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CENTCOM carried out a sweeping wave of strikes against dozens of IRGC targets inside Iran — missile and drone facilities, command centers, and coastal defense sites — after Iran attempted a surprise ballistic missile attack on U.S. forces in Jordan. All incoming missiles were intercepted. Trump warned more strikes are coming and the U.S. naval blockade at the Strait of Hormuz remains in place.
Dr. Anthony Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing led by Sen. Rand Paul, refusing to answer questions about COVID origins, the lab-leak theory, and diary entries suggesting he misled the public on fatality rates. Despite a preemptive Biden pardon, RFK Jr. warned Fauci could still face perjury exposure if he lies under oath.
The Democratic National Committee is heading into the 2026 midterms with $16.3M cash against $18.5M in debt — effectively $2M in the red — while the RNC sits on $128.5M with zero debt. Reports of DNC chair Ken Martin hurling phones, staff paranoia, and vendors being asked to delay invoices are fueling calls for his resignation.
Trump is publicly pushing Senate Majority Leader John Thune to cancel the August recess and eliminate the filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship for voter registration. Thune is pushing back, saying Republicans don't have 60 votes and canceling recess only makes sense if the Senate can actually get something done.
The 2026 Ebola epidemic in eastern Congo's Ituri Province has killed over 1,500 people with 3,442 total cases — a 50 percent spike in roughly one week — caused by the Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment. The WHO says the outbreak is outpacing response efforts, and the $2.1 billion humanitarian appeal is only 45 percent funded.
Beyond the July 30 strikes, a broader two-week campaign is underway targeting Iran's entire missile and drone production capability. CENTCOM also struck Iranian-backed militias in Iraq after they launched more than 30 drones at U.S. troops and Saudi oil facilities over three days, triggering a sovereignty dispute with Baghdad.
Newly installed UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham is facing immediate pressure from Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who called Burnham delusional about the surging English Channel migrant crisis, which has accelerated under the new government. The UK is also rushing to build six new munitions and energetics factories as lessons from Ukraine reshape European defense strategy.
President Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced a sweeping 10-year, $22.5 billion renovation of Washington Dulles International Airport, eliminating the infamous mobile lounges that have frustrated travelers for decades. The plan adds four new concourses with an expanded AeroTrain and brings parking closer to the terminal, with construction beginning spring 2027 and funded through municipal bonds.
ETH Zurich researchers published the first high-resolution 3D simulations of Venusian rift valleys, finding that some of the planet's giant rift structures may still be actively expanding — driven by ongoing interior movement, not ancient geology. Crustal blocks on Venus appear to be shifting and sliding past each other in geologically recent time, upending decades of consensus that Venus is a dead world.
A Kansas City man fell into the waste tank of a portable toilet while reportedly retrieving a bottle of Mountain Dew and was sealed inside for eight hours before a sanitation driver discovered him while collecting units from a World Cup watch party. The company rep described the rescue: when they opened the lid and a head popped up out of the tank, it looked exactly like Oscar the Grouch emerging from his trash can.
