Friday, July 31, 2026 – U.S. resumes strikes on Iran. Iran hits U.S. bases in Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain. Over 4,000 children killed or injured in Iran war. Pakistan trying to broker more negotiations, Foreign Ministry says. Egypt, Iran respond to Wednesday attack on Egyptian port. Iraqi government denies it approved U.S.-Saudi strikes. U.S. tags more Iranian firms with sanctions. Tanker traffic through Hormuz is increasing, Bloomberg reports. Britain arrests British-Azerbaijani man on suspicion of spying for Iran in Cyprus. Report: Saudi Arabia prepares offensive against Ansarallah. Fourteen countries back Saudi-led Red Sea naval coalition. Chinese-linked ships transit Bab Al-Mandab openly as most vessels go dark. Lloyd’s underwriters restrict war-risk cover for Saudi-linked ships. Israel kills six in Gaza. Hamas agrees to second phase of Gaza ceasefire, says implementation hinges on Israel. Drop Site obtains roadmap documents on Gaza governance, weapons. Israel continues its attacks in the occupied West Bank. Palestinian says he was tortured while in Israeli custody. Israeli demolitions in southern Lebanon generate seismic waves the equivalent of a 3.8-magnitude earthquake, despite “ceasefire.” Lebanon’s Aoun seeks Turkish backing for U.S.-brokered framework with Israel. Mandela Barnes drops out of Wisconsin Democratic governor’s race. A third of Democrats now identify as democratic socialists, CNN poll finds. ExxonMobil and Chevron post combined $26.5 billion in second-quarter profits amid Iran war oil surge. New York sues Kalshi, alleging prediction market platform runs “illegal gambling operation.” 60,000 cross from Morocco into Ceuta after border breach. Russia’s Africa Corps killed eight civilians in Mali air strike, HRW reports. Attack on police checkpoint kills 11 officers in northwest Pakistan. Cuba details plans to open state economy to private industry. Milei signs decree allowing Argentina to expel foreigners who “spread hate” about the country. Brazilian Supreme Court authorizes probe into President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s son. Sudanese air force launches heavy strikes on RSF positions across Kordofan. Ukrainian drone sets Wildberries warehouse ablaze. Nepal’s Prime Minister calls for calm after Hindu-Muslim clashes leave three dead. At least 32 miners killed in Balochistan coal mine explosion. British police arrest 77 at rally in support of Palestine Action.

Iran

• U.S. resumes strikes on Iran: The U.S. restarted its campaign of strikes against Iran Thursday following an Iranian missile attack on a U.S. base in Jordan on Wednesday, with strikes reported across Iran’s south and southwest.
  • U.S. strikes on Qeshm Island on Thursday killed a taxi driver, his wife, and their 2-year-old child, Iranian media reported.
  • Three members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in U.S. strikes on Thursday, the group announced.
  • Footage circulating online appeared to show missiles being launched from Kuwait, despite the insistence of the government to the Wall Street Journal earlier this week that it had not allowed missiles to be launched from its territory.
  • Separately, CENTCOM claimed on Thursday evening that U.S. forces had redirected 24 commercial vessels, disabled two, and boarded two, as part of their naval blockade on Iranian ports that began mid-July.
• Iran hits U.S. bases in Jordan, Kuwait:
  • Iran responded by attacking bases in Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain, with Friday attacks reportedly targeting aircraft shelters, satellite communication systems, and equipment storage facilities at the Ahmed Al-Jaber base in Kuwait and the Sheikh Isa base in Bahrain. Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said it detected and destroyed Iranian drones in Kuwaiti airspace.
  • The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed a missile strike on the Al-Azraq air base in Jordan on Thursday “completely destroyed” three U.S. F-35 fighter jets and badly damaged three others, according to a statement carried by Iranian state media.
  • The IRGC also reported that its strikes on Ali Al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait destroyed two drone hangars and a fuel depot for military aircraft and helicopters, according to Tasnim. U.S. CENTCOM denied this, though satellite imagery appeared to show damage to a hangar.
  • The Chinese embassy in Kuwait reported that a vehicle working for a Chinese company was struck during Iran’s Thursday strikes on the country, killing its Nepalese driver, though it did not identify Iran as the party responsible for the strike in its statement.
  • In the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Friday it targeted two oil tankers attempting to pass with U.S. military “air support.” The IRGC claimed the two tankers were “targeted and stopped,” while four other oil tankers quickly changed course and turned back.
• Over 4,000 children killed or injured in Iran war: More than 4,000 children have been killed or injured across six countries since the Iran war began five months ago, according to UNICEF. In Iran, 386 children have reportedly been killed and 2,117 children injured. “As war reverberates in Iran and neighboring countries, children continue to be killed and maimed in the places where they should be safest – their homes, schools and communities,” Abdul Fofana, UNICEF Acting Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement. “Parties to the conflict should not normalize the suffering of children, who remain at the sharpest end of conflicts they did not start and have no power to stop.”
• Pakistan trying to broker more negotiations, FM says: Tahir Andrabi, a spokesman for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, told reporters Pakistan is making “every effort to bring all parties back to the Islamabad memorandum,” and has urged them to fully honor their commitment to hold technical talks under the deal, according to BBC Persian.

