The Trump administration gave Iran a hard Saturday deadline to publicly renounce its attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, with one senior official warning non-compliance "is not gonna be a great day for them." VP JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are meeting with Omani mediators in Muscat today while Iran's foreign minister is also in the Omani capital for parallel talks. Iranian officials have privately told the US the Strait attacks were mistakes by IRGC hardliners — but the White House is demanding that acknowledgment go on record, publicly, before any path forward can open.
The Department of Government Efficiency officially shut its doors on America's 250th birthday, reporting approximately $215 billion in savings against Elon Musk's original $2 trillion goal — roughly a dime on the dollar. More than 13,000 contracts and nearly 16,000 grants were terminated during its 18-month run, and DOGE's own final statement vowed the mission against waste, fraud, and abuse would continue. The debate is already underway over whether DOGE delivered a revolution or an expensive round of rounding errors, with critics bluntly declaring "the swamp won."
The National Right to Life Committee posted a tribute Saturday morning mourning the "passing" of Senator Mitch McConnell — then deleted it after no confirmed reports of his death existed. McConnell, 84, has been hospitalized since June 14 following what a 911 caller described as a cardiac arrest, and his office has disclosed nothing about his condition or prognosis. Commentator Scott Jennings predicted a formal health update from McConnell's camp is coming by Monday.
A key Republican working group has formally started laying the groundwork for a second major reconciliation package, following last year's passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The same intraparty tensions that made the first bill a months-long ordeal are already re-emerging, with House and Senate factions staking out competing positions on taxes, spending cuts, and which provisions to prioritize. Senator McConnell's ongoing absence leaves the party one reliable vote short at a critical moment.
Riot police in full tactical gear clashed with crowds on Edgware Road in northwest London Thursday night after France eliminated Morocco 2-0 in the World Cup quarterfinals. Fireworks were launched at officers, cars were surrounded, and traffic seized as fans flooded the streets with Moroccan flags. Dutch politician Geert Wilders renewed a call heard across Europe: deport the rioters and their families, reigniting a continent-wide debate over soccer, identity, and public order.
For the second straight year, Jannik Sinner knocked Novak Djokovic out of Wimbledon — this time with a clinical 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 straight-set demolition in the men's semifinal Friday. Djokovic did not break Sinner's serve once in the entire match. The 24-year-old Italian now faces Alexander Zverev, the defending French Open champion, in Sunday's final at 11 a.m. ET — a rematch of styles pitting Sinner's relentlessness against Zverev's power game.
Mojtaba Khamenei, installed as Iran's Supreme Leader following his father's death in US airstrikes, has gone before the nation to publicly pledge vengeance against the United States — even as Iranian diplomats simultaneously sit across the table from Omani mediators in Muscat. A retired US Navy captain assessed the regime this week as "teetering," saying the greater threat to the Islamic Republic may not be American bombs but the mounting internal protests pushing from within. The White House is watching both fronts with equal attention.
The Pentagon released 40 newly declassified files Friday — 19 videos, 14 documents, 4 audio recordings, and 3 images — drawn from NASA, the CIA, the FBI, and the Energy Department. The highlights: infrared footage of a star-shaped object above the Yellow Sea, and a remarkable 1949 transcript from a Los Alamos conference where physicists who had worked on the Manhattan Project gathered to discuss mysterious green fireballs repeatedly appearing near the nuclear facility. The Energy Department also included a 2015 UFO sighting reported by two officers above the Pantex nuclear weapons plant in Amarillo, Texas.
Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb has been named to chair a new scientific advisory council on unidentified anomalous phenomena, reporting directly to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Loeb — founder of Harvard's Galileo Project, which searches for physical evidence of extraterrestrial technology — says government officials recruited him because they're "baffled by what they are seeing." His team of more than a dozen scientists is now working through all four batches of recently declassified UAP files and will report findings to the administration's UAP Governing Board.
A Ryanair Boeing 737-800 made an emergency landing in Thessaloniki, Greece on Friday morning after a window shattered mid-flight, partially pulling a 61-year-old Serbian man through the opening. His wife and nearby passengers physically grabbed his legs and held on for several minutes while the crew executed a rapid descent to equalize pressure and pull him back in. Everyone survived. Ryanair confirmed one passenger required medical attention but has offered no explanation for why the window failed.
