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July 15 (UPI) — The United States attacked Iran on Wednesday, and Iran struck U.S. assets across the region into Thursday morning, marking the fifth straight day of strikes between the two nations as they fight over the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. Central Command launched two waves of attacks seeking to degrade Iran’s ability to threaten vessels transiting the vital chokepoint between Iran and Oman.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said early Thursday that it was conducting missile and drone strikes targeting U.S. assets at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait.

“Once again, we remind the honorable people of Kuwait that the United States is committing these crimes against Muslim Iran from your soil,” the elite military unit responsible for protecting Iran’s Islamic regime said in a statement.

The IRGC-aligned Fars News Agency reported early Thursday that U.S. bases and facilities in Bahrain, as well as in Kuwait, were being struck. It separately said it was attacking U.S. assets at the Al-Azraq Base in Jordan.

The extent of potential damage could not be independently verified. However, the Kuwait Army said its air defenses were confronting drone attacks, and the Jordanian Armed Forces said they downed eight Iranian missiles early Thursday. Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior urged residents to find shelter as sirens blared, suggesting an incoming attack.

CENTCOM said in a statement that its second wave ended at 9 p.m. EDT, hitting command centers, air defense sites, coastal surveillance facilities and missile ad drone capabilities.

In announcing the strikes hours earlier, CENTCOM had said they were “targeting Iranian military capabilities used to threaten vessels freely transiting through the Strait of Hormuz.”

“The U.S. military is holding Iran accountable at the commander in chief’s direction,” the post said.

The U.S. attacks followed earlier strikes on Greater Tunb Island in the Strait of Hormuz, a key site for Iran’s coastal defenses and missile storage, during a 90-minute wave. The U.S. military also said it fired on the Curacao-flagged Belma vessel transiting international waters toward Iran.

CENTCOM accused it of violating a military blockade of Iran’s coast that Trump reimposed Tuesday afternoon to deny Iran maritime trade.

The IRGC said Ahvaz, a southwestern Iranian city, had come under U.S. attack, with missiles reportedly hitting near Baghaei Hospital, which treats children with cancer, requiring all but the most ill patients to be transferred to another medical facility.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Bagher Ghalibaf told state media that Iran had “no reason” to abide by any deal with the United States if it did not benefit from it, but he left the door open for possible diplomacy, stating: “We must utilize diplomacy and negotiation to achieve and stabilize our national interests.”

While the war began in late February with President Donald Trump seeking to dismantle Iran’s nuclear and conventional weapons programs while encouraging regime change, the current chapter of the war is over the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. President Donald Trump is fighting to restore freedom of navigation through the waterway, down which about one-fifth of global energy supplies flow. Tehran is fighting to preserve its ability to restrict passage through the chokepoint as leverage and has previously suggested it could charge vessels that transit it.

The U.S. attacks came as Trump told reporters that Iran’s leaders “better behave” on Wednesday, one day after he threatened that the United States would strike bridges and power plants if Iran did not return to the negotiating table.

“They want to settle so badly,” Trump said later Wednesday at a defense summit in Pennsylvania. “They don’t like what we’re doing, and they do want to settle. We’ll find out whether or not we settle with them or we just finish it off.”

July 15 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday evening that Iran has freed a U.S. citizen detained in the country since 2024 as a “gesture of goodwill.”

In a social media post, Trump said Iran wrongfully detained the woman in December 2024.

“She is now safely outside of Iran, and in good condition,” Trump wrote. He did not identify the woman but said the United States appreciated the gesture.

Lawyer Jared Genser said in a social media post that the woman is Dena Karari, a client of his trapped in Iran on “bogus charges.” Genser said Karari is safe and traveling back to the United States. He said her freedom wouldn’t have happened without “extraordinary and relentless efforts” by Trump.

Genser said in a further statement that Karari is a U.S.-Iranian citizen who ran a nonprofit called the Children of Mehr Foundation, ABC News reported. The foundation’s Instagram page says that it works to empower children “through education, creativity and opportunity.”

Genser said she visiting her family when she was detained and interrogated by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, suffering “enormous physical and psychological hardship.”

On Wednesday night, the United States military struck Iranian targets for the fifth straight day, with Iran hitting several U.S. military targets Tuesday in Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait.

Monitor ranks Toronto as having the worst air quality on earth, surpassing Kinshasa, DR Congo, and New Delhi, India.

Toronto’s air quality has ranked the worst among all major cities in the world as smoke from wildfires in northwestern Ontario blankets the skies and spreads into the northeastern United States, triggering multiple health warnings and evacuations.

Wildfires continued burning through sparsely populated areas hundreds of miles from Toronto, Canada’s largest city, on Wednesday, sending smoke over a wide area, although cities in the area are not being threatened.

Environment Canada reported an Air Quality Health Index reading of 10+, classified as “very high risk”, for Toronto. Forecasts suggested that hazardous conditions could persist through Thursday night.

IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company, ranked Toronto as having the worst air quality across the globe, surpassing the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Kinshasa and India’s New Delhi.

“The biggest contributor to Toronto’s spike in air pollution right now is wildfires, though the higher-than-average temperatures are also playing a role,” Armen Araradian of IQAir told the AFP news agency.

While this year’s wildfire season in Canada has been fairly muted compared with recent years, there are more than 800 active fires nationwide.

A video that went viral on social media showed a Canadian National train surrounded by fire near Armstrong, Ontario. Canadian National employees in the area and residents of Armstrong were evacuated on Monday night, the railroad operator said in a statement. It suspended rail operations near Armstrong as a precaution.

Smoke from the wildfires also worsened air quality across the border in the US, with the states of Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire particularly affected.

Authorities in New York City have issued an alert over unhealthy air quality, urging residents to reduce strenuous outdoor activity and take extra breaks if they are outside on Wednesday and Thursday.

The National Weather Service said smoke could linger until the end of the week.

“We probably haven’t seen the worst of it yet for New York City. We probably haven’t seen the worst of it yet for the Great Lakes and upstate, and New England yet either,” Dan Westervelt, Lamont associate research professor at Columbia University, told the Reuters news agency.

More than 80,000 people are expected to attend the FIFA World Cup final at an open-air stadium in New Jersey on Sunday, with another 50,000 planning to watch the game from New York City’s Central Park, where skies appeared hazy.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul urged people, especially those with health conditions, to exercise caution.

The Canadian government has said that wildfire season began more slowly this year than in 2023 or 2025 – the two worst seasons for wildfires – but warned that fires were likely, due to warmer-than-usual temperatures across the country.

It said some 835 active fires were burning across the country on Wednesday, with 112 considered out of control, and most in the central provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario.

They have burned 1.9 million hectares (4.7 million acres) so far.

Greg Evans, a professor of chemical engineering and applied chemistry at the University of Toronto, said the city had been simultaneously hit with severe heat and wildfire smoke.

“I expect that this will occur more frequently over the coming decades, so cities and residents need to prepare for this in the future,” he said.

July 15 (UPI) — A search for three people missing in San Francisco Bay after their cabin cruiser sank a day earlier will end when the sun sets on Wednesday, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Eleven boats and four aircraft have been searching hundreds of miles of water for those reported missing after a cabin cruiser capsized off the coast of Alcatraz on Tuesday afternoon.

