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President Donald Trump says MOU is “over,” warns U.S. will hit Iran again. Attacks hit tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. strikes Iran. Iran vows “crushing response,” strikes U.S. military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain. U.S. reimposes sanctions on Iranian oil. Funeral procession for slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei reaches Iraq. U.S. commanders bypassed outdated intelligence warnings before deadly Iran school strike. Israeli airstrikes hit Nabatieh, southern villages overnight. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemns Iran’s retaliatory attacks. Israel kills six Palestinians, including two children, on Wednesday. Israeli attacks on Tuesday kill five in Gaza. Israel shoots, detains Palestinian man at Bethlehem checkpoint. Israeli airstrike kills Egyptian Relief Committee worker organizing World Cup match screenings. UN warns of chickenpox surge in Gaza amid overcrowding and collapsing sanitation. Committee to Protect Journalists reconsidering its removal of killed Palestinian journalists from its database. Fallout from accusations against Graham Platner continues. ICE officer kills Mexican immigrant during Houston traffic stop. Rep. Thomas Massie says he will reintroduce NDAA amendment. Department of Justice threatens criminal prosecution over noncitizen voting in letters to all 50 states. Lawsuit alleges U.S. shared confidential asylum data with Iranian government. Trump threatens to cut off all trade with Spain. Trump revives Greenland acquisition push, threatens to pull U.S. troops from Europe. United Nations approves extraordinary session on U.S. sanctions on Cuba. France’s Marine Le Pen to run in 2027 election. Drone strikes kill 15 in Sudan. Dozens of policemen and 11 soldiers killed in southwest Pakistan. Right-wing Brazilian presidential candidate asks Trump for tariff relief. Russian strikes on Kyiv kill one, wound others. U.S. charges gang leader in murder of Indian Sikh activist. Bombing suspect found shot dead in Ukraine.

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Large crowds attend the funeral ceremony of the slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Najaf, Iraq on July 8, 2026. Photo by Karar Essa/Anadolu via Getty Images.

Iran and Ceasefire

• Trump says MOU is “over,” warns U.S. will hit Iran again: President Donald Trump told reporters in Ankara on Wednesday that he thought the memorandum of understanding between the the U.S. and Iran was “over,” following the trade of strikes between the two countries (see below), adding that “dealing” with the Iranians was “just a waste of time.” He warned that attacks on Iran will continue on Wednesday night and that the U.S. is going to “hit them hard tonight.”

  • In the remarks that preceded this announcement, Trump said that the U.S. had “hit Iran very hard last night,” called the Iranians “evil people,” and insisted the attacks were part of the U.S. campaign to “denuclearise” Iran, which does not possess nuclear weapons.
  • Trump also registered his discontent with NATO for insufficient assistance during the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. He said he was “not happy” with the organization “because of the fact that they didn’t want to help us with the number one state-sponsored terror, that’s Iran.”

• Attacks hit tankers in the Strait of Hormuz: Two tankers were struck in separate attacks while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO).

  • In the first incident, a tanker was struck by an unidentified projectile. The vessel is believed to have sustained structural damage, but no casualties or environmental impact were reported.
  • At 1:05 p.m. UTC, UKMCO received a report of a second attack in which another tanker was struck by an unidentified aerial vehicle. The tanker sustained minor structural damage, with no casualties or pollution reported, and continued to its next port of call.
  • Both incidents occurred in the same general area off the coast of Oman. They followed a similar attack on Monday, in which a Qatari tanker carrying liquefied natural gas was hit.
  • Iran’s military did not claim responsibility for any of the attacks, though it has insisted that it manages the Strait under the MOU, vessels have to pass through the northern corridor managed by Iran, and any attempts to bypass its route or escape detection are a violation of the agreement.
  • Qatar and Saudi Arabia both issued formal statements on Tuesday describing the targeting of their vessels and holding Iran accountable for the strikes.

• U.S. strikes Iran: In response to the vessel strikes, which it called a violation of the ceasefire, U.S. Central Command announced new strikes on Iran.

