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French President Emmanuel Macron says Ukraine is in line to get a license to produce Aster 30 missiles domestically. Aster 30 is the anti-air interceptor used in the SAMP/T surface-to-air missile system, examples of which are already in Ukrainian service. The Franco-Italian SAMP/T is often described as an analog to the U.S.-made Patriot, and both systems offer Ukraine vital anti-ballistic missile capability.

2018 – SAMP/T live firing by FASF in Le Levant

Ukraine is still in desperate need of additional capacity to shoot down incoming Russian ballistic missiles, especially amid shortages of missiles for its Patriots. Just last week, U.S. President Donald Trump also said he would approve a license for Ukraine to domestically produce Patriot interceptors. Significant questions remain about the exact timeline for when Ukraine might begin domestic production of munitions for either system, along with a host of other factors that will need to be addressed, as TWZ just explored in detail after Trump’s announcement regarding Patriot.

The French President spoke alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at a press conference at the Coalition of the Willing summit today in Paris. A total of 25 world leaders were in attendance. At this event, the governments of Ukraine, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom also announced the creation of an Integrated Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition. The coalition will pool resources to develop new anti-ballistic missile defense capabilities.

“Earlier this afternoon [Ukrainian] President Zelenskiy and I agreed ​on a roadmap between our two countries, implementing what ​had been agreed in principle last November regarding ⁠our bilateral defense cooperation,” Macron said at a press conference today, per a translation of his remarks from Reuters.

This is set to include the license production of Aster 30, as well as AASM Hammer-series precision-guided bombs and SCALP cruise missiles. France has already supplied tranches of all three of these munitions to Ukraine. It’s also worth noting that Ukrainian forces have also received Storm Shadow cruise missiles from the United Kingdom, which are nearly identical to SCALP.

Macron also highlighted planned deliveries of SAMP/T and SAMP/T NG surface-to-air missile systems to Ukrainian forces, which are set to start at least later this year. The SAMP/T NG is an upgraded version of the baseline SAMP/T type, and is designed to offer an expanded engagement envelope, both in terms of altitude and maximum range, primarily through the inclusion of new radars. The French and Italian versions of SAMP/T NG differ in the exact radar used (the French Thales GF 300 or the Kronos Grand Mobile HP from Italy’s Leonardo). Improved Aster 30 variants are also in development. Ukraine currently has two baseline SAMP/T systems, one from France and the other from Italy.

Eurosam SAMP/T systems with ASTER missiles

In addition, the French President talked about progress in Ukraine’s planned acquisition of French-made Rafale fighters, with the goal now being to deliver the first 16 of those aircraft in the 2028-2029 timeframe. You can read more about those plans, which were first announced last year, here.

The move by French authorities to allow Ukraine to produce Aster 30s domestically is particularly significant. Russian ballistic missiles, including ground-launched types and the air-launched Kinzhal, have and continue to present a threat that is especially difficult for Ukraine to manage. Ballistic missiles hurtle back to Earth at very high speeds in the terminal phase of flight, making them very challenging to intercept compared to other kinds of missiles, in general.

In recent years, Russia has also begun using ballistic missiles with enhanced maneuvering capabilities to make them even more difficult to knock down, even by more advanced air defense systems like Patriot. French Air Force Gen. Fabien Mandon, the chief of the French defense staff, claimed last year that SAMP/T was actually proving to be more effective than Patriot against Russian ballistic threats.

“We helped Ukraine by deploying missile and drone interception systems called the SAMP/T system,” Mandon said. “The Russians adapted the flight profiles of their most advanced missiles because they realized they were being intercepted by Ukrainian defenses. Today, the Patriot system is struggling to intercept them, but the SAMP/T is intercepting them.”

That being said, Ukraine still has more Patriot systems than SAMP/Ts, but both are in extremely high demand and short supply. The same goes for interceptors.

“Our warriors performed well today in intercepting drones and cruise missiles, but unfortunately not Russian ballistic missiles. And the reason is precisely the insufficient supplies of interceptor missiles,” Ukrainian President Zelensky wrote in a Ukrainian language post on X on July 6 after an especially heavy barrage on the capital Kyiv, according to a machine translation. “It is extremely important for the world, first and foremost America and our European partners, to emerge from the NATO summit in Ankara with strong decisions to support our air defense, and thus the protection of ordinary people’s lives. As long as missiles for ‘Patriots’ remain in the warehouses of allies, it only encourages Russia to continue ‘defeating’ residential buildings. The United States and Europe have enough power to stop this terror.”

Patriot and SAMP/T may offer important capabilities against other aerial threats, including Russia’s Zircon missile. Zircon is widely described as an air-breathing hypersonic cruise missile. However, the question has been raised recently about whether it might actually be a more traditional quasi-ballistic weapon.

At the same time, demand for higher-end surface-to-missile systems and anti-ballistic missile capability, and suitable interceptors, is growing across Europe and elsewhere globally. This is underscored by the announcement today of the new Integrated Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition. This, in turn, reflects a similar surge in the development and fielding of ballistic missiles around the world, including by smaller countries and even some non-state actors. The conflict with Iran this year, as well as fighting with Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen in recent years and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, have only further driven home the growing capabilities and proliferation of ballistic threats.

This reality applies even to the U.S. military, where the Marine Corps is now looking to acquire an organic ballistic missile defense capability to reduce reliance on the Army to provide this support. For years now, TWZ has been calling attention to how the Army’s Patriot force is heavily strained due to constant demands and is simply not adequately resourced to meet the current operational needs. That service is working to address those shortfalls, but it will take years for those efforts to come fully to fruition.

The PATRIOT Missile in Action

So, for Ukraine, having its own domestic pipeline for an interceptor like Aster 30 would offer an immensely valuable hedge against shortages and delays elsewhere. For this particular missile, demand extends beyond SAMP/T operators, which also currently include Singapore. Warships in service with the navies of France, Italy, the United Kingdom (where it is part of the Sea Viper air defense system), and several other countries are also equipped to fire these interceptors.

HMS Daring tests Sea Viper missile | Royal Navy

High demand for Patriot interceptors and full Patriot systems in Ukraine has already had negative downstream impacts on orders for other customers. Concerns have been raised about the sufficiency of U.S. military stockpiles as a result, something that has been further compounded by heavy U.S. and allied expenditures in recent fighting in the Middle East.

At the same time, there are still questions about how and when domestic production of Aster 30 or Patriot interceptors in Ukraine might begin, or when the first missiles might start being delivered. Higher-end anti-air missiles typically have production lead times measured in months, if not years. It will take some time for Ukraine just to finalize deals with the relevant defense contractors and establish a domestic production line. Where initial funding might come from is not entirely clear, either, though new financial aid from France and other countries could be a definite possibility. Ukraine might potentially be able to export some of the interceptors it produces, offering a badly needed economic boost for the country.

There is also an operational security question. Russia or other adversaries could gain valuable insights into the capabilities of SAMP/T or Patriot if they were to get their hands on full-up interceptors or even just critical subcomponents. There is already a certain danger taken in delivering more advanced missiles to a country at war. Even wreckage can be an intelligence gold mine for the enemy, depending on what is recoverable. Establishing a full domestic production line will require stockpiling of brand-new subsystems, as well as the sharing of at least some degree of intellectual property and manufacturing know-how. All of which increases the total number of potential risk vectors in a country that is, again, at war with its neighbor, which also happens to be a near-peer threat for the United States and others in the West.

Macron’s announcement about licensing Aster 30 production today does not address Ukraine’s critical immediate needs for more high-end interceptors to respond to incoming Russian ballistic missiles. At the same time, it does open up an important new path to keeping a steady supply of missiles for the Ukrainian military’s growing number of SAMP/T systems down the road. These are also capabilities Ukraine will need in the long-term, well beyond the current conflict, to help deter future aggression.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Hungarian parliament passes amendment that would remove President Sulyok, appointed under ex-Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Hungary’s parliament has approved a constitutional amendment to remove President Tamas Sulyok from his largely ceremonial position, the latest move to dismantle the power of figures associated with former Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The measure, passed on Monday with 139 votes in favour and only six opposing, would immediately bring an end to Sulyok’s term in office and pave the way for parliament to elect a new president.

Hungarians voted out the right-wing nationalist Orban in April, with new Prime Minister Peter Magyar’s Tisza Party winning in a landslide. The election result ended 16 years of power for Orban’s Fidesz party, which had come to dominate many aspects of the country.

Since Magyar’s victory, he has sought to erode that power, including by removing the current president. The constitutional amendment also introduces a series of judicial reforms, creates a body to investigate alleged financial abuses under the previous government, and imposes a 12-year term limit on lawmakers.

Sulyok now has five days to sign the constitutional amendment passed by parliament. Magyar has said that parliament will launch an impeachment procedure against Sulyok if he does not sign it.

The president and other members of Fidesz boycotted Monday’s parliamentary session.

Sweeping away the old order

The parliament elected Sulyok, a former chief of the Constitutional Court of Hungary, in February 2024. He was nominated to replace Katalin Novak, who resigned after pardoning a man convicted of covering up child sexual abuse.

But days after Magyar’s centre-right Tisza Party won a two-thirds parliamentary super-majority in April, the new prime minister declared Sulyok “unworthy to embody the unity of the Hungarian nation” and demanded that he leave office once the new government was formed.

In June, after the deadline to resign had passed, Magyar branded the president a “puppet” of Orban and promised to strip him and other holdovers from office by constitutional means. Weeks later, he unveiled a reform programme, dubbed “Operation Cleansing Fire”, which seeks to install a new constitution, purge state institutions and establish an anticorruption office.

While the presidency is a largely symbolic post, it is empowered to approve laws and can refer them to the Constitutional Court for review, raising fears that Sulyok might use his presidential powers to stymie Tisza’s ambitious reform agenda.