Officials initially said 19 people were aboard the 49-foot, three-level Volare cabin cruiser and that 17 people had been rescued from the water, leaving two people unaccounted for. One person rescued was later pronounced dead. A dog on board also died. But officials have since said 20 people were on the craft and that three were missing.

Capt. Jarod Toczko, sector commander of Coast Guard Sector San Francisco, announced the deadline for the search during a 2 p.m. press conference, explaining that none of the missing had been found, despite a search of more than 950 square nautical miles and more than 1,700 miles of track line.

“We have completely saturated the search area,” he said.

“As I look at the extensive search effort we have put forth to this point, I look at the probability of success of locating a survivor within the search area given everything we’ve put forth and all the environmental conditions, my intention is to suspend active search operations at sunset this evening.”

He said the families have been notified and crews will continue to search until the sun sets.

Dean Crispen, chief of the San Francisco Fire Department, said that three survivors who were transported to the hospital have been released and were “doing okay.”

The person who died was identified Wednesday by the San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner as 79-year-old Clifford Joseph Boisa of Sutter County.

Authorities were notified at 3:37 p.m. PDT about a boat in distress in the San Francisco Bay. Witnesses had incorrectly identified steam emanating from the boat as smoke, leading initial reports to indicate a fire was on board. Civilians boaters were first to arrive on the scene and are being hailed for saving lives.

The cause of the capsizing is under investigation, but Toczko told reporters that survivors and those who responded to the scene said that the boat was hit by a wave that caused it to list heavily, lose its stability and roll over.

Some occupants were thrown into the water, Toczko said, adding that there is a “high possibility” that others had been trapped inside the vessel.

Crispen had said during a Tuesday press conference that all aboard the vessel were adults, mostly family members and close friends who were participating in “some kind of memorial service.”

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said that while he laments the tragedy, he is “incredibly proud of the all hands-on-deck effort.”

“From Marin to Oakland to San Francisco to the good Samaritans, it was truly all hands-on-deck effort to save 16 people,” he said. “And my heart goes out to the families of the victims.”

Jubilant fans leapt with joy in Buenos Aires after Argentina defeated England 2-1 in Wednesday’s World Cup semifinal match. The defending champions will take on Spain in Sunday’s final.

July 15 (UPI) — The United States struck Iranian targets again Wednesday evening, marking the fifth straight day of strikes and the second wave that day, as President Donald Trump said Iran’s leaders “better behave.”

U.S. Central Command said in a social media post that the later strikes “are targeting Iranian military capabilities used to threaten vessels freely transiting through the Strait of Hormuz.”

“The U.S. military is holding Iran accountable at the Commander in Chief’s direction,” the post said.

The U.S. attacks followed early strikes on Greater Tunb Island in the Strait of Hormuz, a key site for Iran’s coastal defenses and missile storage, CNN reported. The United States military also said it fired on a ship that tried to violate its blockade of Iran’s ports and “redirected” two other commercial vessels.

Iranian media reported explosions in several areas, including Bandar Abbas and the city of Ahvaz. The state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting said Shahid Baghaei Hospital, which is in Ahvaz and treats children with cancer, evacuated families after a U.S. projectile landed nearby, CNN reported.

Meanwhile, Iran said it struck U.S. military targets in Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain. Iranian negotiator Bagher Ghalibaf told state media that Iran’s leaders had “no reason” to abide by any deal with the United States if the country did not benefit from it, but he left the door open for possible diplomacy. An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, however, said Iran has no plans for negotiations.

Trump said Wednesday that Iran’s leaders “better behave” as he spoke with reporters, one day after he threatened that the United States would strike bridges and power plants if Iran would not negotiate again.

“They want to settle so badly,” Trump said later Wednesday at a defense summit. “They don’t like what we’re doing. We’ll find out whether we want to settle with them or if we just finish it off.”

United States President Donald Trump is promising “really big news” in a rare primetime address on Thursday night, though he won’t say exactly what it is.

The surprise speech was announced on Tuesday. But when pressed by reporters about what he planned to talk about, Trump only revealed that the speech would be about elections and “a couple of other things”.

“It doesn’t get bigger, because without free and fair elections, you don’t have a country,” he told journalists in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

Asked to elaborate, Trump said he wanted to “save it” for the speech.

“We’ll be discussing other things, too,” he added. “It’s going to be a very big announcement.”

The White House has since confirmed that the address will focus on elections, including information related to the 2020 presidential election, which Trump has falsely claimed he won.

The speech is also expected to discuss what the White House describes as vulnerabilities in US voting machines.

Here’s what we know about the upcoming primetime presidential address.

When is Trump’s speech?

Trump is expected to speak from the White House on Thursday at 9pm US Eastern Time (01:00 GMT Friday).

How can you watch it?

Major US television networks are expected to carry the address live. The Trump administration has requested airtime from major broadcasters.

It will also be livestreamed on WhiteHouse.gov and on the White House’s YouTube page.

Why is the timing significant?

Trump’s speech comes three and a half months before the November 3 midterm elections.

At stake is control over the US Congress. Currently, Trump’s Republican Party holds slim majorities in both of Congress’s chambers.

But Democrats are seeking to tip the balance in their favour, leveraging backlash to Trump’s second term.

Critics fear Trump may use his primetime address to erode voter confidence in the upcoming elections, or to assert federal influence over election administration, which is run at the state and local level.

There is also speculation that Trump may be angling to fire up his base amid drooping poll numbers. The research firm YouGov suggested this month that more than 57 percent of US voters disapprove of the president’s second-term performance so far.

What is Trump expected to talk about?

So far, much remains unknown about Thursday’s speech.

Administration officials say Trump will discuss newly declassified intelligence connected to its investigations into the 2020 presidential election.

They have also suggested that Trump will discuss alleged vulnerabilities in voting machines that could allow foreign cyber intrusions.

Trump has revealed little else. When asked this week whether the speech would focus on voting machine integrity, he replied simply: “It will concern that subject.”

What happened in the 2020 elections?

Trump was a first-term incumbent when he ran for a second term in the 2020 presidential election.

He faced Democratic nominee Joe Biden, who had previously served as vice president under Barack Obama.

Biden defeated Trump, winning both the Electoral College vote – which determines the presidency – and the popular vote, an important symbolic metric.

The Democrat scooped up 306 Electoral College votes and more than 81 million individual ballots, compared with 232 Electoral College votes and 74 million ballots for Trump.

Critically, swing states like Georgia, Michigan and Arizona voted in Biden’s favour.

After the election, Trump repeatedly rejected the results, and his supporters attacked the US Capitol during the Electoral College certification on January 6, 2021.

What is Trump’s history of questioning US elections?

Trump has spent years casting doubt on the integrity of US elections, even before 2020.

Before the 2016 election, he refused to say whether he would accept a loss to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

After winning his first term in office, he created a presidential commission to investigate his claims that he lost the popular vote due to widespread fraud. The commission was disbanded after finding no evidence to support those claims.

