“The Trump administration on Monday asked the Supreme Court to intervene in a legal fight over President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting mail-in voting, escalating the dispute 99 days before the November midterm elections. The emergency request came after a federal appeals court, in a 2-1 decision Saturday, left in place an order blocking key parts of Trump’s executive order issued in March that directs federal agencies to create voter eligibility lists and restrict U.S. Postal Service delivery of ballots not tied to those lists. A coalition of 23 states argue Trump lacks authority to impose federal rules on elections administered by state and local officials.” (07/27/26)
“The U.S. walked out as France addressed a United Nations Security Council meeting on Ukraine on Monday, accusing its longtime ally of ‘disingenuous grandstanding’ over French comments comparing the U.S. to North Korea, Russia and other authoritarian states regarding votes on human rights issues. The move followed a tense weekend exchange between the two permanent Security Council members on X in which France blasted Washington for joining Russia, North Korea and seven other countries in voting against a proposal to extend the term of Volker Turk as the U.N. rights chief for four more years. … The U.N. General Assembly on Friday voted overwhelmingly to extend the term of Turk, an outspoken critic of Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s conduct in Gaza who has also called for investigations into deaths in U.S. immigration custody. The term extension has been opposed by Russia, Israel and others, with Washington threatening to reassess its funding and engagement.” (07/27/26)
“The U.S. FDA has approved Freenome’s blood-based colorectal cancer screening test for older adults, paving the way for partner Abbott to launch it in the U.S. this fall, the companies said on Monday.
Shares of Freenome were up about 4% in morning trading. … The test, SimpleScreen CRC, detects signals linked to colorectal cancer from DNA fragments circulating in the blood. Abbott is likely to market SimpleScreen to people who do not complete or decline stool-based screening tests, Brennan said.” (07/27/26)
“A man attacked three women with knives in Paris before bystanders pinned him to the ground and an off-duty police officer detained him, the French interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, has said. The man attacked the three women, aged 19, 24 and 36, with two kitchen knives, severely wounding two of them, near Porte de Clichy on Monday, Nuñez said. A video shared on Snapchat and verified by Reuters showed a man with long black hair and wearing a cream tracksuit wielding one big knife in each hand and attempting to attack and stab a young woman. It was unclear if the woman was injured. … Another part of the video shows the same man in a tracksuit lying on the ground immobilised by bystanders, while the two knives are seen lying nearby on a pedestrian crossing. ‘It is Allah who commanded me,’ the man lying on the floor says in the video.” (07/27/26)
“Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office released a health update Monday, saying he’s still not ready to return to in-person work in the Capitol after his June 14 hospitalization. ‘I’m still working hard to get back to my full schedule of work in the Senate and in Kentucky, keeping up with intense physical therapy per my doctors’ orders,’ McConnell, R-Ky. [or someone impersonating him], said in a statement. ‘Unfortunately, that means I won’t be able to make it to Fancy Farm, Kentucky this Saturday.’ … McConnell’s office did not provide a timeline for his return. He has missed the last 38 votes on the Senate floor, according to an NBC News review. The chamber is scheduled to be in session for the next two weeks before summer recess.” (07/27/26)
“At least one shot was fired outside the U.S. Consulate in downtown Toronto early on Monday but there were no injuries, police said, in what was the second such incident in the last four months. Police officers, alerted by the sound of a gunshot, said they found evidence of a weapon having been fired outside the building on University Avenue. Police said that a white sedan was seen fleeing the scene and added that no injuries were reported. On March 10, several shots were fired at the same building, following three separate incidents in which gunshots were fired at synagogues …. In June police said, without providing any more details, that young people in the Toronto area were being paid to shoot at various targets, including synagogues, Jewish schools and the U.S. Consulate. Police arrested three people in connection with the March shooting, and one police officer was killed during the operation.” (07/27/26)
“Former FBI Director James Comey on Monday asked the court to toss the case accusing him of threatening President Trump’s life, arguing that posting a picture of seashells spelling out ’86 47′ could not be considered a ‘true threat.’ The filing was made in the Eastern District of North Carolina where Comey visited the beach in 2025 and stumbled upon the message in the sand, which he then shared online. ‘To justify this prosecution, the indictment alleges that Mr. Comey’s ‘86 47’ post constitutes a ‘true threat’ on the President’s life. That claim is contradicted by every possible source of meaning: dictionaries, context, precedent, and common sense,’ Comey’s attorneys wrote in the filing.” (07/27/26)
“Shares in China’s biggest memory chip maker have soared by nearly 470% as they made their debut on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s tech-heavy Star Market. The surge has pushed ChangXin Memory Technologies’ (CXMT) stock market valuation to around 3.3 trillion yuan ($487bn; £365bn), making it the most valuable listed company in mainland China. The spectacular debut comes despite a sharp sell-off in technology stocks around the world this month. CXMT manufactures dynamic random-access memory (Dram) chips that power AI data centres, mobile phones, PCs, tablets and other devices. The firm, which was founded in 2016 by Chairman Zhu Yiming, is headquartered in Hefei, Anhui Province in eastern China. The company has said it plans to use most of the proceeds from the initial public offering (IPO) to boost production of memory chips and carry out more research and developments.” (07/27/26)
“The 2014 US film Transcendence follows a dying scientist who uploads his mind to a supercomputer and becomes a near‑omnipotent intelligence. A year later, Ex Machina told the story of a humanoid robot who outsmarts her human handlers and escapes into the wider world. Both of these films, like many others from the realm of science fiction, referred to what is known as ‘the singularity’, a moment in time when technology, particularly AI, surpasses human intelligence and becomes increasingly difficult to control. On Saturday, OpenAI boss Sam Altman declared that this moment has come.” (07/27/26)
“Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felss Masino is stepping down after the failure of her ‘woke’ [sic] rebrand last year, which was rolled back following intense backlash from loyal customers, the company announced Monday. David Deno, a restaurant exec who most recently served as CEO of Bloomin’ Brands, which owns Outback Steakhouse, will replace Masino on August 10, according to a Cracker Barrel press release. … diners revolted against the company’s attempts to modernize the Southern dining chain last August by axing its beloved mascot Uncle Herschel and revamping restaurants without its trademark tchotchkes. Following heated backlash from longtime customers and even President Trump himself, Cracker Barrel reversed the changes and leaned into its folksy charm – ultimately sending the stock up 100% so far this year.” (07/27/26)
