 1 to…

Jon Reeves lost his job after he took six months off to look after his baby

The successful destruction of targets was confirmed by means of objective monitoring in real time

Concacaf rejected this Wednesday FIFA's plan to sell minority stakes in its commercial operations and the World Cup to private investors. The confederation said it learned about the initiative through the media and not through official channels, according to a note from the EFE agency. The organization that governs football in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean stated that it found out about the project through journalistic publications and later through a press release. "Concacaf became aware of this matter solely through information published by the media and subsequently through a press release," the confederation said in a statement. FIFA's plan and the offered financing FIFA announced on Tuesday the creation of FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), a subsidiary valued at USD 20 billion that would focus on the organization's commercial and event operations, including the World Cup. The plan involves selling minority stakes of up to 20% to external investors to raise up to USD 4.2 billion. The project still requires approval from the 211 member associations. In exchange, FIFA promised to allocate USD 20 million per association in immediate funding for special projects, plus another USD 20 million per association in Forward program funds for the 2027-2030 period, four times more than the USD 8 million currently budgeted...

The idea promoted by Gianni Infantino to create a new commercial structure to manage FIFA's main tournaments and sell a stake to private investors is causing a seismic shift in football. In Europe, the possibility of a boycott of future World Cups has begun to be discussed. The initiative involves the creation of FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), a company that would hold the commercial rights to the main competitions, including the World Cups. The goal is to raise around US$ 4.2 billion through the sale of a minority stake in the company, which will be valued at US$ 20 billion. One of the aspects that causes the most concern among opponents is who would end up controlling part of the World Cup's commercial business. FIFA confirmed that it is working with JP Morgan as a financial advisor and that the leading investor group proposed is Thrive Eternal. The partnership is headed by Joshua Kushner, brother of Jared Kushner, son-in-law of Donald Trump. Although the organization denied Jared Kushner's direct involvement in the investment, the link once again brought to the table the close relationship that Infantino has built with the U.S. president over the past few years. One of Joshua Kushner's main partners is Greg Maffei, CEO of BANN Ventures, who serves in that role at Liberty Media during the acquisition of the commercial rights to Formula 1…

Three ports of Greater Odessa accounted for $2.1 billion worth of goods out of total Ukrainian exports worth $3.5 billion in June

By 6:00 p.m. Moscow time, the price of Brent reached $91.06 per barrel

Alexey Sinitsyn noted that Russia is a country with about 100 bilateral agreements

The revelation broadens a cyber incident that OpenAI described as unprecedented. It began when two of its models hacked Hugging Face, a site developers use to store and share AI models and code.

The clash between FIFA and UEFA has intensified after European football's governing body issued a fresh rebuke over plans to sell a stake in the World Cup. UEFA will hold an emergency meeting to discuss its next steps.

An Iskander ballistic missile used by Russia to strike the Kyiv region on July 10 contained more than 140 foreign-made components from the United States, Switzerland, Germany, Taiwan, China, and Japan. Without these imported parts, Russia would be unable to manufacture such ballistic missiles.

Global stocks are trading lower on Wednesday, while oil prices surge ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision and semiconductor stocks extend their decline. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 853 points, equivalent to 1.6%. The S&P 500 falls 0.9%, while the Nasdaq Composite retreats 1.2%. Oil prices continue to rise after U.S. President Donald Trump told a Fox News reporter that the country will strike Iran "forcefully" in response to the surprise attacks. This comes after the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) stated in a social media post on Tuesday night that forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched "multiple ballistic missiles in an apparent attempt at a surprise attack" against U.S. forces based in the Middle East. According to Centcom, the missiles were successfully intercepted. Waiting for the Fed Investors are also watching the Fed's monetary policy decision and the subsequent press conference by its chairman, Kevin Warsh. According to CME's FedWatch tool, futures traders assign nearly a 70% probability that the central bank will keep rates unchanged, in the current range of 3.5% to 3.75%. "Any surprise from the Fed could accelerate this sell-off," they...