After losing the 2020 election, Trump repeatedly alleged that the vote had been stolen despite numerous investigations finding no evidence to support those claims.

In Georgia, he urged the state’s secretary of state to “find 11,780 votes”, the number needed to overturn Biden’s victory there.

Trump and his allies later faced two indictments – one on the state level, one on the federal level – over allegations they attempted to overturn the 2020 election results.

The federal case was dropped when Trump was re-elected in 2024, in accordance with Department of Justice norms not to prosecute a sitting president.

The state-level case, meanwhile, fell apart after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was disqualified from prosecuting the case.

Trump, however, has continued to assert he was the rightful winner of the 2020 race, despite there being no evidence to support the claim.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a federal cybersecurity watchdog, has called the 2020 election “the most secure in American history”.

Investigations, including several by Trump allies, have produced no evidence that vote-machine rigging or foreign cyber intrusions changed the outcome.

What has the administration done lately to advance Trump’s 2020 claims?

In January, FBI agents descended upon Fulton County, Georgia, to execute a search warrant to collect election materials related to the 2020 race.

Officials in Fulton County, which contains the state capital, Atlanta, have protested against the search and called for the return of the confidential election materials.

They have also claimed they were not given an inventory of what was taken.

An FBI memo obtained by US media this month indicates the agency has diverted hundreds of agents to the case, which officials say is about “irregularities that occurred during the 2020 presidential election”.

Trump has called on Bill Pulte, the acting director of national intelligence, to declassify documents related to the 2020 vote.

What do Trump’s claims have to do with the midterms?

Trump appears to be ramping up his election fraud claims as the November midterms approach.

According to a review published by the Reuters news agency in May, Trump claimed the 2020 vote was stolen more than 107 times over the preceding six-month period.

Already, Trump has suggested that California’s primary vote in June was “rigged”.

Just last week, he invited defeated Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt to the White House after crediting Pratt’s loss to voter fraud. “What they did to that guy was unbelievable,” Trump told Fox News on Sunday.

Trump has expressed fear he could be impeached if his party does not retain control of Congress in the midterms. Major Democratic victories in the midterms could also stymie his legislative agenda for the final two years of his presidency.

What has Trump done to advance his election reform agenda?

Since returning to office in 2025, Trump has pushed to overhaul voting procedures.

Under the US Constitution, election administration falls to the states. It is not within the federal government’s control.

But critics say Trump is attempting to nationalise the election and tighten voter access.

Trump has championed election restrictions like those in the SAVE America Act, a bill that would require voters to produce in-person proof of citizenship, like a birth certificate or passport.

Already, non-citizens are barred from voting. But opponents argue that the SAVE America Act would present a hurdle to legal voters who do not have access to such documents. Many states allow voting with other forms of identification, like a state driver’s licence or a Social Security number.

Trump has also sought to limit the use of mail-in ballots through bills like the SAVE America Act and executive orders. But federal courts have repeatedly blocked his attempts.

In June, for instance, the Supreme Court ruled that states can continue to count mail-in ballots after election day, so long as they are postmarked on or before that date.

Trump has also faced legal challenges against his attempts to compel states to hand over their voter rolls and create a national voter file. And he has threatened to withhold funds – including from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) – if states fail to comply with his demands.

Earlier this month, his administration issued letters to election officials nationwide, warning that they “could be criminally prosecuted” if there are instances of non-citizen voting.

But non-citizen voting is exceedingly rare, as is voter fraud overall.

How have Democrats responded to Thursday’s upcoming speech?

Democrats have warned against giving Trump airtime for his unsubstantiated claims.

“Trump is going to use a primetime address to stoke misleading claims about our elections in order to justify interfering in our midterms,” Senator Mark Warner wrote on social media on Wednesday.

“It’s on all of us to follow the facts and not accept his constant stream of misdirections and lies.”

Another senator, New Mexico’s Ben Ray Lujan, pointed to Trump’s second impeachment as evidence of his willingness to subvert elections.

“This is the same man who was impeached after inciting an insurrection to overturn the election,” Lujan said, calling Trump “corrupt”.

Holders Argentina will face Spain in the final after snatching victory from England in ⁠a highly charged encounter.

Lautaro Martinez scored a 92nd-minute winner as Lionel Messi inspired World Cup holders Argentina to a stunning comeback to beat England 2-1 and set up a final with European football champions Spain.

England had been on course to reach their first FIFA World Cup final since 1966 after Anthony Gordon fired them into the lead 10 minutes into the second half of the semifinal in front of 68,239 fans in Atlanta on Wednesday.

The great rivalry between these nations has produced several memorable contests on the World Cup stage through the years, and this will be remembered as the stuff of legends in Argentina as the South Americans denied England with two late sucker punches.

Messi set up Enzo Fernandez to fire in an 85th-minute equaliser, and then, with extra time looming, crossed for substitute Lautaro Martinez to head in the winner in the second minute of stoppage time.

It was maybe not quite up there with Diego Maradona’s legendary display in putting England to the sword in 1986, but the goals this time brought Argentina back from the dead and kept alive their hopes of winning back-to-back World Cups.

No team has retained the trophy since Brazil in 1962, and now, Messi will become just the second player after Brazilian great Cafu to appear in three World Cup finals. Italy are the only other side to defend a World Cup crown.

The 2026 final will take place at New York New Jersey Stadium in New Jersey on Sunday, as the first 48-team World Cup boils down to a confrontation between the reigning champions of Europe and South America.

Messi had waited until the age of 39 to get the chance to play against England, and he will now face Spain for the first time in a competitive game.

His career appeared to be complete when he dragged Argentina to glory in 2022 in Qatar, but he is clearly not done yet.

England, though, will have huge regrets as they head to Miami to play France in Saturday’s third-place playoff, a game neither team will want to contest.

The prospect of a first World Cup final appearance since their sole triumph 60 years ago was a momentous one, and they were so close, but will live to regret sitting back after Gordon’s opener.

The key men for Thomas Tuchel’s side during this campaign have been Jude Bellingham and captain Harry Kane, yet they failed to deliver on this occasion, and England’s players slumped to the turf at full-time.

Lautaro winner

Given the deep-rooted rivalry between these nations, this was always likely to be a game with an edge, and there was a palpable sense of tension at Atlanta Stadium.

Argentina’s players were clearly fired up, partly by a determination to hold onto their World Cup crown but also by a sense of what this fixture means.

That translated into a niggly contest, pockmarked by fouls in the first half, including Elliot Anderson being booked for scything down Messi.

There were no real chances to speak of in the first half, but England struck in the 55th minute.

Kane was involved in the buildup as the ball eventually came to Morgan Rogers on the right, and he whipped in a low cross towards the back post where Gordon stole in front of Nahuel Molina to score.

But this was the stadium where Argentina produced a stunning comeback from 2-0 down to beat Egypt in the last 16, and they were not done.

They threw everything at their opponents, as Jordan Pickford made a great save from a Nico Gonzalez header, and Alexis Mac Allister was then denied by the post in the 76th minute.

Fernandez was denied from range by Pickford, but moments later, he equalised, controlling a Messi pass on the edge of the area and letting fly past the goalkeeper.

