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Deposed Turkish opposition leader forms 'New Party' to challenge Erdogan The deposed leader of Turkey's main opposition party on Friday formed a new political party to challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, months after he was removed from his post by a court order that his supporters slammed as a political move to weaken the opposition. Read More.

Ford recalls more than half a million Broncos due to engine fire risk Ford Motor Co. is recalling more than half a million Broncos because a wiring harness in the engine compartment can short circuit and increase the risk of fire. Read More.

More than 200,000 people flee raging wildfires in France and Spain, some escaping by boat ARCACHON, France (AP) — Massive forest fires forced the evacuation of some 200,000 people in southwestern France and central Spain on Friday, with residents fleeing towns near Madrid and Bordeaux as the flames raged out of control. https://apnews.com/article/spain-wildfires-emergency-54c3d375fa1cca8399ea2645a8e119b0?

🚐 GOP's August road show House Republicans' strategy for keeping the speaker's gavel and their leadership suites next year hinges on being anywhere but Washington this summer. Why it matters: The Senate is in for another two weeks, but Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team are crisscrossing the country during the House's five-week August recess like German or Norwegian World Cup fans: no town too small, no state too far away. The plan is to tout their legislative wins in person and convince voters that they are, individually, the exception to the widely held belief that Congress doesn't work. 🚗 Driving the news: Johnson is leading the charge. He'll hit more than 30 districts in 17 states (18, if you count his home state of Louisiana) over the August recess, campaigning alongside Republican incumbents and challengers. Don't expect any X posts worthy of "Freddy," but he'll be seeing the country: Maine, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Washington and Alaska, to name a few spots. ✈️ His Southern colleague, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), is heading north for a major event in New York with the state's Republican members. "It'll be a good next few weeks to go around the country talking about what we did, letting people know, a lot of good things to talk about. But there's more to come," Scalise said. Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) and National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) will make dozens of campaign stops across the country, their offices told us. 📢 Between the lines: Republicans have acknowledged they've struggled to sell their signature legislative achievement — originally known as the "One Big Beautiful Bill" before being rebranded as the Working Families' Tax Cut Act. "Do we communicate our ideas great all the time? That's been a fault of the Republican Party," Scalise told reporters yesterday. "I think we're getting better at it." 🖼️ The big picture: Republicans are increasingly arguing the election is a choice between their economic agenda and what they characterize as a Democratic shift to the left — a contrast they'll spend August trying to reinforce. Or in blunter terms: "It's going to be a hate election," a Republican tied to President Trump's political operation told Axios' Marc Caputo. The bottom line: Public polling suggests Republicans still have work to do convincing voters their agenda is benefiting them. Democrats have an 11-point lead over Republicans on a generic congressional ballot, according to a new poll from Emerson College. — Kate Santaliz and Hans Nichols

Paramount delays closing Warner buyout while judge considers states’ challenge NEW YORK (AP) — Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery have agreed to delay closing their $81 billion merger well into next year, a stunning move that arrives as a judge continues to consider a challenge from 12 states seeking to block the deal altogether. https://apnews.com/article/warner-bros-paramount-skydance-0f4ed7b4627b2d0ac8c1f1626689bf5d?

🏟️ 1 for the road: Fresh facelift in Charlotte Rendering: Tepper Sports & Entertainment 🏟️ Bank of America Stadium's $1.3 billion transformation is underway, Axios' Ashley Mahoney writes for Axios Charlotte. The 30-year-old Uptown stadium is among the oldest in the NFL at a time when plans for new facilities are popping up all over the country. Rendering: Tepper Sports & Entertainment Rendering: Tepper Sports & Entertainment 💼 The deal keeps Tepper Sports & Entertainment's teams — the Carolina Panthers and Charlotte FC — here through 2045. Bank of America Stadium's name will remain for the foreseeable future. ⚽ What we're watching: Charlotte FC and the Panthers will continue to play at Bank of America Stadium during renovations.

Radiology's AI lesson Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang thinks the artificial intelligence revolution is a wellspring of new jobs, rather than a labor market grim reaper set to bring on the employment apocalypse. "We need to help people understand what AI is and what AI can do," Huang told me on Axios' "Behind the Curtain" video series. "AI is creating an enormous number of jobs, not taking [them] away." 🔮 Huang said it's "complete nonsense" that the tech could destroy half of American jobs. He says AI will do the opposite: "While we're automating all of these different tasks, it's actually increasing the amount of jobs that the world needs." 📱 Huang wrote a similar message today in his first post since joining X: "AI will transform every industry, power every company, and be built by every country." 🩻 Case in point: Radiology. AI tools can study scans, freeing up time for more patients and driving demand for human radiologists, Axios' Avery Lotz reports. "Because there are so many people who need care, the number of patients they can now bring to the hospitals has increased dramatically, which results in needing more radiologists," Huang said. "This is the same with paralegals." 🥊 Reality check: AI is bound to change the way people work. But so far, it's not replacing them en masse. AI has also been increasingly cited in layoff announcements. Evidence suggests AI could play a role in hampering hiring for young workers. 📱 Watch the interview.

