July 17, 2026 - Daily News Digest

On this day: in 1988, A diplomatic conference adopts the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, establishing the permanent international court in The Hague, to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.

QOTD: “We are likewise winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly,” Trump said.

US/IRAN/MIL - US strikes bridges and collapses a tower at a key port as its Iran campaign expands
https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-hormuz-strait-war-july-17-2026-2ad0cfe592eb258cb15a9eb04411d58a

The United States expanded its airstrike campaign against Iran early Friday by hitting more bridges, energy sites and collapsing a tower at a key Iranian port, part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to start striking infrastructure to pressure Tehran to ease its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran launched new missile attacks against U.S.-allied nations in the Middle East, including Qatar, a key mediator in the war. It also damaged a power and water desalination plant in Kuwait — something crucial in the small, desert nation.

The interim ceasefire agreed to last month has collapsed, and the region has endured days of back-and-forth attacks by the U.S. and Iran as they battle for control of the strait. Iranian officials say U.S. strikes have killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds of others, with new casualties reported in Friday’s strikes.

When the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic, a move that sent the price of oil soaring and gave Iran major leverage in negotiations.

UK/POL/ANOTHER NEW DECK CHAIR FOR THE TITANIC - Andy Burnham Becomes Labour Leader and Is Set to Be Britain’s Prime Minister
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/07/17/world/uk-burnham-starmer-labour

Andy Burnham was installed on Friday as the leader of Britain’s Labour Party, the final step before King Charles III asks him on Monday to form a government and become the country’s 59th prime minister.

In remarks to a special Labour Party conference in London, Mr. Burnham called for having “the courage to fix the big things that politics has neglected” and pledged to fix “an economic model that simply doesn’t work well enough for ordinary people.”

The former mayor of Greater Manchester faces many of the same structural problems that have caused the country to churn through prime ministers every few years since 2016: slow economic growth, high government debt, a struggling national health service and deep political divisions.

Mr. Burnham, who replaces outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, spoke only vaguely in his speech about how he would confront those challenges. He talked about providing hope to people and said he would be a pro-business prime minister. At the same time, he said his government would be a “distinctively Labour” one and would seek to avoid the infighting that has often plagued the party.

CHINA/TECH - Twenty-nine countries sign agreement to establish global AI cooperation body
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/twenty-nine-countries-sign-agreement-establish-global-ai-cooperation-body-2026-07-16/

Twenty-nine countries on Thursday signed an agreement to establish ​the World AI Cooperation Organization, ‌an intergovernmental body China says aims to promote international cooperation and global ​governance in artificial intelligence.

Representatives from ​the 29 countries, including Russia, Belarus, ⁠Serbia, Cuba, Brazil and Venezuela, ​as well as 10 African ​and 12 Asian countries, signed the agreement as founding members.

The organization's headquarters will be ​located in Shanghai, Chinese state ​agency Xinhua said.

The signing ceremony was held ‌in ⁠Shanghai on the eve of the annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference, where Chinese President Xi Jinping is ​expected to ​outline an ⁠ambitious vision for Beijing's role in global AI ​governance.

China proposed the creation of ​a ⁠World AI Cooperation Organization at last year's conference but no countries ⁠had ​formally announced membership ​until now.

JAPAN/POL/INTRANSIGENCE - Japan revises law on royals, keeps blocking women from throne
https://www.npr.org/2026/07/17/g-s1-133536/japan-law-male-heirs-imperial-throne

Japan's upper house of parliament has voted to pass controversial revisions to a law governing who can inherit the throne in the world's oldest continuous hereditary monarchy, just days after the lower house of parliament voted it through.

The revision's stated aim is to secure the number of imperial family members, and maintain their public duties and activities, as the family's ranks dwindle and age.

But to critics, the revision has another "very clear objective: to prevent the future emergence of a female emperor," says Seiichiro Noboru, a former Japanese diplomat with ties to the imperial family.

MORE: Japan passes legislation banning violation of national flag
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/17/japan-passes-legislation-banning-violation-of-national-flag

Japan’s parliament has enacted a controversial law introducing criminal penalties for desecrating the national flag.

The passage of the legislation on Friday is part of an ongoing drive by staunchly conservative Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to promote traditional patriotism and correct what her supporters call a “wrong” legal double standard.

Under existing laws, Japan penalises the desecration of foreign flags to prevent diplomatic disputes, but previously lacked equivalent protections for its own flag, the Hinomaru.

Under the newly enacted law, violators who publicly damage, remove or defile the national flag in a manner that causes others “extreme discomfort or disgust” face up to two years in prison or a fine of up to 200,000 yen ($1,250).

According to Japanese broadcaster Kyodo News, the law covers physical acts of vandalism such as stomping, burning, or throwing mud in public spaces, as well as livestreaming such acts.