President Donald Trump reclaimed the White House last year promising to keep the United States out of conflicts and claiming to be a peacemaker. “Under Trump, we will have no more wars,” he said on the campaign trail in 2024. And Trump has been especially critical of going to war in Iraq. “We should have never been in Iraq,” said Trump during a Republican presidential debate in February 2016. “We have destabilized the Middle East.” Despite all of this, the U. S. was joined by Saudi Arabia in attacks on Iranian-backed militias in Iraq on Wednesday. “U. S. and Saudi fighter aircraft struck multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq in a strong response to over 30 IRGC-directed aerial drone attacks in the last 72 hours,” U. S. Central Command announced, referring to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the recent flare-up in Trump’s failing war with Iraq’s neighbor, Iran. Trump’s latest war in the Middle East follows denials last month that he ever campaigned on avoiding forever wars. “I didn’t promise anything,” he told “Meet the Press” on NBC News. On that — if nothing else ever — Trump has been true to his word. An Intercept analysis found, in fact, that America has been embroiled in more than 20 military interventions, armed conflicts, and wars during Trump’s years in the White House. Today, TomDispatch’s recently retired founding editor, Tom Engelhardt, and I examine the presidential penchant for ruinous wars in the Middle East, why the current narcissist-in-chief couldn’t resist entangling the U. S. in a seemingly endless conflict with Iran, and whether the American people are finally fed up with forever wars. — Nick Turse, editor of TomDispatch If you haven’t yet, sign up to receive TomDispatch in your inbox here. The Me, Me, Me Presidency There’s no I in war. But there is in Iran. And in Iraq, too. Both these wars were about ME — that is, the Middle East. It’s a region rife with supposed American security interests, but this wordplay points to another very all-too-real dynamic: These wars are as much about the “I” and “ME” of the White House as they are about the countries we attack. Or to put it another way: It’s the presidential psyche, stupid. Way back in 2002, then-President George W. Bush warned that Iraq, Iran, and outlier North Korea comprised a grave threat. “States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world,” he warned. “By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger.” North Korea built a nuclear arsenal, and with it, purchased a guarantee of security. The other two countries produced no nukes, and the story has been radically different. Related Fool Me Twice: The Case for War With Iran Is Even Thinner Than It Was for Iraq The U. S. invaded Iraq in March 2003. Two months later, the war was won. Except it wasn’t. Despite President George W. Bush’s unforgettable May 1, 2003, “mission accomplished” moment when, from the deck of an aircraft carrier off the coast of San Diego, he declared “major combat operations in Iraq … ended,” the American war there somehow never actually stopped. An insurgency was raging, U. S. bases were being mortared, and American officials feared a civil war between the country’s formerly reigning Sunni minority and its rising Shiite majority was brewing. It became a forever war that lived up to the moniker. Last week, almost a quarter century since Bush made the case for war in Iraq, a U. S. soldier was killed in an Iranian attack on an American base there. President Donald Trump was elected on a promise to say goodbye to all that. American-style wars of choice were going to be a thing of the past: “I will not send you to fight and die in stupid foreign wars that never end.” And yet Trump’s America is now deeply involved in a seemingly ever-escalating and never-ending conflict with — yes! — Iraq’s neighbor, Iran. No one, I suspect, not even Trump, has the faintest idea why he did this, though maybe he felt left out of the club of forever-war makers, co-chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Maybe he just sensed that he had to give this country a shot at being globally competitive when it came to making endless (and endlessly unsuccessful) war, if the U. S. was to remain the superpower on this planet. Not everyone thinks, however, that you need to fight ruinous wars to be a superpower. There’s China, which is the quietest rising power in recent history because — except for a few border flare-ups with India early in this decade, and saber-rattling when it comes to Taiwan, the island nation off the coast of the mainland — it hasn’t been at war since 1979. Related When Anti-War Candidates Become War-Monger Presidents In lieu of pursuing fruitless conflicts around the world, it’s been silently leading the global production of green energy technology. China’s exports of green tech shot up by more than a third in the first six months of the year. This included a reported rise in shipments of lithium batteries and wind turbines by 38 percent and 36 percent, respectively. “In the first half of this year, the situation in the Middle East was tense and global supply of chemical products was tight,” Wang Jun, deputy director of China’s General Administration of Customs said at a recent press briefing. “China, with its complete industrial system and full-chain supporting capabilities, quickly seized the sudden external demands.” And this Chinese green technology boom was in full