Caracas, July 13, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The Venezuelan government has approved a new set of oil industry regulations that prioritize the “economic and financial viability” of private sector investment.

Acting President Delcy Rodríguez signed the statute on Wednesday, July 8, and it was published in the National Gazette. Rodríguez hailed the directive a “historic step” that will “transform our energy reserves into development.”

“These norms establish clear rules, greater legal certainty, and a favorable environment for the cooperation between the [Venezuelan] state and national and foreign capital,” the acting president said.

Western oil executives and Trump officials have aggressively lobbied to tailor the new rules to their interests after seeing preliminary drafts. White House energy advisor Jarrod Agen stated that he had contact with Rodríguez and her team “multiple times a day” to offer input on the regulations and contract models.

The 122-article text establishes the framework for the implementation of the reformed Hydrocarbon Law approved by the Venezuelan National Assembly in late January. The legislative overhaul replaced the 2001 Hydrocarbon Law approved by former President Hugo Chávez and subsequent decrees that established a leading role for the Venezuelan state in the energy sector.

Under the new law, private sector companies can take over oilfield operations and sales as minority joint venture partners, or via concession-type agreements.

The legislation also slashed royalties and fiscal contributions. The former was capped at 30 percent, and a former extraction tax was replaced by an “integrated hydrocarbon tax” with a 15 percent maximum.

However, the new statute defines a “combined contribution” of royalties and the integrated tax ranging from 20 percent for undeveloped greenfields to 35 percent for currently active brownfields, meaning an effective 10 percent further reduction from the 45 percent maximum defined under the law.

Companies are eligible for additional 5 percent discounts in their combined contribution if they run offshore operations or if their business plans include “building or amplifying crude transformation, upgrading, or refining plants.”

Income tax was lowered from 50 to 34 percent for greenfields under the 2026 legislation. But the regulations establish that companies can request further reductions to their royalty, integrated tax, and income tax contributions if necessary to attain “economic equilibrium.” The decisions will be taken by the Venezuelan executive on a case-by-case basis without any mandatory oversight from the National Assembly.

The reformed energy law allowed legal disputes to be settled by international arbitration bodies, with Venezuelan officials promising  “legal certainty” to investors. The new norms permit arbitration re via “alternative mechanisms,” with analysts suggesting that the vague language aims to avoid any clashes with US sanctions.

The directive also set an obligation to capture “associated gas” in oil extraction operations, which can be used for reinjection or transformed into cooking gas. Historically, it has been mostly flared. Oilfield operators are likewise mandated to secure their electricity supply. The Venezuelan National Assembly is presently working on reforms to open electricity generation, transmission, distribution, and commercialization to the private sector.

The enacted framework goes on to establish environmental responsibilities, oversight mechanisms, and penalties for non-compliance. State oil company PDVSA is not mentioned at all in the text.

Venezuelan oil expert Blas Regnault told Venezuelanalysis that the new norms risk turning the oil sector into an “enclave.”

“The regulations organize oil activity but do not guarantee that it will be integrated into the national economy,” he explained. Regnault warned that empowering corporations to negotiate royalties on an individual case-by-case basis “turns a sovereign right into a flexible variable in a contractual regime” in what is an “unusual” practice for oil-producing nations.

“Royalties are not taxes. They represent the sovereign right of the owner of the resource, and thus should be universally established, not negotiated project by project,” he underscored.

The pro-business opening of Venezuela’s most important industry has seen major Western corporations, including Chevron, Shell, and BP, ink agreements or memoranda of understanding with the acting Rodríguez administration to develop new projects or establish more favorable conditions in existing ones.

For its part, the Trump administration has kept in place sanctions against the Venezuelan oil industry, though it has issued a number of licenses allowing US and Western enterprises to enter into agreements with Caracas. However, the waivers mandate that all royalty, tax, and dividend payments be deposited in a US Treasury-run account, while also blocking transactions with firms from China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.

The maintenance of US sanctions has slowed new investment, while the Trump administration has so far returned only a fraction of Venezuelan export revenues to Caracas. 

The dire economic situation is indexed in persistent inflation and stagnating oil production. Venezuela’s crude output plateaued after four consecutive months of growth, with June’s 1.070 million barrel-per-day (bpd) output virtually unchanged from May, according to OPEC secondary sources. The figure remains the highest since early 2019.

For its part, PDVSA reported 1.187 million bpd in June, up from 1,179 million bpd in May. Direct and secondary measurements have historically differed over disagreements on the inclusion of condensates and natural gas liquids.

The South American country’s main crude extraction areas, in the eastern and western regions, were largely unaffected by June 24’s double earthquake, with no major disruptions to operations reported.

Edited by Lucas Koerner in Caracas.t issued a number of licenses allowing US and Western enterprises to enter into agreements with Caracas. However, the waivers mandate that all royalty, tax, and dividend payments be deposited in a US Treasury-run account, while also blocking transactions with firms from China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.

Venezuela’s oil production has stagnated after four consecutive months of growth, with June’s 1.070 million barrel-per-day (bpd) output virtually unchanged from May, according to OPEC secondary sources. The figure remains the highest since early 2019.

For its part, PDVSA reported 1.187 million bpd in June, up from 1,179 million bpd in May. Direct and secondary measurements have historically differed over disagreements on the inclusion of condensates and natural gas liquids.

The South American country’s main crude extraction areas, in the eastern and western regions, were largely unaffected by June 24’s double earthquake, with no major disruptions to operations reported.

Edited by Lucas Koerner in Caracas.

The jailing of one of Indonesia’s most influential entrepreneurs in a controversial corruption case has raised fears of damage to investor confidence in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

Nadiem Makarim, the cofounder of the popular super-app Gojek, was last month sentenced to 10 years in prison for allegedly abusing his authority while serving as the country’s education minister.

Makarim was found guilty of giving favourable treatment to Google, an early investor in Gojek, when procuring Chromebook laptops for schoolchildren during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prosecutors argued that Makarim, who served as former Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s education minister from 2019 to 2024, inflicted state losses of $120m, alleging that he should have been aware the laptops would not work in remote areas with poor internet access.

Critics of the prosecution have argued that the case against Makarim lacks evidence and that the startup founder-turned-politician is the latest victim of a campaign of political retribution being waged by the administration of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.

Nicky Fahrizal, a researcher of politics and social change at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Jakarta, said foreign investors will inevitably think twice before committing capital to Indonesia following the verdict.

“The Nadiem case, along with a string of similar incidents, has served as a warning signal to investors,” Fahrizal told Al Jazeera.

“For them, non-economic factors, such as legal certainty and the quality of the judicial system, are absolute prerequisites.”

Makarim was found guilty by a panel of five judges on June 30, following charges related to the procurement of more than 1 million laptops intended for use in schools in remote and impoverished areas.

At the trial held at the Indonesian Court for Corruption Crimes in Jakarta, prosecutors alleged that Makarim deliberately tailored the tender specifications to favour Google, which invested in Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa (AKAB), Gojek’s then-parent company.

Scrutiny of the tender process first arose among the public after it emerged that the Chromebooks often did not work in remote areas, raising questions about how Google was chosen in the first place.

“Choosing a device that relies on an internet connection amid uneven infrastructure… demonstrates a mismatch with needs…” Judge Sunoto said during the sentencing.

Following the verdict, prosecutor Corneles Geeb Paulus hailed the outcome as a victory for “the schoolchildren whose rights were taken away and who were deprived of equitable access to digital education across Indonesia”.

Google has denied providing or offering authorities any inducements to win the tender.

The California-based tech giant, which has a market value of more than $4 trillion, was not indicted in the case.

“From a legal standpoint, authorities seem to have hit a wall in their efforts to secure sufficient evidence and establish the necessary criminal nexus to prosecute the corporation,” the CSIS’s Fahrizal said.

“From a political perspective, Google is a tech giant with immense business influence.”

Taking action against Google could have jeopardised the government’s ongoing digitalisation efforts, Fahrizal added, describing the company as “too big to fail” within the digital sector.

Trissia Wijaya, an Indonesian-born research fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute, said Nadiem’s prosecution, coupled with the uncertainty of the business environment under Prabowo, would inevitably erode market confidence.

“Regardless of whether Nadiem is actually guilty or not, he is a symbol of startups and market optimism in Indonesia, especially in the mid-2010s,” Wijaya told Al Jazeera.

“When Gojek started booming and gaining traction, Indonesia was one of the main target countries for global investors, both from the US and China, to invest in the fintech industry,” Wijaya added, describing Indonesia’s business environment as being at a “critical juncture.”

Since taking office in 2024, Prabowo has faced criticism over his handling of the economy, including high levels of spending on public initiatives, such as his signature free lunch programme, which is expected to cost about $15bn this year.

In June, the Indonesian rupiah hit an all-time low against the US dollar, a nadir economic analysts partly attributed to investors’ scepticism about Prabowo’s populist economic policies.

For his part, Prabowo has denied that he is anti-business, while emphasising that Indonesia must uphold the rule of law.

“Some have claimed that I dislike foreign investors and will drive them away, but that is not the case. I have met many investors who are planning to enter the market,” Prabowo told a conference for young entrepreneurs in the city of Lampung last month.

“The government must create a favorable environment for entrepreneurs, including the enforcement of the law. If the law is not enforced, what ensues is the law of the jungle… law based on power, and in the end, that is not good for any of us.”

‘Credibility’ of government policies

Siwage Dharma Negara, a co-coordinator of the Indonesia studies programme at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, said Indonesia’s reputation as an investment destination had already been in decline before the Makarim verdict.

“Investors are unsure about the credibility of government policies, and they are unsure about the credibility of institutions, whether executive, legislative, or judicial in Indonesia,” Negara told Al Jazeera.

“Nadiem’s case is only one factor that has damaged foreign investor confidence. But there are many other factors that contribute, including government policies that are increasingly less pro-market.”