Hebrews chapter 10 continues the narrative of chapter 9. It begins by referring to sacrifices made "year by year," an obvious reference to the Day of Atonement service. Chapter 9:25 also refers to the "year by year" service. The Day of Atonement was an annual event. It happened year by year. Chapter 10:3 again refers to sacrifices made "year by year." The problem with the OT service was that the worshippers could not have their conscience permanently cleansed. They were reminded of their sin every year on the Day of Atonement. Verses 11-14 contrast the daily service of the OT with the sacrifice of Christ. The sacrifice of Christ took away sins forever. Verse 14 says the sacrifice of Christ perfected us forever. To be perfected forever is to have our sins taken away. We are not going to ever again face our sin. The Jews were reminded of their sin every year on the day of Atonement. Not so with us. Our sin has been removed forever.

ICC chief prosecutor removed from post over sexual misconduct allegations UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court was removed from office on Friday, nearly two years after sexual misconduct allegations against him first emerged. https://apnews.com/article/icc-court-prosecutor-karim-khan-united-nations-5a9490e98b74f3bf13f5eae26fb3c3d7?

Trump says the US will investigate EU trade practices, claiming the bloc unfairly fined tech giants WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States will open a formal investigation into the European Union’s trade practices, President Donald Trump said on Friday, claiming the bloc has unfairly levied billions of dollars of fines against Google, Apple and other U.S. tech giants. https://apnews.com/article/trump-eu-trade-tech-fine-google-2e125ac0d3c1ac7a96c9194a372ba47e? White House correspondents' dinner, redux: What will Trump have to say? When guests arrive for the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Friday at Washington's Waldorf Astoria hotel, security will be much tighter, the guest list smaller, the partying pared down, and the dress code more relaxed. Read More.

Democrats select South Carolina to kick off presidential nominating contest in 2028, leave Iowa out WASHINGTON (AP) — South Carolina was selected Friday to once again lead off the Democratic Party’s 2028 presidential nominating schedule, cementing a dramatic break from decades of tradition by leaving Iowa out of the early-state lineup altogether and elevating more racially diverse states. https://apnews.com/article/democrats-presidential-nominating-calendar-2028-b3d153a33e39bd9e5ebcce3c58e9e84c?

There are already more US measles cases this year than in all of 2025 The number of measles cases in the U.S. has surpassed the record-breaking tally for all of 2025, with five more months of 2026 still to come. https://apnews.com/article/2026-measles-cases-cdc-outbreak-elimination-371823df32b92169c3d220295f00f054? ps:Just pathetic!!!!!

Teen pleads guilty to murder in a 2024 shooting that left 4 dead at Georgia’s Apalachee High School WINDER, Ga. (AP) — A teenager has pleaded guilty to all 55 counts, including murder, in a shooting nearly two years ago at Apalachee High School in Georgia that killed two students and two teachers. https://apnews.com/article/apalachee-georgia-school-shooting-colt-gray-8be7ba5efae9cce53e0f8c61253a5f1b? Supreme Court litigator gets 6 years in prison for tax evasion case after gambling millions on poker WASHINGTON (AP) — A prominent Supreme Court litigator was sentenced on Friday to six years in prison for evading a multimillion-dollar IRS tax debt and engaging in mortgage fraud, a case that cast a spotlight on his secretive lifestyle as a high-stakes poker player and featured trial testimony from a Hollywood movie star. https://apnews.com/article/thomas-goldstein-supreme-court-blog-tax-evasion-618a0a2f1bdf9643886b607073fee91d?

Caritas starts distributing US humanitarian aid in 2 towns near Havana HAVANA (AP) — Hundreds of boxes of humanitarian aid from the U.S. are being distributed in two towns near the Cuban capital, the Catholic Church organization in charge of the distribution said Thursday. https://apnews.com/article/cuba-aid-us-caritas-energy-embargo-crisis-food-f0420803a8207e63596a9ad94fb26abc?

Vatican defends secrecy in sensitive abuse case involving ex-Jesuit artist Marko Rupnik The Vatican has confirmed that a church trial against a famous ex-Jesuit priest accused of spiritual and sexual abuse of women is ongoing and defended the secrecy of the proceeding as necessary. An Italian blog had reported that an acquittal verdict was reached in the case against the Rev. Marko Ivan Rupnik, a Slovenian artist whose mosaic designs decorate Vatican chapels and churches around the world. The Vatican press office said the report was “totally unfounded.” Read more. Why this matters: The Rupnik scandal exploded publicly in 2022, when Italian blogs first reported claims by women and nuns of sexual, spiritual and psychological abuse by Rupnik dating back to the 1990s that had been consistently dismissed by the Catholic hierarchy. Amid the #MeToo reckoning about adult sexual abuse in the church, the Rupnik case has become one of the most sensitive matters for the Holy See. There have been suggestions that Rupnik was protected for decades by his Jesuit superiors and the Vatican hierarchy, up to and including the Jesuit Pope Francis. The Jesuits expelled Rupnik from their order in 2023 and Francis, under pressure because of suggestions he had protected the priest, waived the statute of limitations on the older claims so that the Vatican could open a proper canonical trial. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Woman who says she was abused spiritually and sexually by a once-famous Jesuit demands transparency Vatican law criminalizes abuse of adults by priests, laity Supporter defends expelled Jesuit priest against ‘lynching’, says abuse claims unproven