• Egypt, Iran respond to Wednesday attack on Egyptian port: Egypt’s government confirmed that a U.S.-owned Floating Storage Regasification Unit, the Energos Winter, sustained significant damage from a drone attack at Egypt’s Damietta port on Wednesday. Fire also engulfed a separate vessel, the Gaslog Salem.
  • The government said its security committee was assessing the situation and reviewing potential responses.
  • The Winter is a floating terminal that receives super-chilled liquefied natural gas from transport tankers and converts it back into its gaseous form to feed national energy grids. FSRUs like the Winter play a critical role in supplementing Egypt’s national power grid and managing domestic energy demand.
  • Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded to Wednesday’s drone attack by warning that it may be an Israeli “false flag” operation.

• Iraqi government denies it approved U.S.-Saudi strikes: Iraqi government spokesperson Haider al-Aboudi said on Thursday that Baghdad had no prior knowledge of the joint U.S.-Saudi attacks on Iraqi territory, directly contradicting President Donald Trump’s earlier claim. The strikes killed at least 20 members of the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces. Prime Minister Mohammed al-Zaidi subsequently postponed a planned trip to Saudi Arabia.

• Iran thanks Jordan for “cooperation” after public letter calling for U.S. to leave: An open letter demanding the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces was signed by more than 200 prominent Jordanians. The letter said the roughly 4,000 U.S. troops in Jordan expose the country to “security, political, and economic risks that serve no national interest,” according to the New York Times.
  • Iran’s armed forces publicly thanked “the people of Jordan” on Thursday for their “cooperation” and for providing useful information from inside U.S. bases on Jordanian soil.
  • Iran has previously claimed that it has operational support within Jordan.
• U.S. tags more Iranian firms with sanctions: The U.S. Treasury Department announced on Thursday that it would be sanctioning Mahan Air, one of Iran’s largest airlines, along with individuals and companies in China, India, Russia, and Iran accused of keeping the carrier flying.
  • The Treasury accused Mahan of “enabling” the IRGC while “presenting itself as a civilian carrier,” and alleged that it facilitated the movement of drones and weapons for the group.

• Tanker traffic through Hormuz is increasing, Bloomberg reports: A Thursday report from Bloomberg claimed that oil-tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is picking up again after slowing earlier this month, despite this week’s intensification of strikes.
  • The report outlines a “transfer system” involving smaller or regional vessels, often sailing with transponders off, which work to move crude out of the Persian Gulf and which bring that crude to larger ships for international transport.
  • Over the past seven days, the maritime tracking firm Kpler recorded 18 tankers exiting the Strait of Hormuz, five of which were linked to Iran, carrying an average 1.86 million barrels per day.