Argentina smelled blood, and Mac Allister again hit the post before England failed to clear, and Martinez headed in the winner from an exquisite Messi cross to spark chaotic scenes of celebration and leave England completely deflated.

Sheinbaum has denounced remarks from DEA head Terry Cole as a baseless ‘political statement’ about Mexico.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has rejected a claim from the head of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that there is a deadly connection between her government and the country’s influential criminal cartels.

During her daily news conference on Wednesday, Sheinbaum pushed back, saying the DEA’s remarks seemed “more ‌like a political statement than one backed by evidence”.

She added that the DEA should focus on combating drug trafficking, distribution and money laundering within its own country. The US, she pointed out, is the world’s largest market for illicit drugs.

Sheinbaum has repeatedly faced accusations under US President Donald Trump that her country is “run” by cartels.

Several Trump officials have mirrored that assertion. On Tuesday, for instance, DEA Administrator Terry Cole said ⁠the Mexican government and cartel networks were “one and the same”.

The Mexican government responded by saying Cole’s remarks did not reflect its efforts to work with the US to combat cartels.

It added that Mexico continues to be willing to collaborate with the US to combat crime, as long as its sovereignty was respected.

Since Trump took office for a second term, Sheinbaum has faced pressure from her northern neighbour to crack down on crime in her country.

In response, she has pledged close cooperation with the US, while pushing back against Trump’s militaristic approach to Latin America.

Her administration has repeatedly rejected the prospect of the US conducting military operations on its soil without the federal government’s consent.

Initially, Trump and Sheinbaum appeared to forge warm relations, with the US president praising his Mexican counterpart as “marvellous”.

But Sheinbaum has become increasingly vocal in her criticism of the Trump administration in recent months.

In April, for instance, she rebuked the US for issuing an indictment against ⁠Sinaloa Governor Ruben Rocha, amid allegations his campaign worked with the Sinaloa Cartel to violently influence the 2021 gubernatorial election.

Sheinbaum said no evidence had been produced to back the US’s claim against Rocha. She also argued that rooting out corruption was a domestic issue, not an international one.

Earlier this week, Mexico filed criminal complaints with US prosecutors over the deaths of ‌Mexican ‌nationals swept up in Trump’s mass deportation campaign.

Sheinbaum’s remarks on Wednesday came as the US Department of the Treasury announced that two more criminal organisations in Mexico — the Juarez Cartel and Los Viagras — had been designated “foreign terrorist ⁠organizations and specially ⁠designated global ⁠terrorists”.

The Trump administration has made such designations in the past, as it has sought to frame its actions in Latin America as a war on so-called “narco-terrorists”.

July 15 (UPI) — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed the multistate outbreak of cyclosporiasis, the parasite-based illness, in at least four states.

The four states are Michigan, which has seen the highest rate of illness; Ohio; Kentucky; and West Virginia. But cases have been identified in 34 states, the CDC said.

The CDC had said that there was “no evidence of a single, multistate” outbreak, The Hill reported, but on Tuesday said that the hundreds of cases in the region appeared to link to a common source. The source hasn’t been confirmed, said Dr. Gwen Biggerstaff, deputy director of the CDC’s Foodbourne, Waterbourne and Environmental Diseases division. Biggerstaff hosted a call with reporters on Tuesday.

Michigan health officials have reported more than 3,700 cases of the illness and believe lettuce or salad greens could be the culprit. Dr. Donald Prater, FDA acting deputy commissioner for food, said the agency is continuing to investigate “multiple produce items, including lettuce.”

As of Wednesday, the CDC has gotten reports of at least 1,645 lab-confirmed cases of domestically acquired cyclospora since May 1, which is the start of the typical cyclosporiasis season. Biggerstaff said the agency is aware of more than 5,100 additional reports that require further analysis.

Cyclosporiasis is an intestinal illness caused by a microscopic parasite called cyclospora. It’s spread when people consume food or water contaminated with the parasite, typically fresh produce that has not been adequately washed or cooked, Biggerstaff said.

Symptoms include watery diarrhea — sometimes frequent — along with cramping, nausea, loss of appetite, fatigue and low-grade fever. Symptoms generally begin about one to two weeks after exposure, she said.

“I want to underscore an important point: This illness does not spread directly from person to person. The source of this outbreak is what we eat or drink — not casual contact with someone who’s sick,” Biggerstaff said on the call.

Biggerstaff emphasized that “the true number of infections is almost certainly higher than what’s reflected in these numbers, because many people with mild illness recover without seeking medical care and are never tested.”

Cyclospora can only be diagnosed by stool sample, the CDC said. The agency urged medical professionals to “specifically request cyclospora laboratory testing on stool specimens” to be sure of the diagnosis.

In the past, cyclosporiasis was associated with travel abroad, but in the past few years has been tied to domestic and imported produce.

The CDC said the reason cyclosporiasis investigations take longer is because people show symptoms up to two weeks after exposure to the parasite. Also, there is no whole genome sequencing of the parasite, which makes it more difficult to match the food product to the people made sick by it.

Instead, labs use genotyping, which is not as fast or precise, Biggerstaff said. In some cases, the source may never be identified.

Thousands of Argentina fans held a banderazo in the streets of Atlanta ahead of their World Cup semi-final against England. The fan tradition transforms public spaces into celebrations before a major match.

July 15 (UPI) — The U.S Mint will begin producing $1 gold-colored coins featuring President Donald Trump‘s face, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant announced Wednesday.

The coins are meant to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary. They will have Trump’s face and “In God We Trust” on one side, with “Liberty” and “1776-2026” on the border. The reverse side features the presidential seal with “250” on a shield.

Bessent said on social media that the coin honors “the enduring legacy of liberty and a lasting symbol of patriotism.”

“Featuring President Trump, it celebrates the strength of American values, and the promise of a nation dedicated to preserving freedom for all,” he said.

Federal laws generally prevent the image of a living president from appearing on currency. U.S. code says that “[o]nly the portrait of a deceased individual may appear on United States currency and securities.”

In addition, a 1866 law prohibits living people on paper currency, Politico reported. The 2007 Presidential Coin program included the rule that no living president or those who’d died in the past two years could be featured.

U.S. Congress passed a law in 2020 that gave the Treasury Department the power to mint 2026 coins with designs “emblematic of the U.S. semiquincentennial.” That law says that no person living or dead can be on the reverse side of thecoin.

Bessant has said the design is legal, The Washington Post reported. Megan Sullivan, acting chief of the U.S. Mint office of design management, said in January that “the legal research has been done both at the Mint and up into Treasury, and they have determined that [the proposed coin design] does not violate any laws.”

This is not the first design for the coin. An earlier proposal showed Trump standing with a clenched fist in front of an American flag with the words, “Fight Fight Fight” above him.

The Treasury said there is no actual gold in the coin, which will be available for purchase in the fall.

This is not Trump’s first attempt to have his image on currency. There have been proposals for a $250 bill and 24-karat gold coins featuring the president, and his signature has been added to $100 bills.

July 15 (UPI) — Spain and Gibraltar celebrated just after midnight Wednesday as border checkpoints and walls came down between the two nations after a treaty was signed in Brussels.

