The scene is probably all too familiar. You’re trying to get dinner on the table before rushing out the door for practice. Folding chairs get tossed into the trunk, you double-check that the cleats, shin guards, water bottles, and soccer ball actually made it into the car, and you’re mentally running through tomorrow’s to-do list.
Between innings or at halftime, you’re checking your phone, hoping for a call from your deployed spouse or squeezing in a quick conversation before they head back on duty. Maybe the movers are coming tomorrow, or you just unpacked the last moving box.
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Trump Is Looking Beyond Pickaxe Mountain at Iran’s Remaining Nuclear Sites: President Donald Trump’s threat against Pickaxe Mountain has focused attention on one deeply buried site near Natanz. U.S. planners have other possible nuclear-related targets in Iran, including Isfahan, Fordow, Natanz and Taleghan 2 at the Parchin military complex, according to a Wall Street Journal review.
Pickaxe Mountain is an uninspected tunnel complex that Iran has continued constructing near Natanz. The Associated Press reported that the halls may sit about 100 meters underground.
Russia’s Public Anger Is Testing Putin’s Grip: Russia’s public mood is becoming harder for Russian President Vladimir Putin to manage as the war reaches daily life through higher prices, internet shutdowns, fuel disruption and Ukrainian drone attacks. In fact, many experts are even predicting a coup could challenge Putin’s power in the months and years ahead.
Putin: In Trouble? A Look At What We Know
Putin Meeting with Indian Leaders Creative Commons Photo 2021
Putin in March 2022. Creative Commons Image.
Ukraine Struck Iran-Linked Shipping in the Caspian Sea. Tehran Is Threatening a Response: Ukraine’s long-range campaign has reached the Caspian Sea, opening a new dispute with Iran over vessels Kyiv says were supporting military trade with Russia. Current reporting on the confrontation says Tehran summoned Ukraine’s senior diplomat after accusing Kyiv of attacking an Iranian commercial ship.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the vessel was struck early on July 25, causing an explosion that killed one sailor and injured another.
Trump Has Paused the Bombing. He Still Has No Clean Way Out of the Iran War: President Donald Trump has paused American airstrikes on Iran after 13 consecutive nights, creating the first serious diplomatic opening since the latest ceasefire collapsed. A New York Times analysis published July 26 points to the central White House problem: every available course carries military, economic and political costs.
The United States and Iran both want to recover parts of the June agreement, according to an Associated Press account of the renewed talks.
During World War I, families began flying flags or banners to honor their loved one serving in a war. Blue stars were hung for every immediate family member away, often including several stars for a single household.
The tradition soon became more telling: when a soldier died “over there,” the blue star was switched out to gold. This became a way for the family to inform the public about their loss without having to do so in person.
Ukraine Says Russia Is Preparing a New Mobilization as Losses Outrun Recruitment: Ukraine says Vladimir Putin is preparing the conditions for a broader Russian mobilization as battlefield personnel losses place greater pressure on Moscow’s volunteer-recruitment system. President Volodymyr Zelensky issued the warning on July 25, according to a Kyiv Independent report.
Zelensky said Russia had enlisted about 221,000 people during 2026 while suffering approximately 225,500 personnel losses, including 131,000 killed and almost 93,000 wounded.
Romania Shot Down a Third Drone in Three Days as NATO Airspace Breaches Mount: Romania shot down a third unauthorized drone in three days on July 26, marking a change in how the NATO member responds to aircraft crossing its border during Russian attacks on Ukraine. A Romanian F-16 destroyed the latest drone over the Black Sea, about 12 kilometers northeast of Sulina, according to France24’s report.
President Nicușor Dan called the repeated breaches “inadmissible and intolerable,” while Romania summoned the Russian ambassador.
For thirteen consecutive nights, the pattern never broke. Each evening, U.S. Central Command posted the same kind of announcement: American forces were striking military targets inside Iran, another wave in the bombing campaign that resumed when the ceasefire collapsed earlier this month. Then came Friday night, and the account went quiet, with no strike announcement for the first time in nearly two weeks.
The silence was matched on the other side.
Russia Wants 30,000 More North Korean Troops for Ukraine, Zelensky Says: Russia is preparing to receive another 30,000 North Korean troops for its war against Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on July 25. A Reuters report on the claim said preparations had been underway in Russia’s Voronezh region since June. Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang had confirmed the proposed deployment by July 26.
Zelensky also said North Korea was preparing to transfer additional ballistic-missile launchers to Russia.