July 13, 2026 - Daily News Digest

On this day: in 1977, 1977 – Somalia declares war on Ethiopia, starting the Ogaden War.

QOTD: “They have nothing; they’ve got nothing,” Trump said as he expressed frustration about the talks. “Everything was agreed to yesterday, and they leave the room and they call back and say, ‘We had to make a couple of changes.’ I said, ‘We’re not going to make changes.’”

“You know,” Trump added, “they’re professional negotiators.”

GIFT LINK: Japan Builds Intelligence Agency It Hasn’t Had Since World War II
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/13/world/asia/japan-intelligence-agency.html?unlocked_article_code=1.xVA.q3Gy.BmggPG54Jwve&smid=url-share

Japan is undertaking an ambitious effort to build a centralized intelligence agency for the first time since World War II, and it is turning to partners in the West for help.

Japanese leaders have privately approached partners such as the United States, Australia and Germany in recent months for advice on technology, staffing and priorities, according to interviews with officials from Japan and elsewhere. The conversations have not been previously reported.

On Sunday, The New York Times reported that dozens of Russian spies have moved to Japan in recent years, as the country became a key focus of the Kremlin’s effort to buy weapon components, ship them to Russia and evade sanctions. Foreign officials have warned Japan about this effort, but the country has been slow to respond.

Japan’s intelligence system has long been fragmented, with defense officials, diplomats, the police and others collecting and analyzing information without sharing intelligence across departments. That has left the country especially vulnerable to espionage and foreign interference, experts say.

[Longtime subscribers/readers of the digest might recall that Japan’s intelligence capabilities are… laughably inadequate. Have been for decades. A mix of a deeply insular perspective, an over-reliance on US capabilities, and some structural difficulties. (The Japanese do build great spy satellites, but in terms of HUMINT and good tradecraft they lag far behind their neighbors.) Even ROK has had better recent integration and work with the US and Five Eyes vis-à-vis information on North Korean aid for Russia in Ukraine. The Japanese usually have a semi-serious scandal involving leaked intelligence every couple of years. This is a necessary step but comes very late in the game, but as good a signal as any that the Japanese—or at least their Prime Minister—are ready to play ball. -mnno]

UKRAINE/EU/RUSSIA/MIL - Allies muster more defence aid as Ukraine battlefield momentum shifts
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/allies-muster-more-air-defence-aid-ukraine-battlefield-momentum-shifts-2026-07-13/

Western allies will seek to secure more air-defence commitments for Ukraine when they ​meet in Paris on Monday, as shortages have left it increasingly exposed to Russian ballistic missiles, despite recent shifts in momentum on ‌the battlefield.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will be joined by at least 25 leaders for a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing, part of broader efforts that include putting together a common position that could be taken to Russia, and security guarantees to support any eventual peace deal.

Monday's meeting comes days after a NATO summit that aimed to show transatlantic unity and ​long-term support for Ukraine.

Russia has stepped up strikes on Kyiv and the surrounding region in recent weeks, killing dozens. Officials said Russian missile and ​drone attacks across Ukraine on Saturday left eight dead and many more wounded.

"Today, the Russians have once again 'triumphed' over absolutely ⁠civilian targets," Zelenskiy said in a social media post after more attacks on Monday.

"The pressure on Russia must work. New sanctions against the aggressor. New packages of ​support for Ukraine, new projects-like our European anti-ballistic project FREYJA- everything must work."

ISRAEL/IRAN/POL/INSANE - Inside Israel’s Secret Operation to Cultivate Ahmadinejad
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/13/us/politics/israel-mahmoud-ahmadinejad-iran.html

In early 2024, the rector of a university in Budapest received a startling request from a top Hungarian government official.

The official told the rector, Professor Gergely Deli, that Ludovika University of Public Service should hold a climate change conference and extend an invitation to an unlikely guest: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the widely reviled former president of Iran.

Even more shocking was the reason. The official told Mr. Deli that the conference was merely a front for Mr. Ahmadinejad to have secret discussions in Budapest with intelligence operatives from Israel, Mr. Ahmadinejad’s avowed enemy.

Mr. Deli knew that the invitation could tarnish both his own reputation and that of the university. But, he said in an interview, he believed he might be playing a role in saving lives.

“You have two enemies, and if these enemies want to talk with each other, then it’s best to do what you can to make them talk,” he said.

Mr. Ahmadinejad’s 2024 visit to the university and a second one the following year were part of a yearslong Israeli effort to groom him as an intelligence asset who, when the time came, could be installed as Iran’s new leader, according to both American and Iranian officials familiar with the operation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive intelligence.

