July 10, 2026 - Daily News Digest
On this day in 1890, Wyoming is admitted as the United State’s 44h state.
QotD: "I wanted to spit in the face of this government, to show that they cannot oppress us," Aleko Elisashvili, a founder of Georgia’s Citizens party, said during his final statement in court before receiving a 13 year sentence for terrorism.
US/POL/EXEC – Trump says he will not sign bipartisan housing bill.
https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-says-he-will-not-sign-bipartisan-housing-bill-2026-07-10/
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he would not sign a bipartisan housing affordability bill that he had called “a big yawn," but the measure can become law without his signature.
Trump said in a social media post that he was withholding his signature "in PROTEST over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT."
The housing bill was a rare of instance of bipartisan agreement on major legislation in the deeply divided Congress.
Among its main provisions are waiving or speeding up environmental reviews for home construction projects and placing a cap on the number of already constructed single-family homes that big Wall Street investors can own.
Trump abruptly canceled a June 24 signing ceremony for the bill to pressure Republicans into passing the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and create a national voter database using state records. Trump has long falsely claimed widespread fraud in U.S. elections.
US/UKR/PATRIOTS/MIL – US license could let Ukraine produce Patriot missiles, but it won’t be simple or quick.
https://apnews.com/article/us-ukraine-russia-patriot-license-trump-797bbb29923bcba14f8e8ba652e98499
U.S. President Donald Trump’s pledge to give Ukraine a license to produce Patriot air-defense systems could mark a major breakthrough for Kyiv, but experts and Ukrainian officials warn that turning the idea into real weapons would likely take years.
Speaking Wednesday alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Trump said the United States would allow Ukraine to make the U.S.-designed systems that Kyiv has long sought to shield its cities and infrastructure from Russian missiles and drones.
“We’ll give them the right to make Patriots. We’ll show them how to do it,” Trump said. “I think they can produce them pretty quickly.”
But the statement left open a crucial question: What exactly would Ukraine be allowed to produce?
“America has recognized Ukraine as a country that is ready to do this,” Zelenskyy told reporters Thursday, adding that Ukrainian and U.S. diplomats and defense officials must now work “without pauses” to finalize the licensing arrangements.
A production license would not automatically allow Ukraine to manufacture complete Patriot batteries — including launchers, radar systems, command posts and missiles — from scratch. It could instead cover narrower parts of the system, such as interceptor missiles, final assembly from imported component kits or production of selected components.
HORMUZ/UPDATE – Tanker traffic slows in Strait of Hormuz after US and Iran clashes.
Daily tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz appeared to have slowed on Friday, after the U.S. and Iran exchanged hostilities this week and renewed their arguments over who was in control of passage through the critical waterway.
The attacks renewed concerns about the recovery of global oil supplies and shipping, and highlighted the fragility of an interim truce while the U.S. and Iran hammer out a lasting agreement.
Oil prices eased on Friday but remained on track for weekly gains of 4-5% after the flare-up.
The International Energy Agency said global oil supply rose by 4.1 million bpd in June as shipping through the strait resumed, but remained 9.4 million bpd below pre-war levels.
GEORGIA/POL/LAW – Georgian opposition politician sentenced to 13 years on terrorism charge.
A Georgian opposition politician was sentenced to 13 years in prison on Friday after being convicted on a terrorism charge for attempting to set fire to a court building in the capital last year, the Interpress news agency reported.
The court said Aleko Elisashvili, a founder of the Citizens party, broke into Tbilisi City Court's chancellery building in November 2025 by smashing a window with a hammer, then poured gasoline inside and attempted to set the building alight.
Elisashvili, who pleaded not guilty and said he was protesting against a government crackdown on the opposition, was convicted of attempted terrorism.
Once among the most democratic and pro-Western of the successor states to emerge from the Soviet Union, Georgia has become increasingly authoritarian since the start of the war in Ukraine, government critics say.
"I wanted to spit in the face of this government, to show that they cannot oppress us," he was cited as saying by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Georgian service.
BRITAIN/POL – Andy Burnham poised to become Britain’s next PM after most Labour lawmakers support him.
Andy Burnham is on the brink of becoming Britain's next prime minister after an overwhelming show of support from Labour lawmakers left him all but certain to replace Keir Starmer.
Burnham said he had received nominations from 322 out of the 403 Labour members of parliament on the first day of nominations on Thursday, leaving him one short of ensuring he can be the only candidate.
The nominations for the Labour leadership close next Thursday. Burnham is expected to be formally anointed as Labour leader next Friday and will be officially named as prime minister on July 20.
Once Burnham reaches 323 nominations, no other candidate would be able to secure the backing of the 81 needed to enter the contest to replace Starmer.
MONACO/UKRAINE – Ukrainian court remands in custody two men accused of killing Monaco bomb attack suspect.
A Ukrainian court has remanded in custody two men accused of killing a woman suspected of carrying out a bomb attack in Monaco that seriously wounded a Ukrainian businessman, Ukraine's top prosecutor said.
The body of Anastasiia Berezovska, a 39-year-old Ukrainian citizen wanted by Interpol for the June 29 bomb attack, was found with gunshot wounds to the head and pistol cartridges nearby, Ukrainian authorities said on Tuesday.
