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In a major victory those seeking to rid America of bans on so-called “assault weapons,” for the first time ever, a federal appeals court has ruled that a state’s ban on AR-15s and similar rifles, and its ban on “high-capacity” magazines, violate the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution.

The bans in question had been enacted by New Jersey, but the ruling carries weight throughout the jurisdiction of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which also includes Pennsylvania and Delaware. More significantly, the Third Circuit ruling creates a direct circuit split — the term used to describe a situation where two or more federal courts hand down different interpretations of the same legal controversy, which results in litigants in different parts of the country experiencing sharply different outcomes. Circuit splits are one of the key factors that make an issue ripe for US Supreme Court review.

Late last month, the Supreme Court already agreed to hear an appeal of rulings that upheld a “assault rifle” ban imposed by Connecticut and by Cook County — where Chicago is situated. The question posed to the high court by the petitioners: “Whether the Second and Fourteenth Amendments guarantee the right to possess AR-15 platform and similar semi-automatic rifles.” 

Comically flaunting his supposed credentials on the issue by noting that he “qualified as an expert shot” in the Navy and is thus “familiar with firearms,” New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill condemned the ruling in a statement: 

“Today’s decision is dangerous, wrong, and make no mistake, it will make New Jersey communities less safe…This decision is not only legally wrong, it’s completely out of step with parents and the people of the Garden State…We will not back down from extreme, right-wing attempts to weaken the laws of New Jersey.”

The Third Circuit Court reviewed the case en banc — that is, all active judges of the circuit participated in hearing and deciding the case.  They threw out the New Jersey rifle and magazine bans by a 10-to-5 margin. A majority of the Third Circuit judges were appointed by Republicans, but the majority opinion was written by a Biden-appointed judge, Arianna Freeman. As required by the landmark 2022 Bruen decision, the Third Circuit and all other federal courts are required to evaluate whether a given restriction on the right of armed self-defense is consistent with the country’s historical tradition of firearms regulation. 

Freeman and her fellow judges in the majority flatly rejected the notion, embraced by other circuits, that AR-15 rifles are not “arms” as the term is used in the Second Amendment: 

“Even the narrowest Founding-era definition of ‘Arms’ addressed by the Heller Court ‘stated that all firearms constituted ‘arms,’”… “Because semi-automatic rifles are firearms, they are ‘Arms’ within the meaning of the Second Amendment. The Constitution thus ‘presumptively protects’ individuals’ right to keep and bear semi-automatic rifles.”

The majority decision also rejected the ban over the “common use” standard that was created by the Supreme Court’s 2008 Heller decision: 

“Bans on weapons in common use for lawful purposes are unlawful. So are severe restrictions on weapons in common use for lawful purposes .. However much nuance we might employ, we could not overcome the dearth of relevantly similar Founding-era restrictions. “

They also found no historical roots with which to justify the ban on AR-15 and similar rifles: 

“Together, Heller and Bruen teach that bans or broad prohibitions on possessing or carrying of a class of weapons in common use for lawful purposes fail to find support in our Nation’s tradition of firearm regulation. That is so even when the regulations are passed with the intention of reducing gun violence .. That principle resolves our inquiry here.

In the primary dissenting opinion, Biden appointee Patty Shwartz said “the objective features of AR-15s and [large-capacity magazines] render them disproportionate to ‘ordinary self-defense needs’ and thus outside the scope of the Second Amendment’s protection.”

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Friday said that states that do not purge their voter rolls of potentially ineligible voters and noncitizens could lose funding.

It came as he said the DHS has identified more than 250,000 noncitizens who were illegally on voter registration rolls in four states: California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Nevada.

“We know Iran hacked state voter files and attempted to compromise our systems where military members used to vote,” he said, adding that DHS “security enhancements” will be mandatory.

“If these states want a grant, and they want to be reimbursed to run federal elections, they’re going to have to implement security measures.”

Voting systems have to be secured, and voter registration lists need to be “scrubbed,” Mullin said.

“We need to make sure that individuals that are legally able to vote are voting,” he said.

When a staff member discovered the relationship with the prospective defendant, Johnston fired the employee, according to Hanaway.

“President Trump is correct when he said that election security is national security … this is just exposing what took place and to make sure it never happens again.

“And there’s some really easy steps that can be taken to secure our elections, and it shouldn’t be a partisan issue.”

Mullin said he is asking election officials in those four states to check voter rolls for people who are not American citizens, saying that it’s not a “partisan issue” to safeguard the process.

“We will secure our elections,” he said, adding that DHS has a mandate to “keep our voters safe and our elections safe.”