Teguh Yudo Wicaksono, an economics lecturer at Universitas Islam Indonesia in Yogyakarta, said that although he does not expect the case to have much of an impact on foreign investment, it could deter Indonesian talent based overseas from returning home.

“This could result in a brain drain and Indonesia losing talent,” Wicaksono told Al Jazeera.

Makarim attended Harvard Business School and Brown University in the United States before returning to Indonesia in 2006 and cofounding Gojek four years later.

In 2019, Gojek, which began as a ride-hailing business before evolving into a super-app that also offers food delivery and digital payment services, became the first Indonesian tech company to achieve a valuation of more than $10bn.

Not all observers see the Makarim case as a negative for investor sentiment.

I Gusti Ngurah Bayu Pradana, an expert in business law at the Bali-based Malekat Hukum International Law Firm, said the enforcement of corruption law should be seen as a “positive signal for legal certainty and governance quality in a country, rather than a negative one”.

“Experienced foreign investors generally understand that the greatest risk in investing is not the existence of law enforcement, but rather, legal uncertainty, or a situation in which the rules of the game are unclear, legal processes lack transparency, or enforcement is selective and unpredictable,” Pradana told Al Jazeera.

While Makarim was found guilty of abusing authority and causing state losses, he was acquitted of an additional charge of directly seeking to enrich himself, and he was handed a lower sentence than the 18 years sought by the prosecution.

While reading the verdict, Judge Andi Saputra also presented a dissenting opinion, saying that he found “no evidence of malicious intent or malicious acts” and scant “causal connection or indication between the conflict of interest and the corporate crime”.

The Malekat Hukum law firm’s Pradana pointed to the judge’s dissenting view as evidence of the Indonesian judiciary’s independence and rigorous fact-finding.

“For foreign investors considering Indonesia as an investment destination, the takeaway from this case should not be alarm, but rather confidence that Indonesia’s legal system functions and can hold anyone accountable equally before the law,” Pradana said.

“So long as investment contracts are clearly drafted, business processes are conducted transparently, and implementation complies fully with applicable laws and regulations, investment in Indonesia remains a safe and promising choice.”

Here’s TWZ’s weekly carrier tracker monitoring America’s flattop fleet, including deployed Carrier Strike Groups (CSG) and Amphibious Ready Groups (ARG), using publicly available open-source information. Check out last week’s report here.

The U.S. blockade is back on beginning tomorrow. “We are reinstating the Iranian blockade,” President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social today after days of escalatory tit-for-tat exchanges between the U.S. and Iran while negotiations falter. Following the President’s announcement, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) released a statement with additional information, stating the blockade would begin on July 14 at 4:00pm eastern time. “CENTCOM forces will enforce the blockade against vessels transiting to or from Iranian ports and coastal areas. The U.S. military continues to support traffic flow through regional waters for all vessels not violating the blockade.” During the first blockade from April 13 to June 18, the Navy redirected more than 140 compliant commercial vessels and kinetically disabled nine that were non-compliant.

CENTCOM recently confirmed that more than 20 U.S. Navy ships are operating in the Middle East. On June 30, the majority of that force, including USS Abraham Lincoln, USS George H.W. Bush, and USS Tripoli, were pictured together in a photo exercise (PHOTOEX) and massive show of force with 16 other ships in the northern Arabian Sea. Two flights of 14 aircraft each from Carrier Air Wings (CVW) 7 and 9 conducted a flyover. Abraham Lincoln passed the 200 consecutive days at sea mark on the same day.

Thousands of miles away, the sea phase of the biennial exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2026 is underway. USS Theodore Roosevelt, amphibious assault ship USS Essex, and the other U.S. and international ships participating, steamed one by one out of Pearl Harbor last week. “The world’s largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity while fostering and sustaining cooperative relationships among participants critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans.” In the opening days, Roosevelt conducted flight operations with embarked Super Hornets and Hawkeyes, carried out general quarters drills, small boat operations, a refueling-at-sea evolution with USNS Guadalupe south of Oahu, and embarked partner navies including Philippines, South Korea, New Zealand, Poland, Germany, and more. During the large-scale exercise, which runs through the end of the month, the decommissioned Ticonderoga class cruiser ex-USS Mobile Bay and amphibious warship ex-USS Peleliu will be sunk by U.S. and partner forces.

Notably, medium displacement unmanned surface vehicle (MDUSV) Sea Hunter was spotted leaving Pearl Harbor on July 7 (albeit with a manned crew). Sea Hunter, made by Leidos, is the sister ship of Seahawk, which worked up with the Roosevelt CSG during COMPTUEX training in April. Both are actively training and it’s possible one could deploy with the CSG, which would mark the first hybrid manned-unmanned CSG, but these are older test assets that were not initially built for long deployments. Roosevelt sits at the leading edge of the Navy’s “tailored force pairing” concept, which could include integrating naval drones into CSG operations, but the MDUSV selected to deploy with the group has not been announced.

The nearly 3,000 Sailors aboard USS Nimitz arrived at Naval Station Norfolk on July 9, marking the completion of a four-month transit and homeport shift. Nimitz left Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton, Washington, in March and circumnavigated South America, participated in Southern Seas and embarked officials from multiple countries, sailed in Fleet Exercise (FLEETEX) 250, and pulled into New York Harbor for the International Naval Review 250 and July 4 celebrations. “Nimitz will be permanently homeported in Naval Station Norfolk, training Naval Aviation’s next generation of warfighters, while standing ready to answer the Nation’s call as it has for the past 51 years.” Nimitz, back in Norfolk for the first time in nearly 40 years, was slated to be taken offline this year but her service life was extended before expected decommissioning in 2027.

USS Gerald R. Ford, which returned home in May following a historic 11-month deployment, entered Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) in advance of her Planned Incremental Availability (PIA). This is Ford’s first scheduled availability at a public shipyard and comes after a twice-extended combat deployment. “A PIA is a scheduled period for an aircraft carrier to undergo extensive maintenance, repairs and modernization to meet future operational demands, spanning a wide array of overhauls and inspections. Additionally, a concurrent availability will be conducted to restore spaces damaged during a fire aboard the then-deployed carrier in March 2026.” Ford’s arrival at NNSY follows the early PIA completions for Nimitz-class aircraft carriers USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in April 2026, and USS George H.W. Bush in November 2024, according to a statement by U.S. 2nd Fleet.

USS George Washington, America’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier, is conducting flight operations in the Philippine Sea. Washington carried out a replenishment-at-sea (RAS) evolution with USNS Earl Warren while underway in the Western Pacific on July 9, and recently participated in exercise Valiant Shield, teaming up with Japan, New Zealand, and Australia to sink a decommissioned amphibious warship. The ex-USS Juneau absorbed several hits from Washington’s air wing, including F-35Cs and F/A-18s, as well as long-range anti-ship missiles (LRASM) fired by U.S. Air Force B-2 bombers, and air and sea-launched effects shot by allied forces. “George Washington is the U.S. Navy’s premier forward-deployed aircraft carrier, a long-standing symbol of the United States’ commitment to maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific, while operating alongside allies and partners across the U.S. Navy’s largest numbered fleet.”

On the amphibious front, the Boxer ARG arrived in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility (AOR) in early July. “Boxer is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations to support maritime security and stability in the Middle East,” according to U.S. 5th Fleet. USS Tripoli, which has been the sole ARG in CENTCOM since March, participated in the PHOTOEX with the two carriers and has since moved farther east in the Indian Ocean, crossing into the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) AOR. Boxer may have relieved Tripoli, which has been there for more than four months, or Tripoli could be heading for a port call, emergent repairs, or, potentially, back home. Tripoli’s latest position via AIS and satellite imagery is unknown. Three additional amphibious assault ships have been operating and training around the United States: USS Kearsarge, USS Makin Island, and USS Essex. Two-thirds of the Iwo Jima ARG (less the flagship USS Iwo Jima), amphibious transport dock ships USS Fort Lauderdale and USS San Antonio, are back in the Caribbean and were recently docked pierside in La Guaira, Venezuela, to support the earthquake relief mission.

Overall, three U.S. carriers are deployed, three are training or in port in various states of readiness, four are in maintenance, and one is being used primarily for training. Two amphibious ready groups are deployed, four are working up or in port, and three are getting wrenched on.

Note: Positions are general approximations. Non-deployed LHA/LHD amphibious warships are not shown.

Contact the author: ian.ellis-jones@teamrecurrent.io

US is carrying out more attacks on Iran, with Iranian media reporting explosions in Kish Island, Jam Island, Qeshm Island, Bushehr and Bandar Abbas.

South Carolina governor chooses Darline Graham Nordone to serve the rest of the late US senator’s term until early 2027.

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster has picked Darline Graham Nordone to succeed her late brother Lindsey Graham in the United States Senate after President Donald Trump backed her for the role.

The appointment on Monday ensures the seat is quickly filled to maintain the 53-senator Republican majority in the 100-member chamber. Nordone will serve the rest of Graham’s term, until January 3.

The interim senator, who leads the South Carolina Commission for the Blind, has no formal political experience. But she has appeared at campaign rallies and in political advertisements alongside her late brother, including when he ran for president in 2016.

On Monday, she suggested that her tenure would be a continuation of her brother’s work. The late senator was a staunch supporter of Israel and a vocal cheerleader of the US-Israel war on Iran.

“I promise to work hard over the next several months to support the president and carry forward the efforts of my brother on behalf of the citizens of South Carolina and the United States,” Nordone said.

She did not indicate whether she will run in the election for the full Senate term.

Republicans will hold primaries next month to replace Graham, who had won the party’s nomination earlier this year as he sought re-election. The Republican candidate will then face off with Democratic paediatrician Annie Andrews.