Recruiting Mr. Ahmadinejad was of such priority for Israel that the country’s then-spy chief David Barnea even traveled to the Hungarian capital in 2024 to meet with Mr. Ahmadinejad personally, according to former American officials. Soon afterward, they said, Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service, notified the C.I.A. that it had been in contact with Mr. Ahmadinejad.

QATAR - Former emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, dies at 74
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/former-emir-qatar-sheikh-hamad-bin-khalifa-al-thani-dies-74-2026-07-12/

Qatar's former emir, who revolutionised Qatar out of its Bedouin background to a ​regional powerhouse, has died at the age of 74, ‌the nation's Amiri Diwan, its top government body, said on Sunday.

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani ruled Qatar from 1995 ​to 2013, before abdicating to his son Sheikh ​Tamim, the current leader of the gas-rich Gulf ⁠country.

"The Amiri Diwan announced the death of HH the ​Father Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani on Sunday morning. ​May Allah have mercy on his soul and grant him the best reward for what he achieved for his homeland and ​nation," the Diwan said.

Sheikh Hamad had elevated Qatar's global ​profile through the development of the Al Jazeera television network, as ‌well ⁠as its successful bid to host the 2022 soccer World Cup tournament.

The U.S.-allied state is small, with more than 2.5 million people, but is the world's largest ​exporter of liquefied ​natural gas, ⁠a global investment powerhouse and heavy hitter in Middle East diplomacy and international media.

Sheikh ​Hamad handed power to his son, the ​then crown ⁠prince, in June 2013 in a rare abdication by a hereditary Gulf Arab ruler, to try to ensure a ⁠smooth ​succession. He himself had overthrown ​his father in a bloodless coup in 1995.

EUROPE/SUMMER - Europe recorded 10,000 excess deaths during late-June heatwave, data show
https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/europe-recorded-10000-excess-deaths-during-late-june-heatwave-data-show-2026-07-12/

European countries reported more than 10,000 excess deaths during the record-breaking heatwave that engulfed the west of the continent in late June, official data showed.

The vast majority — more ​than 9,000 — were among people aged 65 and above, according to data published by ‌EuroMOMO, a network backed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the World Health Organization.

Extreme heat can kill by causing heat stroke, or aggravating cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, with older people among the most ​vulnerable.

"To have this kind of excess at this time of year is unusual. It’s ​really high," Lasse Vestergaard, Chief Physician at Denmark's Statens Serum Institut, which hosts ⁠EuroMOMO, told Reuters.

"It is difficult to explain this high excess mortality by anything but the extreme ​heat," Vestergaard added.

Scientists have said the late-June heatwave would have been "virtually impossible" without human-caused climate change, ​which is making heatwaves more frequent and intense.

The data, pooled from national mortality statistics in 27 European countries, included excess deaths from all causes, not just heat-related ones, during the week of June 22 to 28, when ​the heatwave peaked in France, Spain, Britain and other countries.

EUROPE/RUSSIA/SEC - Russian Cyberattacks Stretching Back 15 Years Prompt European Sanctions
https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/russian-cyberattacks-stretching-back-15-years-prompt-european-sanctions-7fc51f60

European authorities sanctioned Russian intelligence units and hackers on Monday, accusing them of a 15-year campaign targeting governments and critical infrastructure across the continent.

The European Union and the U.K. said the sanctions would target Russian military intelligence officers, hackers and private companies that support the Kremlin’s cyberattacks. The authorities highlighted the role of the 16th Center of Russia’s Federal Security Service, one of Russia’s main cyber intelligence divisions, saying it was behind a failed attack on Poland’s power grid and many other disruptive operations.

“The Russian state is sinking to new lows in its attempts to undermine European security,” said U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.

The sanctions hit as members of the “coalition of the willing”—a group of mainly European nations that are backing Ukraine—is set to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris on Monday evening.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has intensified its efforts to spy on European governments and destabilize their economies, using a suite of operations from cyberwarfare to drone surveillance.

A flurry of drone activity near sensitive sites across central Europe and the Balkans over the past year was likely directed by the Kremlin, using its “shadow fleet” of oil tankers to launch and land the drones, analysts from the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Hans Seidel Foundation wrote in a report this month.

“The Kremlin’s success rests on a basic strategic insight: Europe’s air-defence architecture was designed to detect and defeat conventional air threats operating in a recognizable battlespace. It was not built for, by comparison, relatively low-cost [drones],” they wrote.