The remarks from Mullin follow a speech given by President Donald Trump on July 16 in which he detailed what he said were significant irregularities and flaws in the 2020 election and problems with voter rolls in states.

He called to pass a voter identification bill that is currently stalled in Congress.

“I’ve also ordered DHS to notify every state about non-citizens on their voter rolls and direct them to remove all ineligible voters from the lists immediately,” Trump said in his speech on Thursday.

“But most importantly, addressing this crisis of election security demands that Congress must pass the SAVE America Act.”

Trump was referring to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, a highly debated election bill that would mandate voters to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote and present valid photo identification to cast ballots in federal elections.

It was passed in the House but faces opposition in the Senate.

The Trump administration has called on Republican senators who hold the majority to remove the legislative filibuster to pass it, although Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has said his party lacks the votes to do so.

Trump said in his address that recent intelligence findings showed that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and other foreign adversaries tried to meddle in the 2020 election, that there was evidence of voter fraud being buried, that hundreds of thousands of deceased people and noncitizens are active on voter rolls, and that voting systems were exposed to manipulation and hacking attempts.

“This vital information has for many years been covered up and hidden from you,” Trump said.

The White House on Thursday concurrently released sections of documents related to alleged vulnerabilities in U.S. voting systems, China having acquired and exploited U.S. voter data, the results of a Michigan voter-registration investigation, and details on noncitizens on state voter rolls.

Authored by Noel Williams via AmericanThinker.com,

Yesterday, Mr. Noel S. Williams noted the impudent and impertinent behavior of Argentina’s soccer players after their World Cup semi-final match against England (you’re welcome).

The unfurling of the banner that read “Las Malvinas son Argentinas” may have flown under the radar for many, but it was actually a rather sizable geopolitical offense.

The Falkland Islands Government has now issued a statement condemning the Argentinian team’s hubris.

Here is part of it:

That said, it is hardly news to anyone that the people of the Islands were victims of an aggressive invasion in 1982, which left many traumatised [sic].

The banner displayed by Argentina last night, therefore, was particularly insensitive for many people in the Falklands.

…

We welcome the UK Government’s supportive statement this morning.

The statement also calls upon FIFA to sanction their atrocious behavior in keeping with their categorical rules to eliminate politics from sports.

Now we will see if FIFA has really purged their inherently corrupt tendencies.

As for sport, frankly Argentina probably deserved to win the match because England essentially chose to lose (after taking the lead).

Nevertheless, their brutish behavior (fouls, simulations, swarming, and the “dark arts” in which they specialize) are not a good advertisement for the game.

Good sportsmanship and soccer don’t dovetail, but Argentina’s tactics scrape the bottom of the barrel.

Argentina does have a much-loved player named Lionel Messi, and a considerable fan base, but their soccer shenanigans are messy.

I hope FIFA president Gianni Infantino is not coyed by their fervor.

Since Argentina is now in the World Cup Final, he has the perfect opportunity to highlight the importance of FIFA’s rules about politics and sportsmanship by imposing punishment in a high-profile moment.

He said he wants the tournament to unite the world — prove it by sanctioning Argentina for the pariah they are.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.

Side-note, England play Argentina at Rugby later today and tensions are already rising…

Venezuela’s official death toll from the twin earthquakes that struck the country on June 24 has surpassed 5,000 and could climb much higher.

New footage of the June 24th earthquake in La Guaira shows multiple buildings collapsing #Venezuela pic.twitter.com/hq1ywikhpA

— CNW (@ConflictsW) July 11, 2026

Poorly constructed multifamily housing complexes, built with low-quality materials under the socialist government’s mass-housing programs, collapsed “like sandcastles” when the quakes hit the coastal state of La Guaira.

The devastating earthquakes in Venezuela exposed exactly how the socialist government built housing for their people. Look at this video from La Guaira.

The buildings in the Misión Vivienda program were constructed using expanded polystyrene (EPS) panels coated with a thin layer… pic.twitter.com/N4qLX7W3Xa

— Maila Maria Rosa (@MailaMariaRosa) June 28, 2026

The magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes struck within seconds of each other, devastating Chávez-era socialist housing projects in La Guaira and reducing buildings to rubble.

As the Spanish daily newspaper ABC recently reported, “The explanation given by engineers and construction specialists is that low-quality materials were used in the Chavista Housing Mission, without supervision and without the application of anti-seismic standards.”

Aerial footage shows the widespread destruction across La Guaira, Venezuela.
pic.twitter.com/KVUrstkx97

— Resist the Mainstream (@ResisttheMS) June 25, 2026

Local authorities reported 16,740 injuries and said that more than 6,400 people had been rescued from the rubble. The death toll surpassed 5,000 on Friday, while the United Nations estimates that more than 50,000 people remain missing.

