“An under-construction Manhattan highrise at risk of collapse was stabilized late Tuesday and some evacuations of nearby buildings were lifted. ‘We’ve been monitoring the building for many hours and have not seen any movement,’ Ahmed Tigani, commissioner of the New York City Department of Buildings, said during a news conference Tuesday. By nighttime, residents were allowed back into several of the seven buildings that were evacuated as a precaution. The scene unfolded throughout the day after the precarious conditions were spotted in the morning at the 1970s-era building, which is being converted into luxury apartments. Construction workers at the site and people in nearby buildings — including a school, diplomatic offices and several hotels — in the busy corridor of midtown were rushed out after firefighters were called there around 8 a.m. ET.” (07/07/26)
“Lawyers for the man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk are expected to keep questioning the reliability of DNA testing that prosecutors said links the defendant to the suspected murder weapon when a weeklong hearing continues Wednesday. A member of Tyler Robinson’s defense team interrogated a DNA analyst from the FBI on Tuesday about the techniques she used to connect Robinson to a rifle found wrapped inside a towel at Utah Valley University, where Kirk was shot in September while speaking to a crowd. Defense lawyer Michael Burt cast doubt on the analyst’s conclusions — a theme that’s likely to come up again during the five-day preliminary hearing. ‘She can’t match Mr. Robinson to the questioned samples,’ Burt concluded. Deputy Utah County Attorney Ryan McBride countered that the reliability of the DNA testing could be examined if the case goes to trial.” (07/08/26)
“Thousands thronged the streets of Najaf on Wednesday as the coffin of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, moved through the holy city in a procession devoted to Iraq, home to Shia Islam’s most sacred shrines. … After a massive procession in Iran’s holy city of Qom, Iraqi officials and senior politicians received Khamenei’s remains on Tuesday night at Najaf International Airport, in the presence of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and one of the late leader’s sons. … Khamenei’s final burial will take place on Thursday in his hometown of Mashhad in northeast Iran.” (07/08/26)
“President Donald Trump said he believes the Memorandum of Understanding with Iran ‘is over,’ after the US and Iran exchanged strikes across the Middle East. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it launched strikes on US military targets across Bahrain and Kuwait in response to a wave of US strikes. And Iran’s military said it targeted an air base in Bahrain that hosts US forces. The US had launched strikes and reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil sales as ‘punishment’ for attacks on ships near the Strait of Hormuz, according to an American official.” [editor’s note: Not only has there been no declaration of war, there has been a concurrent “war powers resolution” ordering Trump to end the war. If Congress had a spine, he’d have been impeached and removed by now – TLK] (07/08/26)
“A federal immigration agent fatally shot a driver in Houston on Tuesday morning, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) has said. Agents stopped Lorenzo Salgado Araujo at around 6.50am and tried to [abduct] him, according to ICE, which described Salgado Araujo as a Mexican national and an ‘illegal [sic] alien’ whom the agency was seeking as part of a ‘targeted enforcement operation.’ … According to ICE, Salgado Araujo ‘weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer’. The confrontation resulted in ‘our officer firing his weapon in self-defense [sic]’.” (07/07/26)
“Three people were killed across Ukraine on Wednesday in overnight Russian attacks, including one in Kyiv, where powerful explosions hit for the second night in a row. Several explosions were heard shortly after midnight, before authorities issued an air raid alert. It was an unusual sequence of events because warnings typically precede strikes, giving civilians time to find shelter. In Kharkiv, two people were killed and 20 others were injured in a series of overnight strikes, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov. … [In Russia] Nizhhnekamsk Mayor Radmir Belyayev said Ukrainian drones damaged industrial facilities in the city and injured several people. Belyayev didn’t name the facilities that were damaged. Yuri Slyusar, the governor of the Rostov region, said that Ukrainian drones hit and damaged two oil tankers in Taganrog Bay, injuring two crew members. The crew of one of the ships had to be evacuated.” (07/08/26)
“A federal judge ruled in favor of The Washington Post last week, formally throwing out Trump Media’s $3.8 billion defamation lawsuit against the outlet. U.S. District Judge Thomas Barber issued the ruling on Thursday and wrote in his summary docket that President Donald Trump’s social media company ‘failed to present evidence that would allow a jury to find by clear and convincing evidence’ that the outlet ‘published the allegedly defamatory statements with actual malice.’ … The decision comes three years after Trump Media and Technology Group sued The Washington Post for defamation, alleging a ‘years-long crusade’ had been conducted by the paper.” (07/07/26)
“Britain’s Prince Harry has lost his long-running legal battle against the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday tabloid newspapers, according to court documents seen by CBS News on Tuesday. All claims were thrown out by the court in what is widely expected to be the last of the prince’s courtroom battles against British media outlets. Harry, the Duke of Sussex, was among several claimants in the case — along with pop star Elton John and actor Elizabeth Hurley — who accused the publisher of the popular tabloids, Associated Newspapers (ANL), of unlawfully gathering information about them through methods such as phone tapping, intercepting voicemails and impersonating people to obtain personal information. In its ruling on Tuesday, the U.K. High Court dismissed the claims, saying they could not be proven.” (07/07/26)
“Nigel Farage resigned as an MP Tuesday to trigger a by-election amid intense scrutiny of his financial arrangements. … Farage is being investigated by Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Daniel Greenberg over whether he broke House of Commons rules by failing to declare a £5 million donation from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne. Farage has repeatedly said he was under no obligation to declare the gift because he received it before he was elected as Clacton MP. He said Tuesday he is also being investigated over fresh accusations he failed to declare gifts and donations from crypto entrepreneur George Cottrell.” (07/07/26)
“French far-right leader Marine Le Pen announced that she will run for president in 2027. Le Pen made the announcement during a prime-time TV interview, hours after an appeals court shortened her ban on holding public office. Her presidential hopes had been in limbo since March 2025, when she received the five-year ban for using money from the European Parliament to pay wages for staff at her anti-immigrant National Rally (RN) party in France. The appeals court in Paris upheld her conviction but significantly shortened the ban, so that in effect it is already over. However, the court said she would need to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet for a year. Le Pen said she would appeal against the ruling to France’s highest court, the Cour de Cassation. That would suspend her sentence and the order to wear the tag until the court delivers its own decision, allowing her to campaign freely, she said.” (07/07/26)