swing even before Iran’s Houthi allies in Yemen declared a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia and began attacking the kingdom’s oil ships in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, briefly driving the price of oil back above $100 per barrel, about 40 percent higher than before the conflict began. Read Our Complete Coverage TomDispatch As his war with Iran has gone off the rails, Trump has begun redefining the conflict from a war to “a little excursion,” which just kept going on and on, leading him in March to sum things up this way: “We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough. We go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long running danger once and for all.” You’ll recall that Trump also said on March 2 that the war was set to last “four to five weeks.” And three days later, that the U. S. and Israel continued “to totally demolish the enemy far ahead of schedule.” By March 9, Trump said that the conflict was “very complete, pretty much.” And two days later, the president declared victory. “Let me tell you, we’ve won. You know, you never like to say too early you won,” Trump announced at a rally in Kentucky. “We won.” Like Bush’s “mission accomplished” moment, Trump’s was also decidedly short-lived. On March 15, the president said Iran still had “a little bit of fight back, but not much.” In a Truth Social post five days later, he wrote: “We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down” the war. On April 1, Trump announced the U. S. was “on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly” and on the 6th said the war “could end very quickly.” But it didn’t. “The war in Iran is going along swimmingly,” he declared on April 16. And in a May 1 letter to Congress, Trump said: “The hostilities that began on February 28, 2026, have terminated.” Except Iran never got the memo. Related Trump’s Formula for Forever Wars As the war has simply gone on and on, Trump has continued to tweak his terminology and rebrand the conflict with Iran as “a skirmish.” (Tell that, of course, to all the dead Iranian children!) Here’s how he put it, in fact, on July 22: “I call it a skirmish. This is, with this skirmish we have with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and I call it that, because, let me tell you, they’re getting hit so hard and they want to make a deal. But I say they’re not ready to make a deal.” And if the Iran war doesn’t end in the coming weeks, Trump will undoubtedly have to tweak terminology further, perhaps relabeling his skirmish with Iran a tussle, a scuffle, or even a full-scale kerfuffle. As Trump insists the war is a minor engagement, he continues to dish out immense amounts of pain on Iranians and threatens even worse. He seems increasingly eager to blast civilian infrastructure and smash Iran into submission. As he put it all too bluntly when it came to those civilian targets: “Any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by missile, rocket, drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy one bridge or power plant.” And he’s also been threatening to launch “a massive attack. Bigger than ever before.” His Secretary of War Pete Hegseth certainly understands the president, or why would he start insisting on checking the testosterone levels of American troops and begin referring to what, in the Trump years, had already gone from the Department of Defense to the Department of War as “the High-T Department of War”? “A Nation Unmade by War,” by Tom Engelhardt Available on Bookshop.org But while Hegseth is hoping to amp up the military’s potency, Americans want to bring the Iran war to a close. Only 29 percent of Americans approve of the way Trump is handling the Iran war, according to a recent Washington Post poll. Even a Fox News survey (yes, Fox News!) found disapproval ratings hit a record high in July, with 56 percent of Americans opposing U. S. military action against Iran, including 40 percent who “strongly” oppose it. Nearly two-thirds of respondents now think the conflict will last at least a year. Even worse was a recent CBS News/YouGov poll that found 21 percent of Americans think the conflict will last multiple years! That same poll found that 67 percent of respondents say the U. S. should end the war with Iran now. Young people are the most fed up, with 83 percent urging the president to stop the war posthaste. And even among his most fervent followers, support had already dropped by 13 percent over the previous two months, according to a Politico poll, while almost 1 of every 5 MAGA voters had come to believe that the U. S. should end its war in Iran, no matter the cost or results. Of course, Trump doesn’t really care about young voters or Republican voters or even MAGA devotees. As he put it last week: “A poll just came out: Americans don’t want high gasoline prices, but they’re not against the war.” His war in the ME is wrapped up in his egocentric narcissism and his me, me, me world. The phrase “wars of choice” now means wars of Donald’s choice. But the Iranian government has a say in the matter and has made a choice to hold out amid renewed threats and attacks. And despite what Trump seems to think, the public in the U. S. can make choices, too. If Trump keeps on fighting in Iran, he may sooner or later also find himself in a distinct “skirmish” with the American people. The post Donald Trump and Wars of Choice appeared first on The Intercept.