2/
The UN estimates as many as 50,000 people may still be missing. Nearly 17,000 are wounded, and more than 21,000 are living in shelters. Recovery could cost $37 billion — while Venezuela’s own funds sit frozen abroad.

— CEPR (@ceprdc) July 17, 2026

On Friday, acting President Delcy Rodríguez said that Venezuela has drawn on $346 million of its own reserves at the International Monetary Fund to begin reconstruction projects in the quake-ravaged region.

“My heart is with the people of Venezuela,” IMF’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a post on X.

Supporting ongoing disaster relief efforts, the US military has shifted ships, rotary-wing aircraft, cargo planes, and amphibious landing craft to deliver vital supplies directly to damaged coastal infrastructure.

Racing the clock and clearing bottlenecks to help save lives in Venezuela:
Since mobilizing to Simón Bolívar International Airport in the aftermath of the earthquakes, the @usairforce Contingency Response Element (CRE) has been vital in accelerating the flow of critical relief… pic.twitter.com/pfIgvmFx8N

— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) July 17, 2026

US military forces supporting Venezuela’s disaster response are helping stabilize the country after the devastating quake.

Still, the deployment is notable: US troops are now positioned inside Venezuela just as US military activity around Cuba could intensify, amid rumors of a potential invasion (read here).

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

A total of 227,548 properties in the United States made foreclosure filings in the first six months of this year, a 21 percent increase from the same period last year, according to real estate analytics company ATTOM.

The first half foreclosure filings are also up by 28 percent from the same period two years back, ATTOM said in a July 16 report.

In states with a minimum of 500 foreclosure filings, Idaho registered the largest year-over-year increase: 59 percent. This was closely followed by Colorado with 57 percent, Georgia with 52 percent, and North Carolina with 47 percent.

Foreclosure is a legal process by which a mortgage lender repossesses a property after the borrower fails to make mortgage payments on time. Initially, the lender issues a notice of default once payments are missed for 90 days. If the borrower fails to settle the claim within 30 days, the lender can repossess the property and sell it off.

In the first half of the year, 0.16 percent of all housing units made a foreclosure filing, according to ATTOM.

Florida had the highest rate, with 0.27 percent of housing units making a filing. South Carolina was in the second spot with a 0.26 percent rate, followed by Indiana and Delaware, both with a rate of 0.25 percent.

“Foreclosure activity continued to increase in the first half of 2026, but the broader picture remains one of a market that is gradually returning to more typical patterns,” Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM, said in a statement.

Foreclosure filings in a year’s first half hit their lowest level in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but have risen since. Prior to the pandemic, first-half filing numbers were higher than the 2026 figure for every single year between 2008 and 2019.

However, the filing increase in the first half of 2026 also suggests “that some homeowners may be facing greater financial strain than they were a year ago,” Barber said.

In a June 12 post, legal services company Nolo predicted foreclosure rates would gradually rise in the latter part of 2026.

The company cited factors such as high interest rates and reduced buyer demand as contributing to a growing housing crisis. Unless there is significant relief or intervention, the trend of rising foreclosures is likely to continue, it said.

High Mortgage Rates, Avoiding Foreclosure

The average weekly rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has mostly remained above the 6 percent level since September 2022, according to data from Freddie Mac.

Since mid-May, rates have been hovering around the 6.5 percent level. For the week ending July 15, rates were at 6.55 percent.

Meanwhile, demand in the housing market has subsided, with some house hunters backing off due to high costs, real estate brokerage Redfin said in a July 16 statement.

“High mortgage rates mean that even homes in the most affordable price point—under $350,000 in the Grand Rapids area—are a stretch for a lot of buyers, and they’re hard to find and competitive,” Christine Kooiker, a Redfin Premier agent in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said in a statement.

Elevated mortgage rates can raise monthly payments for homeowners who have taken loans at variable rates. This can squeeze them financially, potentially pushing some properties into foreclosure.

For homeowners struggling to pay their monthly mortgages, there are some ways they can avoid having their properties foreclosed. One way is to refinance the mortgage, according to a Sept. 26, 2025, post by financial services company Rocket Mortgage.

Refinancing can help a homeowner shift to a more affordable monthly payment plan in case the current one is financially challenging.

Another option is to seek mortgage forbearance from the lender. If a lender approves, mortgage payments may be temporarily paused or lowered to give the homeowner enough time to get their finances back in shape.

Communications and even the supply of drinking water has been severely impacted in some places of southern Iran, amid continuing US airstrikes on civic and national infrastructure, amid the seventh consecutive day of war.

