July 6, 2026 - Daily News Digest

On this Day: in 1885, Louis Pasteur successfully tests his vaccine against rabies on Joseph Meister, a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog.

QOTD: “Today that we are here for the funeral for our leader, it’s a very tough day,” mourner Fatima Hassan said. “We are not here to say goodbye to him. We are here for revenge. And we will take revenge.”

CHINA/MIL/TECH - Chinese Nuclear Submarine Test-Launches Long-Range Missile
https://www.wsj.com/world/china/chinese-nuclear-submarine-test-launches-long-range-missile-49923882

China’s military said on Monday that it test-launched a long-range ballistic missile from a nuclear submarine, a rare display of advanced capabilities that set off concerns from U.S. allies across Asia and the Pacific.

The missile was fired at 12:01 p.m. Monday, carrying a simulated warhead to a designated area in the Pacific Ocean, said Senior Captain Wang Xuemeng, a spokesman for China’s navy, according to state media.

China sought to play down the event as unexceptional, even as some countries in the region were quick to criticize it. The test was “a routine part of China’s annual military training program,” Wang said. It was carried out in accordance with international law and “not directed against any specific country or target,” he added.

It wasn’t immediately clear where the test missile landed. Notices posted by Chinese aeronautical and maritime organizations indicate the missile was likely launched from Bohai Bay in northeastern China and flew to the South Pacific, said Tianran Xu, an analyst for the Open Nuclear Network, a Vienna-based research organization.

Before Monday’s test, China had placed at least three long-range tracking ships in the Western Pacific Ocean in waters between New Guinea and Guam, according to maritime monitoring databases, which would have given a good vantage of the flight path.

Penny Wong, Australia’s foreign minister, said China had informed Australia of the test, but added: “Australia has been clear with China that we regard this as destabilizing to the region.”

Wong also said Australia was concerned given the context of the test, which she described as a “rapid military buildup by China, which is lacking in the transparency and reassurance as to intent that the region expects.”

Wong spoke as she was traveling in Fiji, which on Monday signed a defense treaty with Australia. The deal represents a key step in Australian efforts to shore up security ties in a region where China has increased its influence.

Japan, which said it was alerted on Sunday that some space debris could fall into waters in its exclusive economic zone, also condemned the launch.

FRANCE/TURKEY/MIL/TECH/NATO - France softens stance on Turkey SAMP/T air defence sale, sources say
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/france-softens-stance-turkey-sampt-air-defence-sale-sources-say-2026-07-06/

France is open to a possible sale of the Franco-Italian SAMP/T air-defence system to Turkey after ​years of political opposition, according to five sources familiar with the matter, paving the way for more substantive talks with Ankara.

Four sources said the shift ‌in position followed talks between French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during a summit on June 25 ahead of this week's NATO summit in Turkey, although negotiations remain at an early stage.

"Before, there was a clear lack of openness, now there is openness," said one source familiar with the discussions.

The French presidency, when sent a number of questions for this article, said it did not confirm the information, pointing ​to "significant inaccuracies". It did not say what the inaccuracies were and declined to explain them.

France's foreign ministry declined to comment and referred to the French presidency, as did ​the defence ministry. Turkey's foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

IRAN/POL/SEC - Mourners throng funeral procession in Tehran for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
https://apnews.com/article/khamenei-funeral-supreme-leader-iran-us-war-july-6-2026-88b7f2e4902c18e2c1aa0eb91ad7bcfb

Mourners dressed in black flooded into Iran’s capital Monday for a procession as part of the funeral of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with throngs of people calling for the death of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Khamenei’s flag-draped coffin, and those of his family members who were killed Feb. 28 in an airstrike at the start of the war launched by Israel and the United States, sat aboard a truck decorated to resemble the ornamental grating that surrounds the shrine of an imam. The massive turnout was encouraged by Iran’s theocracy as a sign of strength, and it came as the Islamic Republic negotiates with the U.S. over a permanent end to the war.

Helicopter images aired on Iranian state television showed a massive crowd stretching from Tehran’s Azadi, or Freedom, Square for kilometers (miles) down a multilane street of the same name. The crowd appeared to be larger than the one that turned out for the 2020 procession for the late Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, which drew over 1 million people.

Authorities offered no immediate crowd count as the truck crept down the street. But people alongside the truck and elsewhere on the route carried placards, signs and banners calling for Trump’s death.

RUSSIA/UKRAINE/MIL - Russia Strike Exposes Ukraine Air Defense Gap Before NATO Summit
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-06/russian-strikes-kill-11-in-kyiv-on-the-eve-of-nato-summit

A deadly overnight attack on the eve of the NATO summit highlighted Kyiv’s growing vulnerability as shortages of US-made Patriot air defenses become acute and peace talks remain stalled.

Eleven people were killed and 60 injured in the overnight strikes on Kyiv that caused destruction in several districts of the city, damaging multiple residential buildings, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X Monday. Three others were killed in the surrounding capital region, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram.

Ukraine didn’t shoot down any of the 23 Iskander-M ballistic missiles or the six high-speed Zircon and Oniks missiles launched by Russia, according to a Ukrainian Air Force tally published on Telegram. It had more success with slower-flying cruise missiles.

