“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)
“The state of Utah has revoked the license of a boarding school where socialite Paris Hilton said she was abused as a teenager, saying the school has ‘failed to provide applicable health and safety services for clients.’ The state’s action, which took effect Monday, cites multiple noncompliance issues against the Provo Canyon School’s campus in Springville. The school has 15 days to request a hearing before the Department of Health & Human Services. … ‘For more than fifty years, children came forward with stories of abuse, neglect, and trauma,’ Hilton said in a statement provided Tuesday. ‘Today, the state confirmed what survivors have known all along: Provo Canyon School failed the children in its care. I was one of those children.’ … She alleges staff members beat her, watched her shower, fed her unknown pills and locked her in solitary confinement without clothing.” (07/07/26)
“NATO announced a roughly $4.5 billion plan on Tuesday to buy up to 10 Saab GlobalEye surveillance planes to replace ageing AWACS early warning aircraft, backing a Swedish system over a rival solution from U.S. planemaker Boeing. Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the replacement of Cold War-era Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) planes, best known for their rotating radomes, with a new system based on smaller business jets would tackle threats like drone swarms. … With U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly pressing allies to spend more on defence and buy more U.S. equipment, Rutte took pains to underline the international pedigree of the system which is mounted on top of Bombardier Global 6500 business jets. … GlobalEye competes with Boeing’s E-7 Wedgetail, an early warning and command-and-control aircraft based on the 737 jetliner and designed to oversee and direct battle.” (07/07/26)
“After decades of reliable bipartisan backing for Israel, a new AP-NORC poll reveals a dramatic erosion of support for the longtime U.S. ally, with rising opposition from Democrats and signs of division among Republicans. The survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research arrives at a moment when a once-consensus foreign policy issue is increasingly polarizing Americans along partisan and generational lines, driven by criticism for Israel’s conduct nearly three years after the outbreak of its latest war with Hamas in Gaza. About one-third of U.S. adults — including roughly half of Democrats — believe that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians during the war in Gaza …. About 58% of Democrats now say the U.S. is ‘too supportive’ of the Israelis, up from 45% in an AP-NORC poll from January 2024 when former President Joe Biden was in office. That includes 51% of Jewish Democrats in the new poll.” (07/07/26)
“South Korean technology giant Samsung Electronics says it expects to post a 19-fold jump in its profits, driven by global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) memory chips. The company forecast that it made 89.4tn won (£43.6bn; $58.4bn) between the start of April and the end of June, marking its third record quarterly operating profits in a row. Major South Korean firms like Samsung release forecasts of their earnings ahead of official detailed reports to help guide investors.” (07/07/26)
“The body of a Ukrainian woman suspected of carrying out a bomb attack that targeted a wealthy Ukrainian-born businessman in Monaco last week was found near Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, Ukrainska Pravda reported on Tuesday. Citing sources in law enforcement, the Ukrainian news outlet said the woman had been shot and her body was found close to 11 p.m. local time (2000 GMT) on Monday. Anastasiia Berezovska, 39, was named as the chief suspect in an Interpol Red Notice, which said she was Ukrainian, spoke German and was wanted by authorities in Monaco for attempted murder, placing an explosive device in a public place with criminal intent, and criminal conspiracy. … Ukrainian-born Vadym Yermolaiev, his partner and son were wounded in the attack on Monday last week, sources said.” (07/07/26)