“Hormozgan’s chief of communications and information technology says the US’s overnight attacks disrupted telecommunications in Bandar Abbas and Hajiabad, in the northern part of the province,” Al Jazeera reports

Authorities there have tallied at least 116 telecommunication towers which were taken out of service due to the US onslaught. This has resulted in outages and disruptions of fixed-line, mobile, and internet services, per Tasnim news agency.

This suggests the US is returning to a strategy which seeks to create destabilization within, targeting the ability of the public to communicate and access information, returning the situation to the early weeks of the war, which saw Tehran authorities themselves curb internet and some telecoms access for the citizenry.

It might also be that the US simply perceives infrastructure like telecommunications towers as utilized chiefly by the government and military, in a dual-use way, and so is ready to punish entire swathes of the country in order to cripple this ability.

It could be Washington still maintains the fantasy of fomenting a mass uprising against government leadership by imposing as much daily hardship and disruption, and economic pain as possible. Of course, the biggest squeeze is the blockade of Iranian ports and disallowing the country’s ability to sell oil.

The Wall Street Journal this week observed that it will continue to be ordinary Iranians feeling the immense strain:

Iran’s economy is already buckling under the combined weight of years of sanctions and soaring inflation. The conflict has intensified those pressures by damaging factories, disrupting trade and payments, shutting down internet access and further weakening the currency.

Consumer prices in June were up 88.6% from a year earlier, according to official statistics. Just in the first few days of July, the price of a tray of eggs in Tehran shot up by 40%, to the equivalent of $3.30, according to Iran’s Fars news agency, which is close to the paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

It seems the US wants to create the conditions of a return to the January economic protests, which resulted in thousands of deaths, which involved protesters and rioters clashing with police and security services, the latter which suffered deaths too as clearly some of the anti-government elements were armed.

According to more of the Iranian economy’s spiral via the WSJ report:

Iran’s gross domestic product is expected to shrink by 5.4% this year, according to forecasts by the International Monetary Fund prepared before the recent uptick in fighting. 

According to Kahalzadeh’s calculations, only the top 3% of Iranian households are able to afford the full food basket recommended by Iranian health officials. Many families are buying basic groceries like rice, meat and pasta on credit via a government program. Others are eliminating meat from meals and purchasing staples one at a time as their wages lose value.

Below: Despite US bombs blowing up vital telecoms infrastructure, there’s a renewed effort by Saudi-Israeli aligned opposition media to accuse the regime of imposing a new internet blackout…

Meanwhile the war on infrastructure is only growing more aggressive and somewhat unprecedented. Power is one thing, but going after the population’s water supply?…

“Iranian authorities also said the supply of drinking water to several villages in the south had been cut off, accusing the US of striking power facilities and desalination plant pumps in the village of Bonji, according to Tasnim,” Al Jazeera writes.

Already Iranians nationwide have been urged to conserve electricity – for example by switching off air conditioners during peak hours, amid an ongoing severe strain on the power grid. Things look to get a lot worse for Iranians, and the outlook for broader war, before they get better.

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

A British woman out for a long countryside hike with her daughters found herself being shadowed by a creepy migrant male for miles.

The footage is clinical, relentless, and deeply unsettling. No confrontation is shown. No words are exchanged on camera. Just the steady pursuit across English fields and paths that once felt like the safest places in the country.

This is the England being delivered by successive governments that treat rural communities as dumping grounds for unchecked military aged foreigners.

?? Meanwhile in the English Countryside

Imagine being followed like this on a 10 mile Hike. This is England now. pic.twitter.com/CNMytntV8U

— Concerned Citizen (@BGatesIsaPyscho) July 17, 2026

In an instagram post, the woman wrote “This is what it’s come to. Yesterday, in broad day light; I was out with my 3 little girls and this guy appears from no where, we were literally in the middle of a field and he just popped up and followed us until I managed to get us on the road where he then just stood and watched us.”

She added, “My heart was racing as he was pretty close until he saw I was filming. My girls were absolutely petrified, I kept telling them, don’t be scared, don’t look back, just keep going. No one should be made to feel like this and we should be able to walk around, where we live without having to look over our shoulders, especially in broad day light.”

Here are the original clips with a further commentary on the incident from the woman who says the migrant was making sexual noises at them.

View this post on Instagram – A post shared by Alicia King (@aliciaking1985)

View this post on Instagram – A post shared by Alicia King (@aliciaking1985)

The clip, shared widely this week, lands at the exact moment other stories reveal the same pattern. At Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, male detainees were caught peering into women’s bedrooms from outside.

A review by the Chief Inspector of Prisons found groups of men hanging outside the windows of female rooms. Forty-three per cent of the women, who need constant chaperones, said they felt unsafe going outside.