• Britain arrests British-Azerbaijani man on suspicion of spying for Iran in Cyprus: Rashad Sultanov, a 44-year-old dual British-Azerbaijani national from Islington, north London, was arrested in Cyprus on July 17 on suspicion of surveilling Britain’s RAF Akrotiri base and passing information to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, London’s Metropolitan Police announced.
  • The IRGC threatened earlier this month to strike British bases used by U.S. forces against Iran, and an Iranian-type Shahed drone caused slight damage at Akrotiri on March 2, after which Britain excluded the base from its defensive agreement with Washington.

Yemen

• Report: Saudi Arabia prepares offensive against Ansarallah: Saudi Arabia is reportedly preparing for a major military offensive against Yemen’s Ansarallah by sea and possibly by land, in an effort to break their pressure on Saudi oil exports through the southern Red Sea, according to The Guardian.
  • Saudi forces have reportedly begun withdrawing from eastern Yemen and concentrating troops for a possible assault on Ansarallah-controlled Al-Bayda governorate in central Yemen.
• Fourteen countries back Saudi-led Red Sea naval coalition: Fourteen countries, including Egypt, Turkey, and Pakistan, backed a Saudi-led maritime coalition aimed at countering Ansarallah’s blockade of regional shipping routes. Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said the coalition would expand military coordination across the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, Red Sea, and Gulf of Aden. The United States, whose participation analysts call essential, is not among them.

• Chinese-linked ships transit Bab Al-Mandab openly as most vessels go dark: Two Chinese-linked cargo vessels passed through Bab Al-Mandab on July 30 without evasive maneuvers, GPS manipulation, or disabling their AIS signals, according to maritime intelligence firm Windward.
  • Windward said the movements support reports of a case-by-case safe-passage arrangement between China and Ansarallah, with Iran informed.
  • Twelve vessels traveled “dark” during the same period amid Ansarallah threats to target Saudi-linked tankers and export infrastructure.

• Lloyd’s underwriters restrict war-risk cover for Saudi-linked ships: Leading Lloyd’s underwriters, including Ascot and Navium, told brokers they would cancel or restrict war-risk and cargo coverage for vessels with Saudi links, following Ansarallah’s July 20 maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia, the Financial Times reported.
  • The squeeze leaves Saudi Arabia caught between disruption in the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea embargo, with Yanbu, currently its main outlet for crude exports.