Earlier on Monday, Trump called on McMaster to appoint Nordone to fill the vacant Senate seat.

“I recommended, to Governor Henry McMaster, Lindsey Graham’s wonderful sister, Darline, to serve as interim Senator from the Great State of South Carolina,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly!”

Graham had no wife or children. While running for president in 2016, he said Nordone would be part of his support network if he won.

“If she took a role on, she would be a great representative of our country,” Graham, who died on Saturday at age 71, said at that time.

“I can’t think of a better person to represent our country in an event than my sister.”

Nordone was a pre-teen when both of her parents died, and Graham, who was in his early 20s, helped raise her.

On Monday, McMaster heaped praise on the late senator as he announced the appointment, calling him “irresistible” and “irreplaceable”.

“Lindsey took care of his little sister in years long departed. It’s my honour to ask his little sister, Darline Graham, to finish his work for him now,” the governor said.

A crowd of more than 100,000, an open-top bus parade and a royal reception welcomed back the Norwegian World Cup squad.

More than ‌‌100,000 fans flooded the streets of the Norwegian ⁠⁠capital, Oslo, to give their football team a heroes’ welcome, turning the heartbreak of their FIFA World Cup exit ⁠⁠into a huge national celebration.

A 2-1 extra-time defeat by England on Saturday brought Norway’s historic run to an end in ⁠⁠the quarterfinals, shattering the Nordics’ dreams of a semifinal berth. However, it did not stop the country from celebrating its heroes.

Massive crowds under the Norwegian summer sun filled the grounds of the Royal ‌‌Palace early on Monday afternoon, with an unofficial turnout estimated at more than 100,000 people.

The Norway squad touched down to a traditional water cannon salute before commencing their homecoming parade in the capital.

The line of supporters quickly packed the palace square before stretching far down the main street, ⁠⁠Karl Johans gate, as the squad first ⁠⁠attended an audience with King Harald.

The team then stepped out to greet the fans, with the Royal Guard standing at attention behind them.

Striker Erling Haaland was ⁠⁠noticeably absent from the final stage of the celebrations, having left early.

His departure meant ⁠⁠he missed joining his teammates on the ⁠⁠palace steps for one last “Viking row” with the tens of thousands of fans gathered below, which was led by Crown Prince Haakon on the drums.

“Erling ‌‌and Sander [Berge] had to catch their plane as our trip from the US was delayed four hours,” coach Stale Solbakken said, ‌‌as ‌‌the squad prepared to continue the celebrations in an open bus parade around Oslo.

France has conducted live-fire tests of laser-guided rockets from its Rafale fighter, adding a low-cost anti-drone capability to the jet. Following the United States and the United Kingdom, this reflects a broader trend in modern air warfare, as air forces increasingly recognize that they need layered, cost-effective intercept options rather than relying exclusively on expensive missiles.

Today, the Directorate General of Armaments (DGA), the French government defense procurement and technology agency, announced the successful integration of the 68mm laser-guided rockets on the Rafale. The tests began in February. The DGA added that the integration work was conducted together with the French Air and Space Force’s Centre d’expertise aérienne militaire (CEAM, the French aerospace research and test center), supported by Dassault Aviation and Thales. The program is known as Lutte antidrone sur avion de combat (LADAC, or anti-drone capability for combat aircraft).

While LADAC is initially intended for French Rafales, flown by the air force and navy, it could also be provided to export Rafale customers, and potentially other combat jets.

Last October, the Chief of Staff of the French Air and Space Force, Gen. Jérôme Bellanger, told a parliamentary hearing that there was a need to provide laser-guided rockets for the Rafale and/or the Mirage 2000D RMV, to counter long-range one-way attack drones, such as the Iranian Shahed-136 and the Russian Geran series.

“Regarding airborne anti-drone operations, it is not sustainable to use MICA air-to-air missiles costing over a million euros to shoot down a drone worth a few thousand dollars,” Bellanger said. “We must develop our own low-cost firing capabilities or adapt our gun fire-control systems,” he added.

The Chief of Staff of the Air Force suggested that off-the-shelf solutions would most likely be used.

In the event, a primarily French solution has been adopted.

This involves 68mm rockets with laser guidance, loaded in 12-round Thales Telson JF12 rocket pods. These are used in conjunction with the Rafale’s RBE2 radar, which has undergone modifications for the role, as well as the Talios pod, used for target tracking and laser designation.

TELSON : INDUCTION ROCKET SYSTEM

The rocket itself is understood to be the Aculeus-LG, which has a stated range of 3.7 miles.

Development of the LADAC capability was begun last December 31 as a matter of urgency.

By the end of February, French Rafales were protecting the airspace of the United Arab Emirates against Iranian drone attacks during Operation Epic Fury. In the process, they fired several dozen MICA IR/EM missiles in only a few weeks.

In April, the French parliament was informed that a study was underway to equip the Rafale with rocket pods. The same month, unofficial imagery appeared showing a dedicated test Rafale carrying a pair of JF12 pods while flying from Istres-Le Tubé Air Base, home of the DGA.

As of April, it was suggested that the capability could be ready to be fielded this summer. This target will be achieved, with the LADAC capability rolled out to French Air and Space Force Rafales by the end of the month.

At this point, it’s unclear if the Rafales will also have their onboard 30mm cannons specifically modified for anti-drone work, as Bellanger had previously suggested. This would involve adaptation of the gun fire-control system to mitigate the risk posed by debris from the destroyed drones. As we have discussed many times in the past, firing a fighter’s gun against a small, low, and slow-moving target is inherently dangerous, due to a combination of speed and engagement dynamics, the risk of collision, shrapnel and other debris, plus the increased chances of collateral damage on the ground.

Le canon du #Rafale : le #30M791

The U.S. military took the lead in integrating laser-guided rockets on combat aircraft for anti-drone purposes.

The laser-guided 70mm Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) rocket with air-to-air capability has now been cleared for use by U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle, F-16C, and A-10 combat jets, and other types, like the U.S. Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, are expected to receive it too.

In 2019, TWZ was first to report that the U.S. Air Force had begun to look at using APKWS as an air-to-air weapon against drones and cruise missiles, when it conducted a test of the weapon in that role from an F-16C. The first reports of the capability being used in combat came in 2024, when U.S. Air Force F-16s began using the rockets to shoot down drones launched by Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Iran, as TWZ was again first to report.

F-16C Viper Shoots Down Target Drone With Laser-Guided Rocket

Since then, U.S. Air Force F-15Es and F-16s have repeatedly called upon the rockets to deal with Iranian drone and missile attacks in the Middle East. In particular, the rocket-armed fighters were very actively involved in defending Israel from Iranian drones and missiles. The same encounters saw F-15E crews running out of missiles when faced by large barrages of drones and missiles, a problem that laser-guided rockets can help address.

The Eurofighter Typhoon became the next aircraft to add the air-to-air optimized variant of the laser-guided APKWS rocket to its armament options.

At the Paris Air Show in June 2025, Eurofighter CEO Jorge Tamarit Degenhardt confirmed that the counter-drone mission was of growing importance for Typhoon customers and that he “needs to now have that conversation” with Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom — the four Eurofighter partner nations that are responsible for developing, building, and sustaining the aircraft.

The U.K. Royal Air Force announced in May of this year that its Typhoons were now equipped with APKWS, “significantly enhancing their ability to counter emerging threats during operations in the Middle East.” 

Laser-guided rockets of all kinds offer some significant benefits for the counter-drone role, compared with traditional air-to-air missiles. Their performance parameters make them especially suitable for bringing down relatively steady flying, non-reactionary, low-performance targets, including drones and subsonic cruise missiles.

They also bring a major increase in ‘magazine depth,’ with each pod carrying several rounds, taking up a weapons pylon that would otherwise normally be loaded with just one air-to-air missile.

Above all, however, the requirement for these weapons has been driven by the huge mismatch in cost between the target and air-to-air missiles that would otherwise be used for the role. In a French context, a single MICA round reportedly costs around $2 million, significantly more than the latest variants of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), which cost around $1 million each.

Meanwhile, a Shahed drone might come with a unit cost of around $50,000, as we have discussed in the past.

The cost of the Aculeus-LG is unclear, but is likely in the same region as the equivalent APKWS. Here, the laser guidance section costs between $15,000 and $20,000, with only a few thousand dollars more needed to provide the rocket motor and warhead.

It seems all but certain that the French Rafales will not be the only ones to get the new weapon.

There is a large Rafale operating community in the Middle East, with Qatar already flying them and the United Arab Emirates due to receive them soon. Both of these and others could benefit from these capabilities. Since these rockets were also eyed for the Mirage 2000 in the past, Ukrainian Mirages could also be a candidate for integration; the Ukrainian Air Force already uses APKWS on its F-16s.

With future conflicts likely to feature large salvos of one-way attack drones and cruise missiles, this type of capability is likely to become a more regular feature on modern combat aircraft.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

From Gaza to India, this is how the world paid tribute to Qatar’s Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

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North Antrim MP Jim Allister said the deaths had caused great shock in the community.

“Though details remain scant, clearly there are family and friends who have suffered huge loss,” the Traditional Unionist Voice leader said.

Sinn Féin assembly member Philip McGuigan said speculation about what had happened was not helpful.

He said anybody who could help police should come forward.

Ulster Unionist Party leader Jon Burrows said the entire town was devastated and police should be given “patience and time” to complete their investigation.

“The more information the police can get out the better, because there is a community in shock,” he said.

Alliance Party assembly member Sian Mulholland also urged anyone with information to contact the police and said her thoughts were with everyone affected.

Emmerdale’s Serena Sugden’s secret was exposed to her cousin Robert by his ex Kev Townsend on Monday’s episode of the ITV soap, and it might not end well for some characters

Serena in Emmerdale seems to have finally been exposed, as her secret career was revealed.