“As long as Patriot missiles remain in our allies’ stockpiles, Russia is only encouraged to keep ‘vanquishing’ residential buildings,” Zelenskyy said. “The United States and Europe have enough strength to stop this terror.”

MORE: Ukraine Remade Air Defense, but Russia Has Changed Its Attacks
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/06/world/europe/ukraine-russia-patriot-air-defense.html

Ukrainian troops returned home from training in the United States and Germany three years ago adept at the standard way of using the Patriot system so critical to air defenses. But with limited supplies and nonstop Russian barrages, they quickly realized that they would need to rewrite the rules.

So the Ukrainians started to experiment.

For example, each battery, or firing unit, in the mobile surface-to-air Patriot defense system holds interceptors that are launched to stop ballistic missiles midair, before they crash onto the earth. The Ukrainians learned to often fire just one interceptor at incoming ballistic missiles instead of the usual two or more because of shortages of the expensive American-made weapons.

They also set the Patriots to manual mode to avoid automatic firing on targets like slow-moving, inexpensive drones that could be taken down by other means. They learned to shoot down drones with machine guns operated from rooftops, truck beds and helicopters and, more recently, with interceptor drones that can take down the Russian drones midflight.

Ukrainian forces largely reserve the Patriots for trying to stop only the fastest-moving ballistic missiles.

US/ITALY - Trump goads Italy's Meloni again on eve of NATO summit
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/trump-goads-italys-meloni-again-eve-nato-summit-2026-07-06/

Italy's defence minister stressed the importance of good transatlantic relations on Monday after U.S. President Donald ​Trump again goaded erstwhile ally Giorgia Meloni, the ‌Italian prime minister.

Meloni last month accused Trump of fabricating a story about her after the U.S. president told an Italian TV channel that ​she had "begged" him to take a photo with ​her at a G7 summit in France.

With the ⁠two leaders due to attend a NATO summit in Turkey ​this week, Trump appeared to reignite the dispute when he ​posted on Truth Social a picture of Meloni looking up at him with the caption "RESTRAINING ORDER NEEDED".

The Italian prime minister has yet ​to respond.

"I did not have any reaction (to the post), ​the fundamental thing is to maintain relations with a key ally ‌like ⁠the USA," Defence Minister Guido Crosetto told Italy's Sky TV.

"People come and go but relationships remain," he added.

Opposition politicians were less restrained.

"Trump is a despicable, cheap bully," Carlo Calenda, ​the leader ​of the ⁠small Azione party, wrote on X, expressing his support for Meloni.

Meloni was once a vocal ​supporter of Trump and was the only ​European ⁠leader to attend his inauguration in 2025.

However, she criticised him this year for lashing out at Pope Leo over his ⁠condemnation ​of the Iran conflict. That in ​turn prompted a blunt rebuke from the U.S. president, who accused her ​of lacking courage.

PHILIPPINES/POL - Another Philippine senator arrested for alleged large-scale corruption
https://apnews.com/article/arrested-philippine-senator-rodante-marcoleta-a448facaeaa308e237e78803367fd812

A Philippine senator was arrested Monday and charged under the country’s anti-corruption statutes, becoming the latest member of the upper legislative chamber to be arrested in more than a month over suspicion of large-scale graft.

Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, who denies committing any wrongdoing, was taken into police custody at the Sandiganbayan special anti-graft court in suburban Quezon city, where he went with his lawyers to question the charges and seek a delay in his arrest.

Marcoleta was accused of plunder, a charge under Philippine laws for illegally amassing huge amounts of money through a series of criminal acts. A plunder charge does not allow for bail.

“Let’s respect that,” Marcoleta, a 72-year-old lawyer, said outside the courtroom, referring to the court’s decision to order his arrest based on a preliminary finding on his case. He was later whisked away by police officers.

HAMAS/ISRAEL/US/POL - Hamas announces dissolution of Gaza governing body
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/6/hamas-announces-dissolution-of-gaza-governing-body

The Palestinian group Hamas has announced the dissolution of the body that has governed Gaza for nearly two decades, paving the way for a technocratic committee to implement civilian rule in the war-ravaged, besieged territory.

The move on Monday marks a significant political shift by Hamas, which has governed Gaza since its fighters seized control from rival Palestinian movement Fatah in 2007 after Hamas won legislative elections the previous year.

Since a United States-brokered “ceasefire” with Israel took effect in Gaza last October, the group has repeatedly said it is prepared to step aside from day-to-day governance, but the question of its disarmament remains unresolved.

Mohammed al-Farra, head of the government’s emergency committee, “has decided to submit his official resignation from his position and to announce the dissolution of the Government Emergency Committee, as a demonstration of the seriousness of these measures, in implementation of the agreed arrangements, and to facilitate the administrative transition process”, read a statement released by Gaza’s Government Media Office on Monday.

A Hamas official said the group wished for the swift entry of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), a body which is tasked with overseeing the future administration of Gaza under a US-backed plan to end Israel’s genocidal war on the Palestinian territory.