Palestine

• Israel kills six in Gaza: Israeli strikes on Gaza Thursday killed six Palestinians, including two children, and wounded several others.
  • An Israeli strike on Gaza City Thursday morning killed two Palestinians and wounded at least 10 others, WAFA reported.
  • A separate drone strike in Jabaliya, north of Gaza, killed another Palestinian and wounded several more.
  • Israeli warplanes struck a tent sheltering displaced people in the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis, killing two Palestinians, including a child.
  • An Israeli missile struck a residential apartment in central Gaza, killing a child and injuring several others.
• Hamas agrees to second phase of Gaza ceasefire, says implementation hinges on Israel:
  • The Board of Peace and mediator countries announced Thursday that Hamas had agreed to a detailed roadmap for implementing the next phases of the Gaza ceasefire. The mediators said Hamas had, “for the first time,” formally committed to “an actionable plan for relinquishing all its weapons,” followed by an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
  • In a Truth Social post, President Donald Trump hailed what he called a “HISTORIC agreement for the COMPLETE DISARMAMENT of Hamas.”
  • Hamas said Friday that it and other Palestinian factions had engaged “responsibly and positively” with mediators’ proposals for the second phase of the ceasefire but stressed that implementation cannot proceed unless Israel fulfills all of its obligations under the first phase of the October 2025 agreement.
  • The group said discussions over its heavy weapons are conditional on a permanent end to Israeli attacks, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, early recovery and reconstruction, the entry of the National Committee and international forces, the dismantling of Israel-backed armed militias, and progress toward Palestinian self-determination and an independent Palestinian state.
• Drop Site obtains roadmap documents on Gaza governance, weapons: Drop Site obtained a document outlining the framework Hamas and other Palestinian factions’ agreed to for Gaza’s governance and the handling of resistance weapons.
  • Heavy weapons, military production sites, weapons depots, and tunnels would be inventoried and stored only after Israel halts attacks, withdraws from Gaza, and allows the entry of life essentials.
  • The process would proceed alongside a phased Israeli withdrawal and a decommissioning of Israel-backed armed militias. No weapons would be handed over to Israel or any non-Palestinian party, and the National Committee would ultimately become the sole Palestinian body responsible for storing and controlling weapons in Gaza.
  • The document says the framework is intended to support “a credible path toward realizing Palestinian self-determination and the establishment of the Palestinian state.”
  • On governance, the document states the National Committee would assume responsibility for Gaza’s civil administration, ensure the continuity of public institutions and services, and restore the rights of public employees who were dismissed or forced into retirement in accordance with Palestinian law.
  • The Committee would also conduct a comprehensive financial and administrative audit of Gaza, work to protect and recover public assets, and gradually repay up to $400 million in debts owed to suppliers and contractors over three years.
• Israel has yet to officially agree to the deal: Israel has not publicly agreed to the proposal and has made no official comment yet. An Israeli official told Reuters on condition of anonymity: “Israel demands the complete disarmament of Hamas, including the removal of weapons from Gaza and the complete demilitarization of the strip as a precondition for ‌any process.” National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir posted in Hebrew on X: “The draft agreement published by the ‘Peace Council’ is not acceptable to Israel.…The targeted killings in Gaza must continue, encouraging emigration must happen, Israel must win.”
• Israel continues its attacks in the occupied West Bank:
  • Nablus: A Palestinian man was shot in the neck by Israeli soldiers on Thursday, following an attack on his vehicle. Israeli forces shot a Palestinian man in the abdomen in Al-Juneid on Friday. Forces tear-gassed several Palestinians, including children. The Israeli military was accompanying settlers who had initiated an attack in the area. In the village of Burin, Israeli settlers set fire to agricultural land and burned down several olive trees.
  • Bethlehem: Israeli forces raided the Solomon’s Pools tourist area on Friday, declaring the site to be a “closed military zone” and forcing visitors to leave the site at gunpoint, WAFA reported. Earlier, an Israeli military convoy stormed into the city, raided a house, and detained a Palestinian man.
  • Ramallah: Israeli forces attacked the Qaddura refugee camp, ransacking the headquarters of the camp’s Popular Committee and releasing tear gas, and detaining one of the camp’s residents.
• Palestinian says he was tortured while in Israeli custody: Rizq Shakarneh, 47, from Nahhalin west of Bethlehem, told WAFA he suffered fractures and multiple injuries from torture during his eight days in Israeli detention, after being arrested following the demolition of homes and structures in his town.
  • He said Israeli forces starved and denied him necessary medical treatment despite pre-existing health problems, and CT scans conducted after his release Wednesday evening reportedly revealed rib fractures, bruises and head injuries.
• Drop Site interviews family of Palestinian man detained and mocked by Israeli soldiers in viral photos: Drop Site’s Mohamed Ahmed spoke with the parents of 22-year-old Mahmoud Al-Drimli, who identified him as the blindfolded Palestinian man in a viral photograph showing two female Israeli soldiers smiling as they pose beside him.
  • Mahmoud disappeared on November 2, 2024. His family said they had received no information about him until recognizing him in the image.
  • “The moment I saw the picture, my heart was at peace, and I was happy. But at the same time, when I saw him in that state, my heart broke,” his mother said through tears.
  • Watch the full interviews with Mahmoud’s parents here.