  • Multiple explosions were reported overnight near the Iranian coastal cities of Sirik and Qeshm, on Kharg Island, and in other locations along the Strait of Hormuz, according to Mehr News, an Iranian state-affiliated outlet. Bandar Abbas was also reportedly hit.
  • A later estimate from CENTCOM claimed that “over 80” locations had been targeted, “including air defense systems, command and control networks, and coastal radar sites,” and that they had disabled “over 60” small boats used by Iran’s navy.
  • According to Iranian media, however, most of these strikes hit civilian areas, and shrapnel from one attack, near Sirik’s commercial pier, reportedly wounded several civilians. Other sites struck included fishing piers and a telecommunications tower, Iranian media reported.
  • A U.S. official characterized the strikes as “punishment, not proportional” to CNN.

• Iran vows “crushing response,” strikes U.S. military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain: Noting the repeated violations by the U.S. of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding, particularly the violations of its first clause with Israel’s continuing assault on Lebanon, and following the strikes, Iran’s Foreign Ministry announced it would take “any action it deems necessary” to protect its interests and national security.

  • Iran’s Khatam-al-Anbiya Central Headquarters also condemned the strikes as a “blatant act of aggression,” noting that they occurred during the funeral procession for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in February by an Israeli strike, and warning that Iran’s military would deliver a “crushing response” to the attacks.
  • Air raid sirens were reported in Kuwait and Bahrain, with authorities in both countries releasing statements saying their air defenses were actively intercepting and destroying Iranian missiles and drones.
  • The IRGC said in a statement that it had struck 85 military facilities in the Persian Gulf, including the U.S. Fifth Fleet Headquarters at Bahrain’s Salman Port and its Sheikh Isa Air Base, as well as the Ali Al Salem base in Kuwait.

• U.S. reimposes sanctions on Iranian oil: Earlier on Tuesday, and following strikes on vessels in Hormuz, the U.S. Treasury Department announced it would be reimposing sanctions on Iranian oil that were lifted by the signing of the memorandum of understanding. The sanctions will go into effect on July 17, according to the statement, which announced their resumption.

  • Oil prices jumped more than 5% following the announcement.

• Khamenei funeral procession reaches Iraq: The body of Ayatollah Khamenei arrived in Najaf, Iraq, where it was received with full state honors by Iraq’s top leadership, including Shia, Sunni, Kurdish, Christian, and other political and religious representatives, Drop Site’s Sarmad Jawad reported.

  • Some Iraqi MPs were heard chanting “Death to America. Death to Israel.”
  • Iraq is hosting an official state funeral for the former Iranian Supreme Leader, with millions of Iraqis expected to line the streets to pay their respects.

• U.S. commanders bypassed outdated intelligence warnings before deadly Iran school strike: Senior U.S. military commanders overrode database warnings that intelligence on Iranian targets was severely outdated before approving strikes on the war’s first day, including one that hit the Shajareh Tayyiba girls’ school in Minab, killing at least 168 children and 14 teachers, according to a new report from CNN.

  • According to the report, analysts prioritized updating records for “upper-tier” mobile threats like missile sites before the war began, leaving fixed sites such as the school reliant on intelligence over 10 years old in the Pentagon’s MIDB and MARS targeting databases, sources said.
  • The override preceding approval was reportedly driven by pressure from senior Pentagon leadership to supply targets quickly.

Lebanon

• Israeli airstrikes hit Nabatieh, southern villages overnight: Israeli warplanes struck the Ali Al-Taher woodland near Nabatieh El-Fawqah around 2 a.m. local time on Wednesday, following artillery shelling in the area, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

  • Israeli aircraft also carried out three waves of strikes between Beit Yahoun, Kounine and Braachit overnight, while drones were reported flying intensively over Tyre and Beirut’s southern suburbs earlier in the day.

• Aoun condemns Iran’s retaliatory attacks: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Wednesday condemned Iranian attacks targeting Bahrain and Kuwait as violations of their sovereignty and international law, per Lebanon’s National News Agency, though he made no similar condemnations of the earlier U.S. attacks on Iran.

  • Earlier on Tuesday, a White House official told Reuters that Trump had invited Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to visit the White House on July 21.

Palestine

• Killed and wounded: Over the last 24 hours, eight Palestinians were killed and 17 were injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza. Two bodies were also recovered from under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

  • The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 73,110 killed, with 173,599 injured, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 1,084 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 3,491, while 799 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble.