At midnight, the police stepped down from their border posts to open the territory, and thousands rushed across the border in both directions, celebrating the new crossing and Spain’s World Cup win against France in the semifinals, The Telegraph reported.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited the Spanish border town of La Línea de la Concepción on Wednesday to see the removal of the last section of a border fence. He said an “open wound” was finally closed, The Guardian reported.

“The Gibraltar fence — the last wall in continental Europe — has fallen so that we can take a step towards a new era of coexistence and shared prosperity,” Sánchez said. “This is a deal that has the wellbeing of the 300,000 Andalucíans in the Campo de Gibraltar at its heart and which opens a new phase in the relationship between Spain and the U.K.”

Gibraltar, a British overseas territory, has been British sovereign land since the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. When Britain left the European Union in January 2020, travel between Spain and Gibraltar was made more complicated.

While Gibraltar has about 40,000 residents, about 15,000 Spaniards cross into it daily for work, causing long daily lines at the checkpoint where they were fingerprinted and had their passports scanned.

Now, British citizens flying or sailing into Gibraltar will have to be fingerprinted and have their passports checked as Spain takes over EU entrance controls, which is causing some consternation among conservative Brits.

Though Spain still wants full control of Gibraltar, this compromise allows for more cooperation between the two.

Gibraltarian Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said the treaty is a new beginning.

“The frontier that has so often divided and constrained our region will now become a place of cooperation and shared opportunity,” he said. “The daily lives of thousands of people will be made easier, our economy will be given greater certainty and Gibraltar’s future will rest on firm legal foundations.

“We have reached this moment without surrendering who we are, without compromising our British sovereignty and without weakening the constitutional protections that define Gibraltar,” Picardo added.

Not everyone was celebrating.

Iain Duncan Smith, former British conservative leader, expressed disappointment.

“This arrangement will in future years be used as a model for weak negotiation. It will be a significant step in the stripping out of hundreds of years of British sovereignty,” Smith said.

Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing Reform UK, told The Telegraph, “This is a dreadful surrender and the opening of the border means that Gibraltar will never be the same.”

Picardo said the treaty was “among the most significant days in Gibraltar’s modern history.”

“After years of uncertainty, endurance and determined negotiation, we have secured an international treaty that protects Gibraltar, safeguards our sovereignty and opens the way to a more secure and prosperous future,” he said.

“The frontier that has so often divided and constrained our region will now become a place of cooperation and shared opportunity. The daily lives of thousands of people will be made easier, our economy will be given greater certainty and Gibraltar’s future will rest on firm legal foundations.”

July 15 (UPI) — Argentina has strengthened cooperation with U.S. authorities to implement its stadium access control system for the World Cup semifinal match Wednesday against England in Atlanta.

The system allows officials to identify people banned from attending soccer matches, including members of violent fan groups and thousands of child support debtors.

The Ministry of National Security is coordinating a joint operation with U.S. and British agencies to strengthen security inside and outside Atlanta Stadium, where the match was to be played.

The operation includes meetings with the FBI and Georgia State Police, as well as an increased presence of law enforcement officers and private security personnel at stadium entrances, the ministry said.

National Security Secretary Alejandra Monteoliva said in a video posted on X that Argentina’s National Registry of Individuals Banned from Stadiums has already been made available to U.S. authorities to assist with the operation.

“Soccer belongs to families and true fans, and we do not want violent people representing us anywhere in the world,” she said.

The Argentine government previously provided U.S. authorities with a database that contains the names of some 35,000 people subject to stadium bans. The information-sharing system allows U.S. authorities to identify those prohibited from entering soccer stadiums in Argentina, although the final decision on entry into the United States stadiums to matches rests exclusively with U.S. authorities.

The operation also incorporates the “Alerta Halcón” system, which works alongside the National Directorate of Migration and detects when a person subject to a stadium ban leaves Argentina. That information is transmitted in real time to Argentine officials in the United States, who share it with local authorities for case-by-case evaluation.

The mechanism is part of the Tribuna Segura program, created by the Argentine government in 2016 to prevent people considered a security risk because of previous violence at sporting events from entering stadiums.

The registry primarily includes members of barras bravas, the term used in Argentina for organized soccer supporter groups historically associated with violence inside and outside stadiums.

The system operates through a national database that is checked whenever a spectator presents an identity document to enter a stadium. If the individual is listed as subject to an active restriction, entry is automatically denied.

In May, the national government expanded the scope of Tribuna Segura by incorporating information from child support debtor registries in Buenos Aires and 13 provinces as part of an agreement to extend restrictions already in force in different jurisdictions, the Buenos Aires Herald reported.

Also, about 13,000 of the roughly 35,000 people in the database are parents who failed to meet child support obligations.

Authorities said, however, that not every late payment results in a stadium ban. To be added to the registry, a person must go through judicial proceedings for failing to comply with child support obligations and become subject to measures ordered by a judge, which may include a ban on attending sporting events.

The Argentine government said the inclusion of child support debtors is intended to encourage compliance with obligations toward children by restricting access to recreational activities.

According to the latest report by UNICEF Argentina, 56% of mothers whose children do not live with their father receive no child support, and that figure rises to 68% when those who receive irregular payments are included.

“Failure to pay child support constitutes a violation of children’s rights, with tangible effects on their living conditions,” Carolina Aulicino, social policy officer at UNICEF Argentina, said while presenting the report.

Experts cited by the Buenos Aires Herald said the measure has strong symbolic value because it seeks to encourage debtors to regularize their situation, although they argued it should be accompanied by reforms to speed up access to the courts and facilitate the effective collection of child support payments.

Nothing much stays with me from the first days of Twitter, which was publicly launched 20 years ago, on July 15, 2006.

I had discovered the internet back in 1995 and early on, I started thinking about how to get my voice heard by the world. I created a couple of websites through Angelfire and 8m, but there was no real ecosystem to nurture the idea. It’s like opening a shop to sell a certain product in a remote area – somewhere nobody really knows, at a time when there’s no interest – compared with opening that same shop in a mall, or on a street full of other vendors.

MySpace was another opening, but the idea was not yet ripe. Facebook came with a spark – and then we got Twitter.

“It’s like having your own breaking news platform, you’ll set your own agenda,” I remember one of my colleagues at the BBC, where I used to work, saying at the time.

It didn’t take me long to sign up. I cannot recall whether I tweeted immediately or not, yet what happened afterwards helped frame my future as an international journalist.

Twitter’s first defining moment for me was 2009’s Green Revolution in Iran, when I and others followed how the platform shaped the discourse in a way that differed completely from traditional media. We were not new to citizen journalism; a few years earlier, Salam Pax emerged as the first ever famous war blogger, presenting his distinctive view of the US-led invasion of Iraq through his individual blog. A few years later, tens of thousands of Salams have appeared – and I’m one of them.

Going through my early timeline, I see that I was tweeting randomly – an earthquake in Japan, an election in Lebanon, an explosion in Somalia, and so on. Then came the Arab Spring. Just as with many in the world, this was the moment that shaped my Twitter presence, and as I got involved in the coverage, I became well-positioned to post and attract followers.