The Israeli army accused Hezbollah on Wednesday of a "flagrant violation of the ceasefire" in Lebanon, claiming that the Iran-backed militant group fired a drone at an Israeli vehicle in the area. The army stated that the incident took place in a strip of territory where Israeli forces operate, extending about 10 kilometers (six miles) south of Lebanon, along its border with Israel. "During the night (Wednesday), Hezbollah launched an explosive drone against an IDF engineering vehicle in the Ali al-Taher ridge area, within the Security Zone," the army said in a statement, describing the incident as "a blatant violation of the ceasefire." It added that no injuries were reported among Israeli soldiers. The army stated that its troops "continue to operate in the ridge area and will not allow terrorists in the area to advance or carry out attacks against IDF soldiers." According to a U.S.-brokered agreement signed last month, the Lebanese army must disarm Hezbollah, and the Israeli army must withdraw from the "pilot zones" where Lebanese forces will subsequently be deployed. The agreement came more than three months after Hezbollah involved Lebanon in the Middle East war by launching rockets against Israel in support of Tehran on March 2, which led to significant...

The Trump administration on Tuesday said it would move to end a Biden-era Medicare premium subsidy program, alleging it benefitted insurance companies more than enrollees.  As a result, Medicare Part D subsidies will expire at the end of the year and no longer be offered in 2027.  Medicare Part D is optional prescription drug coverage…

WASHINGTON.- The niece of the North American president, Mary L. Trump, a clinical psychologist and writer who became a fierce critic of her uncle, may have received last week at her home mailbox in New York a notification letter with the seal of Mayor Zohran Mamdani: a notice that the new luxury second-home tax had already come into effect, with which the socialist Democratic leader seeks to boost funding for his social programs. But Mary L. Trump is not the only member of the list of millionaires in the New York City mayor's office who are among those potentially affected by the new levy, known as pied-à-terre (secondary residence, in real estate jargon), and whose publication in recent hours - with names, addresses, and market values of the properties - could heat up Mamdani's tense relationship with the elite of the United States' largest metropolis. “If you have a second home in New York City valued at over 5 million dollars, check your mail when you return to the five boroughs, because a letter is waiting for you,” Mamdani warned last Thursday through his X account. In his message, the young mayor - who made a meteoric political debut last year with his electoral victory - also announced that on the same day, letters had begun to be sent to notify property owners of the application of the new tax…

According to the official, the personnel purges are fully coordinated with Vladimir Zelensky, who seeks to remove from military intelligence the people who remain loyal to former head of the department Kirill Budanov

Beijing is chipping away at American space power, giving Beijing the potential to impair rival networks and blunt U. S. military might.

LONDON — The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, in its ornate King Charles II Street HQ, is bracing for a shift of priorities under Ed Miliband. The new foreign secretary has embraced his post with vigor — a contrast to the more restrained style of his predecessor Yvette Cooper, who has moved to the health brief. Miliband, a former Labour leader, has made clear that he sees the development side of the brief – and his focus on climate change – as key aspects of the job. According to one person familiar with his accession talks with Andy Burnham, granted anonymity to speak freely, Miliband extracted a promise from the incoming prime minister that he would be able to pursue his determination to address the damage being done by climate change in his new job — and also foreground international development. That’s a topic sidelined by recent governments keen to cut spending to prioritize security and defense. Miliband underlined this new focus by heading straight to Paris and Madrid for informal talks with French and Spanish counterparts Jean-Noël Barrot and José Manuel Albares this week — visiting the two countries at the heart of Europe’s wildfire disasters. At a party hosted by the left-leaning IPPR think tank on Wednesday, Miliband told guests he wants climate and the environment to have a much higher profile in the role. He also added, pointedly:  “I am a politician not a chief diplomat.” It’s a sign he intends to conduct himself with a punchy style and pursue some distinct causes. On that score, he has been seeking advice from a senior figure across the political aisle — Ed Llewelyn, a former key advisor to ex-Prime Minister David Cameron and previous head of the Foreign Office with extensive diplomatic experience, latterly as U. K. ambassador to Rome. Miliband has indicated he might also soon meet Cameron himself for counsel on how to “hit the ground running,” as a person familiar with the background conversations told POLITICO. The pair used to clash furiously in the House of Commons when Miliband was opposition leader, but Cameron had a second act as foreign secretary in the dying days of Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government. In his comments at the IPPR, Miliband also reflected on what his grandfather, a Russian emigre to Poland, would have made of having “not one but two of his grandsons as British foreign secretary — I don’t think he would have believed it!” His brother David, who held the role from 2007-2010, also held background talks with Andy Burnham on a prospective return from New York, where he has been president of the International Rescue Committee since 2013. But it was Ed who seized the crown this time. Brexit shift The other main shift in U. K. power play is the return of the post-Brexit U. K.-EU reconnection to the Foreign Office’s ambit. Miliband has accepted an invitation to attend the EU’s informal meeting of foreign affairs ministers in September, POLITICO London Playbook reported Wednesday. Hamish Falconer arrives at Downing Street in London on July 20, 2026. | Ryan Jenkinson/Getty Images “Britain’s national economic and security interests are served by having a stronger relationship with our European allies,” Miliband said in a statement. “As foreign secretary, I will drive this agenda into the heart of our foreign policy — because that is how we defend Britain’s interests and values.” The outward sign of that is the appointment of Hamish Falconer as Europe minister and simultaneously minister for inter-governmental relations in the U. K. He will attend Cabinet. It’s a move that restores a linkage between the U. K.’s influential diplomatic service and Brexit negotiations, which frayed under previous arrangements. EU relations had been run out of the Cabinet Office — the government department tasked with supporting the prime minister. In a speech at the same think-tank gathering last night, Falconer linked the task of European reconnection with Burnham’s determination to bring big-picture policy changes closer to Britons and their day-to-day concerns. An experienced national security diplomat who worked on hostage releases in Afghanistan and on Gaza as a junior minister under Ker Starmer, Falconer is new to the Brussels-London beat. But, to prepare for dealing with European tensions, Falconer has been reading the historian Brendan Sims’s study of shifting geopolitics over more than five centuries, “Europe: The Struggle for Supremacy, 1453 to the Present.” He’ll have his work cut out. The U. K. and EU were due to hold a summit on 22 July to conclude negotiations on new trade and cooperation deals covering agri-foods, emissions and youth visas — but the meeting was postponed due to Keir Starmer’s resignation. The gathering was also expected to be used as a springboard to announce further cooperation and rebooting the Brexit settlement. New prime minister Andy Burnham has said he wants the meeting rescheduled for this year, though no date has yet been set. Hear more on Ed Miliband’s Foreign Office reset on the Politics at Sam and Anne’s podcast.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham pledged on Wednesday to take difficult decisions to overhaul England’s adult social care system, saying he wanted to work with other parties to end unfair high costs for users that he likened to US healthcare. Successive governments have failed to reform adult social care, for which families can pay hundreds of thousands of pounds, after previous proposals were defeated by opposition parties who dubbed them a “dementia tax” or “death tax”. Burnham did not...