Initially intended to be a perpetual time. After God initiated Israel's calendar it became a fixed day determined by the new moon. I agree that God should be worshipped on any and every day of the week but disagree that what we know today as a Gregorian Saturday was part of any practice until later in Israel's history. We live on a round earth and that makes it impossible that the Sabbath day as practiced by Judaism today was intended for Gentiles. Otherwise, God would have made the earth flat.

🎉 Yahoo! It's Friday! You made it. In today's edition: Lynx lead at the break, "Behind the Lens" with Getty Images, the Tour de France's grueling finale, every team's longest winning streak, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports...   🚨 ICYMI HEADLINES ⚾️ Immaculate inning: Guardians' righty Gavin Williams threw the 122nd immaculate inning (9 pitches, 3 strikeouts) in MLB history on Thursday against the Twins. Cleveland lost in extras, but Williams became the first pitcher since 2023 with 11+ strikeouts in three straight starts. ⛳️ Near ace: Jake Knapp got impossibly close to his first career hole-in-one during the first round of the 3M Open, when his tee shot on the fourth hole hit the pin on its third bounce before coming to rest on the edge of the cup. Seriously, you can't imagine how close this was. 🏒 Windy City reunion: Patrick Kane is returning to the Blackhawks on a two-year, $16 million deal after being traded away in 2023. Kane, 37, returns to the team that selected him first overall in 2007, and with whom he won three Stanley Cups and a Hart Trophy (MVP). ⚾️ The A's new (minority) owner: The Mark Cuban-backed private equity firm Harbinger Sports Partners has purchased a minority stake of undisclosed size in the Athletics ahead of their move to Las Vegas. ⚾️ White House visit: The Dodgers returned to the White House on Thursday to celebrate their 2025 World Series title. The team gifted President Trump a personalized championship ring, as well as the customary jersey.   🏀 ALL-STAR BREAK MINNESOTA'S ALONE AT THE TOP Collier looks on before her season debut. (Scott Eklund/NBAE via Getty Images) As the WNBA All-Star break begins, one team is head and shoulders above the rest. And their lead may only grow in the second half given who they've just added back into the fold. Return of the Queen: The Lynx were already in first place and sitting on a six-game winning streak when Napheesa Collier made her season debut on Wednesday after recovering from offseason ankle surgeries. Now they've won seven in a row, and their unquestioned leader showed no signs of rust with 24 points and 10 rebounds in her return. Phee isn't just Minnesota's best player; she's easily a top-five player in the league, and arguably second only to A'ja Wilson. The eight-year veteran has finished as the MVP runner-up each of the last two seasons, and last year became the second player in league history to join the 50/40/90 club (FG%, 3PT%, FT%). Now, she rejoins a first-place team already loaded with talent. Embarrassment of riches: The Lynx not only have Kayla McBride, Natasha Howard and Courtney Williams, veterans who've combined for 11 All-Star nods; they also have Olivia Miles, putting up one of the greatest rookie seasons ever. The No. 2 pick out of TCU, averaging 19.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 6 assists, is the runaway favorite for ROY. She also just became the fastest rookie in WNBA history to reach 500 points and 150 assists (26 games), breaking the record set two years ago by Caitlin Clark (29) and again last year by Paige Bueckers (28). The fascinating thing to watch now will be how the reintroduction of the team's best player impacts Minnesota's chemistry. But the good news for them on that front is they're led by Cheryl Reeve, the winningest coach in league history. Like I said, embarrassment of riches. History repeating itself? 15 years ago, Reeve and the Lynx won their first of four titles in a seven-year span behind ROY Maya Moore and a host of star veterans. While repeating such a dynasty is a borderline impossible task, Miles, Collier and Co. are well-positioned to, at the very least, end this season as champions. (Mallory Bielecki/Yahoo Sports) Chasing Minnesota: There's plenty of season left, but the playoff picture entering the break is pretty stratified, with eight teams over .500 and seven under. Leading the chase are the Valkyries — who've won 13 of their last 16 — the defending champion Aces, the Bueckers-led Wings and the Clark-led Fever. And always lurking are the Liberty, the only team other than Vegas to win a championship in the last four years.   ⚽️ PHOTOGRAPHY BEHIND THE LENS: WORLD CUP EDITION As promised, here is Part 2 of our World Cup "Behind the Lens" project with Getty Images, who captured more than 2.6 million photographs at this summer's tournament and shared the backstory on some of our favorites. (Alex Pantling/FIFA via Getty Images) Los Angeles, California — Lamine Yamal takes a corner kick during Spain's Round of 32 match against Austria, as shot by Alex Pantling. Behind the lens: Here's Alex… One of my goals going into this World Cup was to try and capture the atmosphere and architecture of these incredible stadiums that the games were being played in. They're very unique and something that the World Cup doesn't see very often. When a player takes a corner kick it's a great opportunity to fill the frame with an athlete and also shoot wide with the atmosphere of the stadium. The Los Angeles Stadium was one of my favorites to work in; the architecture was incredible and so good to photograph. That, combined with a superstar from the eventual World Cup champs taking a corner, made for a great picture. (Elsa/Getty Images) Atlanta, Georgia — Lionel Messi scores the late equalizer in Argentina's Round of 16 victory over Egypt. This one was captured by Elsa with the help of a well-placed remote camera. Behind the lens: Here's Elsa… At Getty Images, we are one of the international press pool agencies that were allowed to install a small camera in the upper corner of the net. In order to get those images in real time, they are cabled and delivered to an editor as they are shot. The set up happens about three hours before kickoff. To trigger this camera, I ran a cable from the corner of the net, secured it to the straps of the goal, tucked it inside the padding of the post and ran it through the back of the net to my position. Also attached to that cable is an additional behind-the-goal remote camera that I trigger with a foot pedal whenever there is action in front of the net. Remote cameras allow us to get unique perspectives that we would normally not be able to capture. When I'm covering an event, I often will shoot not only the goal, but the aftermath, because reactions are just as important as actions. And sometimes, like with this image, you can see it all in one frame thanks to the goal-scorer being close to the net and the ball nearly hitting the camera.   