• Israeli soldiers walk off Sde Teiman base in protest of order to remove battalion signs glorifying hazing: Fourteen soldiers of the Givati Brigade’s Tzabar Battalion who took part in a mass desertion on Thursday have been sentenced to 30 days in military jail and permanently dismissed from combat duty, according to the Israeli military.
  • Around 100 soldiers from the battalion walked out of the Sde Teiman base without authorization on Thursday—leaving behind their military equipment and weapons—after their commander ordered battalion signs to be removed and destroyed.
  • Sde Teiman is the notorious military detention and torture site where Israel has held Palestinians seized en masse from Gaza without charge or access to lawyers. There is extensive documentation of severe beatings, systematic rape and sexual abuse, and other forms of torture there.
  • The soldiers did not walk off the base in protest of the torture of Palestinians at Sde Teiman or of combat duty in the genocide in Gaza but rather because they argued the signs that were ordered taken down—which portrayed or related to hazing practices inflicted by older troops on younger ones—represented a long-standing battalion tradition.

Lebanon

• Israeli demolitions in southern Lebanon generate seismic waves the equivalent of a 3.8-magnitude earthquake, despite “ceasefire”: Israel carried out a series of large-scale demolitions, shelling attacks, and artillery strikes across southern Lebanon late Thursday and Friday, despite the U.S.-brokered ceasefire, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported.
  • Shortly after midnight, Israeli forces carried out massive explosions in the Nabatieh district around Yahmar al-Shaqif, Arnoun, and Kfartebnit. The explosions, centered near Beaufort Castle, shattered windows and damaged homes in Qlayaa, while Lebanon’s National Center for Geophysics said the blast generated seismic waves equivalent to a 3.8-magnitude earthquake.
  • Israeli forces demolished caves and homes around Al-Mansouri and Majdal Zoun in the Tyre (Sour) district on Friday. Forces also shelled Talousa in the Marjayoun district.
  • Israeli troops fired illuminating shells at Ali Al-Taher hill on the outskirts of Nabatieh Al-Fawqa, “deliberately igniting” fires in the area, according to the NNA.
  • Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri condemned the attacks, saying the 700 tons of explosives that generated tremors equivalent to an earthquake should “awaken national and human conscience” to Israel’s “machinery of destruction.”
• Lebanon’s Aoun seeks Turkish backing for U.S.-brokered framework with Israel: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun traveled to Ankara on Thursday to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, seeking Turkey’s support for a U.S.-brokered framework agreement Lebanon signed with Israel in Washington on June 26.
  • Aoun, who faces domestic opposition to the deal from Hezbollah and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, told Turkey’s Anadolu Agency that implementation depends on “a complete Israeli withdrawal simultaneous with the deployment of the Lebanese army” and an international mechanism to verify compliance from both sides.