IRAN/US/MIL - U.S.-Iran airstrikes intensify as Tehran says deal is in ‘crisis phase’
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/07/13/airstrikes-intensify-between-us-iran/

The United States and Iran traded heavy airstrikes on Monday, continuing days of renewed bombing as the countries fight for control of the Strait of Hormuz. A tentative ceasefire has all but collapsed after failed talks over the weekend.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched missile and drone strikes at U.S. military bases in Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain and claimed to have successfully hit missile, drone and fuel facilities, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

The IRGC also “stopped two ships because they had switched off their tracking systems and taken an unauthorized route through the Strait of Hormuz,” the agency reported.

ran has claimed full control over the strait and on Sunday declared that it was closed — an assertion that the White House and the Pentagon denied. Now, the ongoing hostilities are casting doubt over the progress of the peace talks just days after senior U.S. officials said they hoped the Iranian side will keep the strait open for all commercial vessels, continue negotiations with Washington and acknowledge that they “screwed up” by attacking transiting ships.

The renewed hostilities over the narrow waterway, which is vital to global commerce, pushed Brent crude oil prices higher on Monday, to more than $78 per barrel.

When asked Monday morning on the “Fox & Friends” show to respond to Iran’s claim over the Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump reacted dismissively and said, “We’re taking over the strait.”

MORE: Trump Says US Will Be Reimbursed 20% Rate for Hormuz Traffic
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-13/trump-says-us-will-be-reimbursed-20-rate-for-hormuz-traffic

President Donald Trump said the US would reinstate its blockade of Iranian ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz and demanded a 20% reimbursement on all other cargo shipped through the waterway.

“The U.S.A. will be, from this point forward, known as “THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT,” but as such, and as a matter of FAIRNESS, will be reimbursed, at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped, for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World,” Trump said Monday on social media.

Trump said “the process and formation” of his plan “will begin immediately.” The White House did not immediately provide other details on Trump’s proposal, including how it would be administered or whether it had been communicated to US allies in the Gulf.

The comments intensify a spat between Tehran and Washington over whether the critical shipping corridor is open for traffic.

Oil prices extended gains to session highs on Trump’s comments. Both benchmarks rose about 5% to session highs, with Brent touching $80 a barrel again.

The Strait of Hormuz is a critical conduit for energy and other commodities, having provided passage for about a fifth of the world’s oil flows before the US and Israel began strikes on Iran in late February. Iran’s efforts to close the waterway during the war pushed up energy prices globally and created political blowback for Trump.

UK/SEC - UK police rearrest the suspect in Ann Widdecombe killing on terrorism suspicion
https://apnews.com/article/britain-widdecombe-murder-suspect-de024110706ac0615a69b221333b657f

The killing of former British politician Ann Widdecombe is being investigated as a terrorist act, police said Monday.

A 28-year-old man in custody on suspicion of murder was rearrested on suspicion of commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, Counter Terrorism Policing South East said.

Devon and Cornwall Police originally said the killing was not believed to be a terror-related crime and there was nothing to suggest it was politically motivated.

“We now have new information and evidence that means Counter Terrorism Policing is now leading the investigation,” head of National Counter Terrorism Policing, Laurence Taylor, said. “We are pursuing multiple lines of inquiry to establish the motivation for this attack.”

Widdecombe, 78, a former member of Parliament, was found dead last week in her isolated rural home in a southwest England village. Police did not disclose a cause of death, saying only that she had sustained “serious injuries.”

The death sent shock waves through British politics, where Widdecombe had been a prominent voice for decades, known for her robust personality and socially conservative views opposing abortion and the expansion of LGBTQ+ rights.

The suspect, who has not been named because he hasn’t been charged, was arrested Saturday in South Yorkshire county in northern England, more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) from the village of Haytor on the edge of Dartmoor National Park, where Widdecombe was found dead Thursday.

Police said they believe Widdecombe was attacked at around 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Concerns were raised for her after she failed to appear for a scheduled TV interview on Wednesday afternoon.

SYRIA/POL - New Syrian parliament meets for first time in Damascus
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/new-syrian-parliament-meets-first-time-damascus-2026-07-12/

Syria's new parliament convened for the first time on Sunday, 19 months after rebels led by ‌President Ahmed al-Sharaa toppled Bashar al-Assad, a milestone in the country's political transition despite the chamber's current limited powers.

Sharaa, in a speech at parliament in Damascus, told lawmakers to "make this council a model of responsibility and competence" and described it as "a platform for truth and justice".

"Syria is writing a glorious history that ​reflects its heroism, and we face the responsibility of building both the nation and the individual," he said.

The parliament has ​been seen as a test of Sharaa's pledge to build an inclusive new order in Syria, which ⁠was run as a police state by the Assad family for decades, with a legislative chamber that was seen as a ​rubber stamp.

SHARAA BACKS EVENTUAL ELECTIONS

Under the country's interim governing arrangements, two-thirds of the members of the 210-seat chamber were chosen last year by regional ​electoral colleges, while Sharaa named the remaining third on July 1.

Officials have said this system was necessary because years of war had left millions displaced and made it impossible to rely on accurate population records or voter rolls.