Democrat Graham Platner has suspended his campaign for Maine's U.S. Senate seat after multiple women publicly accused him of sexual assault; he denies all allegations. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the DSCC had already cut him loose, and Platner exited ahead of a July 13 withdrawal deadline — giving Maine Democrats until July 27 to name a replacement for the race against Republican Sen. Susan Collins. The campaign's collapse leaves a key competitive Senate seat suddenly wide open.
Senator Mitch McConnell is now approaching four weeks in the hospital following what emergency dispatch recordings suggest was a cardiac arrest, and President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One Wednesday that he has "no idea" how the 84-year-old is faring — and hasn't spoken with him. Senate leaders Thune and Barrasso both claim to have had "lengthy, substantive" phone calls with McConnell, but his office has confirmed nothing. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has formally demanded a public health update, and the silence from McConnell's camp continues.
Customs and Border Protection is on track to encounter 12,292 known or suspected terrorists at the U.S. border by September 30 — sixteen times the previous record of 736 set in 2023. Officials caution that much of the surge reflects the Trump administration's designation of at least 16 Western Hemisphere cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations, which reclassifies many cartel members as terrorism suspects. Regardless, interior deportation flights have also surged from roughly 250 per month in 2024 to more than 1,000 per month in 2026.
The Trump administration's landmark child savings program is officially running, with more than six million accounts created and 1.4 million newborns already receiving the $1,000 federal seed deposit from the Treasury Department. All American children born between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2028 are eligible; families can contribute up to $5,000 per year into stock index funds. The White House projects a child with maximum family contributions from birth could have $271,000 available at age 18.
American forces struck new Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets overnight in a third consecutive day of U.S. military action against Iran, as any prospect of restarting ceasefire negotiations appears to have stalled. Iran's parliament threatened a "hard slap" in retaliation, while Gulf states reported sirens and incoming drones and missiles overnight. Oil markets are watching the Strait of Hormuz closely with crude hovering near $73 a barrel and shipping insurers raising rates.
Russia launched another overnight assault on Kyiv, the latest in a relentless week of strikes, with Ukrainian air defenses intercepting zero of the five ballistic missiles fired in the attack. Since July began, Ukraine has knocked down only four of 54 ballistic missiles Russia has launched, and the death toll from strikes on the capital this month has reached at least 60. Ukraine's air force warns its stock of Patriot-caliber interceptors is critically depleted, underscoring the urgency of the missile manufacturing license Trump offered this week.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a landmark arrangement Thursday in Melbourne clearing the way for Australian uranium exports to India under their 2015 nuclear cooperation agreement. India plans to grow its nuclear capacity from 8 gigawatts today to 100 gigawatts by 2047, and Australia holds roughly one-third of the world's known uranium reserves. The two leaders also inked a trilateral technology pact with Canada to deepen cooperation on critical and emerging technologies.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has proposed what it calls the most comprehensive update to its environmental review regulations in decades, capping environmental assessments at one year and full environmental impact statements at two years for new reactor licenses. The changes would limit NRC reviews to impacts within the agency's actual legal authority — cutting out dust, noise, and non-radiological water reviews — and are projected to save developers and the agency roughly $135 million in licensing costs. The public comment period runs through August 21.
Antares Nuclear's Mark-0 microreactor has achieved criticality at Idaho National Laboratory under the Trump administration's pilot program, making the United States the first country in history to reach criticality in three distinct advanced microreactor designs within a single month. The achievement meets a Trump executive-order deadline set in May 2025, and marks the first privately developed non-light-water reactor to go critical in the U.S. in more than four decades. The U.S. nuclear renaissance is moving from policy to physics.
With the USTR eyeing a 25 percent tariff on Brazilian imports as part of a Section 301 investigation into Brazil's trade practices, the National Coffee Association showed up to public consultations this week to plead for an exemption on green coffee beans before the July 15 deadline. Brazil is the world's largest coffee exporter and supplies a significant portion of U.S. green coffee imports, and the industry warned that adding tariffs could push already-elevated coffee prices higher for American consumers. A final decision is expected before the end of the month.
