Early Edition: July 10, 2026

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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:

IRAN WAR

Qatar, Pakistan, and other regional mediators conducted multiple phone calls on Wednesday with both U.S. and Iranian officials in an attempt to de-escalate tensions and revive negotiations on a nuclear deal, according to two sources from mediating countries and a U.S official. One source said the mediators believe the recent Iranian attacks in the Strait of Hormuz were initiated by a faction inside the Iranian regime that opposes the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding and wants to undermine it. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.

Several Iranian media outlets reported explosions in southern Iran yesterday. U.S. officials said the military did not conduct any new strikes following those announced by U.S. Central Command late on Wednesday. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.

Israel shared new intelligence with the United States that it said indicated a fresh Iranian plan to kill President Trump, sources told the Wall Street Journal. One source told CNN that the warning came this week, with another adding that the latest Israeli tip-off concerned a new, specific plot. When asked for comment, the White House referred to Trump’s comments made on Wednesday. “They want to take out the U.S. leader – me,” Trump told reporters. “I’m on every list. I saw this morning, I’m on every single one of their lists.” Anat Peled, Alexander Ward, and Marianne LeVine report; Pamela Brown and Kevin Liptak.

While the Trump administration has yet to directly accept the blame or formally release findings of a Pentagon investigation into the bombing of an Iranian primary school on Feb. 28, AP News has reconstructed the story of the attack using open-source information, video footage, human rights reports, and interviews. Many details remain unknown, such as the number of munitions that hit the school and a complete list of those killed. Julia Frankel reports.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR 

Ukraine’s military has intensified its attacks near Russian-annexed Crimea in recent days. Ukraine’s drone force commander, Robert Brovdi, said at least 25 ships have been hit and set on fire in the past four days in the Sea of Azov. Ilya Abishev, Paul Brown, and Paul Kirby report for BBC News.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is rejecting calls to negotiate peace with Kyiv, three sources close to the Kremlin told Reuters, with Ukraine’s recent drone strikes on Russia’s oil refineries and ports strengthening his resolve to keep fighting. Two of the sources added that Putin was instead likely to escalate the conflict as he believes Russia will soon capture the Donbas region. One source said Putin recently rebuked a group of advisers for suggesting a compromise based on a ceasefire along the current front lines. Reuters reports.

Russian strikes killed at least 265 civilians and injured 1,816 in Ukraine in June, a top U.N. official told the Security Council yesterday. This is the highest combined casualty count since the first months of Moscow’s invasion in Feb. 2022. Reuters reports.

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

An Israeli airstrike on Tuesday killed Mohammed al-Waheidi, a Palestinian aid worker who facilitated deliveries of humanitarian aid and organized World Cup watch parties in Gaza. The Israeli military said it had struck a Hamas militant in the attack on northern Gaza, but did not identify that person or say whether they had been killed. It said in a statement that it was aware of “the claim that uninvolved civilians were harmed as a result of the strike” and “regrets any harm” to such people. More than 1,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the October cease-fire, including children, according to the Gaza health ministry. Adam Rasgon and Abu Bakr Bashir report for the New York Times.

WEST BANK VIOLENCE 

Incidents of Jewish settler terrorism and nationalist crimes against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have increased by more than 560 percent since 2019, but only 6.6% of cases resulted in an indictment, according to data from the Israeli police. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s bureau delayed the release of the data for about six months, and agreed to release it only after an NGO, The Movement for Freedom of Information in Israel, petitioned for its release in court. Josh Breiner reports for Haaretz.

SUDANESE CIVIL WAR 

In the first year since the Sudanese army recaptured the capital, Khartoum, from the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces paramilitary, more than 2 million of the 5 million people who fled their homes in the city have returned. Although the authorities promised a quick restoration to normal life, power is still mostly out, buildings remain damaged, and workers are going unpaid. Some people say they have come back only as a last resort, fleeing a crackdown on refugees in neighbouring Egypt. El Tayyeb Siddig reports for Reuters.

The Sudanese army has conditioned any broad acceptance of a U.S. proposal for ending the civil war on the full withdrawal by the RSF from cities it has occupied, according to documents seen by Reuters. The documents show that a U.S. proposal last month had called for a U.N. led mechanism to support limited withdrawals by the RSF, prioritizing North Darfur and North Kordofan, as well as an immediate 90-day humanitarian truce. Khalid Abdelaziz reports.

OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS

Russia and China have formed a model of military cooperation in which Moscow shares experience gained during the war against Ukraine, while Beijing provides electronics, semiconductors, and equipment, according to a report in Der Spiegel. The two nations are also focused on countering Starlink, which they view as a serious military threat. Der Spiegel’s investigation says the sides are discussing measures up to and including the destruction of satellites. SFG reports.

China announced today that it successfully landed a reusable rocket for the first time in a breakthrough for the country’s space programme, according to state media. It signals that China may be able to challenge U.S. dominance in reusable rockets after successful landings by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Blue Origin. Peter Hoskins reports for BBC News.

Ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is facing a death sentence in Bangladesh, told Reuters she and senior party colleagues plan to return from exile in India in December and surrender. Krishna N. Das reports.

TECH DEVELOPMENTS 

State actors in China, Russia, and Iran have recently published images, comic strips, and videos about the spread of AI data centers in the United States, amplifying an existing public debate over issues such as electricity use, environmental impacts, and AI development. “Foreign actors aren’t manufacturing American debates over the future of AI, they are exploiting them,” Jessia Brand, a former official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said. Steven Lee Myers and Dustin Volz report for the New York Times.

OpenAI and Google confirmed to the Financial Times that they have been supplying AI services to Singapore-based subsidiaries of Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent, which the U.S. government has accused of working with China’s military. OpenAI said it had last month suspended Alibaba-affiliated users’ access to its API, the software interface that lets developers remotely access AI models, over concerns about illicit use. Madhumita Murgia reports.

U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said yesterday that her government plans to file criminal complaints in the United States regarding Mexican citizens who have died in immigration custody or while being targeted in anti-immigrant operations. 14 Mexican nationals have died in ICE custody, and three more have died in arrest operations, the government said. Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Raul Cortes report for Reuters.

Nobel Prize-winning chemist Omar Yaghi has left the University of California, Berkeley, to join Tsinghua University in China, where he will lead a new institute using artificial intelligence to accelerate the discovery of advanced materials. His move reflects China’s growing investment in science and talent recruitment amid concerns over U.S. research funding and immigration policies. William J. Broad reports for the New York Times.

U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS 

ICE agents who killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a traffic stop in Houston on Tuesday had been searching for a different person, according to a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman. The targets of the ICE investigation were two people from Guatemala, one of whom the agents believed was in the white van being driven by Araujo, according to two sources. Edgar Sandoval and Hamed Aleaziz report for the New York Times.

The three men who were arrested during the operation that resulted in Araujo’s death said a federal officer fired at them almost immediately after exiting his vehicle and that at no point did Araujo veer in his direction. The men dispute DHS’s position that Aurajo had “weaponized” his van “in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer.” Arelis R. Hernandez reports for the Washington Post

One year after ICE introduced its mass detention policy, federal courts have overwhelmingly ruled against it, with more than 15,000 decisions finding the policy unlawful or unconstitutional and only a small minority upholding it, according to POLITICO. Kyle Cheney reports.

U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS 

A South Florida airport officially changed its name yesterday to President Donald J. Trump International Airport. AP News reports.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS 

Trump yesterday removed the two Democratic members of the Election Assistance Commission, while a Republican was allowed to resign, according to a White House official and three other sources, leaving the agency without leadership. “The President, and head of the Executive Branch, reserves the right to remove individuals who may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America’s elections and ensuring every legal vote is counted,” said the official. Aaron Pellish and Zach Montellaro report for POLITICO.

The new Air Force One, which Trump flew on earlier this week to Turkey, lacks the same defensive countermeasures that were security features of the old model, including its advanced anti-missile capabilities, according to multiple officials. Tyler Pager, Eric Lipton, Adam Goldman, Eric Schmitt, and Julian E. Barnes report for the New York Times.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION 

The Justice Department yesterday filed a lawsuit against Maryland over the state’s so-called sanctuary policies that the Trump administration alleged were interfering with the federal government’s immigration crackdown. Kanishka Singh reports for Reuters.

Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions.

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ICYMI: Yesterday on Just Security