Iniaes

In U.S. criminal cases

Six people, including the suspected gunman, have been found dead after shootings at multiple locations in rural Missaukee County, Michigan. Investigators first found three dead and another person wounded at a home in Richland Township, then located two more victims elsewhere. Police later said 39-year-old Chad Hickman, initially identified as armed and dangerous, had also been found dead. A motive has not been released.

Luigi Mangione has pleaded guilty in federal court to stalking and fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel in 2024. Mangione could face life in prison and still faces separate New York state murder charges.

In the Middle East

Lebanon’s prime minister is calling for a clear timetable for an Israeli withdrawal, while Hezbollah has criticized Beirut’s approach, arguing that it exposes Lebanon’s army to pressure and risk from Israel.

In Yemen, Houthi ballistic missiles struck the government-held port of al-Makha, killing at least four people. The attack further strains the truce between the Houthis and Yemen’s government.

A new U.S. aircraft carrier is heading to the Middle East after problems were reported aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. The Lincoln has supported U.S. operations against Iran and spent more than 240 straight days at sea, a record-setting deployment.

In technology

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign say an electricity-controlled molecule recovered 89 percent of gold from electronic-waste leachate while sharply reducing the chemicals typically needed for metal separation. The method remains under study for industrial use but could eventually help recover gold and other critical metals from discarded electronics.

In federal court

Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to stalking resulting in death in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione admitted posing as an investor to learn details of a company conference, building a gun with a 3-D printer, and shooting Thompson in Manhattan on December 4, 2024. He was told he could face life in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for December 18.

At the Pentagon

President Trump has directed the Navy to plan for replacing electromagnetic launch and elevator systems on the future USS Doris Miller with older steam-based technology. The order could require a major redesign of the partly built Ford-class carrier, cost billions, and add staffing demands while the Navy has roughly 20,000 unfilled fleet positions. Replacing newer systems with more labor-intensive ones is an unusually expensive way to make a ship less modern.

In surveillance policy

Flock Safety is recommending that police agencies retain automated license plate reader data for seven days rather than 30. The company also proposes case-code requirements, tighter limits on data sharing between agencies, and automatic suspensions for suspicious searches, after allegations of misuse and erroneous alerts across its network of more than 120,000 cameras.

In nuclear power

TerraPower, the Bill Gates-backed nuclear company, has signed agreements with Hyundai Engineering & Construction and SK Innovation for its Natrium reactor program. Hyundai could become contractor for up to eight 345-megawatt reactors in the United States, while SK Innovation will explore a commercial Natrium project in South Korea. TerraPower says its Wyoming demonstration plant is expected to be finished in 2030.

In Houston

Houston police shot a gunman they say fired at passing vehicles on Wayside Drive, wounding three people, including a mother and daughter traveling in the same car. The suspect was hospitalized after being shot multiple times. No officers were injured. Police and the Texas Rangers are investigating; authorities have not released a motive or the suspect’s identity.

In federal court

Luigi Mangione is expected to plead guilty in connection with the 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mangione is scheduled to appear Friday.

At a daycare bus

The father of a 6-year-old nonverbal child with autism says she died after being left on a daycare bus Thursday. The summary does not include investigators' findings or details on whether anyone has been charged.

At Fort Hood

Officials have identified the two Army pilots killed in a helicopter crash at Fort Hood. They were 25 and 34 years old.

In the U.S. economy

U.S. retail sales fell 0.6 percent in July from June, the Commerce Department said, the largest monthly drop since May 2025. Separately, the White House says Chinese firms may be avoiding tariffs by routing goods through other countries, potentially costing the United States up to $26 billion a year.

In the Middle East

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the U.S. Navy can sustain an Iran blockade indefinitely, without giving a timeline or addressing reports of poor conditions for personnel. The Pentagon has ordered the USS George Washington from the Pacific to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East, after the Lincoln spent more than 260 consecutive days at sea supporting U.S. operations against Iran.