• Israel kills six Palestinians, including two children, on Wednesday: Six Palestinians, including two children, were killed in Israeli attacks on Khan Younis and Gaza City in Gaza on Wednesday afternoon, WAFA reported. Four people, including a 10-year-old child, were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit a tent at Al-Saada camp south of Khan Younis. In Gaza City, one Palestinian was killed in an Israeli airstrike west of the city, while another child was shot dead by Israeli forces in the Zeitoun neighborhood southeast of Gaza City.

• Israeli attacks on Tuesday kill five in Gaza: Two Israeli airstrikes on Tel Al-Hawa neighborhood south of Gaza City killed two, including a child, and injured four others Tuesday evening, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported. Another strike on a vehicle in Al-Sabra neighborhood killed four, including two children.

• Israel shoots, detains Palestinian man at Bethlehem checkpoint: Israeli forces shot a Palestinian man in the thigh with live ammunition at a military checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem on Wednesday before detaining him, according to WAFA.

• Israeli airstrike kills Egyptian Relief Committee worker organizing World Cup match screenings: Israel struck and killed Mohammed Fawaz Al-Wahidi, an employee of the Egyptian Relief Committee in Gaza, hitting a vehicle in Gaza City about an hour before the World Cup match between Egypt and Argentina. The strike killed three others, including two children.

  • The committee had been organizing public screenings of World Cup matches for displaced families across the Strip.
  • A later statement from the committee, which identified Al-Wahidi and noted his role as a respected community leader, said he was on his way to a neighborhood reconciliation meeting when he was killed.

• UN warns of chickenpox surge in Gaza amid overcrowding and collapsing sanitation: Nearly 9,300 chickenpox infections were reported over the past two weeks in Gaza, more than half of them in the southern area of Khan Younis, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported. OCHA attributed the outbreak to deteriorating environmental conditions, severe overcrowding, poor sanitation, and the summer season. The surge comes as around 1.7 million forcibly displaced Palestinians are living across more than 1,600 displacement sites. It added that 83% of assessed displacement sites have reported rodent and parasite infestations, while the collapsing health system continues to face critical shortages of essential medical supplies amid Israeli restrictions.

• Palestinian rights group accuses Israeli prison staff of attempted killing of detainee: The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said Wednesday that Israeli prison officials deliberately attempted to kill Palestinian prisoner Ghassan Ibrahim Zwahra, citing his testimony of being shot with rubber-coated bullets on multiple occasions after his June 8 transfer to Negev Prison, according to WAFA.

  • Zwahra was also subjected to humiliating strip searches, brutal beatings, and was unable to walk as a result of his injuries, ultimately losing consciousness in the prison yard, which necessitated hospitalization, the group says.
  • Zwahra, who has spent 17 years in Israeli prisons, was re-detained in February 2025. Only seven of these years were a result of actual sentences; the remaining 10 were spent in “administrative detention,” whereby Israel can summarily subject Palestinians to detentions of indefinite length without criminal charges or a trial.

• U.S. politicians call for the release of Gaza physician: Sen. Chris Van Hollen called for the immediate release of detained Gaza pediatrician Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya on Tuesday, noting that Dr. Abu Safiya has spent 18 months in Israeli detention without charge or trial.

  • Darializa Avila Chevalier, who recently won a high-profile race in New York’s Democratic Primary and is expected to win a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, joined Van Hollen in calling for Dr. Abu Safiya’s immediate release.
  • Chevalier added that in Congress she would “fight tooth and nail” to cease the “endless endless flow of weapons and American taxpayer dollars” to Israel, noting its egregious violations of international humanitarian law and its multifront war against its neighbors and rivals.
  • The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem also demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Abu Safiya. The commission warned in a statement on Wednesday that Abu Safiya’s deteriorating health was the direct result of “continued and severe abuse since his detention by the Israeli authorities in December 2024.” The commission added that Israel’s treatment of Abu Safiya reflected a broader pattern: “Israeli security forces deliberately killed, wounded, detained, and severely mistreated medical personnel, constituting the war crimes of wilful killing and torture and the crime against humanity of extermination.”

• Hind Rajab Foundation files criminal complaint against Israeli in Italy: The Belgium-based Hind Rajab Foundation filed a criminal complaint on Tuesday, pointing Italian prosecutors towards Israeli citizen Arik Ben Asulin, who the group says is currently in Italy.