My coverage of the Libyan revolution in March 2011 introduced me to many people and gave me a better understanding of what was happening. I was based in Sallum, a village on the Egyptian side of the Libyan border, without a connection of my own. I fed a colleague back in Cairo a sentence at a time over a crackling Thuraya satellite phone, and he typed my words into the account that I could not reach. Its password lived on my friend’s head until days later, when I finally got my hands on a satellite dish.

Trips to Libya, Egypt, Syria, Somalia – all of it made Twitter part and parcel of my journalistic journey, and it also helped me build a parallel path writing for international outlets including Al-Monitor and The Sunday Times.

Yet still, there was something else that changed my direction. Until 2013, I was a journalist covering stories without specialisation – I used to report from Iran, like I do today, yet it was not my career the way it currently is. But then I became a bureau chief in Tehran and my knowledge began growing – and here, Twitter gave me another layer, widening my network day after day.

Personally, that specialisation gave the platform its finest hour for me. I broke developments out of Iran’s nuclear talks with world powers before the news agencies had finished their first draft, filing in Arabic and English within minutes of each other and announcing the agreement itself while other newsrooms were still working on their bulletins.

The war against ISIL (ISIS) followed, then a January 2020 morning near Baghdad airport when my sources told me the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, and the deputy chief of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, were in a convoy hit by a US air strike – and I was among the first to say so.

Twitter was never only a wire service for other people’s wars. I’ve “met” heads of state and celebrities on this platform – and for a moment we felt equals. I have made my scoops there, and I have made my hugest gaffes there, too. You act and you interact and you see the result immediately, backlash or praise. It’s like a daily journal, one that outlives you. I know of many, some friends, some colleagues, some people I only happened to follow, who left our world while their accounts are still there – for us, and for me – to return to for the memory or to get a piece of information.

It was also where, on the 100th anniversary of World War I, that I told the story of my great-grandfather, Ali Hashem, who went to the war and never returned; and of my grandfather Hussein, who was three when his father was summoned to the Ottoman army and never saw him again.

It was where colleagues at Al Jazeera, stationed in the north of Palestine, went looking for my family’s village on my behalf, for a cemetery nearly in ruins, for a great-grandmother’s grave that has never been found.

It became, eventually, the subject of my own academic work too, a master’s thesis on Twiplomacy, examining how a platform built for gossip and jokes quietly rewired the choreography of nations, with Iran’s nuclear diplomacy as my case study.

In the summer of 2023 – sensing where things were headed, as new owner Elon Musk decided to change Twitter’s name to X, and to tragically, if I may so, kill the famous and lovely blue bird that accompanied the journey many made with the platform, including myself – I posted five words.

“Someone buy Twitter and save the bird.” Alas, nobody did, and the bird disappeared from the icon, and the name went with it, replaced by a single letter that still sits wrong in my mouth. In Arabic or in English, the word that comes out of me, though, is still Twitter.

United States President Donald Trump is scheduled to address a defence summit at the US Army War College on Wednesday, where he is expected to laud US investments in its armed forces that he has argued have helped add a new edge to history’s most powerful military.

But his speech comes at a time when the US’s war on Iran has significantly depleted the US military’s weapons stockpile.

The summit, which will be held in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, comes as the US has re-ignited attacks on Iran in the past week, and as Trump has threatened to continue a war that, according to recent US polls, is highly unpopular among Americans facing high costs of living.

The US has expended half of at least four of its most critical munitions since its war on Iran began on February 28, and has racked up billions of dollars in weapons expenses, analysis shows.

Replenishing low stockpiles could take anywhere between several months and several years. Analysts warn that a shrinking arsenal could put the US in a less formidable position in a potential future conflict – particularly against China.

Here’s what we know about the US weapons inventory:

What’s happening with the US-Iran war?

Following an April ceasefire between the US and Iran, and the subsequent signing of a memorandum of understanding in June, the conflict kicked off again after the US Central Command launched heavy waves of attacks on Iran’s military sites last Wednesday, saying it was aiming to degrade Tehran’s military capabilities. Huge, hourlong attacks have continued for four nights since Sunday, including on railway tracks and bridges.

Both sides traded low-intensity attacks throughout the ceasefire period. However, the US escalated air attacks last week after Iran fired on three commercial ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz – because those vessels had used a shipping route not approved by Tehran.

Each blames the other for violating the ceasefire, and at last week’s NATO leaders’ summit, Trump declared the pact with Iran over, although he said American negotiators could continue talks. Washington has also reinstated a naval blockade on Iran-linked ships trying to transit the waterway and has re-imposed sanctions on Iran.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has responded with retaliatory attacks on US military assets in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait.

More than a dozen people have been killed in Iran since the new wave of US attacks, including civilians.

“We’re going to knock out all their power plants. We’re going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate,” Trump threatened in a Fox News interview that aired on Tuesday.

Attacking civilian infrastructure is a violation of international law.

Does the US have enough weapons to keep attacking Iran?

Washington’s supplies are running low but have not reached a critical level, according to analysis of the US weapons inventory by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think tank.

In the 39 days of conflict between the start of the US-Iran war in February and the ceasefire in April, the US hit more than 13,000 targets, focusing mainly on using seven of its most powerful missiles and air defence systems: Tomahawk missiles, Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM), Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM), Standard Missile-3 (SM-3), Standard Missile-6 (SM-6), Terminal High Altitude Area Defenses (THAAD) and Patriots.

For at least four of the munitions, Washington likely expended more than half of its available stockpiles, although many lower-grade alternatives are still in stock, according to CSIS. Government data on weapons inventory is classified.

Here’s how the munitions were used:

• Tomahawks – The US had about 3,000 of the long-range missiles that are fired from sea at ground targets. It likely used up more than 1,000 in the war on Iran.
• JASSM – About 4,000 of these stealthy, air-launched long-range missiles were in the US inventory before the war. About 1,100 were used in the war on Iran.
• PrSM – Supplies of the newly delivered, ground-launched long-range missiles were already low to start with, with deliveries since 2023 amounting to a total of 90. An estimated 40-70 were used in the war. One US military official claimed that the “entire” inventory had been expended.
• SM- 3 – The most expensive weapon per unit at $28m, these ship-launched ballistic missile interceptors numbered about 410 before the war. The US has used between 130 and 250 of these in the war on Iran.
• SM-6 – Also ship-launched, this missile is mainly used to intercept aircraft and cruise missiles. The US had about 1,160 stockpiled. An estimated 190- 370 have been expended in the Iran war.
• THAAD – The US had about 360 of the costly anti-ballistic missile systems by April, and between 190 and 290 were used in the war. The US has a total of 8 THAAD units or “batteries” consisting of launchers, interceptors, and radar systems.
• Patriot – An estimated 2,330 Patriots were in stock before the war, but between 1,060 and 1,430 have been expended. Some older versions may also likely be available – about 400 of them.

What does this mean?

Analysts from CSIS say that while the US may have enough to continue hitting Iran in the near-term war, it has reduced its stockpiles so significantly that it may not have enough for potential future wars, especially against a formidable rival like China.

Replenishing high-capability and costly weapons like the ones the US has used in Iran will likely take several years.

