July 7, 2026 - Daily News Digest

On this Day: in 1798, As a result of the XYZ Affair, the US Congress rescinds the Treaty of Alliance with France sparking the "Quasi-War".

QOTD: “I have decided that the people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions,” Mr. Farage said in a statement that was broadcast on his party’s YouTube channel. “This will be a ‘people versus the establishment’ by-election,” he added, referring to a special parliamentary election.

US/TURKEY/MIL - Trump Says US May Sell Turkey F-35s and Pushes to Lift Sanctions
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-07/trump-says-us-will-consider-selling-turkey-f-35-fighter-jets?srnd=phx-politics

President Donald Trump gave another strong indication that he may soon try to reverse his own ban on Turkey buying F-35 fighter jets from the US, vowing to lift sanctions on the country.

“It’s a decision we’re going to make,” Trump said Tuesday, sitting alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before a meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara. “Certainly something we will consider.”

Trump said he wanted to erase sanctions on Turkey linked to its acquisition of a Russian air defense system, which spurred the president to bar the country from getting F-35s in the first place. Such a step would face pushback in the US and may even violate the law itself, which Trump signed.

The warming ties between Trump and Erdogan is playing out against the backdrop of a NATO summit more dominated by a fraying transatlantic relationship. Trump has said he was only attending because of Erdogan, becoming the first US president to visit Ankara in over a decade as the two countries pursue closer strategic ties on defense, energy, trade and security.

The potential sale of jet engines and fighter planes to Turkey has been a sticking point between the two capitals. Trump had previously suggested he is open to selling F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, which Ankara was banned from acquiring after it bought a Russian S-400 air defense system in 2017. The US president said last month that he was headed to Turkey with something that would make Erdogan “very happy.”

If Trump ultimately gets Erdogan the jets, it would be a major win for Turkey — and a major 180 for the US leader.

“You’ve been a great leader and a respected leader all over the world,” Trump said. “We’ve had right from the beginning good chemistry, we’ve had a very special relationship.”

MENA/ENERGY/SHIPPING - Three tankers hit in latest attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, British military says
https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-israel-war-oil-4732228810c9839a1258309ad43b8289

Three tankers were struck by projectiles Tuesday in the Strait of Hormuz, the British military said, in the latest attacks targeting vessels moving through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.

The new assaults threatened to choke off the flow of traffic in the strait just as countries hoped to restore normal shipping practices and ease the global economic strain of the war between the U.S. and Iran.

One of the tankers was traveling off the coast of Oman and caught fire, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center. Iranian state television said the liquefied natural gas tanker came under attack after ignoring warnings but did not directly claim the assault.

Two other tankers were also hit, including one that was struck by a drone. It was not immediately clear where they were at the time of the attacks. Both of those ships sustained some damage, but no one was injured, the maritime agency said. At least one of the vessels continued on its way, the maritime agency said.

RUSSIA/ENERGY - Motorists queue for fuel in Omsk after Ukrainian drones hit Russia's biggest refinery
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/motorists-queue-fuel-omsk-after-ukrainian-drones-hit-russias-biggest-refinery-2026-07-07/

Motorists are queuing for fuel in the Russian city of Omsk after Ukrainian drones hit the country's biggest oil refinery in one of their ​deepest attacks inside Russia since the start of the war.

Reuters video showed ‌a long but orderly line of vehicles waiting at a filling station on Monday night, a few hours after the attack. A Reuters witness in the Siberian city said there were more ​queues on Tuesday but waiting times were moderate — around 20 minutes — and ​fuel was still available.

On the social media network VKontakte, some people ⁠complained of needless panic-buying by drivers they called "morons".

Regional governor Vitaly Khotsenko said local ​authorities had discussed the fuel situation and all necessary measures were being taken to "normalise" ​logistics and deliveries to private filling stations.

Local media outlet NGS55.RU said one large private network had completely halted petrol sales to individual motorists.

Ukraine has intensified attacks on Russian energy infrastructure in the past ​months with the primary aim of crippling the source of funding for Moscow's war effort, ​leading to widespread fuel shortages felt by the Russian population.