In Ukraine

Ukraine says it has retaken 26 settlements in the south and pushed into the Dnipropetrovsk region, even as Russian ballistic attacks intensify. Kyiv says it is retooling military operations while its forces face sustained bombardment.

In U.S. trade

Washington has accused China of routing goods through third countries to evade U.S. tariffs, alleging that some American partners are enabling the practice. The accusation comes alongside President Trump’s announcement of tariffs of up to 100 percent on imported drones and drone components, including goods from allied countries. Plans for a U.S.-China investment board also appear stalled ahead of next month’s leaders’ summit.

At the border

White House border czar Tom Homan is defending plans to equip ICE officers with gloves capable of delivering painful electric shocks, arguing they could reduce the use of deadly force. The operational rules and oversight remain unclear.

Wildfires across Europe

A wildfire in Greece forced people to evacuate by sea as blazes strained emergency crews from the Mediterranean to England’s Midlands. Repeated heatwaves are intensifying pressure on European authorities to prepare for longer, more demanding fire seasons.

In aviation

A preliminary NTSB report says an engine fan blade broke shortly after a Ryanair flight left Greece for Germany on July 10. Debris shattered a window, and a passenger was partly pulled outside the aircraft. Investigators are still examining the incident.

In Korea

North Korea has condemned upcoming U.S.-South Korean military drills as a rehearsal for war and warned of what it called an overwhelming-force response. The statement follows a familiar pattern of escalated rhetoric around major allied exercises.

Boxing

Boxer Prichard Colón has died following severe neurological injuries suffered in a 2015 fight. Colón underwent emergency surgery after the bout and spent 221 days in a coma, with lasting effects from the injury for the rest of his life.

In Greece

Hundreds of tourists were evacuated by boat from beaches on the Halkidiki peninsula as wildfires spread. Aircraft and helicopters dropped water on the blaze as authorities worked to contain it.

In Mali

Mali’s army says 82 soldiers captured in the country’s north have been released. They had been held by Tuareg armed groups and groups linked to al-Qaeda.

On Oman’s coast

An oil slick from the tanker Caroline Bezengi has reached Oman’s shoreline, weeks after the vessel ran aground. The tanker was carrying sanctioned Russian crude, adding an environmental consequence to an already politically radioactive cargo.

In Taiwan

Taiwan has conducted its first exercise simulating an internet blackout alongside regular air-raid drills. The test reflects concern that undersea cables, which carry much of the island’s communications, could be disrupted amid rising pressure from China.

In Nevada

A Clark County judge dismissed criminal charges against six Republicans accused of falsely declaring Donald Trump the winner of Nevada’s 2020 election. Judge Mary Kay Holthus ruled that prosecutors had not presented sufficient evidence, dealing a major setback to the state’s fake-elector case.

In Philadelphia schools

Kensington High School students and staff will temporarily relocate after asbestos concerns emerged during heating and cooling work. More than 400 students and 90 staff members are expected to use the vacant Austin-Meehan Middle School through at least the end of the year, while the district cleans the Kensington building and tests its air quality.

In U.S. criminal justice

Tennessee, Alabama, and Oklahoma carried out executions on Thursday, the first day in nearly 16 years that three people were put to death in the United States. Alabama executed a man convicted of murdering a 5-year-old girl.

DHS surveillance of immigration opponents

Newly disclosed records indicate the Department of Homeland Security sent undercover agents to community meetings in the Twin Cities and New York, infiltrated Signal chats, and obtained financial records from unions and left-leaning nonprofit groups. The operation targeted organizations and protesters opposing the administration's immigration crackdown in Minnesota.

Maternal health in Nepal

Health officials in Prempur Gonahi, in Nepal's Rautahat district, say five newborns have died within months of U.S. cuts to a maternal-health program. The village recorded no newborn deaths in 2024, but outreach workers stopped home visits to pregnant women after the funding cuts.

Epstein records

Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan pressed Justice Department lawyers over delays and apparent gaps in releases tied to Jeffrey Epstein. He cited missing FBI interview notes, foreign-language documents, and insufficient explanations for redactions, warning that failure to comply with court orders could bring contempt proceedings.