  • The foundation says he participated in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide while serving in the Israeli military’s 749th Combat Engineering Battalion in Gaza.
  • The complaint cites his alleged role in the destruction of the Netzarim Corridor, Al-Azhar University, and Gaza City’s Shujaiya neighborhood, relying on satellite imagery, U.N. findings, investigative reporting, and Ben Asulin’s own social media posts.

• CPJ reconsidering its removal of killed Palestinian journalists from its database: The Committee to Protect Journalists is reconsidering its removal of four Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza from its casualty database, the Electronic Intifada reported Wednesday, after a major controversy roiled the organization last week when it considered changing its definition of who is a journalist to exclude “state-backed propaganda outlets” or other outlets affiliated with “armed groups,” a change it ultimately did not make.

  • CPJ is reportedly reviewing the cases of three journalists from Press House Palestine, all killed by Israel within the first few months of the Gaza genocide, one of whom was recognized as a journalist by UNESCO. The organization was also profiled by the Guardian, with one of these journalists, Mohammed Al-Jaja, described as having “his Press House flak jacket and press card resting on top of his body,” after he was killed.
  • Read the full report from the Electronic Intifada here.

U.S. News

By Julian Andreone, with Ryan Grim. Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email Andreone at Julian@dropsitenews.com.

• Fallout from accusations against Graham Platner continues:

  • New allegations: Lyndsey Fifield, the ex-girlfriend whose allegations of physical abuse against Graham Platner anchored last month’s New York Times story, now tells the Washington Post he removed condoms during sex without her consent at least six times while they dated from 2013 to 2015, knowing she was not on birth control. “He would do it in a sneaky way,” she said. A close friend said Fifield told her about it when the relationship ended, according to the Post.

    • Platner denied the claims and noted Fifield’s “well-documented political agenda.” Fifield is a longtime Republican operative who worked for the Heritage Foundation and Nikki Haley’s campaign, and publicly defended Brett Kavanaugh against sexual assault allegations.

  • Troy Jackson files paperwork indicating he might run: Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson became the first Democrat to formally take steps to replace current nominee Graham Platner, filing paperwork on Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission to form a U.S. Senate exploratory committee, according to the Bangor Daily News. The filing allows Jackson to raise money before announcing a campaign. Read more on Troy Jackson and his support from former Platner volunteers in this report from Drop Site contributor Nathan Bernard here.

  • Nirav Shah also announces intention to run: Nirav Shah, a former gubernatorial candidate and public health official, said on Tuesday he was preparing to enter the race should Platner withdraw, calling for an “open and transparent process” to decide the new nominee, including at least one televised debate and multiple town halls across the state. Shah said he would run on Medicare for All, increasing taxes on the wealthy, reproductive rights, and challenging Trump, but did not mention Palestine. Shah’s 2026 gubernatorial campaign received more than $630,000 in support from 314 Action Fund, an AIPAC-linked Super PAC.

  • Sanders urges Platner to drop out: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)posted on X Tuesday that he had “spoken with Platner” and had “recommended that he step aside.”

• ICE officer kills Mexican immigrant during Houston traffic stop: An ICE officer shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston’s Magnolia Park neighborhood on Tuesday. The agency accused Araujo of ramming into an ICE vehicle and refusing verbal commands during an attempted arrest.

  • Salgado Araujo’s family said he had lived in the U.S. for nearly 35 years and was in the process of obtaining legal status, according to his son Ronaldo Salgado.
  • TheLeague of United Latin American Citizens said Salgado Araujo was picking up employees in a work vehicle at the time of the stop, and the group’s chief executive called for a city police investigation while offering a $5,000 reward for more information about the shooting.

• Rep. Thomas Massie says he will reintroduce NDAA amendment: Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said on Tuesday he would again offer his amendment to strip Section 219 from the NDAA when the House reconvenes July 13.

  • The Section 219 provision would integrate U.S. and Israeli military technology across weapons co-production, AI, cyber, and data-sharing. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has called the provision his personal plan.
  • The Rules Committee blocked the bipartisan Massie-Khanna amendment to this provision last week without debate, keeping it from a floor vote. But the procedural measure needed to bring the NDAA itself to the floor then unexpectedly failed, stalling the whole bill and forcing the committee to write a new rule, giving opponents of the provision another shot.