The State Department under Secretary of State Marco Rubio has deported Cubans to Africa. Now it’s negotiating with a South American country.

According to Maria Yundina, if formal charges are brought under the article related to terrorism, the chances that the operating legal entity will be recognized as a terrorist organization are objectively high

A record number of respondents in a new poll say they think President Trump is not paying enough attention to the most important problems Americans face daily. CNN’s latest survey, released Wednesday, found that 73 percent of Americans accuse Trump of not prioritizing the top issues facing the country. Just over a quarter of Americans…

According to Alexander Dudchak, Ukraine is being used as a cover for a war with Russia, as an excuse to allocate serious sums for the development of its military-industrial complex, which will be paid for by the Europeans

There have been no injuries among Israeli soldiers reported

Cairo. - Less than five days after the ceasefire that paused the crossfire between the United States and Iran, the war in the Middle East has reignited with an exchange of bombings that threatens to escalate the conflict across the entire region. The United States and Saudi Arabia launched a joint attack on Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq on Wednesday, the first U.S. bombings in the area since President Donald Trump suspended operations last week. Iran, for its part, said it fired at U.S. bases in Jordan and at ships in the Strait of Hormuz, prompting Trump to promise retaliatory attacks. Tehran reported that a U.S. projectile hit the northwestern city of Piranshahr, near the Iraq border. "We will hit hard," Trump told Fox News, although he added regarding the possibility of future talks with Iran: "We will let them keep talking." The Jordanian army said its air defenses intercepted five missiles launched from Iran early Wednesday, hours after the U.S. reported shooting down a salvo of Iranian missiles fired at its forces in the Middle East. Washington and Riyadh indicated they jointly struck Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq in retaliation for drone attacks on oil targets...

Alex Jones, formerly of InfoWars, on Tuesday said President Trump must be impeached over the Iran conflict, describing the situation as “absolutely out of control” and warning that the administration is preparing for a national draft.  “The big issue is how to stop Trump. And we have to have Congress go for the war powers.…

In recent hours, the proposal has been announced with which Gianni Infantino intends to raise US$ 20 billion through the creation of FIFA Forward Enterprise. Through a statement, FIFA detailed that "in accordance with its mandate, FIFA's management is exploring the possibility of integrating FIFA's commercial rights — which encompass broadcasting, sponsorship, ticket sales, and licensing — with the operational management of FIFA tournaments through the creation of FIFA Forward Enterprise. A consultation process has been initiated following the receipt of a proposal that seeks to maximize the potential of FIFA's broadcasting rights and sponsorships across all its men's, women's, and youth football tournaments." In this context, FIFA stated that it is working with various firms to seek investors, such as JP Morgan and Thrive Capital, "a investment firm founded by Joshua Kushner, brother-in-law of Donald Trump," according to The Guardian. This decision now rests with the 211 FIFA member associations, which will have to evaluate whether to approve the measure or not. According to reports from England, Infantino gave the members of the organization until September 19 to support the plan with a lucrative incentive of 40 million dollars. Through a letter, the head of international football indicated that "if not fulfilled..."

Lawmakers from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative bloc on Wednesday elected Thorsten Frei as their new parliamentary group leader. “Thorsten Frei has been elected as our new parliamentary group leader. We wish him much success in his new role and look forward to the joint work,” the group said in announcing the results of the vote on X. MPs from the conservative bloc, which consists of the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, interrupted their summer vacations to elect Frei as their leader with 91.9 percent support. The new leader previously served as the head of Merz’s Chancellery and is a popular figure within the conservative bloc. Frei succeeds Jens Spahn, who stepped down amid a controversy over his use of a surrogate to have a child. The resignation prompted Merz to launch a broader cabinet reshuffle. Earlier on Wednesday, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier appointed three new CDU ministers proposed by the chancellor. Former CDU Secretary-General Carsten Linnemann took office as health minister, replacing Nina Warken, who became the head of the Chancellery. Steffen Bilger was appointed transport minister, replacing Patrick Schnieder. “Reshuffling governments is nothing unusual in the history of the Federal Republic. There have always been cabinet reshuffles during an ongoing legislative term,” Steinmeier said ahead of the appointments in a speech supporting Merz. The new ministers have formally taken office but must still be sworn in by the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament. Officials decided to postpone the oaths until September, when the parliament holds its first session after the summer recess, to avoid recalling lawmakers from their summer breaks, fearing the added costs could spark public criticism ahead of crucial regional elections. Maximilian Stascheit contributed to this report from Berlin.