Kev Townsend finally remembered where he knew Serena from, and he wasted no time in telling her cousin Robert Sugden. Kev shocked Robert as he outed Serena as a copper.

If he’s correct, this explains her shifty behaviour and her constant interrogations. But why is she asking questions about her killer cousin John Sugden and his victims?

Moira Dingle, Vanessa Woodfield and Aaron Dingle had all been suspicious of Serena as she quizzed them about John’s killer actions. While Robert wasn’t concerned, he was warned by Moira on Monday.

Moira told him how she’d been looking into Nate’s death at the hands of John, and she warned him not to tell Serena about how John died. It seems Moira could have been right to be so worried.

Kev then let himself into Robert’s house, leaving Robert stunned. But he was even more shocked when Kev dropped the bombshell that Serena “is police”, branding her a “copper”.

So is Serena a police officer, and is Kev right? He did say he never forgets a face and he’s rarely every wrong so it seems Serena has been sussed.

But what will Robert do with this information, and what is Serena up to? Of course Robert knows his sister Victoria Sugden, Serena’s other cousin, killed John in self-defence.

So Serena being a police officer could be bad news for them as they are covering up a crime. It comes as Aaron is set to make a discovery about his partner Robert’s cousin Serena, after he continues to be concerned about her presence.

When Robert is knocked unconscious by a runaway trailer on the farm, Serena helps him. But after she calls Aaron and tends to Robert’s injuries, Aaron shares his concern about Serena.

He questions the fact that Serena just happened to be at the right place at the right time. But spoilers could explain what really caused the incident with Robert, and it might have nothing to do with Serena.

A spoiler about a scene involving Mackenzie Boyd and Ross Barton, who are at the farm that same week, mentions a trailer. Is it just a coincidence, or is it linked?

So the spoiler reads: “A simmering tension from Mack towards Ross builds as they load bags from a trailer.” It’s at this point that the pair end up fighting, and Mack attacks Ross.

So what happens with the trailer? Is it the same trailer that ends up “running away’ and colliding with poor Robert on the farm?

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

London debuts new powers targeting state proxies after accusing Iranian military organisation of engineering anti-Semitic attacks.

The British government is pressing to use new powers allowing it to criminalise state proxies in order to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a threat to national security.

In a statement issued on Monday, the government announced that it was submitting draft regulations to the UK Parliament that would ban support for the IRGC. The move follows a series of anti-Semitic attacks in the United Kingdom.

In the statement, the government said the submission of the legislation was part of an attempt to “crack down on foreign state-backed activity in the UK”, noting this would include “espionage, foreign interference in our democracy, sabotage and physical attacks”.

Following the designation, it will be a criminal offence to invite support for or express support for the military organisation, assist them in carrying out UK-related activities, engage in conduct likely to materially assist them, or accept or retain material benefits provided by or on their behalf, according to the report.

Apart from the IRGC, the UK government also listed the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right (IMCR), an Iran-backed group that claimed seven attacks on Jewish sites in the UK earlier this year, and Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU Volunteer Corps, as “the first bodies designated under landmark new state threats powers”.

British police have investigated attacks on Jewish-linked sites in London, including the torching of four ambulances belonging to a community charity in March, as anti-Semitic hate crimes. Three men were charged with arson in April.

“If approved by Parliament later this week, those conducting acts of sabotage including arson on behalf of these groups could face life imprisonment,” the statement added.

Caretaker Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “These new powers will make it easier to prosecute and lock up anyone carrying out their dirty work here in Britain.”

The new legislation gives the UK government “proscription-like” powers to designate foreign state proxies deemed a threat to the UK’s national security. It will mean that prosecutors do not need to establish a foreign power connection in cases involving designated groups.

“Iran and Russia are using proxies and thugs to do their dirty work on our shores. I have rapidly designated three groups so those working for them will be tracked down and put behind bars,” Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said.

Reporting from London, Al Jazeera’s Charlie Angela said the designation could come into force “as early as Friday”.

“What that’s going to mean is it will become a criminal offence to support the groups in any way or to help them operate, and that could carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment,” Angela said.

“Diplomatically, it is going to mark a further deterioration in the relationship between Iran and the UK. Earlier, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper summoned the Iranian ambassador to the Foreign Office and questioned him. And that is likely going to get a strong response from Iran.”

The government said the IRGC has “a long history of using proxies and criminal networks to target people overseas – particularly the Jewish community and Iranian dissidents”.

Tehran, ⁠which is still at war with the United States and Israel, has previously denied using proxies.

Regarding the GRU military intelligence service, the government said Russia was using the group “for foreign intelligence collection and hostile covert operations and has a long record of targeting the UK and its allies”.

This is a painful case of deja vu for Newcastle.

It was just a few weeks ago that the club lost out on another top target, Victor Munoz, who opted to join Liverpool.

Talent identification is clearly not the issue.

Newcastle have targeted Manzambi, Munoz, Hugo Ekitike, Joao Pedro, Benjamin Sesko and James Trafford in the last 12 months.

But losing out to Aston Villa for a top target would be another real setback in the transfer market for Newcastle.

If Newcastle miss out, the big question is can the club discreetly pivot to another promising target, as they did with Bazoumana Toure after Munoz went elsewhere?

On one hand, there is plenty of time left in the window to do just that and strengthen other areas of the side.

On the other, there is a lot of work to do and little margin for any further knockbacks.

The sight of those players not involved at the World Cup returning for pre-season training on Monday was a timely reminder of that.

Walkout over late payments comes as public health officials confirm that the virus has reached two more provinces.

Staff at a hospital treating Ebola patients in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have gone on strike, alleging they have not been paid for months, bringing the facility to a standstill.

Dozens of employees at Rwampara General Hospital in Ituri province, the epicentre of the outbreak, walked off the job on Monday. The strike action came as authorities revealed that the virus has spread to two further provinces in northern DRC.

The striking workers included epidemiologists, case investigators, drivers and gravediggers.

“We don’t know how it is possible to not have been paid for two months,” Bahati Claude, a health worker at the centre, told The Associated Press.

The outbreak, concentrated in northern DRC, is the worst in Africa’s history and has already caused severe economic damage, pushing nearly one million people into poverty, according to the United Nations.

Efforts to hold back the spread of the virus have been complicated by the presence of paramilitary rebels, who control parts of the region in a bid to access its valuable mineral deposits.

The response to the outbreak has also been complicated by misinformation, deeply rooted burial practices and a lack of trust in health officials.

Health workers have been attacked by communities that believe the disease is a form of witchcraft, while bereaved families have ignored safety protocols by holding traditional burial ceremonies.

DRC’s National Public Health Institute confirmed on Sunday that the virus has spread to two new northeastern provinces: Haut-Uele and Tshopo.

The World Health Organization has warned that an accelerated response from local, national and international partners is urgently needed to bring the outbreak under control.

DRC Health Minister Roger Kamba said last week that the government was working to resolve the payroll issues and ensure employees were paid.

“We must ensure that these payments reach the right people,” Kamba said. “We have faced a few challenges, notably changes to the lists, which have led to complaints from people saying they are not being paid even though they are working. We have the means to sort this out.”

According to the latest figures, the number of Ebola cases in the DRC has risen to 1,926, with 702 deaths. The spread of the disease to Haut-Uele and Tshopo means five provinces now have confirmed Ebola cases.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has warned that the situation is worsening in areas already affected as transmission accelerates, while the risk of the disease spreading to neighbouring South Sudan is increasing as the outbreak expands into new areas.

Meanwhile, a second United States citizen infected with Ebola was admitted to a special isolation unit at Frankfurt University Hospital in Germany on Monday. Timo Wolf, head of the special isolation unit, said the patient’s condition was “currently stable”.

The man, who is in his 60s, was confirmed to have contracted the disease on Friday while working for a Christian aid group in the DRC.

The $1bn scheme falls critically short of the $71bn reportedly needed for Gaza’s recovery over the next 10 years.

The European Commission has announced a billion-dollar aid and reconstruction fund aimed at helping the recovery of Gaza from more than two years of devastating war.

The “Team Gaza Initiative” launched on Monday at a meeting of donors in Brussels. The scheme will support projects such as restoring water and sanitation infrastructure, removing debris and re-establishing health infrastructure, an EU Commission statement said.

However, the size of the fund falls critically short of the tens of billions estimated to be needed to rebuild the Palestinian enclave amid Israel’s genocidal war, which continues to kill Palestinians and create dire humanitarian conditions.

Spain, France, Denmark, the UK, Germany, Norway, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden and Belgium, the World Bank and the European Investment Bank are taking part in the initiative, along with the ⁠Commission itself, the statement said. Australia and Canada ⁠are also expected to join.

“We will present the initial package today of almost 900 million euros or one billion dollars,” Dubravka Suica, EU commissioner for the Mediterranean, said ahead of the donor meeting. “Our objective is clear: to help build hope, resilience and a better future for the Palestinian people.”

The funding is intended to assist in providing the population with basic water and sanitation facilities, clearing and disposing of rubble and rubbish, as well as restoring health, energy, agricultural and food systems.

No breakdown of how much each partner would contribute was provided. Suica said donors “want to start with so-called early recovery, and it is very important to show that we are willing to do it.”

“We now need the conditions on the ground that will allow the support to reach the people in Gaza,” she added.

While Israel and Hamas agreed to a US-brokered “ceasefire” last October, Israel has consistently breached it.

The intensity of the fighting has reduced, but at least 1,100 Palestinians have been killed and more than 3,500 wounded since the “ceasefire” began. In total, the war has killed at least 73,000 Palestinians.

The EU Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management described the situation in Gaza as “unbearable”. Hadja Lahbib called for humanitarian access to the enclave and greater political engagement from Israeli authorities.

“Nine months after the so-called ceasefire, shelling continues, disease is spreading, people are dying,” Lahbib told reporters ahead of the billion dollar fund announcement.