The authorities said a serving officer in Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) and a former law enforcement officer had been detained on suspicion of killing Berezovska.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Prosecutor General's Office said the court in Kyiv had ordered the two suspects to be held in detention without bail.
Ukrainian media, citing court proceedings, said the HUR employee had retracted his confession, saying the other defendant had fired the shots and that he had confessed out of fear for his life.
Ukrainian-born property developer Vadym Yermolaiev, his partner and son were wounded in Monday's bomb attack, sources said.
UKR/RUS/MIL – Ukrainian drone strikes ignite fires at Russian oil sites.
https://www.dw.com/en/ukrainian-drone-strikes-ignite-fires-at-russian-oil-sites/a-77900682
Ukrainian drone attacks sparked fires at an oil refinery, fuel depots and a port in southern Russia, local officials said on Friday, forcing residents to evacuate affected areas.
The latest strikes have hit Russia's oil infrastructure after President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that the repeated attacks were causing fuel shortages across the country.
Officials said the Ilsky refinery in the Krasnodar region caught fire after drone debris fell across the surrounding Severskaya district, including into the courtyard of a private home.
The refinery, which can process around 138,000 barrels of oil a day, has been targeted several times before.
In the neighboring Rostov region, firefighters battled blazes at two fuel depots in the Azov district and at the Taganrog sea port, Governor Yury Slyusar said on Telegram.
The Kyiv Post newspaper said early reports suggested the fire was at Taganrog's Kurgannefteprodukt oil terminal, which unloads and loads petroleum products onto sea-going vessels.
ESPANA/MOTHER NATURE – One of Spain’s deadliest wildfires has killed at least 12 people, with 23 others missing.
https://apnews.com/article/spain-wildfire-almeria-760ecfff1316d56837888de4ab9efa21
One of Spain’s deadliest wildfires on record killed 12 people overnight into Friday, authorities said, as soaring temperatures grip much of the country.
Several victims of the fire in the southern province of Almeria, a popular holiday destination, were found inside burnt-out vehicles and were thought to have died while trying to flee the flames.
Eight people have been injured and a further 23 are unaccounted for, Andalusia’s regional leader Juan Manuel Moreno said. Some 150 firefighters and 220 soldiers from Spain’s military emergency unit were battling the blaze, which has consumed more than 3,200 hectares (7,900 acres) of forest and farmland.
Regional emergency authorities said four British nationals and other unspecified foreign nationals appeared to be among the dead.
CHINA/MIL – China retrieves booster in reusable rocket breakthrough.
https://www.dw.com/en/china-retrieves-booster-in-reusable-rocket-breakthrough/a-77904960
China on Friday successfully recovered the booster of an orbital-class rocket for the first time, marking a major advance in its push to develop reusable launch systems.
The Long March 10B lifted off from the Hainan commercial space launch site in southern China at 12:15 p.m. on Friday and placed a satellite into its designated orbit, state media reported.
Around six minutes after the booster separated from the rocket's upper stage, it descended vertically toward an offshore platform and was captured by a net-based retrieval system.
Unlike the rockets used by US companies SpaceX and Blue Origin, which land autonomously on deployable legs, the Long March 10B uses four hooks to catch a net suspended above the sea platform.
China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology expert Chen Muye said the approach simplifies the rocket's onboard structure, reduces its weight and could increase payload capacity.
CHINA/US/TECH/AI – Nobel-winning US chemist will move to China to lead AI institute.
Omar Yaghi, an immigrant to the United States who shared last year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry, has left his faculty post at the University of California, Berkeley, for one in China, where he will lead an institute using artificial intelligence to accelerate the discovery of new materials.
Dr. Yaghi’s move comes amid the Trump administration’s continuing disruptions of U.S. science funding and China’s efforts to woo international scientists with hefty budgets.
Last week, Tsinghua University in Beijing welcomed Dr. Yaghi in an appointment ceremony, calling him one of the world’s foremost chemists. The university said he saw his new post as an opportunity “not to slow down, not to repeat what has already been done, but to do science with more energy, more intensity, and more ambition than ever before.”
“China is increasing its investment in science overall, including chemistry,” said Alessandra Zimmermann, a budget analyst at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a scientific group based in Washington, D.C. The best measures of scientific accomplishment, she added, show that China “has been outperforming the U.S. in top chemistry papers.”
Comments (4)
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"Trump has long falsely claimed widespread fraud in U.S. elections." Absence of proof of fraud is not proof there is no fraud. The system is set up so that proving fraud is basically impossible. The central voter database would go a long way to help the situation. This would be especially true if the database included biometric identity information like fingerprints or retina scans. Signatures are not reliable (see autopen).
I only trust for profit corporate individuals like Apple with my biometric information Edwin, and I pay them a subscription fee for a reason. Asking me to trust a public institution like the Federal Government with my biometric information sounds insane. Who knows what they are going to do with that kinda thing.
I've read that we haven't really seen the increase in oil prices like would be expected with such a dramatic decrease in supply. Part of the reason is that prices were kept low by releasing supplies from the SPR. However, another reason for this is a dramatic decrease in demand. That decrease in demand could have much greater and far reaching effects on the economy than the price of oil alone. I would love to hear Peter discuss this.