The former top US health official is invoking his right to remain silent as senators grill him under oath about the pandemic.

The infectious disease specialist invokes the Fifth Amendment, Trump attacks him: 'Crazy ideas, he has made too many wrong decisions'

Copies of the official paper of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Committee of the Communist Party of China are not usually a hot commodity. But the Saturday edition of Guangxi Daily became an overnight collector’s item after its front-page story on Wang Hong – who last week received the prestigious Fields Medal alongside her compatriot Deng Yu – went viral online. Wang, who hails from the southern region, took home the highest honour for mathematicians under the age of 40 on July 23. Both...

FIFA’s move to privatize a new commercial subsidiary with the help of a Trump-linked venture capital firm is drawing scrutiny from the EU. On Tuesday, FIFA published a proposal to privatize the commercial operations of the men’s and women’s World Cups. A venture capital firm headed by Josh Kushner, the brother of U. S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, is lined up as the lead investor in the proposed deal — the latest sign of the American leader’s influence over the beautiful game’s governing body. “Commercial success should strengthen football, not consume it,” EU sports Commissioner Glenn Micallef said in a post on X. “Hands off our game.” FIFA chief Gianni Infantino’s close relationship with Trump has previously drawn criticism from members of the European Parliament. Earlier this month, 90 MEPs signed two letters challenging the organization over actions they said undermined the governing body’s political neutrality. Three MEPs, when asked about the matter, said that Infantino should now answer questions before Parliament. “If the plans are true, Infantino has to explain himself,” German Green MEP Rasmus Andresen said. “We should organise a hearing with ECON and CULT involved,” he added, referring to Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs and Culture and Education committees. Bogdan Zdrojewski, the European Parliament’s lead lawmaker on the European Sport Model, also told POLITICO Playbook that Infantino should also be invited to appear before lawmakers. Under the proposal, FIFA would transfer its commercial rights and tournament operations to a new subsidiary called FIFA Forward Enterprise. Private investors, led by Kushner’s venture capital firm, would acquire roughly 20 percent of that company, while FIFA would retain control. Micallef added that the proposal raised “important competition law considerations,” which the Commission would investigate. To help win support from FIFA’s member associations, Infantino paired the proposal with a substantial increase in development funding. If a majority approves the plan, each of the 211 member associations would be eligible for up to $20 million in one-time subsidies, on top of increased payments in the coming years. “Football is the world’s most popular sport and an extraordinary engine of human and social development,” Infantino said. Barry Andrews, a Renew Europe lawmaker who chairs Parliament’s development committee, said that the funding offer “merits an invite to the Parliament development committee which I chair.” “Football’s social model has been eroded gradually over the last two decades and is now based on hyper-capitalism,” he added. Kushner’s firm, Thrive Capital, declined to comment on the matter to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook. FIFA had not responded to a request to comment by the time this article was published.

The Kremlin has been struggling to curtail the Russian-born billionaire’s app as Ukraine strikes deeper into Russia.

The FSB claims that Telegram allows the dissemination of content related to mass murders and cyber scams. Russia accuses its founder and CEO, Pavel Durov, of collaborating with terrorist activities for not removing channels and bots used to organize attacks and sabotage, and has called for his detention. However, Moscow has not presented public evidence of Durov's personal involvement. Durov is also being investigated in France. He was detained there in 2024 for the lack of moderation of illegal content on his platform. Background The Russian Investigative Committee links Pavel Durov to the DaiVinchik case, an internationally known dating robot called Leo, which Ukrainian secret services allegedly used to recruit Russian minors and persuade them to set fire to facilities or attack infrastructure. Russia charged Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov on Wednesday with facilitating terrorist activity and placed the Soviet-born Kremlin critic on an international wanted list. https://t.co/GLBFQ1E4r8 — POLITICOEurope (@POLITICOEurope) July 29, 2026 Since July 2025, 46 young people have been detained. The case can carry up to life imprisonment. However, the Russian announcement does not necessarily mean that Interpol has issued a red notice, an arrest warrant. The businessman had already responded in February, when the procedure was announced. “Every day the authorities invent…