European Union and United Nations said in April that more than $71bn will be needed over the next 10 years for Gaza’s recovery and reconstruction.

The Gaza Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA) report found that $26.3bn will be required in the first 18 months to restore essential services, rebuild critical infrastructure and support Gaza’s economic recovery.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi is travelling to the United States for talks with President Donald Trump, in what will be his first foreign trip since taking office in May.

During this week’s meetings, al-Zaidi is expected to sign agreements in energy and trade while also boosting investment with US companies.

Iraqi government spokesman Haider al-Aboudi told reporters on Sunday the visit to Washington, DC, will mark a shift in the countries’ relations “from a framework of crisis management to a strategic economic partnership”.

The focus, he said, would not be about striking a “temporary” agreement but about establishing “a durable, long-term partnership that serves the shared interests of both countries”.

Al-Aboudi said oil would be “a top priority” during the visit as the Iraqi government seeks to increase production and find alternative export hubs to lessen the consequences of any future closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Iraq was one of the countries badly hit by the shutting down of the critical waterway in recent months due to the US-Israel war on Iran, as about 90 percent of its 3.4 million barrels per day (bpd) of exports passes through it.

Al-Aboudi said Iraq’s proposal to establish an energy and development fund with the US would be on the table to finance any projects that would be agreed upon, especially in the energy sector.

Al-Zaidi had previously said the fund would initially be structured in oil exports of 500,000 bpd with the goal of increasing to as much as two million bpd.

The prime minister has also said Iraq seeks to increase oil production to seven million bpd over the next three years, up from its current output of about 4.5 million bpd.

“Iraq is in need of such kind of cooperation, especially with a partner like the United States to enhance and strengthen its capacity, particularly in the energy, oil, gas, electricity, and petrochemicals sectors,” said Abdulrahman Almashhadani, an Iraqi economic expert and professor.

“However, the critical question remains whether Iraq can provide a safe and stable environment that would encourage US companies to come to Iraq,” he said. “This issue is sensitive and unresolved; it largely depends on the government’s ability to deliver on its commitments to restrict weapons to state control.”

Large delegation

Sources told Al Jazeera the Iraqi delegation to the US comprises more than 70 people, including key ministers, the head of the central bank, the national security adviser, lawmakers and businessmen.

A well-informed source said meetings with US administration officials and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have also been planned. According to the source, who asked not to be named, Iraq is seeking to secure an IMF loan of up to $8bn.

A separate well-informed source told Al Jazeera that the disarming of pro-Iran Iraqi armed factions and restricting weapons under state authority, as well as Baghdad’s relationship with Tehran, are expected to be among the issues the US side will raise during the visit.

In his first speech in parliament as prime minister, al-Zaidi had promised that the state would have control over weapons in a country where paramilitary groups, including many supported by Iran, have been powerful since the 2003 US-led war on Iraq.

Some armed factions said they would abide by the prime minister’s declaration, but others – particularly the powerful ones that launched missiles and drones at US facilities during the war on Iran – rejected it.

In a statement released hours before al-Zaidi’s trip to Washington, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed groups in the region, including Iraq, rejected the prime minister’s visit and its outcomes.

“We will not give a blank cheque for all government policies. We warn against replacing military occupation with an economic occupation that is even more dangerous,” the statement said.

“The option of defending Iraq and its legitimate interests will remain on the table,” it added.

Al-Zaidi has said his government is eager to implement a 2024 deal made with the US-led coalition’s military mission in Iraq to end its presence as combat forces by the end of September.

Some of the factions that rejected the prime minister’s disarmament statement said they would wait to see what happens on September 30 and then act accordingly.

Ehsan al-Shammary, a professor of international studies at Baghdad University, said the economic initiatives and the backing that al-Zaidi is seeking from Trump during Monday’s talks would inevitably be overshadowed by the issue of Iran’s influence in Iraq.

Ultimately, he added, it is the issue that will determine the success or failure of a “very important” visit that could “redefine” bilateral relations and “give it a push”.

“Al-Zaidi has little room for manoeuvre. He should choose either to align with the United States or move closer to Iran,” said al-Shammary. “I do not believe Washington is willing to accept a divided sphere of influence in Iraq alongside Tehran. That is why the prime minister’s task appears to be almost impossible.”

Spain-France clash is filled with superstars like Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Lamine Yamal, among others.

European giants France and Spain will compete for a place in the World Cup final on Tuesday, as the first semifinal kicks off in Dallas.

Both sides have some star names among their ranks, with the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Michael Olise and Lamine Yamal set to play a key role in securing their country’s place in Sunday’s final.

Here’s a closer look at some of the key players who will decide Tuesday’s first semifinal.

Kylian Mbappe

World Cup 2026 statistics:

• Goals: 8
• Assists: 3
• Minutes played: 563

The French captain has been in remarkable form at this World Cup, breaking numerous records along the way.

After bagging four goals in the group stages, Mbappe has now scored in every knockout round so far, and he has also provided a number of assists.

The Real Madrid forward is in the form of his life and is the biggest threat in a star-studded Les Bleus XI.

After scoring a hat-trick in a World Cup final loss to Argentina in Qatar, Mbappe will be determined to go one step further this year.

Michael Olise

World Cup 2026 statistics:

• Goals: 0
• Assists: 5
• Minutes played: 488

Michael Olise may not have got himself on the scoresheet at this World Cup so far, but he is the player that has provided the most assists.

He has set up five goals for France, and his partnership with Mbappe has been a highlight of the tournament.

The Bayern Munich midfielder has the technical ability to unlock defences, and he will be a key attacking threat in the semifinal with Spain.

Ousmane Dembele

World Cup 2026 statistics:

• Goals: 5
• Assists: 2
• Minutes played: 492

The dynamic Paris-Saint Germain (PSG) forward came into this tournament looking for his first-ever World Cup goal. He now has five of them.

He scored a first-half hat-trick in a group game with Norway and also bagged the second in France’s 2-0 win over Morocco in the quarterfinals.

Les Bleus have been having their own Golden Boot competition, with Dembele pushing Mbappe all the way.

The pair have now scored 13 goals between them at this World Cup, a feat that has not been achieved by two players from the same country since Brazil’s Ronaldo and Rivaldo in 2002.

Lamine Yamal

World Cup 2026 statistics:

• Goals: 1
• Assists: 0
• Minutes played: 405

At a tournament where stars like Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane have been prolific, 18-year-old Lamine Yamal has just one goal to date, in a routine 4-0 group drubbing of Saudi Arabia.

Despite this, the Barcelona teenage sensation remains a key attacking threat for La Roja and scored against France in the semifinals of Euro 2024.

He was awarded player of the match for his performance in Spain’s quarterfinal win over Belgium, and he has also recorded the most successful dribbles at the tournament so far.

“I know I can contribute even if I don’t score. I know my movements draw in many opponents, so I do everything I can to help the team,” Yamal said after Spain’s victory over Belgium.

Mikel Oyarzabal

World Cup 2026 statistics:

• Goals: 4
• Assists: 1
• Minutes played: 519

The Real Sociedad forward is Spain’s top scorer at this World Cup, and he will be La Roja’s biggest hope for goals in Tuesday’s semifinal.

He scored six goals in six games during World Cup qualification and has followed that up with four goals at the tournament proper.

Oyarzabal also has experience of scoring crucial goals at the business end of tournaments. He bagged an 86th-minute winner against England in the Euro 2024 final, proving he can perform under pressure on the biggest stage.

La Roja will hope for more of the same this week.

Mikel Merino

World Cup 2026 statistics:

• Goals: 2
• Assists: 0
• Minutes played: 180

If Spain need a goal against France in the closing stages of the semifinal, then Luis de la Fuente will be turning to one man on his bench.

Mikel Merino has twice played the role of super-sub at this World Cup, coming off the bench to score late winners against Portugal and Belgium.

The Arsenal midfielder is unlikely to start against Les Bleus on Tuesday, but he remains a key part of Spain’s squad and will pose a real threat against tired legs towards the end of the match.

European Union foreign ministers met in Brussels on Monday to discuss whether there is enough support for new measures to curb trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

“Everybody agrees that the situation in the West Bank is really intolerable,”  EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said at the start of a meeting.

“What is happening in the West Bank is actually making it more and more impossible that the two-state solution ever can come into effect.”

Here is more about the ongoing EU discussions on Israeli settlements.

What options are the EU foreign ministers discussing?

The discussions are based on a confidential paper by the European Commission that floats three different options – an import licensing system, prohibitive tariffs, or a ban – an unnamed senior EU diplomat and a European official said, Reuters reported.

The EU has long struggled to take major decisions on Middle East policy because of deep and long-standing divisions among its 27 member countries, particularly on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Diplomats said the debate at a meeting in Brussels on Monday was not expected to yield any concrete decisions, but would help to sound out if there is enough support to move forward.

Are Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank expanding?

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the territory, excluding east Jerusalem, among some three million Palestinians.

This month, Israel’s Security Cabinet has approved a plan to establish 13 new settlements in the central occupied West Bank.

The number of new settlements has soared recently, according to new data from the Palestinian Forum for Israeli Studies (MADAR). After averaging approximately eight outposts annually between 2012 and 2022, the number jumped to 32 in 2023, then 62 in 2024, reaching 86 during 2025.

Nasser Khdour, Middle East assistant research manager at the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), said that 2026 is the deadliest year for settler violence since ACLED began tracking incidents in Palestine a decade ago.

“Incidents have included attacks on Palestinians, property destruction, damage to farming equipment and facilities, tree uprooting, and grazing on Palestinian agricultural land. Other incidents have involved looting, including the theft of equipment, sheep, and crops,” Khdour was quoted as saying on the ACLED website in May.

What pressure has the EU faced to take measures about this?