Colombia earthquake

Colombia's president says the death toll from this week's earthquake has risen above 260. Authorities are continuing their response as they assess the scale of the loss.

In Colombia

An earthquake has damaged hospitals in Cali, disrupting medical care as staff prioritize critically injured patients and rescue teams work through widespread destruction. Available reports do not yet provide a fuller accounting of casualties or the extent of the damage.

In England

A passenger train derailed near Lewes in East Sussex, injuring 11 people. Two were seriously hurt, while nine others sustained injuries in the Thursday incident.

In Poland

Prime Minister Donald Tusk says Polish authorities foiled a Russian-directed plot to kill a Ukrainian American citizen in Warsaw before it could be carried out. Tusk described it as the first known case of a Russia-linked operative allegedly targeting a U.S. citizen inside another NATO country.

In Washington

A federal judge has ordered the Justice Department to explain why it withheld handwritten FBI interview notes involving a woman who accused Donald Trump from its public Epstein-records release. The judge found that the department violated a new transparency law.

Separately, Senate Democrats are demanding information from the Trump administration about conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, following reports that sailors attempted suicide.

In the West Bank

Israeli forces have ordered Palestinian families to leave their homes in Qusra, in the occupied West Bank. Reports did not specify how many families were affected or give a reason for the evacuation order.

In the Iran war

The Washington Post reports that the U.S. military has lost at least 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones in the war with Iran, roughly a quarter of the fleet. At an estimated $30 million to $50 million each, the losses could exceed $1.3 billion.

In public health

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has reached a sixth province after a man died in Bas-Uele following travel from Haut-Uele. The World Health Organization says the outbreak is expanding rapidly, raising concern over transmission across a wider area.

In Europe

The UK recorded its hottest day of the year so far, with a provisional 38.1C at Kew Gardens in west London. The heat dome driving temperatures toward 40C elsewhere in Europe also coincides with a wildfire in a Greek tourist area, where people were evacuated from a beach and more than 100 firefighters were deployed.

In Rotterdam, an explosion at an oil facility in the Europoort industrial area killed one person and injured several others. Dutch authorities are investigating the blast at Europe’s largest port.

In U.S. tech and policing

Flock Safety says it will impose new privacy and data-retention limits on its automated license-plate reader network after reports that police officers improperly used the system. The company faces growing pressure over whether a tool built for policing can become a durable mass-surveillance network.

In U.S. justice

Oklahoma executed 70-year-old Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez for the 2003 murder of his common-law wife, Olimpia Fisher. His clemency appeal, citing remorse and lifelong mental illness, was denied. Two additional executions were scheduled elsewhere in the United States that day, an unusually concentrated use of the death penalty.

In the Middle East

Iran says it controls and manages the Strait of Hormuz, directly rejecting President Trump’s claim that the United States has total control of the strategic shipping route. Iranian officials also said they intend to keep the war going until Trump leaves office.

Separately, an official said intelligence that an Iranian cell had entered Turkey with a shoulder-fired missile led Trump to leave Ankara aboard a separate Air Force jet.

In Ukraine

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission says at least 437 civilians were killed and 2,610 injured in Ukraine in July, the highest monthly civilian death toll it has recorded since May 2022.

In Europe

Britain is expected to endure its fifth heatwave of the summer, while France has issued orange heat alerts across 80 departments. Repeated extreme temperatures are increasing pressure on public services and resources across both countries.

In the United States

Federal debt is nearing $40 trillion, with the Congressional Budget Office projecting a $1.887 trillion deficit this year and more than $2 trillion next year. Interest payments alone are expected to reach $1.1 trillion this year, while spending cuts have largely vanished from the election debate.

Trump’s executive order on vaccine scheduling does not alter current CDC recommendations. It seeks to restore changes previously made by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and later blocked by a federal judge. Health experts warn the move could erode confidence in vaccines and complicate decisions for families and pediatricians.