IRAN/US/KUWAIT/MIL - Iran Attacks Kuwait Water and Power Plants as Hostilities Worsen
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-17/iran-attacks-kuwait-desalination-and-power-plants-as-hostilities-worsen

Iran attacked Kuwaiti water and power plants in counterstrikes against the US, underscoring how the conflict in the Middle East is worsening and threats on civilian sites are increasingly under threat.

Kuwait’s government said on Friday a desalination and electricity plant was hit, with many power-generation units sustaining damage.

Although such facilities in Kuwait were hit at the height of the US-Iran war between March and early April, this is Tehran’s first targeting of power infrastructure during the most recent escalation between the warring countries.

MORE: Pakistan and Kuwait discuss expanded defence pact, sources say
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/pakistan-kuwait-discuss-expanded-defence-pact-sources-say-2026-07-17/

Pakistan has been negotiating an expanded defence pact with Kuwait in exchange for energy cooperation and investment, according ​to five sources with knowledge of the talks.

The talks remain at an early stage, all the sources said, and could still be complicated by ‌heightened tensions between the United States and Iran, said one source.

Reuters reported on Thursday that there were mounting concerns in Islamabad that its mutual defence pact with Saudi Arabia, signed last year, could draw Pakistan into the US-Iran war., opens new tab After the Iran-aligned Houthi movement launched an attack on Saudi Arabia on Monday, nuclear-armed Pakistan told Iran it would treat attacks on the kingdom as attacks on itself.

Any defence deal ​with Kuwait, which has come under heavy attacks from Iran this year, would also raise questions about Pakistan's role in future mediation between the U.S. and ​Iran.

Kuwait has had a more limited defence deal with Pakistan for training and joint exercises since 2023. It is now seeking ⁠a show of force by Islamabad that would be similar to Pakistan's pact with Saudi Arabia, including "thousands of Pakistani troops on the ground, fighter jets, drones, an air defence ​system, and other defence-related facilities," said a Pakistani government official.

It is unclear whether Pakistan is willing to go this far, given that its agreement with Saudi Arabia was the ​result of a decades-old close alliance with Riyadh.

GIFT LINK: The U.S. Is Trampling Allies in the Global Hunt for Rare Earths
https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/the-u-s-is-trampling-allies-in-the-global-hunt-for-rare-earths-82371d13?st=PoyeSL&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Europe’s effort to loosen Beijing’s grip on the materials it needs to rearm has hit an unexpected snag: the deep pockets of the U.S.

America is on a global shopping spree outside China to secure critical minerals for jet fighters, tanks and cutting-edge ammunition, while European countries are hunting the same things to counter the threat of Russian aggression.

The U.S. is far outspending Europe, sparking fears that an increasingly protectionist Trump administration will hoard the materials and leave Europeans dependent on China—and more vulnerable to its restrictions.

To curb reliance on China, the U.S. is handing out grants, loans and tax breaks to boost American production, and has negotiated preferential access to mineral wealth in war-torn countries. American companies are acquiring producers outside the U.S. or inking deals to buy their materials.

In the five years to February, the U.S. allocated around $46 billion for critical raw-material projects, an analysis by the French Institute of International Relations think tank found. That is roughly eight times the level allocated by the European Union in the same period, the institute said.

“The U.S. is much, much further ahead in creating a non-China supply chain,” said Andrea Paolo Lai, president of global operations at Swiss high-tech company Oerlikon, which has customers in the aerospace, energy and defense industries.

US/CHINA/POL - Five things to know about Trump's election fraud allegations
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/three-things-know-about-trumps-election-fraud-allegations-2026-07-17/

President Donald Trump renewed his campaign to cast doubt on U.S. elections on Thursday, declassifying intelligence he said exposed fraud and foreign interference despite intelligence findings and independent studies that undercut several of his claims.

Trump has asserted ​that the 2020 elections were “rigged” more than 100 times over the first half of 2026, and has used those claims to push for Congress to pass a restrictive voter ID law ‌called the SAVE America Act, which would impose strict ID requirements on voters, and seek greater federal intervention in elections.

The SAVE America Act has passed the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives several times with a simple majority, but it does not have the 60 votes to overcome a filibuster in the Republican-led Senate.

Trump, a Republican, said the White House was releasing a trove of classified documents that he said exposed vulnerabilities in U.S. election systems, including claims that:

CHINA SOUGHT TO BOOST DEMOCRATS IN ​RECENT ELECTIONS

Trump accused the Chinese government of influencing elections to try to harm his fellow Republicans in the 2018 midterms and damage his reelection prospects in 2020. He also accused Beijing of compromising ​data on U.S. voters.

A prior U.S. intelligence report came to a different conclusion. A 2021 assessment concluded China considered conducting influence operations designed to change the ⁠2020 election outcome but decided against doing so. It was conducted under John Ratcliffe, then Trump’s director of national intelligence and now his CIA director.

The intelligence assessment judged that China sought to collect information on U.S. ​voters, public opinion and political parties dating back at least to 2008. The voter data China obtained was not confidential and was not used to alter votes.