Trump and senior administration officials have publicly maintained that the US has an “unlimited” supply of weapons as the US-Iran war has raged on.

However, in March, Trump said administration officials met with the heads of US manufacturers, including Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, BAE Systems, Honeywell Aerospace, L3Harris Missile Solutions, and Northrop Grumman. He said all promised to “quadruple” production and that increased manufacturing was already under way.

Subsequently, in June, Trump signed the Defense Production Act, an executive order compelling US weapons manufacturers to speed up production, citing existing conditions “which may pose a direct threat to the national defense or its preparedness programs”.

An order compelling private actors to ramp up production likely reflects timeline concerns within the Pentagon, analysts note.

In the short term, Washington is also unlikely to meet demands from its allies, and may not have the capacity to supply the THAADs and Patriots that Ukraine says are crucial in its war against Russia.

Already, supply orders have hit road bumps. Japan’s order of 400 Tomahawks from Raytheon was meant to be delivered between 2025 and 2027, but US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in May that two more years could be added to the schedule.

Meanwhile, Switzerland began negotiations with France, Israel and South Korea in June to buy another missile defence system after its 2022 order from Lockheed Martin and Raytheon continued to face delays.

How long will replenishing weapons take?

Hegseth said in May that it could take “months and years” to replenish the supplies, based on the weapons system.

Analysts reckon it could take the US between one and four years to get its most exquisite munitions stockpiles back to pre-Iran war levels, even as Trump has boasted that new weapons plants are being built around the US and production is being ramped up.

Trump’s administration is set to buy large amounts of advanced munitions in its proposed $1.5 trillion 2027 defence budget – a 44 percent increase from 2026’s defence budget.

According to CSIS, estimated timelines to replenish the seven critical munitions, based on existing production facilities, are:

• Tomahawk: Between 4- 5 years (207 will be delivered in 2026, while 785 have been requested for 2027).
• JASSM: 1 year (821 to be delivered in 2026 and 821 requested for 2027).
• PrSM:  8 months (70 to be delivered in 2026 and 1,134 requested for 2027).
• SM- 3:  3 years ( 52 to be delivered in 2026 and 214 requested for 2027).
• SM-6:  3 years (125 to be delivered in 2026, and 540 requested for 2027).
• THAAD: 3 to 3.5 years (92 to be delivered in 2026, and 857 requested for 2027).
• Patriot: 3 years (172 to be delivered in 2026, and 3202 requested for 2027).

July 15 (UPI) — Britain announced plans Wednesday for a midnight social media curfew for older teens aimed at preventing them from staying up late into the night on apps such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, with the new measures expected to take effect in Spring 2027.

Targeted at 16- and 17-year-olds and following on from a full social media ban for children younger than 16 announced in June, the package of measures calls for a 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. curfew to be set by default within the apps and that other “addictive features” such as autoplay and customized feeds be automatically disabled, the government said in a news release.

However, unlike the total ban for under-16s, restrictions on the older teens will be discretionary, meaning they will be able to override them, or turn features back on again, at will.

The Science, Technology and Innovation Department said the move was designed to ease young people’s transition into the online world and ensure there was “no cliff edge” when the full social media restrictions they will have been under, in some cases for their entire life, were suddenly lifted when they turn 16.

It said the protections, which came out of a nationwide pilot that found they improved sleep and focus, struck a balance between protecting older teenagers while giving them age-appropriate independence to change the settings, trusting that they will make good choices.

“Our consultation provided a clear message from parents and teenagers alike — even as young people gain greater independence at 16, they should still be protected from the most addictive online features that can have a harmful impact on their wellbeing,” said Technology Secretary Liz Kendall.

“These measures will be crucial in helping young people get the sleep they need, focus on school and college, and spend more quality time with family and friends, all of which are fundamental to building a happy, healthy and fulfilling adult life,” she added.

The first set of regulations will be introduced to parliament by the end of this year, with measures expected to come into force in spring 2027, timed to coincide with when the social media ban for children younger than 16 comes into force.

The opposition Conservative Party’s shadow education secretary Laura Trott described the move as “absurd.”

“Either Labour think 16 & 17 year olds should be on social media or they don’t, but curfews they can switch off won’t achieve anything. They should stop tinkering and get on with getting u16s off social media,” she wrote in a post on X.

Ellen Roome, who alleges her 14-year-old son lost his life in an online dare that went awry in 2022, was also highly critical.

“I just think it’s not good enough really just to have a product you can switch off; it’s a bit like offering a 17-year-old a bottle of alcohol and then moving it slightly out of arm’s reach, they can just drag it back in, I really wish they could go stronger and harder on these things,” she told the BBC.

Kendall said measures were also in the pipeline to help children younger than 18 use AI chatbots safely, including regular breaks, and tackling bots or apps pushing “dangerous, misleading or unverified” mental health tips with ministers open to all solutions, including banning chatbots that put children at serious risk.

Wednesday’s development follows announcements in June giving Apple, Google and other tech firms three months to stop explicit images from being shot, shared or viewed on children’s mobile phones and in April on planned legislation to ban children from using smartphones in schools in England.

With his father – former big leaguer Clay Bellinger – in attendance, the New York Yankees player earned MVP honours.

Cody Bellinger had a night for the ages.

His young daughters sat next to him and his father watched from the back of the room as he spoke about winning Major League Baseball’s (MLB) All-Star Game’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.

“Just being able to hang out and watching him win an award, it’s pretty cool,” former Yankee Clay Bellinger said after his son’s two-run single in the first inning off Cristopher Sanchez started the American League to a 4-0 win on Tuesday night.

Cody re-signed with the Yankees last winter for a $162.5m, five-year deal and he has been a key part of the offence. He was hitting .280 through mid-June before a slump dropped his average to .254 heading into the All-Star break. Bellinger hasn’t homered in a month.

“Baseball is the craziest game in the world. It really is. Sometimes it’s unexplainable,” he said. “Going into the break, I actually was feeling pretty good. I felt like I was on the right track.”

Clay Bellinger was an outfielder and infielder for the Yankees from 1999 to 2001, winning a pair of World Series titles, and then finished his big league career with the Anaheim Angels in 2002.

Cody was five years old when his father won his second World Series title. Clay never imagined the player Cody would turn into.

“I knew he was good, but not this good,” Clay said.

‘Took a long time to get back’

Cody became the fourth Yankees player to win the All-Star Game MVP after Derek Jeter (2000), Mariano Rivera (2013) and Giancarlo Stanton (2022).

“Wearing this jersey – I feel proud wearing it,” he said. “It comes with a lot.”

Bellinger, who turned 31 on Monday, was a fourth-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2013 and made the All-Star team in 2017, when he was voted NL Rookie of the Year. He hit 47 homers in 2019 and was voted the NL MVP after making his second All-Star team.

“I was, like, ‘Oh, I’ll be here every year,’” he said. “It took a long time to get back. It’s such a competitive league.”

He followed with three straight subpar seasons, missing time in 2021 because of calf, hamstring and rib injuries. He was cut after the 2022 season and signed a $17.5m, one-year deal with the Cubs.

