Sunday, August 2, 2026
The United States and Israel had planned what would be one of the harshest bombing campaigns to date against energy infrastructure targets in Iran before President Donald Trump claimed a deal to end the conflict may be imminent and agreed to cancel the attack; Gulf states had been briefed on the potential strikes, MSNBC reports. The administration's pivot from imminent warfare to a claimed diplomatic framework arrives as Trump's approval rating sits underwater in eleven states he carried by double-digit margins in the 2024 election, according to Civiqs data. Meanwhile, the Justice Department moved to drop its Reflecting Pool vandalism case against former Olympian David Hearn, a decision Democrats say validates their criticism that the administration is weaponizing the Justice Department. Scholar Sidney Blumenthal has argued the president and his family could soon be confronted with "one of the biggest scandals" he's ever faced, linked to the recent arrest of the Tate brothers, Raw Story reports.
In Morocco, King Mohammed VI named a $1 billion highway crossing the disputed Western Sahara after Trump, calling it a mark of his deep appreciation for the American leader. At the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, most migrants who surged across the border Thursday have been returned to Morocco, while a small minority remain holed up on a seafront, tired, hungry and vowing to stay; Europe is tightening borders in response, Salon notes. In India, the leak of key exam papers triggered student protests, but rising unemployment is the real fuel angering Gen Z, CNBC reports. More than fifty years after the murder of Chilean folk singer Victor Jara, the last man convicted of killing him has been tracked down and brought to justice, Common Dreams notes.
Police responding to a shooting at an In-N-Out Burger restaurant in Idaho found the body of the suspected gunman in an area near the restaurant, NPR reports; the shooting left multiple people dead and the shooter was among the dead in Twin Falls, the Guardian confirms. The tournament showed how a global sporting event could be recast through the Trump administration's emphasis on national power, security, and control, CounterPunch observes of the World Cup final in New York New Jersey on July 19.
Fishwife cofounder and CEO Becca Millstein said she does not typically respond to LinkedIn direct messages but recently hired a candidate after an effective outreach that stood out for its great background. Historical note: in 2002 George W. Bush signed a law to let U.S. commandos invade Holland to free any U.S. troops being tried for war crimes at The Hague, the New Hampshire Gazette recalls.