U.S. News

• Mandela Barnes drops out of Wisconsin Democratic governor’s race: Former Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes announced that he is exiting the Democratic primary for governor. The state’s primary is August 11.
  • Democratic socialist and state Rep. Francesca Hong now faces Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who re-entered the race earlier this month with the endorsement of outgoing Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.
  • A Marquette University Law School poll released on Wednesday showed that Hong had the support of 38% of Democratic primary voters, and Crowley had only 7%, with 34% of voters remaining undecided and 16% preferring the now-withdrawn Barnes.
• A third of Democrats now identify as democratic socialists, CNN poll finds: About a third of Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults identify as democratic socialists, according to a CNN poll conducted by SSRS.
  • The poll found democratic socialists tend to be younger, more likely to be extremely motivated to vote, and are also much more likely to be critical of Israel, with 48% saying they’d be enthusiastic about a candidate who wants to cut U.S. support to Israel, compared with 20% of non-democratic socialists.
• ExxonMobil and Chevron post combined $26.5 billion in second-quarter profits amid Iran war oil surge: ExxonMobil and Chevron reported combined second-quarter earnings of $26.5 billion, with Chevron posting record net income of $12.2 billion and ExxonMobil reporting $14.5 billion, as crude and petrol prices surged following the U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran in February.
  • Exxon chief financial officer Neil Hansen said further price increases are possible if the Strait of Hormuz is closed to tanker traffic.
  • Hansen told the FT that the “pain point” regarding oil prices was not with crude, which he said is trading within its historical ranges, but with products such as petrol and diesel, which have seen their prices surge as production capacity diminished.
• New York sues Kalshi, alleging prediction market platform runs “illegal gambling operation”: New York state announced a lawsuit against the prediction market platform Kalshi on Friday, with Attorney General Letitia James alleging the company is operating illegally by accepting wagers without registering with the New York State Gaming Commission.
  • The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction, restitution to users, and financial penalties against the company, which is based in New York City.
• WSJ reports on Trump’s fundraising focus, nightly calls for multimillion dollar donations: President Donald Trump has personally directed a fundraising operation that has taken in more than $800 million since he returned to office, according to a Wall Street Journal report published on Thursday, with the president nightly calling his fundraiser Meredith O’Rourke to press companies for donations ranging from $5 million to $50 million toward projects including his presidential library, a White House ballroom, and political committees.
  • Companies including SoftBank, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta Platforms have made multimillion-dollar contributions, and executives told the Journal that donations appear linked to access and favorable regulatory treatment.
  • “What can I do to help you?” Trump has told donors at multiple events, according to attendees. “What do you need?” he reportedly asked a group of CEOs at an event he hosted in Florida. The full report from the WSJ is available here.

