July 16, 2026 - Daily News Digest
On this day: in 1054, Three Roman legates place - acting illegally on their own authority - a bull of excommunication against Michael I Cerularius, the patriarch of Constantinople, and his followers on the altar of Hagia Sophia during Saturday afternoon divine liturgy. Historians frequently describe the event as the formal start of the East–West Schism.
QOTD: “The World Cup might not be ours, but the Falkland Islands definitely are,” a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Thursday. “Self-determination rests with the islanders and our commitment to the Falklands will never waver.”
UKRAINE/MIL/POL - Ukraine’s Ousted Defense Minister Attacks the Military’s Old Guard
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/world/europe/ukraine-fedorov-protests.html
Ukraine’s ousted defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, issued a fervent defense on Thursday of his efforts to modernize the Ukrainian military and directly attacked the country’s top general as thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets to protest Mr. Fedorov’s dismissal.
At a news conference in Kyiv, the capital, Mr. Fedorov said that he had urged President Volodymyr Zelensky to remove his primary antagonist in the military hierarchy, Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander in chief, but that the president declined.
Mr. Fedorov, who clashed repeatedly with Mr. Syrskyi while championing a high-tech vision of warfare dominated by drones, accused the commander in chief of “blocking all of our initiatives.”
“Instead of figuring out how to defeat Russia asymmetrically,” Mr. Fedorov, 35, said, referring to the drone campaign, Mr. Syrskyi “figured out how to split the country.”
In a social media post, Mr. Syrskyi, 60, did not directly address Mr. Fedorov’s accusations but said that the former defense minister’s news conference had been possible only because of the military’s successes in defending Ukraine. “We need to focus on the war and on an effective strategy that is currently demonstrating concrete results,” Mr. Syrskyi wrote, thanking Mr. Fedorov for his service.
IRAN/YEMEN/US/MIL - Iran tells Houthis to close Red Sea gateway if US hits power network, sources say
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-tells-houthis-close-red-sea-gateway-if-us-hits-power-network-sources-say-2026-07-16/
Iran has asked Yemen’s Houthi movement to stand ready to close the Red Sea oil route if the United States strikes Iranian power infrastructure, three sources told Reuters on Thursday, posing a potent new threat to global energy supplies.
The idea has been discussed within the Islamic Republic's leadership, and the message has been conveyed to Iran's Houthi allies, two senior Iranian sources and a regional source familiar with the matter said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The sources said the Houthis had been informed recently of Tehran's request, which has not been previously reported.
They did not give further details on how it had been conveyed or whether it was after U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to attack Iranian power infrastructure on Tuesday.
Iran’s foreign ministry and a spokesperson for the Houthi group were not immediately available to respond to Reuters' request.
UK/ARGENTINA/LOL - UK urges FIFA to investigate Argentina over Falklands banner at World Cup
https://apnews.com/article/england-argentina-world-cup-falkland-islands-malvinas-240a5fcd72446efd674fd6d9eb52572a
The British government on Thursday urged FIFA to investigate Argentina’s team after players posed with a banner claiming sovereignty over the contested Falkland Islands.
Argentina beat England 2-1 in a World Cup semifinal on Wednesday in Atlanta.
During post-match celebrations, Argentine players held a banner handed over by fans in the stands, reading “Las Malvinas son Argentinas” — “The Malvinas are Argentine.”
Argentina refers to the Falkland Islands as Islas Malvinas. They were invaded in 1982 under orders from Argentina’s then-military dictatorship, triggering a 10-week war won by Britain.
US/CHINA - China Tops US in Global Favorability Survey for First Time
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-15/china-tops-us-in-global-favorability-for-first-time-pew-finds
More people around the world view China more positively than the US for the first time in almost 20 years, according to Pew Research Center, with sentiment shifting even among some of Washington’s allies as the two powers compete for influence globally.
Public opinion of the US has worsened to the extent that China is now seen more favorably in most of the 36 countries surveyed this year. Those include Canada, Australia, France and Germany — US allies where the “favorability gap” with Beijing has reversed in recent years.
In 20 countries with comparable data going back to 2023, nearly half held a positive view of China, while only 36% regarded the US favorably. That’s a significant reversal from three years ago, when the US scored 58% against China’s 32%. It also marks a rebound for Beijing after its rating hit historic lows in many countries during the Covid-19 pandemic.
UGANDA/HEALTH - Uganda discharges last Ebola patient, starts countdown to be virus-free
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/uganda-discharge-last-ebola-patient-spokesperson-says-2026-07-16/
Uganda discharged its last remaining Ebola patient on Thursday, triggering a 42-day countdown after which it can be declared free of the virus, the East African nation's health ministry said.
Uganda has confirmed a total of 20 cases of the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola since mid-May. Fifteen of those were people infected in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicentre of the outbreak, who then travelled to Uganda.
Unlike in Congo, where cases are still surging, Uganda has not reported a new case since June 22.
Congo reported 62 new cases on Thursday, taking its total number of confirmed infections to 2,073, though the World Health Organization has said the true tally could be at least double that.
"Today, Uganda has discharged the last Ebola patient, a Congolese national who has successfully recovered and (is) ready to be with his family," Uganda's health ministry said in a post on X.
On Wednesday, government spokesperson Alan Kasujja said the patient would be released from an isolation unit at theMulago National Referral Hospital in the capital Kampala.