📺 VIEWING GUIDE WEEKEND WATCHLIST The Col du Galibier climb, pictured here in 2022, will be part of Saturday's "Queen Stage." (Tim de Waele/Getty Images) 🚴 Tour de France The 113th Tour de France ends on Sunday in Paris (9:30am ET, NBCSN/Peacock), but first come two historic stages that will almost certainly decide the race, which four-time winner Tadej Pogačar currently leads by 4'32". Alpe d'Huez: The iconic climb up Alpe d'Huez hasn't featured at the Tour since 2022; this year, for the first time ever, two consecutive stages will finish at its summit. Today (6:30am ET) is a relatively short ride (79.5 miles) that ends with the famed 21-hairpin climb; tomorrow (5am) is the Queen Stage, as each year's most grueling stage is called. The 106-mile ride features roughly 3.5 miles of climbing, ending with a trek up the other side of Alpe d'Huez, which has only been ridden in the Tour as a descent. 🇺🇸 USATF Outdoor Championships New York City's Icahn Stadium is hosting this weekend's U.S. Track & Field Championships (Fri-Sun, NBC/Peacock), marking the first time the event has been held in the Big Apple since 1991. Marquee events: The biggest names headline the biggest event in tonight's 100m semis (6:18pm, Peacock) and finals (7:45pm). Reigning Olympic gold medalist Noah Lyles will try to take back the crown from defending national champion Kenny Bednarek, while Sha'Carri Richardson will try to win her third women's title. And don't miss 17-year-old phenom Cooper Lutkenhaus in Sunday's 800m final (4:33pm, NBC). 🏀 WNBA All-Star Weekend The league's biggest stars travel to Chicago this weekend, where the United Center hosts tonight's Skills Challenge (8pm, ESPN) — headlined by the 3-Point Contest — and tomorrow's All-Star Game (8:30pm, ABC). Starting lineups: Two Hall of Famers acted as GMs to draft each team. Cynthia Cooper's starters are Paige Bueckers (DAL), Breanna Stewart (NY), Kelsey Mitchell (IND), Natasha Howard (MIN) and Gabby Williams (GS). Teresa Weatherspoon's starters are Caitlin Clark (IND), A'ja Wilson (LV), Olivia Miles (MIN), Aliyah Boston (IND) and Jessica Shepard (DAL). More to watch: ⚾️ Hall of Fame: Induction Ceremony (Sun. 1pm, MLB) … Carlos Beltrán, Andruw Jones and Jeff Kent will be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. ⚾️ MLB: Yankees at Phillies (Fri. 6:40pm, Apple; Sun. 7:20pm, NBC); Blue Jays at Red Sox (Fri. 7:10pm, Apple); Guardians at Rays (Sun. 12:15pm, Peacock) ⛳️ Golf: 3M Open (Fri-Sun, ESPN+/Golf/CBS); Women's Scottish Open (Fri-Sun, Golf/CNBC) … Emiliano Grillo (-7) leads in Minnesota while two women tied for the lead (-6) after the first round in Scotland. 🏎️ F1: Hungarian Grand Prix (Sun. 9am, Apple) … The final race before F1's monthlong summer break. 🏁 NASCAR: Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Sun. 2pm, TNT) … $1 million championship of the In-Season Challenge. 🥊 Boxing: Anthony Joshua vs. Kristian Prenga (Sat. 5:45pm, DAZN PPV) … Joshua returns to the ring seven months after destroying Jake Paul and tragically losing two close friends. Meanwhile, fellow British former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury will fight Mariusz Wach today in Thailand in a bout that curiously will not be broadcast. Plus: ⚽️ MLS Matchday 18 (Sat. 6:30-10:30pm, Apple) and NWSL Matchday 16 (Fri-Sun, Prime/ESPN/CBSSN); 🥍 PLL Week 10 in Denver (Fri-Sat, ESPN+/ESPN2); 🏀 The Basketball Tournament (Fri-Sun, FS1); 🏈 IFL regular-season finale (Fri-Sun, Yahoo Sports) Got plans this weekend? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city.   📊 BIG FOUR CHART DU JOUR: LONGEST WINNING STREAKS (Lev Akabas/Sportico) The Red Sox matched their longest winning streak ever with 15 straight victories before finally losing on Wednesday. Where does that rank among the 124 active franchises across North America's "Big Four" major leagues? Longest streak by league: Boston's streak is tied for 32nd overall, and tied for 10th among MLB teams. This data, courtesy of Sportico's Lev Akabas, includes only regular-season games within a single season. 🏀 NBA: 1971-72 Lakers (33 straight wins) ⚾️ MLB: 1916 Giants (26) 🏒 NHL: 1992-93 Penguins (17) 🏈 NFL: 2007 Patriots (16) Did you know? The Giants' 26-game win streak was actually interrupted by a tie (12 wins, 1 tie, 14 wins). MLB's longest purely uninterrupted streak belongs to the 2017 Indians, who won 22 straight.   🏀 GO DEEPER GOOD READS: NBA EDITION (Dillon Marshall/Yahoo Sports) Kevin O'Connor: The Indecision: What's LeBron James waiting for? LeBron James has never signed up for a team without a plan, be it Miami in 2010, Cleveland in 2014 or Los Angeles in 2018. Now, for the first time, he might have to choose between rosters as they are and not rosters as he wishes they were. As his indecision enters its fourth week, what does the landscape look like? (Amy Monks/Yahoo Sports) Ben Rohrbach: NBA Power Rankings: How does the East stack up after major offseason moves? There has been a lot of player movement this offseason, and outside of LaMelo Ball going to Minnesota, most of the action has moved to the Eastern Conference. So, we figured we'd take a stab at power ranking our new East. These rankings are, of course, perfect and inarguable. They're certainly not just one man's opinion in the dog days of summer… before anyone has played a game. (Henry Russell/Yahoo Sports) Steve Jones: NBA Rookie Rankings: Who's at the head of the class after Summer League? With Summer League officially in the rearview mirror, it's a good time to build a list of what we just witnessed. And while the context of Summer League can lead to varied results, one thing is crystal clear right now: Rookie of the Year is going to be a tight, fun (and likely discourse-filled) race.   ⚾ HALL OF FAME MLB TRIVIA (Joe Robbins/Getty Images) Carlos Beltrán, whose Hall of Fame induction is on Sunday, will be just the third player wearing a Mets cap on his plaque in Cooperstown. Question: Who are the other two? Hint: Pitcher and catcher. Answer at the bottom.   🏎️ START YOUR ENGINES YAHOO SPORTS x APPLE TV (Apple) This weekend's Formula 1 AWS Hungarian Grand Prix 2026 continues our season-long partnership with Apple TV for F1 coverage. Tune in: All three practice sessions (Fri. 7:30/11am ET; Sat. 6:30am) and tomorrow's qualifying (10am) will air for free on Yahoo Sports, while Sunday's race (9am) will stream on Apple TV, the new U.S. home of Formula 1.   Trivia answer: Tom Seaver (inducted in 1992) and Mike Piazza (2016)