Other International News

• 60,000 cross from Morocco into Ceuta after border breach: At least 41 people have died trying to reach the Spanish territory of Ceuta after breaching the border from Morocco with some 60,000 migrants entering the enclave in the past 24 hours.
  • Ceuta, along with Melilla—another autonomous ‌Spanish city in North Africa—represents the European Union’s only land border with Africa. Migrants cross into Ceuta by land and sea, with people often swimming from the Moroccan town of Fnideq three miles away. Many of those who died drowned, while others were killed in a stampede to cross the border fence.
  • Moroccan security forces clashed with thousands of people on the Moroccan side of the border as they tried to cross, using water cannons and firing warning shots into the air.
  • Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez travelled to Ceuta on Friday and called the crossings “a violation of Spain’s territorial integrity.” Spain’s Ministry of Interior said some 25,000 people were returned from Ceuta to Morocco so far on Friday.
  • According to the AP, authorities in both Ceuta and Madrid, linked the mass influx of migrants to a recent decision by Spain’s Supreme Court that ruled migrants arriving by sea could not be summarily deported, unlike those who cross by land or climb the border fence. Sánchez said migrant smugglers misinterpreted the ruling, triggering the surge.
• Russia’s Africa Corps killed eight civilians in Mali air strike, HRW reports: Africa Corps, the Russian paramilitary group that has largely replaced the Wagner Group in Africa, killed eight civilians, including three children, in a June 15 air strike on the village of Kyrnia in Mali’s central Mopti region, Human Rights Watch said Friday.
  • The rights group noted no fighters from the al-Qaeda-linked group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin were believed to be killed in the strike despite the group controlling the village.
  • Russian mercenaries have backed the Malian government’s fight against JNIM and the Azawad Liberation Front, a Tuareg separatist group. The two rebel groups joined forces to launch nationwide, coordinated attacks on government installations starting in April.
• Attack on police checkpoint kills 11 officers in northwest Pakistan: An ambush on a police checkpoint in the Hangu district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province killed at least 11 police officers and injured 28 others late Wednesday.
  • The attackers reportedly used explosive-laden quadcopters before storming the post near the Afghan border. Security forces said they killed 15 of the attackers in a subsequent hours-long gun battle.
  • No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, though it follows a suicide bombing claimed by the Pakistan Taliban that killed 27 people in nearby Tank district last week.
• Cuba details plans to open state economy to private industry: Cuba announced new details of its plans to privatize key sections of its economy, including easing land-use restrictions, letting businesses import fuel and medications, and authorizing private tourism companies to operate on the island, following a two-day National Assembly.
  • Cuba has been subject to a fuel blockade and a stifling regime of sanctions since January, part of an explicit plan by the Trump administration to topple its government. President Miguel Díaz-Canel said the changes were not meant to appease Washington and insisted healthcare, science, culture and other strategic sectors would not be privatized.
• Milei signs decree allowing Argentina to expel foreigners who “spread hate” about the country: Argentine President Javier Milei signed an emergency decree empowering the government to bar, deport, or revoke the visas of foreigners who express “hate” toward Argentina or tarnish its national symbols following Argentina’s second-place finish at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. FIFA opened a disciplinary probe into the Argentinian Football Association over behavior in a number of matches, investigating “team misconduct” and “discrimination and racist abuse.”
  • Milei has claimed without evidence that the criticism stems from a coordinated “anti-Argentina campaign” funded by leftists in Brazil, Mexico, and the U.S. Democratic Party, an accusation that prompted Brazil to recall its ambassador last weekend.
• Brazilian Supreme Court authorizes probe into Lula’s son: Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Andre Mendonca authorized federal police to investigate Fabio Luis Lula da Silva, over suspicions he improperly helped businessman Antonio Carlos Camilo Antunes gain access to health ministry officials over a cannabidiol-based medication contract, Reuters reported on Thursday.
• Sudanese air force launches heavy strikes on RSF positions across Kordofan: Sudan’s air force conducted a wave of airstrikes on Rapid Support Forces positions across North and West Kordofan states, targeting locations including Um Badr, Sodari, Al-Khuwei and Al-Nuhud, according to Sudan Tribune.
  • The strike wave followed a Sudanese army ground offensive over the weekend that secured a crucial road linking North Kordofan to Khartoum.
• Ukrainian drone sets Wildberries warehouse ablaze: A Ukrainian drone struck an energy facility and a warehouse in Russia’s Volgograd region on Friday, the province’s governor reported, injuring five. Wildberries, the Russian ecommerce giant which Ukraine’s military has increasingly targeted in recent weeks, reported that one of its facilities caught fire as a result of the strike.
• Nepal’s PM calls for calm after Hindu-Muslim clashes leave three dead: Nepali Prime Minister Balendra Shah called for calm after clashes between Hindu and Muslim groups in Nepal’s Sunsari district, near the Indian border, left three people dead.
  • The violence began Sunday over a dispute involving loud music and religious flags during a Hindu procession, and police killed two men while dispersing the crowd, a police spokesperson said.
• At least 32 miners killed in Balochistan coal mine explosion: At least 32 miners were killed, and three more remained trapped, after a methane gas explosion tore through a coal mine in Sorange, near Quetta in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on Friday.
• British police arrest 77 at rally in support of Palestine Action: British police arrested 77 people Thursday at a rally outside the Westminster Magistrates’ Court, coinciding with hearings against those tried as terrorists for expressing support for Palestine Action, a group proscribed as a terrorist organization in the UK.
  • It marked the first such demonstration since Andy Burnham became prime minister earlier this month. Separately Thursday, the UK’s Supreme Court agreed to hear a new appeal against the group’s“terrorist” designation.
• Mexico continues to buy Israeli weapons, despite Sheinbaum’s condemnations: Mexico bought more guns from Israel than from any other country last year, according to data included in Mexico’s report to the UN Arms Trade Treaty and analysis by Stop U.S. Arms to Mexico.
  • Mexico bought nearly 18,000 assault rifles, light machine guns, and pistols from Israel, 37% of its total firearm imports.
  • The purchases come despite Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s condemnation of Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “genocide” in September 2025, and her government’s recognition of Palestine’s embassy status in June 2025.

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