POLAND/RUSSIA - Poland charges man allegedly paid by Russia to inflame Polish-Ukrainian tensions
https://apnews.com/article/poland-russia-ukraine-hybrid-war-sabotage-7403ebdc1241b976f4a567fc49875e0c
Polish prosecutors have charged a Ukrainian man with sabotage and diversionary activities on behalf of Russian intelligence, alleging he was paid to desecrate memorials honoring Polish victims of Ukrainian massacres in World War II in an effort to inflame tensions between the two countries.
Warsaw has long accused Russia of conducting hybrid operations aimed at driving a wedge between Poland and Ukraine. Poland has been one of Kyiv’s strongest supporters since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, but anti-Ukrainian sentiment has been growing in the country.
Relations reached a low point in late June, when Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Poland’s highest state honor over Zelenskyy’s decision to name a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a paramilitary organization accused of massacring Poles during WWII.
The UPA fought for Ukrainian independence against both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. However, it has also been accused of killing tens of thousands of Poles, primarily in the Nazi-occupied regions of Volhynia and Eastern Galicia.
RUSSIA/POL/ECON - Russia’s Elite Are Moving Billions Beyond Putin’s Wartime Grasp
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-16/russia-s-elite-are-moving-billions-beyond-putin-s-wartime-grasp
Several of Russia’s richest people including some close to President Vladimir Putin have moved billions of dollars abroad in the past year after growing concerned about the country’s economy and the government budget.
High-profile asset seizures have intensified fears among members of the Russian elite that the state could confiscate their wealth or that they may lose their fortunes, according to six wealthy Russians and other people familiar with the thinking of several of the country’s billionaires.
Several billionaires moved some additional assets out of Russia recently, amid concerns about the banking sector, according to some of the people and documents including corporate filings and property purchase records reviewed by Bloomberg News.
US/ISRAEL/POL - Vance Ramps Up Criticism of Israel
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/vance-ramps-up-criticism-of-israel-00535d84?mod=world_feat1_middle-east_pos2
Vice President JD Vance has accused elements of the Israeli government of being behind a campaign to shape U.S. public opinion about the war with Iran and undermine negotiations to end the conflict.
“There are some people within their system, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt, who are manipulating and trying to change American public opinion to keep the war going on indefinitely,” Vance said in a three-hour conversation with the podcaster Joe Rogan this week. “Not toward any objective, but just indefinitely.”
The allegation by Vance, widely seen as a potential successor to President Trump’s political movement, marked an escalation in an increasingly public rift between Washington and its closest Middle Eastern ally. Vance, who helped negotiate last month’s ceasefire with Iran, described what he called a foreign influence campaign to derail the diplomatic effort.
Israel has designated hundreds of millions of dollars to shore up U.S. support for the war and improve its image around the world, with a $45 million lobbying contract going to a former Trump campaign manager, Brad Parscale. Vance referred to a Time magazine article that suggested Israel had used some of that money to pay online influencers who attacked Vance.
“When I open up the pages of Time magazine and I see that there’s a literal foreign influence campaign being funded to tank the very deal that I was pursuing, and, oh, by the way, many of the people who were receiving that money were actually attacking me in completely dishonest ways. You know, my response to that is, ‘Well, go to hell,’” Vance said.
JAPAN/US/TECH - Japan to Buy Nvidia Chips to Power Its AI Push
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/nvidia-noetra-to-build-ai-factory-to-power-japans-ai-ambitions-95e74210?mod=world_feat2_asia_pos1
Nvidia chips are set to power Japan’s artificial-intelligence push, with the government planning to buy thousands of the company’s next-generation semiconductors to build an AI ecosystem on its own soil.
Backed by massive government funding, Japan’s purchase of 27,500 Nvidia AI chips will fuel a computing hub slated to launch in 2028, according to an announcement made during Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang’s visit to Tokyo.
The infrastructure will support efforts by state-backed consortium Noetra to develop so-called physical AI—the technology that lets machines interact in the real world. It’s all part of Tokyo’s overarching plan to develop homegrown alternatives to foreign platforms.
Under the agreement, Nvidia will supply AI chips and computing infrastructure for foundational models to Noetra, an alliance spearheaded by SoftBank Group, Sony Group, Honda Motor and other Japanese industry titans.
“Japan cannot outsource its national intelligence,” Huang said at an event in Tokyo. “Japan must own, improve, secure and deploy Japan AI.”
Noetra plans to release an initial foundation model in fiscal 2026 that will gradually evolve to handle multimodal data like images and audio. By fiscal 2030, it aims to develop the system into an advanced “artificial brain” capable of understanding complex real-world environments, eventually enabling factory machines, robots and vehicles to make decisions on their own.
US/BRAZIL/TRADE - US imposes new 25% tariffs on Brazil, expands exemptions list
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/us-imposes-25-tariff-some-goods-brazil-2026-07-16/
The U.S. has announced 25% duties on many imports from Brazil, while unveiling a broader-than-expected list of exemptions, reviving a trade war that could embroil dozens of countries around the world as the Trump administration reworks its tariffs policy, one of its signature diplomatic tools.
The late-night announcement by the office of the U.S. Trade Representative made Brazil the first country targeted under the Trump administration's new tariff strategy, which relies on Section 301 of U.S. trade law, a provision that authorizes investigations into alleged unfair trade practices, to justify new levies on dozens of countries.
The new tariffs, which are expected to take effect on July 22, could eventually ensnare countries from India and China to the EU, Japan and South Korea as President Donald Trump seeks a trade reset after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a previous round of global levies.
Wednesday's announcement by the USTR office follows months of fruitless negotiations and over 30 meetings between U.S. and Brazilian officials after the Trump administration proposed new tariffs on many imports from Brazil in June, saying its practices were unfair on a range of issues from digital trade to illegal deforestation.