MOSCOW - In a new attack against Telegram, Russia accused its founder, Pavel Durov, of facilitating terrorist activities and issued an international arrest warrant against the executive. The Kremlin claims that the messaging platform was used by Ukrainian spies attempting to plan attacks against the country. "An international search warrant has been issued (...) against Telegram CEO P. Durov," said the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) in a statement. Russian authorities accuse Durov of "collaborating with terrorism" and have included him on an international wanted persons list. The charges against the businessman, who was born and began his career in Russia but later moved abroad, come as Moscow restricts Telegram, one of the most popular messaging apps in the country. Specifically, the FSB blames Telegram for not removing a popular dating bot that, according to authorities, Ukrainian intelligence used to involve Russian men "in terrorist and sabotage activities." According to the statement, 46 citizens aged between 12 and 22 who used the Leo Match bot, banned in Russia, have been detained since July 2025 in different regions of the country for assaulting security forces and committing acts against energy and transportation infrastructure...

As the Chinese military expands its autonomous underwater capabilities, the US Coast Guard is seeking new ways to counter undersea drones, highlighting what analysts describe as a gap in America’s defence. The law enforcement agency said it was requesting information on commercially available systems capable of detecting, tracking and disabling unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). While the July 24 notice does not mention China, it comes less than a year after Beijing unveiled several uncrewed...

According to Russian Deputy PM Alexander Novak, harvesting operations are continuing across all regions of the country

Introducing legislation would be ‘very challenging’ before improvement of care system, says prime minister UK politics live – latest updates Andy Burnham has said the assisted dying debate needs to wait until palliative care and social care are fixed, as he delivered a speech to set out his path to resolving one of the most intractable problems in British politics. The prime minister said he was not opposed to having the debate on assisted dying, but told reporters it would be “very challenging” to introduce the controversial legislation until the care system was in a better place. Continue reading...

A ⁠Norwegian teenager ⁠was convicted on Wednesday of ⁠conspiracy to commit murder in Britain after being recruited by a Swedish organised crime group that prosecutors said was being used by the Iranian government. Johannes Natland, now ‌19, was arrested in a hotel room in Huddersfield, northern England, in March last year with two firearms and ammunition in his possession. Prosecutors said Natland had been recruited by the Foxtrot Network, a Swedish organised crime group used by ⁠the Iranian...

According to Axios, this request is related to concerns about the energy collapse that Ukraine may face in winter

Keep our news free from ads and paywalls by making a donation to support our work! Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support. A newly sworn-in judge of Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal (TK) has said he will refuse to sit on the court until four other judges appointed by parliament earlier this year, but blocked by the president, are allowed to take their seats. It is the latest development in a months-long dispute between the opposition-aligned President Karol Nawrocki and the government, which considers the TK to be improperly staffed and therefore illegitimate. Although Nawrocki swore in Sławomir Patyra, who was appointed by the ruling majority in parliament in June, as a TK judge on Tuesday, he continues to refuse to swear in four other judges appointed by parliament earlier this year. Po złożeniu przysięgi Patyra ogłosił, że zamierza odmówić orzekania. To gest solidarności z czwórką sędziów, od których prezydent nie chce przyjąć przysięgi https://t.co/jdbKusQ3H9 — OKO.press (@oko_press) July 28, 2026 Shortly after his swearing-in ceremony at the presidential palace on Tuesday, Patyra arrived at the TK headquarters in Warsaw, where he was accompanied by four other judges appointed by parliament this year, including two whom Nawrocki has refused to swear in. There, he announced that his decision not to sit on the court was a matter of loyalty to the constitution and his belief in judicial ethos. “I cannot imagine taking an oath today to uphold the constitution, only to start breaking that constitution tomorrow,” he said. Patyra told journalists that he would “submit a declaration of refusal to adjudicate” due to his solidarity with judges who are “unlawfully deprived of the chance to participate in the work of the tribunal”. He added that, along with the other judges chosen this year, he is “fully mobilised to restore the Constitutional Tribunal to its proper, constitutional, systemic form”. Click here to help us continue providing news free from paywalls and ads Under Polish law, when a vacancy emerges among the 15 positions on the TK, the lower house of parliament, the Sejm, chooses who should fill it. However, to take office, the judge must swear an oath before the president. In April, after the Sejm had chosen six candidates to fill vacancies on the court, Nawrocki took the unprecedented step of inviting only two of them to be sworn in. He argued there were doubts over the legality of how all six had been chosen, but decided to accept two to ensure the TK had the necessary quorum to function. Those two have been able to take up their seats on the court, but the other four remain in limbo. Although they arranged their own private swearing-in ceremony without the presence of Nawrocki, TK’s chief justice Bogdan Święczkowski has refused to accept them. In May, the European Court of Human Rights ordered that the quartet be allowed to take up their positions. But the TK – where judges appointed under the former Law and Justice (PiS) government retain a majority – issued its own ruling endorsing Nawrocki’s right not to swear in the new judges. The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal (TK) to accept four judges whom opposition-aligned President Nawrocki refused to swear in. The decision was welcomed by the government but rejected by the TK itself https://t.co/9NxInPdYk9 — Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) May 6, 2026 On 11 June, the Sejm then chose another judge, Patyra, to fill a newly opened vacancy on the court. In his case, the legal doubts Nawrocki had expressed regarding the previous appointments, which in some instances were made more than a year after the vacancies had arisen, did not seem to apply. Yet for weeks the president refused to confirm whether he would swear him in. That prompted Patyra to write to Nawrocki in early July and then again later in the month, asking the president to indicate a date on which he could take his oath. After repeated requests, Nawrocki finally decided last week to invite Patyra to the presidential palace. The president’s chief of staff, Zbigniew Bogucki, noted that “there were some doubts” but “the president dispelled them” and added that Patyra was chosen “in accordance with all procedures”. Nowo wybrany przez Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej uchwałą z dnia 11 czerwca 2026 r. sędzia Trybunału Konstytucyjnego Sławomir Patyra złożył wobec Prezydenta RP ślubowanie. pic.twitter.com/VLMRAIg1Yj — Kancelaria Prezydenta RP (@prezydentpl) July 28, 2026 The TK has been at the heart of the rule-of-law crisis that has developed in Poland over the last decade. In 2015, former PiS-aligned President Andrzej Duda refused to swear in three judges legally chosen by the Sejm. Shortly afterwards, PiS won parliamentary elections and nominated three replacements for those judges, who were sworn in by Duda. Those three judges and their successors have been deemed illegitimate in a succession of rulings by Polish and European courts. Due to their continued presence on the court, the current government, which replaced PiS in 2023, rejects the TK’s legitimacy and refuses to recognise its rulings. Under both Święczkowski, a former member of the PiS government, and his predecessor Julia Przyłębska, a close personal associate of PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński, the TK has been widely seen as issuing rulings aligned with the political interests of PiS. Fifteen months since the change of government, Poland's rule-of-law crisis continues – indeed, many Poles think the situation has got worse.@J_Jaraczewski explains the roots of the crisis, what its impact has been, and how it might be resolved https://t.co/7KOCURV3dU — Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) March 17, 2025 Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.  Main image credit: Adrian Grycuk/Wikimedia Commons (under CC BY-SA 3.0 PL)