Under pressure for the EU as a whole to take measures, the bloc’s executive last week laid out options to curb trade with settlements, including a ban.

“There have been a lot of asks and requests from the member states regarding the ban of the trade with illegal settlements,” Kallas said.

“Let’s see if these options that have been provided now will have a stronger push from member states.”

Belgium’s Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said the options laid out appeared to be more “a bone to gnaw on than a genuine desire to move forward”.

“We are calling for concrete proposals,” he said.

There is disagreement in Brussels as to whether that move would need backing from all 27 member states or just a weighted majority.

Diplomats say that key players Germany and Italy are still undecided on the move.

What has the EU’s position been so far?

Several EU countries – including Spain, the Netherlands, and the Republic of Ireland – have already imposed their own trade restrictions on Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, considered illegal under international law.

In May, the EU imposed sanctions on four entities and three individuals over what it described as serious and systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank.

In a July 2024 advisory opinion, the International Court of Justice said Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements in the West Bank are illegal and that states should take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that help maintain the situation.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar last year described a push by some European governments to implement the advisory opinion as “shameful”.

Japan is setting up its first centralised intelligence agency since World War II to try to modernise its defence capabilities against spies, foreign interference and other attacks from foreign adversaries.

Legislation to establish the new agency passed the upper house of Japan’s National Diet in May, a month after it cleared the lower house.

After decades of relying on US intelligence support and after a pacifist stance was enshrined in the Japanese Constitution, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi described this law as “a first step” towards strengthening the country’s espionage capabilities.

What is this new agency?

The legislation creates two bodies: a National Intelligence Council that will act as the government’s command centre for intelligence gathering and analysis and an agency for operations. The reform changes the existing Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office (CIRO) into a centralised National Intelligence Council and National Intelligence Bureau.

Takaichi isn’t exactly building the US Central Intelligence Agency, but The New York Times reported Western allies, including the United States, Germany and Australia, are advising the Japanese government on establishing the new spy agency.

Ken Kotani, professor at Nihon University, said he believes Japan’s new National Intelligence Council and national intelligence agency model will be original to Japan.

Sanshiro Hosaka, a research fellow at the Estonia-based International Centre for Defence and Security, said the reform is aimed at improving the Japanese government’s intelligence abilities “by strengthening coordination, reducing interagency barriers and ensuring that intelligence products better meet policymakers’ requirements”.

Why does Japan want it now?

Tokyo says it is facing threats from a number of nearby countries such as North Korea, Russia and China, and a national intelligence agency is needed to counter their efforts.

Kotani explained that Japan’s foreign and national security policy followed the US during the Cold War period. But he noted that “recently Japan has gradually pursued her own policy, especially in the Trump administration period.”

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly accused Washington’s allies of not spending enough on their own defence and on relying on American help. He has questioned US alliances and has been ambivalent about whether the world’s most powerful military would come to the defence of smaller nations.

That, Kotani said, is why “Japan needs to collect intelligence by herself.”

Japan currently lacks an antiespionage law that would make it relatively easy for foreign intelligence activities to go unpunished.

Hosaka explained that former Russian intelligence officers who operated in Japan, such as Stanislav Levchenko and Konstantin Preobrazhensky, described Japan as a paradise for spies: “During the Cold War, Soviet intelligence targeted Japanese technologies, industrial and commercial information as well as the US bases in Japan,” Hosaka explained. “As a major US ally in Asia and an advanced technological economy, Japan remains an important intelligence target for China, Russia, North Korea and others.”

Hosaka said what Japan needs “is a foreign-influence transparency law to increase the transparency of foreign actors’ lobbying activities as well as to deter illegal foreign interference. And an antiespionage law to conduct undercover operations and investigations using assumed identities.”

Why the current system isn’t working:

A major obstacle within Japan’s current decentralised structure, experts said, is that no one has the authority to force cooperation from other agencies or bodies or prevent intelligence data from being scattered.

Kotani explained that the political power of Japan’s current intelligence agency has been weak: “This was because the CIRO was not given any legal mandates on intelligence when it was established in 1952.”

Another difficulty is that under current Japanese laws, foreign representatives suspected of potential intelligence affiliations or interference are difficult to intercept because legal grounds are weak for Japanese authorities to intercept their communications or prosecute them.

The ambitions of PM Takaichi

Takaichi took office in October and has accelerated the expansion of Japan’s military and security ambitions through a number of measures, including establishing a central intelligence body.

In December, the cabinet approved its largest defence budget ever at $58bn as the Ministry of Defence said it needed to accelerate its “transformation” and would use more than $600m for building a so-called drone and laser shield to protect its southwestern region.

In April, Takaichi’s cabinet moved closer to abolishing a longstanding ban on the export of lethal weapons, such as tanks and warships.

The new direction led to antiwar protests in the streets of Japan in May. However, a Jiji opinion poll in April showed only 19 percent were opposed to the new bill to reform intelligence within the country. About 40 percent were indifferent, and the rest were in favour.

Kotani said he has noticed a lot of the old “taboo has gone” around this subject and it is no longer a topic of concern to many Japanese, He said: “Especially younger generations are not interested in such an old story.”

Why surveillance is controversial in Japan

Japan’s defeat in World War II left its citizens with distrust towards state surveillance as the wartime Special Higher Police, known as the Tokko, monitored, arrested and tortured citizens for their political beliefs.

Article 9 in its constitution, drafted in 1947 shortly after the end of the war, renounced war, and Japan has never had its own foreign intelligence service. Instead, it relied on the US.

The efforts for a new security agency have sparked some domestic criticism, but Hosaka said the latest reforms do not amount to a return to the kind of espionage apparatus that could be used against Japanese civilians.

“The legislation does not itself create significant new intelligence collection or counterintelligence powers,” Hosaka said.

Nigeria’s position on ransom payments rests on a sound principle: Every ransom paid strengthens criminal organisations by financing the purchase of more weapons, and encouraging more kidnappings. Every naira handed to kidnappers today may finance tomorrow’s abduction.

Yet, another reality is far more uncomfortable. It is a reality experienced daily by families whose loved ones have disappeared into forests, insurgent camps, and criminal enclaves across Nigeria. The state asks them not to pay. The same state often cannot prevent the abduction nor guarantee the rescue of the victim.

For years, successive governments have urged Nigerians to reject ransom payments as a matter of national security. The argument is strategically sound. Kidnapping has evolved into one of Nigeria’s most profitable criminal economies, sustaining terrorist groups, insurgent groups, and organised kidnapping networks across several regions. Every successful payment reinforces that economy and makes future attacks more likely.

But public policy cannot exist only in theory. It must also survive contact with human reality.

For many women and girls held captive, every additional day increases the risk of rape, forced marriage, sexual slavery, and repeated abuse. Men and boys frequently endure forced labour, torture, starvation, beatings, and execution. Children lose months or years of their education while entire families descend into financial ruin attempting to negotiate for survival.

For parents, spouses, and siblings, this is not an abstract debate about national security. They know that every phone call may be the last and that every delay may carry irreversible consequences. It is therefore unsurprising that many families choose life over policy.

Critics often ask why families continue paying ransom despite repeated warnings, but the more humane question is whether society has offered them a credible alternative.

Military rescue operations have succeeded in some high-profile cases, and security forces continue to make sacrifices under extremely dangerous conditions. However, they remain the exception rather than the experience of most victims. Across vast areas of Nigeria, rescue is uncertain, negotiations are prolonged, intelligence is limited, and families are frequently left to navigate kidnappers alone. That gap creates an impossible moral burden.

The law tells a father not to pay, but his daughter remains in captivity and the government cannot tell him when, or whether, she will come home. What should he choose?

Many policymakers evaluate ransom through the lens of national security. Families experience it through the lens of survival. Both perspectives are legitimate, but they collide in painful ways.

The contradiction becomes even sharper where governments contemplate criminalising ransom payments. Such laws may satisfy an important strategic objective, but without dramatically improving prevention, intelligence, rapid response, and hostage rescue capability, they risk punishing victims twice. First, by failing to protect them. Second, by denying them the only option they believe remains.

No family should ever have to choose between financing organised crime and abandoning someone they love. The responsibility for breaking this cycle belongs to the state, not to traumatised families.

A credible anti-ransom policy requires far more than a legal prohibition. It demands professional policing, intelligence-driven operations, rapid hostage recovery capabilities, functioning emergency response systems, stronger border control, disruption of kidnapping finances, and sustained prosecution of those who organise and profit from this industry.

Only then can the government reasonably ask citizens to bear the enormous moral cost of refusing to pay ransom. Until that day arrives, Nigeria’s ransom debate will remain trapped between principle and reality. Ending ransom payments begins with ending the conditions that make ransom appear to be the only path home.

Dodgers swept by Diamondbacks

From Maddie Lee: The Dodgers needed to turn things around Sunday to wrap up the first half on a high note. Manager Dave Roberts said as much the night before.

“When you give teams free bases, extra outs, it’s hard to win a game, regardless of the opponent,” he said. “Emmet [Sheehan] needs to go out there and throw the baseball well tomorrow. We’ve got to find a way to win a game tomorrow to feel somewhat better about going into the break.”

Instead, the Dodgers fell to the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3, swept for the first time this season. It was Arizona’s first sweep at Dodger Stadium since September 2017.

Perhaps the break is coming at a good time.

“I guess,” Roberts said. “Gives guys a reset. … We’ve got some good teams coming up and we’ve got to play good baseball.”

Sheehan at least did his job, holding the Diamondbacks to three runs in 5⅓ innings. It was clear from the first at-bat that his pitch count could limit how deep he pitched into the game. Sheehan won a 14-pitch battle to strike out Ketel Marte.

The right-hander then struck out the side and was efficient enough to pitch into the sixth. He exited after his pitch count reached 101.