Trump’s Secret Fury Behind White House Nuclear Chaos Exposed The president is said to be livid about the terms of a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia. President Donald Trump’s frantic bid this week to revise the terms of a historic nuclear pact his administration had already signed came about because his energy secretary reportedly jumped the gun on the deal.The landmark cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia has unleashed chaos at the White House, sources told CNN, as Trump scrambles to assure lawmakers and voters that it’s not the no-strings giveaway it appears to be. The White House had asked the Energy Department to hold off finalizing the pact, but Energy Secretary Chris Wright seems to have gone ahead regardless. He signed the agreement Wednesday at his department’s headquarters in downtown Washington, his Saudi counterpart joining by video link from Riyadh. Then the 61-year-old went on Fox Business to sell the deal. Wright’s people thought they were clear. Approval had finally landed late last week, his team believed, after months of delay driven by the Iran war and fears Congress would vote the pact down. One source told CNN that any nod from Trump, 80, had only been for a provisional bargain. It had not been a green light to sign and trumpet the agreement.Washington and Riyadh have been circling this since 2008. Successive U.S. administrations have insisted that Saudi Arabia agree to buy its nuclear fuel on the open market, rather than enriching uranium on its own territory. The Biden administration added provisions requiring the kingdom to normalize relations with Israel. Wednesday’s deal appears to have dropped both demands, without securing any concessions for the U.S. in return.Critics have savaged the pact as a missed opportunity to smooth relations between the kingdom and Israel and warn that it could lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Many cast the giveaway as the president’s olive branch to Saudi Arabia amid tensions between Washington and Riyadh over the chaos sparked by Trump’s war on Iran—which he sold as a bid to curb nuclear proliferation in the region. Trump himself, according to CNN, is livid. By Thursday morning, he had publicly blown up the deal his administration had signed only the day before, posting on Truth Social that Saudi Arabia would first have to recognize the state of Israel and denying that the pact allows the kingdom to enrich its own uranium. Things have been even uglier behind the scenes. Some of Trump’s advisers did not regard the pact as finished, because Congress had yet to receive the notifications the process requires, and were as incensed as the president himself, sources said. The snafu has fired the starting pistol on a frantic blame game inside the administration. White House aides say it’s squarely the fault of the Energy Department. Its officials have long irritated the West Wing, who have grumbled before that Wright, who made his fortune in the 2010s fracking boom, has a habit of going off half-cocked. Nobody has said any of it on the record. The official narrative is that Trump’s energy team is “fully aligned, and always has been,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told CNN. “This is fake news,” Energy Department press secretary Ben Dietderich said, insisting the announcement had been squared with both Trump’s office and the State Department. The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for further comment. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-secret-fury-behind-white-house-chaos-over-saudi-arabia-nuclear-deal-exposed/?