FRANCE/SYRIA/SEC - Bomb attack rocks Damascus during Macron visit
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/explosions-heard-damascus-reasons-unknown-witness-says-2026-07-07/

Two bombs exploded on ​Tuesday near a hotel in Damascus where French President Emmanuel Macron spent the night, wounding 18 people and overshadowing the first visit to Syria by a European Union head ‌of state since Bashar al-Assad was toppled.

Macron, whose motorcade left the hotel shortly before the blasts, pressed ahead with his visit, meeting President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the presidential palace. His office said he had not heard the blasts.

The attack underlined lingering security challenges facing Sharaa, a former al Qaeda commander who has built close ties with Western states as he has sought to rebuild a country shattered by 13 years of civil war.

FRANCE READY TO HELP ON SECURITY, ECONOMY

The explosions struck a ​busy area of Damascus between the Tourism Ministry and the national museum across the street from the Four Seasons hotel, where a source in Macron's delegation and Syrian security sources said he ​had spent the night and had met civil society groups on Tuesday morning.

Posting on X just after the blasts, Macron said his visit continued and ⁠praised the "dignity, courage and determination" of Syrians he had met.

UKRAINE/MONACO/SEC - Search for Monaco Bomber Leads Ukraine to Body, Torture Chamber
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-07/search-for-monaco-bomber-body-leads-ukraine-to-torture-chamber

Ukrainian investigators found the body of the woman wanted over last week’s attack on a sanctioned Ukrainian businessman in Monaco, leading to more discoveries that include her contacts with a spy agent, crypto wires and a torture chamber.

The woman, identified as Anastasiia Berezovska, was found dead with gunshot wounds to the head, alongside spent pistol cartridge casings, Ukraine’s National Police said in a statement on its website on Tuesday. The discovery was first reported by news outlet Ukrainska Pravda, which said the body was recovered in the Kyiv region, citing people familiar.

Two men, one of them a former security officer and another a serving military intelligence officer, have been detained on suspicion of the woman’s murder, according to the statement.

Their apprehension was result of a joint operation by Ukraine’s police, the Prosecutor General’s office, and the country’s two main security agencies, Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and military intelligence (HUR), the police said.

Berezovska, a Ukrainian citizen who was 39, was sought by Monaco authorities and Interpol after an explosion in Monaco on June 29, which wounded Vadym Iermolaiev, a developer from Ukraine’s major city of Dnipro, as well as a woman and a child.

PAKISTAN/SEC - At least nine police officers killed in southwestern Pakistan attack
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/7/at-least-nine-police-officers-killed-in-southwestern-pakistan-attack

At least nine police officers have been killed in an attack on a police post at a dam project in southwestern Pakistan, police and local officials said.

“At least nine policemen, including two officers, were killed in the attack,” local police official Zahoor Ahmad said on Tuesday.

The assailants also abducted eight police officers, but all were later recovered by security forces, said Shahid Rind, a spokesman for the Balochistan government.

Paramilitary, police and counterterrorism personnel had “successfully carried out the joint clearance operations” against the fighters, killing 15 assailants, Rind said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Rind claimed that the Pakistan Taliban, known by the acronym TTP, were responsible, without providing evidence.

Pakistan has for years been battling armed groups targeting state forces, foreign investment and infrastructure projects in the mineral-rich province bordering Afghanistan and Iran.

The TPP, a separate movement from the Afghan Taliban, also maintains a strong presence in Balochistan and has fought for years to overthrow the government in Islamabad.

VENEZUELA - Death toll from Venezuela quakes rises to 3,535 as thousands remain displaced
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/death-toll-venezuela-quakes-rises-3535-thousands-remain-displaced-2026-07-06/

The death toll ‌from Venezuela's twin earthquakes has risen to 3,535, authorities said on Monday, while nearly 18,000 people remain homeless more than a week after the disaster struck the capital and nearby coastal areas.

Top lawmaker Jorge Rodriguez said the latest official tally showed 16,740 people injured and 17,854 left without housing after the June 24 ​quakes, which measured magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 and struck within seconds of each other.

The new figures underscore the scale of the ​disaster in and around Caracas and La Guaira, the coastal area hit hardest, as criticism mounts over the ⁠government's response.

Venezuela's social vice presidency said at least 12,800 people were staying in 80 shelters across Caracas and La Guaira.

