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MIDDLE EAST WAR | Day 168.

• The United Arab Emirates today blamed Iran for firing drones at two tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz late yesterday. The ships, operated by the UAE's state-owned oil and gas company ADNOC, are reported to have suffered minor damage. [more]
• Amidst reports of morale and supply issues aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, which has been deployed at sea for a record 260 days, reports say the Pacific-based carrier USS George Washington is being deployed to the Middle East to possibly replace the Lincoln. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1,630 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• According to the United Nations' monitoring mission in Kyiv, at least 437 civilians were killed, and 2,610 others were wounded, last month in Russian airstrikes on targets across Ukraine, making July the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since the early weeks of the Russian invasion in February 2022. [more]
• Amidst concerns over global food supplies linked to endangered Black Sea shipping, Reuters cites unnamed sources as saying Ukraine has proposed to Russia that both sides cease attacks on civilian targets in the Black Sea region. [more]

U.S. TARIFFS | In a document released yesterday by the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, the Trump administration suggests that the practice of transshipping – in which countries facing high tariffs send their goods to low-tariff nations for subsequent export to the United States – results in $19 billion to $26 billion in associated federal revenue losses and says goods from China are responsible for a large portion of those losses. [full report] [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | According to Census Bureau data released today, retail sales in the U.S. fell 0.6% in July – down from a 0.2% increase in June, but up 5% from July 2025. [full report] [more]

KENNEDY CENTER | In an apparent attempt to circumvent a court ruling that requires the removal of President Donald Trump's name from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Center's Trump-appointed board voted yesterday to change the wording on the building's facade to read "The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump" and to name the plaza in front of the Center after Trump. [more]

HAWAII | A hurricane warning has been issued for portions of Hawaii for this weekend following the formation of Tropical Storm Lala in the Pacific Ocean yesterday. The storm is expected to strengthen to hurricane status as it approaches Hawaii late tonight. [more]

U.S. EDUCATION | A federal judge yesterday dismissed the Trump administration's lawsuit that accused Harvard University of failing to adequately protect Jewish students from harassment. [more]

CALIFORNIA | The U.S. Department of Justice said yesterday that its investigations give it "reasonable cause to believe" that California ‘s prison system, and specifically Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla and the California Institution for Women in Chino, has systematically failed to protect incarcerated women from sexual abuse and harassment by guards. The Department gave the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation 49 days to remediate the conditions linked to the abuse or face possible civil litigation. [DOJ press release] [more]

U.S. ELECTIONS | A state judge yesterday dismissed a yearslong case against six Nevada Republicans accused of submitting a bogus certificate that falsely declared Donald Trump the winner of the state’s 2020 presidential election. In her ruling, Judge Mary Kay Holthus said there was a lack of evidence showing the electors acted with fraudulent intent. [more]

TEXAS | A court order that struck down regulations on firearm suppressors, also known as "silencers," and certain guns took effect in Texas yesterday after the U.S. Justice Department failed file an appeal before a seven-day deadline set by a federal judge. The order allows purchases in Texas of silencers, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and certain other firearms without registration and also removes an extra layer of background checks prior to purchase. [more]

MINNESOTA | Reports cite court documents filed yesterday as indicating federal agents, in a program dubbed "Operation Puppet Master," launched large-scale undercover surveillance operations early this year that targeted progressive organizations, labor unions, and other groups protesting the federal immigration crackdown in the Minneapolis, Minnesota, region. [more]

ISRAEL AND WEST BANK | Commenting on the besiegement of several Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank by Jewish settlers over the past week, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee yesterday referred to the settlers as "terrorists" – a characterization typically reserved by U.S. officials for militants. [more]

JAPAN | At least six people are dead, transportation has been disrupted, and thousands of homes remain without power following record-breaking rainfall and subsequent flooding yesterday and today in Japan's Chia prefecture, east of Tokyo. [more]

AFGHANISTAN | Habib Ur Rahman Mansoor, the mayor of Afghanistan’s northeastern Badakhshan province, was reportedly killed in an explosion late yesterday in the provincial capital of Faizabad. Mansoor's death is the second killing of a high-ranking Taliban official in the past two weeks, and analysts note that the deaths came just ahead of this weekend's fifth anniversary of the Taliban's return to power. [more]

COLOMBIA | Disaster management officials in Colombia say at least 379 people are still considered missing following Monday's 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck the South American country. At least 281 people were killed, and more than 3,900 others were injured, in the quake. [more]

INDIA | Authorities in India's northern Uttarakhand state say at least seven workers were killed, and three others remain missing, when a tunnel under construction at a hydropower project in the state's Chamoli district collapsed late last night. Related search and recovery efforts at the site continue today. [more]

EUROPEAN WEATHER | Much of Western and Central Europe is currently experiencing the latest in a series of heatwaves affecting the continent this summer. The U.K. recorded its hottest day of the year yesterday, with temperatures reaching 38.1 C (100.6 F) in west London, while several regions of France approached 41 C (106 F). [more]

KOREA | Ahead of Monday's start of the annual joint U.S.-South Korea Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercises, North Korea today threatened unspecified stern responses to the drills. [more]

GERMANY | Authorities in western Germany's Huertgenwald municipality say about 2,000 residents of the village of Gey have been evacuated from their homes as a wildfire near the Belgian border spreads toward the region. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1945, U.S. President Harry S. Truman announced the unconditional surrender of Imperial Japan, effectively ending World War II. [more history]