Trump’s Mass Deportation Humiliation Is Exposed New ICE figures reveal an awkward truth for the president. New ICE figures show President Donald Trump is on course for a record 458,000 deportations this year—barely half the one million removals pledge that he swept into power on.The agency’s FY2026 detention statistics, posted quietly on July 20, show that 356,389 people were sent back to their home countries between October 1 and July 11—about 1,255 a day, according to analysis by PunchUp. At that pace, Trump, 80, will beat the all-time single-year record of 409,849 set in 2012 under Barack Obama, 64, that earned him the “Deporter-in-Chief” tag, the Daily Beast’s new sister investigations Substack reports. But the record is still unlikely to endear Trump to his deportation-obsessed supporters, PunchUp says. Trump’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, 40, and then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, 54, demanded ICE hit at least 3,000 arrests a day in order to hit the one million deportations target. The Trump administration says that the current figure is around the 2,000 mark. Who is being deported has changed, too, according to PunchUp. Roughly 55 percent of those Obama removed in his record year had criminal convictions. Of the 65,765 people in ICE detention on July 11, some 46,436—70.6 percent—have no criminal conviction at all, and 40.5 percent of everyone booked into detention this year had neither a conviction nor a pending charge. Border czar Tom Homan, 64, admitted the shift on Fox News on July 18, saying “60 percent of everyone arrested right now is a criminal, 40 percent are non-criminal.” The operation has also moved from the border into American neighborhoods. More than 90 percent of the 353,948 people booked into detention this fiscal year were seized by ICE in the interior, not caught at the border—and the machine is speeding up again, with 43,138 book-ins in June being the busiest month of the fiscal year thus far. As PunchUp revealed in May, ICE’s daily arrest rate jumped from 226 in the 19 days before Trump’s inauguration to 544 in his first 12 days back—while the share of arrestees with no criminal charges rose from 58 to 69 percent. The administration denied that it had any arrest quota at all. Asked about the surge, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told PunchUp at the time: “President Trump campaigned on and won an election based on his promise to deport criminal illegal aliens. The entire Administration is working to carry out the President’s agenda.” The current record pace does, though, mark an acceleration. ICE logged 319,980 removals in the 2025 fiscal year, according to researcher Austin Kocher’s analysis of the agency’s year-end data, though ICE’s footnotes fold voluntary returns and expulsions into that count. After two years of ramping up immigration and tens of billions spent, deportation numbers are still barely half of Trump’s promise. A spokesperson for DHS told PunchUp that ICE was “delivering on President Trump’s promise to the American people to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens,” that “nearly 70 percent of ICE arrests” had been “charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S.,” and claimed, “more than 3 million illegal aliens are out of the country and counting.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-mass-deportation-humiliation-is-exposed-by-ices-own-figures/?