• DOJ threatens criminal prosecution over noncitizen voting in letters to all 50 states: The Justice Department’s civil rights division, led by Harmeet Dhillon, sent letters Tuesday to election officials in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., warning that officials could face possible criminal liability if noncitizens are found on voter rolls or to have cast ballots.

  • The letters are part of President Donald Trump’s ongoing push to tighten election restrictions, though there is no evidence of widespread noncitizen voting.
  • The DOJ gave officials five days to detail their compliance efforts, though the letters carry no formal subpoena power.
  • Also on Tuesday, the DOJ notified Detroit, Lansing, and East Lansing that federal monitors would observe the upcoming Michigan primary, alleging issues in the 2024 election; Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey characterized these as “false assertions” used to exert special power over Detroit, a city with a heavy Black majority.

• Lawsuit alleges U.S. shared confidential asylum data with Iranian government: A lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., alleges that U.S. immigration agencies shared confidential asylum records of detained Iranians with the Iranian government, violating federal confidentiality regulations, according to court filings from the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund and Public Citizen Litigation Group.

  • The complaint claims State Department officials arranged monthly meetings with Iranian officials starting in March 2025, using the Pakistani embassy as an intermediary, to share sensitive details about detainees the U.S. sought to deport.
  • The lawsuit alleges the shared information included asylum details from people who said they were persecuted in Iran for converting to Christianity, their sexuality, or participation in the 2022 Women, Life, Freedom protests, with disclosures reportedly continuing even after U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran began the war in February 2026.
  • About 600 Iranians were placed in immigration detention last year, according to public records obtained by the National Iranian American Council, and three deportation flights returned dozens of Iranians to Iran between September 2025 and January 2026, with some deportees reportedly including asylum seekers.

• Democratic nominee Valdez says she would support sanctions on Israel: Congressional candidate and current New York Rep. Claire Valdez said she would “absolutely” support sanctions on Israel similar to those imposed on South Africa, BreakThrough News reported. “We have a lot of tools at our disposal, including diplomatic tools,” she said, adding that “we should be looking at those tools now.”

Other International News

• Trump again threatens to cut off all trade with Spain: As part of his remarks at Wednesday’s NATO summit in Ankara,President Donald Trump said that he had directed U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to “cut off” all trade with Spain, calling it a “terrible partner” in the Atlantic alliance.

  • In March, Trump also told Bessent to cut off trade with Spain, after Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that Spain would not allow the U.S. to use its bases for operations against Iran, calling strikes by Israel and the U.S. on Iran “reckless and illegal.” Sánchez has also been a vocal critic of Israel during its genocide in Gaza, calling it a “genocidal state” and indicating that Spain could not “do business” with such a country.

• Trump revives Greenland acquisition push, threatens to pull U.S. troops from Europe: President Trump on Tuesday renewed calls for the U.S. to acquire Greenland, saying the territory “should be controlled by the United States” and suggesting Washington could withdraw all its troops from Europe over the continent’s resistance to the idea.

  • Speaking in Ankara ahead of Wednesday’s NATO summit, Trump blamed the Greenland dispute for damaging his relationship with NATO and repeated unverified claims about Chinese and Russian ships near the island.
  • Finnish President Alexander Stubb responded to Trump’s comments by emphasizing NATO’s existing Arctic capabilities, noting that Finland has trained a million soldiers in Arctic conditions and that seven alliance members are Arctic nations.
  • A U.S., Danish, and Greenlandic working group has been meeting on the territory’s status since Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte reportedly reached a preliminary “framework” agreement in late January, with Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen saying he expects a resolution by year’s end.

• United Nations approves extraordinary session on U.S. sanctions on Cuba: Over U.S. objections, the UN General Assembly voted 136-9 on Tuesday to hold an extraordinary session, requested by Cuba, to address an escalation in the U.S. sanctions regime on the island and its effect on Cuba’s energy infrastructure.

  • Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez told the session that the U.S. is waging a “multidimensional, unconventional war” against Cuba, now in its seventh decade and “more brutal and ruthless in the last seven months,” with an energy siege “equivalent to a naval blockade, which is an act of war.” He called U.S. policy, which caused yet another islandwide blackout on Monday, “collective punishment” enforced against Cuba’s population, and estimated it had cost the nation $8 billion from March 2025 to February 2026.
  • The U.S. had lobbied other countries at the UN to join its effort to block the debate entirely; only the U.S., Israel, Argentina, and six others voted against the extraordinary session.
  • The UN has passed a non-binding resolution calling for the lifting of the U.S. blockade every year since 1992, with the support of a large majority of its member states.