FRANCE/POL - French court allows far-right leader Marine Le Pen to run for president with ankle tag — a condition she rejects
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/europe/france-far-right-marine-le-pen-presidential-election-macron-rcna353271

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen will be able to run in France’s presidential election next year, though her involvement remained in doubt Tuesday after a Paris appeals court upheld her conviction for misusing European Union funds.

The court shortened her ban on running for elected office, potentially reopening the path for her to run. However it ruled she must wear an electronic ankle tag for a year, making a campaign both logistically and politically difficult.

Le Pen herself appeared to rule out a run if she was forced to wear a tag. “If I’m allowed to be a candidate but am effectively prevented from campaigning freely, then you understand that wouldn’t be possible,” she said in an interview last week.

Le Pen, 57, who has run for president in France thrice, was banned from holding public office for five years in March last year after a court found her guilty of embezzling 1.4 million euros ($1.6 million) in European Parliament money to hire two high-ranking members of her party, then known as the National Front, as parliamentary assistants.

E.U. lawmakers are provided funds to cover expenses and the salaries of parliamentary assistants, but are not allowed to use them for party activities.

CANADA/GERMANY/MIL - Canada awards Germany major submarine contract

https://www.dw.com/en/canada-awards-germany-major-submarine-contract/a-77857391

Canada on Monday awarded German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) a multi-billion-euro contract for up to a dozen submarines, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said before leaving for the NATO summit in Turkey.

"As part of our commitments to defend Canada and support our allies, I am pleased to announce that Canada has selected TKMS as the preferred supplier for Canada’s Patrol Submarine Project," Carney said, while adding the purchase would be the "largest in Canadian history" without specifying an amount.

TKMS ended up beating out South Korean company Hanwha Ocean for the contract.

The announcement comes ahead of the NATO leaders summit in the Turkish capital of Ankara, where defense spending is expected to top the agenda.

Merz says deal sends strong transatlantic signal

ThyssenKrupp's model 212CD submarine was developed for the German and Norwegian navies, and is described as combining stealth with long range and flexibile weapons payloads.

The German shipbuilder said its submarines strengthen interoperability because many NATO allies already operate its conventionally powered vessels.

UK/POL - Farage Resigns and Says He Will Run Again in Special Election
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/07/07/world/nigel-farage-reform-uk

Nigel Farage, the leader of the populist right-wing Reform U.K. party, on Tuesday said he would resign his seat in Parliament and run for re-election in his Clacton seat to answer criticism of his financial affairs.

The unexpected move comes after recent revelations about gifts and financial support received by Mr. Farage, both from a cryptocurrency billionaire and from a political ally who was once convicted of fraud in the United States[…]

The success of Mr. Farage, whose anti-immigration party has led in opinion polls for more than a year, was instrumental in destabilizing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who announced his resignation last month.

But Mr. Farage has suffered several setbacks lately amid growing scrutiny of his financial affairs.

In May, it emerged that he had received an undisclosed gift of 5 million pounds (about $6.7 million) from a cryptocurrency billionaire, Christopher Harborne, a Briton who lives in Thailand.

US/NATO/MIL/TECH - Raytheon, NATO Move to Build Advanced AMRAAM Missile Components in Europe
https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/raytheon-nato-move-to-build-advanced-amraam-missile-components-in-europe-0ac9645e?mod=world_feat5_europe_pos1

Raytheon and a coalition of North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies signed an agreement to expand the AMRAAM missile program, clearing the way to build components of the advanced air-to-air missile on European soil for the first time.

The defense contractor, an RTX company, said following a NATO summit in Turkey that it is working in partnership with the U.S. government and multiple other NATO nations to conduct a series of feasibility studies that would qualify new suppliers in Europe for priority components of its advanced medium-range air-to-air missile.

By qualifying new secondary suppliers across Europe, the joint initiative aims to create a localized co-production footprint that can rapidly accelerate deliveries, bolster supply-chain resilience and replenish critical air-defense stockpiles heavily depleted by recent global conflicts.

“Expanding AMRAAM production capacity is essential to meeting the urgent air defense needs of the United States and our allies,” said Michael Duffey, the U.S. Defense Department’s undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, on Tuesday.

Raytheon said other nations are expected to join the collaboration as it looks to expand industrial capacity and meet growing global demand for the missiles.