July 22, 2026

U.S., ISRAEL, IRAN WAR | Day 145.

• The U.S. and Iran continued exchanges of airstrikes early today, with the U.S. targeting sites in numerous Iranian provinces and Iran firing multiple missiles at U.S. ally Jordan. [more]
• In testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth estimated that the U.S. war with Iran has cost $37.5 billion and defended Trump administration requests for approximately $85 billion in supplemental funding for the continued war effort and other national security needs. [more]
• U.S. President Donald Trump said yesterday that the U.S. will soon strike Iran's Pickaxe Mountain – an underground site near one of the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1,607 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here is your update:

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the appointment yesterday of Maj. Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi to be Ukraine's new military commander-in-chief. Drapatyi, who replaces Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, has been charged with, among other things, updating Ukraine's defense strategy, continuing reforms of the country's military, and speeding the production and delivery of drones and other weapons. [more]

U.S. EMPLOYMENT DATA | The Republican-majority U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission voted yesterday to rescind the nearly 60-year-old requirement for tens of thousands of U.S. companies to submit annual workforce demographic reports for use in uncovering discrimination patterns and tracking how women and racial minorities have fared in the workplace since the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Commission Chair Andrea Lucas said in a hearing ahead of the vote that the requirement places undue financial burdens on companies and risks encouraging companies to justify discriminatory practices to diversify their workforce. [EEOC press release] [more]

U.S. MEDICAID | Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said yesterday that the Trump administration is deferring more than $1 billion in Medicaid payments to Minnesota and California due to "suspected fraud" and regulatory noncompliance. Kennedy and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz did not provide detailed examples of fraud in either state in announcing the Medicaid payment deferrals. [more]

U.S. DRUG MANUFACTURING | President Donald Trump announced a new policy yesterday under which generic drugs imported into the U.S. will face zero tariffs for two years starting August 1, before a 100% tariff takes effect in August 2028 and rises to 200% a year later. Trump said the new policy is meant to push drugmakers to move their production to the United States. [more]

NEW JERSEY | Governor Mikie Sherrill said yesterday that a Motor Vehicle Commission system software error allowed about 6,600 people who indicated they were not U.S. citizens to register to vote in New Jersey in 2023 and 2024 and that about 400 of those people went on to cast ballots in elections. Sherril noted that the erroneously added voter registrations will be removed and that an investigation into how the errors happened is being launched. [more]

WEST VIRGINIA | Governor Patrick Morrisey declared a state of emergency yesterday for all 55 counties in West Virginia amidst severe storms that caused flash flooding, landslides, road closures, and other dangerous conditions across the state. Reports say about 300 West Virginia National Guard members are expected to assist in emergency response efforts in the hardest-hit areas today. [more]

U.S. AND SAUDI ARABIA | Media reports say U.S. President Donald Trump has approved a new agreement with Saudi Arabia under which the Middle East country could develop its own uranium enrichment capability for use in civilian nuclear power production. [more]

U.S. AND LEBANON | After meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun yesterday at the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump said his administration will allow U.S. airlines to resume direct flights to Lebanon for the first time in more than 40 years. [more]

U.S. AND CUBA | Amidst the ongoing U.S. energy blockade of Cuba and increasingly critical rhetoric aimed at the Caribbean island nation's government, the U.S. State Department announced the departure yesterday of a flight from Miami, Florida, carrying food, hygiene kits, and other humanitarian aid meant for direct distribution, with the assistance of Catholic groups, to the Cuban people. [State Department press release] [more]

U.S. AND VENEZUELA | In a new pre-trial court hearing today, attorneys for former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, who was seized by U.S. forces in January and transported to New York to face drug trafficking charges, are expected to continue challenges to his arrest and detention. [more]

CHILE | Government officials say at least 10 people have died, and more than 4,000 others have been displaced, following weeklong heavy rains in Chile's normally arid northern regions of Atacama and Coquimbo, where states of emergency have been declared. Reports cite the country's national disaster response service, Senapred, as saying efforts are underway to reach more than 100,000 people stranded by swollen rivers and flooded roads in the affected regions. [more]

INDIA | Emergency response officials say toxic gases have prevented rescuers from reaching 13 workers trapped in a hydropower tunnel that collapsed after a gas explosion earlier this week in India's northeastern Sikkim state. [more]

FRANCE | The French parliament voted yesterday to approve measures banning children under the age of 15 from using social media and barring the use of mobile phones in high schools. Supporters of the measures, which were championed by President Emmanuel Macron, say they are working to have the bans take effect prior to the start of the new school year in September. [more]

MORE FRANCE | Monique Barbut is expected to resign today as France's environment minister over provisions in a controversial emergency agriculture bill that allow the temporary use of restricted pesticides that researchers say are harmful to bees and other pollinators. [more]

AI INDUSTRY | In what the company called an "unprecedented cyber incident," artificial intelligence giant OpenAI said yesterday that one of its AI systems under evaluation acted on its own to hack into AI startup Hugging Face's data systems. The two companies are reported to be working together to evaluate the incident. [more]

MORE AI INDUSTRY | A federal judge approved a settlement this week under which AI giant Anthropic will pay about $1.5 billion to settle claims that the company used pirated copies of more than 450,000 books to train its artificial intelligence models. Reports say thousands of authors will receive about $3,000 per book covered by the ruling. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1933, American aviator Wiley Post completed the first solo flight around the world, having covered 15,596 miles in 7 days, 18 hours, and 49 minutes. [more history]