• Marine Le Pen to run in 2027 election: Far-right French politician Marine Le Pen announced that she would run in France’s 2027 presidential election on Tuesday, following a decision by a Paris appeals court upholding her embezzlement conviction that allows her to seek public office once again.

  • Le Pen, who has long headed the far-right French National Rally (formerly “National Front”) party, was found guilty of embezzling €2.8 million in European Parliament funds.
  • She was banned from pursuing elected office by the court, but Tuesday’s ruling reduced that ban, effectively allowing her to run in the 2027 election.
  • It also mandated that Le Pen wear an ankle monitor in lieu of her suspended jail sentence, which Le Pen has said would make campaigning impossible. She is appealing the decision to France’s highest court, which automatically suspends the sentence until a final ruling is issued.

• Drone strikes kill 15 in Sudan: At least 15 civilians were killed in two separate strikes on vehicles on Monday and Tuesday in Sudan’s North Kordofan region, the Sudanese human rights group Emergency Lawyers reported.

  • The largest of these attacks, on a vehicle in the town of Al-Shatoot, killed 13 civilians, five of them women, according to the group.
  • Kordofan has seen an escalation in drone strikes in recent weeks, with schools, hospitals, and water infrastructure in the region all sustaining serious damage.

• Dozens of policemen and 11 soldiers killed in southwest Pakistan: Insurgents killed 18 police officers and 11 soldiers, according to the Pakistan military. The policemen had been abducted Monday, when militants attacked police in the Ziarat district in Baluchistan province, the AP reported. Nine police officers were initially killed in that attack. A Pakistani military spokesperson said security forces had killed 54 insurgents.

• Right-wing Brazilian presidential candidate asks Trump for tariff relief: Right-wing Brazilian senator and presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro on Tuesday argued against a 25% tariff on his country to the U.S. Trade Representative, asserting that its trade practices, particularly an instant payment system, were not unfair, and noting the possible effects of the tariffs on the October election.

  • The tariffs were proposed to derail the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro, but the younger Bolsonaro fears they could be used against him in his campaign against incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who has seen his popularity boosted after diplomatic spats with Washington.

• Russian strikes on Kyiv kill one, wound others: Russian forces bombarded Kyiv overnight Tuesday—the third time Russia has bombed the capital in less than a week—killing a woman and wounding two others, according to city officials.

  • Ukrainian defenses were able to intercept most of Russia’s drone attacks but not the ballistic missiles it launched, according to the country’s air force.
  • Other attacks were reported in the southern region of Mykolaiv, the eastern region of Dnipropetrovsk, and the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, the first of which killed a mother and daughter. Several others were wounded in both attacks.
  • The attacks come as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presses for additional military support during this week’s NATO summit in Ankara.

• U.S. charges gang leader in murder of Indian Sikh activist: The U.S. charged Lawrence Bishnoi, an imprisoned leader of an Indian gang, and a deputy, Satinderjeet Singh, with directing the 2023 murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh nationalist leader killed in Vancouver, Canada, according to an indictment unsealed on Tuesday.

  • The indictment claims that Bishnoi directed the murder from his prison cell in India, using a smuggled cellphone and providing a co-conspirator with a picture of and addresses for Nijjar.
  • Nijjar’s killing caused a diplomatic rift between the Canadian and Indian governments, with then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleging that he had “credible evidence” linking the killing to Indian government agents. The U.S. indictment makes no such connections.

• Bombing suspect found shot dead in Ukraine: Anastasiia Berezovska, a 39-year-old Ukrainian national suspected of attempting to kill a prominent businessman in Monaco in a bombing attack last week, was found dead near Kyiv on Tuesday, according to Ukraine’s Security Services. Berezovska was reportedly shot in the head by a Ukrainian military intelligence officer, the Guardian reported.

  • French prosecutors accuse Berezovska of receiving payments in cryptocurrency from two different men to kill Vadym Iermolaiev, a Ukrainian businessman who holds Cypriot citizenship and allegedly has close ties to Russia.

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