Continue reading here

Dodgers box score

MLB standings

World Cup: Seven reasons the U.S team always loses

From Kevin Baxter: Before this summer’s World Cup, FIFA asked the 48 participating teams to provide a list of songs to be played during warmups and goal celebrations and, if appropriate, after victories. On the U.S. list was John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” which quickly became the anthem of the team’s run through the tournament.

A more appropriate choice would have been the Buzzcocks’ “Sixteen Again,” because once again that’s where the Americans’ World Cup ended.

In the round of 16. Again.

This was supposed to be the year the U.S. broke through. With a roster full of players from major European teams and 13 who were World Cup veterans, a lack of quality and experience no longer were valid excuses.

And that should force U.S. Soccer into a major, systemic evaluation of what went wrong and how it can be fixed.

Continue reading here

How VAR, a system designed to correct errors, became this World Cup’s biggest villain

News Analysis: Mexico wins back fans but is still searching for ways to pass familiar World Cup wall

World Cup semifinals schedule

All times Pacific
All games on Fox and Telemundo

Tuesday
France vs. Spain, noon

Wednesday
England vs. Argentina, noon

Third-place match

Saturday, 2 p.m.

Championship match

Sunday, noon

Sparks fire their general manager

From Iliana Limón Romero and Marisa Ingemi: The Sparks’ ownership made a major shift in direction on Sunday, firing general manager Raegan Pebley amid a lackluster season that has the team just below the WNBA playoff cutoff line and far from the title-contending form Pebley promised.

Assistant general managers Zach Knowlton and Nate Nielsen will split interim GM duties, the team announced.

“We are grateful to Raegan for her leadership and commitment to the Los Angeles Sparks and women’s basketball,” Sparks managing partner and governor Eric Holoman said in a statement. “Her work on the Sparks roster and player experience will have a lasting positive impact on our organization. We sincerely thank her for all she has invested in the Sparks and wish her success in her next chapter.”

The Sparks (10-11) sit in ninth place in the WNBA standings, one removed from the last playoff spot. The team is coming off back-to-back wins over the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever, which followed a three-game losing streak.

Continue reading here

Dearica Hamby’s relentless effort and loyalty helped her retain key role with Sparks

Angels lose to Rangers

Trevor Larnach homered and drove in two runs, Ryan Jeffers added a two-run double, and the Minnesota Twins beat the Angels 4-2 on Sunday and head into the All-Star break with eight wins in their last nine games.

Larnach’s single in the third inning scored Luke Keaschall, tying the score at 1. Jeffers followed with a double that knocked in Ryan Kreidler and Larnach for a 3-1 lead.

Larnach added a 405-foot homer to right in the eighth inning, his seventh of the season, as the Twins (48-49) won their fifth straight series.

Josh Lowe and Denzer Guzman hit solo home runs for the Angels (38-59), who dropped their fourth straight series. Lowe’s eighth of the season came in the second inning, and Guzman added his fourth in the seventh inning.

Continue reading here

Shaikin: Angels could’ve picked any pitcher in America last year. Their pick Tyler Bremner endures

Angels box score

MLB standings

Jannik Sinner wins Wimbledon men’s title

Jannik Sinner is starting to make a habit of responding to adversity in Paris with titles at Wimbledon.

The top-ranked Sinner beat Alexander Zverev 6-7 (7), 7-6 (2), 6-3, 6-4 Sunday for his second consecutive title at the All England Club after his German opponent appeared bothered by a knee injury following a slip to the grass on a key point in the third set.

Sinner’s fifth Grand Slam title came in his first tournament since a second-round meltdown at the French Open, when he wilted in a Paris heat wave.

Continue reading here

This day in sports history

1881 — William Renshaw sets the record for the shortest men’s championship match by time and games by beating John T. Hartley 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 in 37 minutes at Wimbledon.

1941 — The PGA tournament is won by Vic Ghezzi with a 1-up 38-hole victory over Byron Nelson at Cherry Hills CC Denver

1968 — Gary Player wins the British Open by two strokes over Bob Charles and Jack Nicklaus. It’s the second Open championship for Player and his fifth major title.

1972 — Robert Irsay buys the stock of the Rams for $19 million and swaps the franchise for the Baltimore Colts. The players and coaches are not affected.

1980 — Amy Alcott shoots a record score of 280 to win the U.S. Women’s Open by nine strokes over Hollis Stacy.

1994 — Tonya Harding’s ex-husband Jeff Gillooly is sentenced to two years in prison for attack on American Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan.

1996 — Cigar matches Citation’s modern North American record of 16 consecutive wins, pulling away to take the $1.05 million Arlington Citation Challenge by 3½ lengths.

1997 — Alison Nicholas holds off Nancy Lopez for a one-stroke victory in the U.S. Women’s Open. Nicholas shoots a 72-hole total of 10-under 274, the most under par in the 52-year history of the event.

2003 — Beth Daniel becomes the oldest winner in LPGA Tour history, birdying the final two holes to beat Juli Inkster by a stroke in the Canadian Women’s Open. At 46 years, 8 months and 29 days, Daniel breaks the age record set by JoAnne Carner in 1985.

2011 — Abby Wambach breaks a tense tie with a thunderous header in the 79th minute, and the United States earns its first trip to the Women’s World Cup final since winning it in 1999 with a 3-1 victory over France. Japan upsets Sweden 3-1 in the other semifinal.

2014 — Mo Martin hits the best shot of her life to become a major champion in the Women’s British Open. Martin hit a 3-wood that hit the pin on the par-5 closing hole at Royal Birkdale, settling 6 feet for an eagle. Martin closes with an even-par 72 and finishes at 1-under 287 for a one-shot win over Inbee Park and Shanshan Feng.

2014 — Mario Goetze volleys in the winning goal in extra time to give Germany its fourth World Cup title with a 1-0 victory over Argentina.

2017 — Venus Williams reaches her ninth Wimbledon final and first since 2009, turning in her latest display of gutsy serving to beat Johanna Konta 6-4, 6-2. At 37, Williams becomes the oldest finalist at the All England Club since Martina Navratilova was the 1994 runner-up at that age. She also stops Konta’s bid to become the first woman from Britain in 40 years to win Wimbledon. In the opening semifinal, Garbine Muguruza overwhelms Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-1, 6-1 in just over an hour.

2019 — Wimbledon Women’s Tennis: Simona Halep beats Serena Williams 6-2, 6-2 in just 55 minutes; first Romanian to win a Wimbledon singles title.

Compiled by the Associated Press

This day in baseball history

1896 — Philadelphia’s Ed Delahanty hit four home runs in a losing effort, a 9-8 loss to Chicago.

1934 — Babe Ruth hit his 700th home run in a 4-2 victory over Tommy Bridges and the Detroit Tigers. Lou Gehrig left in the first with a severe case of lumbago, the most serious threat to his streak. He returned for one at bat the next day.

1943 — The first night game in All-Star history, at Philadelphia’s Shibe Park, went to the AL, 5-3, despite a single, triple and home run by NL center fielder Vince DiMaggio of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The big blow was a three-run homer by Bobby Doerr of the Boston Red Sox, which gave the AL the lead for good.

1945 — Chicago’s Pat Seerey hit three home runs, a triple and drove in eight runs to lead the White Sox in a 16-4 win over New York at Yankee Stadium.

1954 — Pitcher Dean Stone did not retire a batter but received credit for the AL’s 11-9 All-Star victory at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium. Red Schoendienst tried to steal a run for the NL after Stone was summoned in the eighth inning, but the pitcher’s throw to the plate nailed the runner for the third out.

1963 — Early Wynn, at 43, registered his 300th and last victory, pitching the first five innings of Cleveland’s 7-4 triumph over the Kansas City A’s.

1965 — The NL took the lead over the AL for the first time since the All-Star series began, winning 6-5 at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minn.

1971 — Reggie Jackson’s mammoth home run off the power generator on the right-field roof at Tiger Stadium highlighted a barrage of six homers — three by each team — as the AL beat the NL 6-4 in the All-Star game.

1982 — The NL registered its 11th consecutive All-Star victory over the AL with a 4-1 victory at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, the first All-Star game played outside the United States. Dave Concepcion’s two-run homer off Dennis Eckersley in the second inning was the deciding hit.

1993 — Minnesota’s Kirby Puckett homered and doubled to win the MVP award in the AL’s 9-3 victory in the All-Star game at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

1999 — Boston’s Pedro Martinez pitched himself into the All-Star game record book, becoming the first to strike out the first four hitters in an All-Star game, fanning Barry Larkin, Larry Walker and Sammy Sosa in the first inning, and Mark McGwire to start the second. Martinez struck out five in the first two innings — tying an American League record — to lead the AL to a 4-1 victory over the National League.

2010 — Brian McCann’s three-run double in the seventh inning provided the NL all the offense it needed to capture its first Midsummer Classic since 1996 with a 3-1 victory.

2013 — Tim Lincecum threw the second no-hitter in 11 days, a gem saved by a spectacular diving catch by right fielder Hunter Pence in the San Francisco Giants’ 9-0 win against the last-place San Diego Padres. Lincecum, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, was the loser when Cincinnati’s Homer Bailey no-hit the Giants on July 2.

2014 — Madison Bumgarner became the first pitcher in 48 years to hit two grand slams in a season, and Buster Posey also hit a slam that boosted San Francisco to an 8-4 win over Arizona.

2021 — The American League wins the 91st All-Star game with a 5-2 win over the National League for their eighth straight win.

2022 — The Blue Jays, who had entered the season with sky-high expectations, fire manager Charlie Montoyo after the team has lost eight of its last ten games and is now barely ahead of the fifth-place Orioles. Bench coach John Schneider takes over as manager on an interim basis, and Casey Candaele is promoted from triple-A Buffalo to step into the breach left by Schneider on the coaching staff.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.