Even as weapons may disappear after hostilities end, the skills, supply channels and contacts between criminal groups will remain, Alexander Voloshin maintained

According to the foreign minister, as an independent power, Russia is interested in cooperation with the two other major powers, China and India, as equals

China’s robotics firms have run into a fresh obstacle in their global expansion, after the United States banned imports of new foreign-made models. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) added foreign-produced “advanced robotic devices” to its Covered List on Tuesday, blocking new models from obtaining the authorisation required to be imported and sold in the US. The ban will cover all new humanoids, quadrupeds and a broad range of connected mobile machines, with the FCC citing supply chain...

China does not want a short-term solution in Iran. The regime led by Xi Jinping bets that its main military, economic, commercial, technological, and strategic rival will be bogged down in negotiations and spending its arsenal in the Middle East for a long time. It aims to prevent Washington from focusing definitively on the Indo-Pacific. But Beijing is playing with fire, and its latest maneuver could unlock the sale of weapons to Taiwan approved by the U.S. Congress, which for now the White House is holding in standby. According to an investigation by the international agency Reuters, Iran will receive from China, in the coming weeks, 400 shoulder-fired and hard-to-detect anti-aircraft missile launchers: they are fired from the shoulder. The contract—worth 70 million dollars and involving the company Zhongqing Baoshang International Investment, based in Hong Kong—is to acquire 400 portable air defense systems, including Chinese-made QW-12 and FN-16 missiles. Last December, the United States approved the sale of an 11 billion dollar arms package for Taiwan. The island is rushing to prepare to repel a possible invasion attempt by China. The operation includes HIMARS rocket systems, howitzers, anti-tank missiles, drones, and spare parts for other critical military equipment. But even the Donald Trump administration has not yet transferred this material to Taipei. Will it now?

Chinese scientists have used detailed satellite imagery analysis to examine damage to US military bases in the Middle East, uncovering discrepancies in both Washington and Tehran’s claims over the scale of the conflict. Using advanced remote sensing and image-processing techniques, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) also identified damage patterns that exposed vulnerabilities in fixed overseas military installations and highlighted operational shortcomings on either...

Ukraine’s Acting Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara said in an interview with U. S. MAGA-aligned blogger Laura Loomer that he hopes relations between Ukraine and the United States will develop into a strong strategic partnership.

According to Russian and Chinese scientists, at least 223 Amur leopards have been recorded in the "Land of Big Cats" reserve

Young people have been detained in 16 Russian regions