Bellinger hit a career-high .307 with 29 homers and 97 RBIs, became a free agent again and signed an $80m, three-year contract with the Cubs. After a subpar, injury-slowed season, he was dealt to the Yankees.

He tested the free-agent market, then decided to stay in pinstripes.

“He loves it there,” Clay said. “He loves the teammates, loves the city, loves playing in Yankee Stadium. So, it was kind of a no-brainer.”

Daughters Caiden and Cy accompanied Cody onto the field along with his wife, Chase, for photos after he received his award from Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt.

“You always hope for your kids to do well, whether or not it’s playing baseball or doing whatever they like to do,” Clay said. “He’s been pretty good at it for quite a long time.”

An international heritage body has recommended that Japan take further steps to adequately reflect the “whole history” of the Sado mine World Heritage site, linked to the wartime mobilization of Korean laborers, saying Tokyo’s related efforts remain insufficient.

The recommendation was included in a draft decision released Wednesday by UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee following its review of a State of Conservation (SOC) report submitted by Japan late last year, according to Seoul’s foreign ministry.

When approving the inscription of the mine as a World Heritage site in July 2024, the committee recommended that Japan present the site’s “whole history” across all periods of mining activity.

South Korean foreign ministry officials said the “whole history” includes the period during which more than 1,500 Koreans were mobilized to work at the mine during Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. Once known for its gold production, the complex was later used to produce war supplies for the Japanese imperial army during World War II.

“The interpretation and presentation strategy of the whole history has shown some progress but remains to be fully developed,” the draft decision read.

“Further clarification is needed regarding how the interpretation and presentation strategy and facilities comprehensively address, at the site level, the whole history of the property throughout all periods of mining exploitation,” it noted.

The committee also recommended that Japan closely consult with relevant parties to improve its interpretation and exhibition strategy and ensure that the site’s whole history is fully presented, and submit a follow-up implementation report by December 2027.

The draft decision is scheduled to be discussed at the 48th committee session in the southeastern South Korean city of Busan next week. Unless objections are raised by member states, it is expected to be adopted by consensus.

“We view the decision as reflecting our consistent position that Japan’s implementation of the committee’s recommendations remains insufficient,” a foreign ministry official said.

“We will continue to work closely with the UNESCO Secretariat and relevant countries to ensure that Japan faithfully implements the committee’s decisions and the commitments it made at the time of the site’s inscription,” the official added.

Japan has held annual memorial ceremonies for workers at the mine as part of commitments made during the inscription process. South Korea, however, has declined to attend the Japan-hosted event for two consecutive years, noting the ceremony failed to adequately reflect the site’s whole history, including the forced mobilization of Korean laborers.

Seoul has instead held separate memorial services each year near the mine site with the bereaved family members of the forced laborers.

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At least three people have been killed and three others wounded in Russian strikes on Odesa, the city’s military administrator says.

Several people have been killed in Russian attacks on port infrastructure in Odesa and Mykolaiv, and Ukraine said it launched drone strikes on 20 Russian vessels as the warring sides escalated their battle over the Black Sea and key trade routes.

Odesa region Governor Oleh Kiper said on Wednesday that a “massive” Russian drone and missile attack on the southern region continued for a fifth day, with civilian, industrial and port infrastructure coming under attack.

At least three people were killed and three others wounded in the Russian strikes on Odesa, the city’s military administrator Serhiy Lysak said on Wednesday.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence confirmed the strikes on the Odesa and Chernomorsk ports, saying Russian forces targeted infrastructure facilities that it claims are used to store fuel and assemble drones.

Russia in recent days has stepped up attacks on Ukraine’s Black Sea ports in the Greater Odesa area, which handle much of the country’s grain and other cargo and are vital to its wartime economy.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has escalated its campaign to disrupt logistics for Russia’s forces in areas Moscow occupies in southern Ukraine and to isolate Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014.

Kyiv’s drone force commander Robert Brovdi said Ukraine hit 17 Russian oil tankers, two gas tankers and one tugboat in the Black Sea.

He claimed earlier this week that 116 Russian vessels had been “hunted down” over a nine-day period.

Moscow said on Tuesday that it was preparing to redirect exports following waves of attacks on Russian shipping in the Sea of Azov, while Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the Ukrainian attacks on shipping “terrorism”.

The attacks come as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Kyiv and said she would announce steps to deepen Ukraine-European Union defence integration.

“I will announce new initiatives to integrate our defence industries. So we can produce more, and faster,” she wrote on X, posting footage of her arrival in the Ukrainian capital.

July 15 (UPI) — The United States and Iran traded attacks Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning as their war over the Strait of Hormuz continued to spiral, with President Donald Trump renewing threats to target civilian infrastructure.

The two nations have been trading nearly nightly strikes since last week, when Iran struck commercial shipping transiting the vital energy route.

While the broader war began in late February with the United States seeking to dismantle Iran’s military and nuclear programs and encourage the overthrow of its government, the current chapter is centered on control of the Strait of Hormuz. Washington is fighting to restore freedom of navigation through the chokepoint, while Tehran is fighting to preserve its ability to restrict passage as leverage.

Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said in a statement Wednesday that more than 30 civilians were killed in southern Iran in the U.S. strikes.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps early Wednesday claimed to have hit U.S. military assets in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain, as U.S. Central Command said late Tuesday that it had completed a seven-hour wave of strikes, hitting Iranian naval capabilities, coastal defense systems and missile and drone sites near the Strait of Hormuz and elsewhere along Iran’s coast.

CENTCOM said the strikes were intended to “degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping and civilian crews” within the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM earlier said that in the last seven days, Iran attacked seven commercial ships, resulting in nearly a dozen civilian casualties. An Indian national was killed in a strike on a ship on Monday.

The IRGC said in separate statements carried by its official Sepah News that it had “destroyed” shelters housing F-15, F-16 and F-35 fighter jets at Al Azraq Air Base in Jordan; and “destroyed” a satellite communications center, missile and air defense radar, a Patriot air defense complex and logistical facilities at a U.S. base in Kuwait.

The Fars News Agency reported that at least one Iranian drone struck U.S. assets in Kuwait.

The extent of any of the damage was unknown.

The Kuwait Army said its air defenses were confronting drone attacks, and Jordan’s Armed Forces said it had intercepted and shot down three missiles launched from Iranian territory. Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior said sirens had been activated.

Trump earlier Tuesday told Fox News that the U.S. military was going to hit Iran “very hard tonight” and again on Wednesday and Thursday, with civilian targets to be struck next week, a potential violation of international humanitarian law.

“Next week comes the power plants. Next week comes the bridges,” he said. “We’re gonna knock out all their power plants. We’re going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate.”

Trump has, since his first administration, tried to coerce Iran to the negotiating table on a new agreement aimed at preventing Iran from securing a nuclear weapon. Last month, a fragile cease-fire was agreed to for the purpose of implementing a memorandum that could lead to ending the war, but the Strait of Hormuz has been a sticking point.

On Tuesday, the U.S. military reimposed a blockade of Iranian ports that Trump removed after the MOU was reached.

CENTCOM said its round of strikes against Iran began at 3 p.m. EDT Tuesday, an hour before the naval blockade resumed operations.