Putin Left Out in the Cold as Trump Gushes Over New BFF The president appears to have ditched the Russian leader in favor of his sworn enemy. President Donald Trump appears to have hitched his wagon to the Ukrainian cause after ditching under-pressure Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. At home, the Kremlin demagogue is experiencing a mounting crisis. A costly, grinding war with Ukraine has created an economic train wreck, with fuel costs spiraling out of control. His approval rating is ticking down as a result. In short, his stock is low, and Trump appears to be looking towards pastures new. “Very good!!!” the president, 80, gushed on Truth Social, sharing a snippet of Laura Loomer’s upcoming interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “Nobody was around us; it was only two of us. And I was very happy to hear [the] president… it was very good. We calmed down, and it was very good, and I’m so happy because a lot of lives depend on such relations and dialogue,” he said in the clip, perhaps attempting to stroke Trump’s ego. Loomer had asked him, as part of her “Loomer Unleashed in Ukraine” production, about the Oval Office flashpoint with Trump in Feb. 2025 that altered the course of Washington-Kyiv relations and nudged the U.S. president into a cozy relationship with Putin. He hosted the Russian leader in Alaska months later, rolling out the red carpet for him at a summit after which he urged Ukraine to cede territory to Russia to end the war. Trump has since cooled on Putin and appears to be embracing Ukraine and Zelensky. So too does Loomer, despite her previous position as one of MAGA’s most critical anti-Ukraine voices. Her opposition boiled down to an America-first stance, where she favored not supporting Zelensky’s regime militarily due to the cost Americans would ultimately incur. But this month, Loomer traveled to Ukraine, where she experienced an air raid, toured sites damaged by Russian attacks, visited the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery, and, of course, met Zelensky. She has now changed her tone, even rattling off friendly tweets about the leader she once called “a Jihadi apologist,” who leads a country “full of Nazi apologists.” She is now looking inwards, seeking “moral clarity.” “Just experienced my first air raid in Ukraine. Sirens blaring. This is everyday for every Ukrainian,” Loomer wrote on X on July 21. “I often said I don’t care. Looking back, that wasn’t very nice of me to say.” Her change in tone appears to be down to apparent Russian support for Iran in its war with the U.S. “I don’t care about what the media says about me or anyone’s opinion about why I came to Ukraine. I am deeply disturbed as an American citizen about how many Americans minds have been warped to support Russia’s third world slop that pushes communism and a multipolar world where Xi, the Ayatollah and Putin are our masters,” she wrote on X on Thursday. “I hope the DOJ in the US starts cracking down on Americans who participate in Russia and Iran’s networks of disinformation and influence peddling.” Another surprising flip-flop came from her fellow conservative influencer, Tim Pool. “Ukraine has been fighting for their very existence against an evil dictator,” he posted on X on Thursday evening. “I see now the importance of the Ukrainian victory against Russia. I hope Trump and the people of the United States will lend their support.” This is all the more stunning given that the right-wing influencer was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to spread Russian propaganda during the 2024 presidential election. The turnaround is completed by reports that Trump is willing to meet with Zelensky in D.C. next week, perhaps even at the funeral of the late South Carolina senator, Lindsey Graham, who was in Ukraine hours before he died. Graham, who died earlier this month at 71, was a staunch pro-Ukraine advocate. DW News U.S. Correspondent Misha Komadovsky scooped on Friday that the meeting could take place, but details still need to be thrashed out. “President Zelensky is expected in Washington, D.C. next Tuesday, two senior officials tell me,” he posted on X. “He plans to attend Sen. Lindsey Graham’s funeral. A meeting with President Trump is also being arranged — officials are still finalizing the format, whether a sideline meeting at the funeral, a private sit-down, or an official White House visit.” Loomer confirmed this with Zelensky. https://www.thedailybeast.com/putin-left-out-in-the-cold-as-trump-gushes-over-new-bff-zelensky/?

Trump’s Foul-Mouthed Oval Office Meltdown Is Leaked Insiders say the furious president is now in “revenge mode.” President Donald Trump flew into an expletive-laden rage in the Oval Office over his bungled war on Iran, according to people who heard the meltdown. The U.S. and Iran remain locked in a rapidly escalating war, with American forces on a run of 13 consecutive nights of airstrikes. Tensions have peaked since Iran rejected a U.S. ceasefire proposal delivered by Iraq on Thursday. To make matters worse for petulant Trump, crude oil prices topped $100 a barrel for the first time since May after fighting metastasized into other parts of the region. On Friday, Al Jazeera reported a top Iranian diplomatic official as saying the U.S. is “up the creek.” Indeed, he has an ever-growing headache. He is increasingly frustrated by the length of the war, one that he said would be over in a matter of weeks. It’s been almost five months. He showed this frustration when he was quizzed by a reporter about the timeline at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, after attending Sunday’s World Cup final in New Jersey. “On Iran, Mr. President, you said at the start of the war it would be four or five weeks,” the reporter said. “Now it’s nearly five months?” Trump immediately shot back that the reporter had somehow undersold the scale of the task at hand. “This is a far bigger job that we’re doing,” he said. “We were doing a little job, stopping them from having a certain capability. Now, we’re just ending it.” He continued with a rambling, garbled answer before stopping the interview and hot-footing it to the waiting Marine One helicopter. He was much clearer inside the White House, according to insiders who spoke to the Wall Street Journal. He reportedly went into meltdown mode, calling Iranian leaders “scumbags and lunatics” in a rant peppered with expletives. Failed negotiations with Iran have made him angry, according to people familiar with the matter. One senior administration official told the Journal that the president believes that the only thing Iran understands is military force. They said that he was in “revenge mode” against Tehran, adding that he has no bright ideas beyond continuing strikes. “The United States signed an MOU with Iran and they broke it, shot at commercial ships, and killed American soldiers. President Trump is not going to stand by and allow this terrorist behavior to occur,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. The 28-year-old added that Iran was paying for its behavior and would continue to do so “until they come to the table in what President Trump deems a meaningful way.” However, a senior Iranian diplomatic source told Al Jazeera that Trump’s approach won’t work. They lamented the “administration’s coercive posturing and continued acts of aggression.” He accused the U.S. of breaking the Memorandum of Understanding, signed in June. “The U.S. reneging on its commitments under the 17 June MoU is the cause of the current situation,” he noted, adding that Tehran considers all options to be on the table, including diplomacy and—of course—force. Indeed, the Iranian military released a statement on Friday morning, saying that it has launched drones over U.S. bases in Jordan and Bahrain in response to American attacks on targets in Iran. The Journal cited “people familiar with the matter” who said that Trump has complained about the Kafkaesque network of people that his diplomats must navigate to reach Iranian leadership. He has also moaned that every time he feels progress has been made at the negotiating table, Iran strikes a U.S. target, undoing all the good work, the sources said. His headaches have been made worse by claims from Israeli intelligence that he is personally a target. Israeli sources told the WSJ earlier this month that Iran had devised a plot to kill him. Trump referenced being “No. 1 on the kill list for Iran” when asked why he flew home from a NATO summit in Turkey on an older Air Force One instead of his new plane, the $400 million Boeing 747-800 that was gifted to him by Qatar. After initially claiming he used the older jet for “old times’ sake,” it later emerged that his new Air Force One lacks the same defensive systems—including antimissile capabilities—as the old one, and the Secret Service urged the switch. The Journal has now been told that this threat extends to his top aides. They have been told to stop using car services as a result, according to people familiar with the matter. Trump’s answer appears to be to step up the war. He has told aides that he thinks he can break the Iranians’ resolve with another bombing campaign, the Journal reported, citing a person familiar with Trump’s views. “I believe he thinks he gave peace a chance,” said Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “He’s going back to Plan A, which is the military operation.” The White House has been approached for comment. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-foul-mouthed-oval-office-meltdown-is-leaked/? ps:Pathetic little man!!!!!

What to know about the predictions for a potentially record-breaking El Nino Seasonal models are predicting an El Nino climate pattern that could be the strongest on record, bringing with it more extreme weather. https://apnews.com/article/el-nino-climate-hurricane-heat-drought-rain-d9b3de8acc849198fbb1097fbb0eb4f6?

Nearly 150,000 mail ballots rejected in California primary despite efforts to count every vote According to state data, 1.73% of all mail ballots were rejected in the June election. It's a spike from recent elections even as the state attempts to make voting easier with the goal of boosting participation and counting every ballot. Read more. What to know: California has become notorious for its ponderously slow vote counts that can drag on for weeks and sometimes longer, largely the result of multiple changes over the years that were intended to increase turnout but have done little to achieve that. Among the changes: Every voter receives a mail-in ballot that can arrive at an election office seven days late and still be counted, provided the envelope is postmarked by Election Day. Yet even with that generous week-long window, the primary driver of the higher rejection numbers is late-arriving ballots, according to data compiled by the secretary of state’s office. Voting experts suspect the main problem is postmarks on ballots that came after Election Day, making them ineligible to be counted. The culprit could be U.S. Postal Service changes that might affect the timing of when postmarks are applied. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Alaska sends 3,000 letters asking voters to verify their citizenship ahead of this year’s elections FACT FOCUS: Posts falsely claim Obama urged noncitizens to vote in 2016 Federal judges allow new Tennessee congressional map that splits majority-Black district in Memphis

Laura Loomer meets Zelenskyy in Ukraine after her major reversal on the war The ardent ally of President Donald Trump, with a reputation for incendiary social media commentary, sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday. Read more. Why this matters: It was a stunning reversal for a woman who had spent years criticizing U.S. support for Ukraine's defense. Loomer had minimized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and amplified Russian propaganda to her nearly 2 million followers. Trump gave his stamp of approval on social media. “Very good!!!” he wrote on Thursday evening. It was unclear what had prompted Loomer's trip or how she had arranged the meeting with Zelenskyy. Loomer and the White House did not respond to requests for comment on the trip. “It is really important that @LauraLoomer is in Ukraine and sees things with her own eyes as they are,” Zelenskyy’s office wrote. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ US is ready to help end the ‘senseless war’ in Ukraine but no quick deal ahead, Rubio says How protests over a popular minister’s firing sparked Ukraine’s sudden military reset Ukraine hits Russia’s largest online marketplace, hurting small businesses and bringing the war home