One woman told inspectors: “We cannot go outside because of the males and our time to do things are quick because of them.”

The centre was also holding a man assessed as a risk of harm to women and another with impending prosecutions for sexual offences.

Vile illegal migrants caught on camera looking into women’s bedroomshttps://t.co/ZnImlTXmaz

— GB News (@GBNEWS) July 14, 2026

The few female asylum seekers there were so distressed by the behaviour that staff escorts became standard. The men, according to the report, asked inspectors why they were not allowed to “mix with female detainees.”

This is the same system now preparing to drop large numbers of single adult males into quiet English villages with almost no consultation.

In the tiny Oxfordshire village of Piddington, population around 370, residents recently voted 96 per cent in favour of a symbolic independence referendum. Nearly 180 adults cast ballots. One hundred and seventy-five said yes.

The trigger was the Home Office plan to house up to 1,250 single adult male asylum seekers at a former Ministry of Defence site sitting between Piddington and Upper Arncott.

Utility companies have already been instructed to prepare connections. Work is eyed for late summer. No detailed public proposal or full impact assessment has been published.

Parish Council Chairman Tim McNally described the result as “truly astonishing.” He said: “Self-determination is what people want whilst they are being ignored and driven into a corner. This is a natural human instinct and reaction.”

Local resident Graham Rixon put it more bluntly: “We’re a village of 350 people – there’s another village down the road of even less people, and they’re going to dump 1,200 people here.”

He added that most would probably not speak the language and that “inadequate provision has been made.” Another resident, Gwen McEwan from nearby Arncott, called the prospect “frightening.”

The site sits next to a children’s play area. The nearest shop is more than two miles away with no pavement along the B-road. Residents note that people currently walk the village at night without consequence. That comfort is precisely what is being put at risk.

Similar plans have targeted other small communities. In one case a village of just 150 people faced 121 migrants placed in new-build houses next to a playground and primary school. Teenage girls began taking longer routes home.

In Barnham, Suffolk, a village of 600 faces over 1,000 asylum seekers at a disused RAF site two minutes from a primary school.

Residents have started teaching children to lock doors and stay quiet. Fencing already has holes.

In Crowborough, East Sussex, locals formed volunteer security patrols after hundreds of single male asylum seekers arrived at a former training camp. Women began carrying personal alarms and taking self-defence classes in daylight. One volunteer described the patrols as “a visible presence to provide safety and security. We are a deterrent.”

The pattern is consistent. Single adult males, many arriving illegally by boat, are moved out of hotels and into rural sites with minimal infrastructure and even less local say.

Projections show migrants absorbing a large share of new housing while British households remain on long social housing waiting lists.

The policy is sold as ending the “hotel” image. In practice it simply relocates the same pressures onto communities that never asked for them and lack the policing or services to absorb sudden demographic change.

Rural England was once defined by the freedom to walk its paths without looking over your shoulder. That freedom is being eroded by design. The government treats small villages as surplus capacity.

The safety of women and children is treated as secondary to the political imperative of dispersing arrivals as quickly and quietly as possible.

Piddington’s near-unanimous vote will not legally detach the village from the United Kingdom. It does something more important. It records, in public, the precise moment ordinary people decided they would no longer pretend this is sustainable.

The English countryside is not a warehouse. The people who live there are not collateral.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Kuwait was bombarded overnight in one of the fiercest Iranian retaliatory strikes since the US-Iran conflict erupted in late February, with missiles and one-way drones targeting power infrastructure and other critical energy assets.

Local outlet Kuwait News Agency reports an unspecified site of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation suffered “significant material losses” as the week-long flare-up in Gulf tensions has derailed any near-term normalization of tanker flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

There was a report that the Al-Subiya power station was struck. This marks the second attack on Kuwaiti power infrastructure in just days, after a transformer at the Zour South electricity and desalination complex was hit on Friday.

Authorities disconnected several power-generating units as a precaution and urged residents to conserve electricity. A Kuwaiti army base was also struck during the latest escalation, injuring several personnel.

Second Iranian strike in two days hit a Kuwaiti power/desalination plant, sparking a fire.

A similar plant was hit yesterday.

Strikes are part of Iran’s ongoing campaign against US military sites in Kuwait (Ali Al Salem base and others).

Kuwait relies on desalination for ~90%… pic.twitter.com/EyTPOwTIsM

— Clash Report (@clashreport) July 18, 2026

On March 2, we warned: 

• Airports, Data Centers, Skyscrapers, & Power Plants: Are Desalination Plants Next Targets In U.S.-Iran War

Bahrain and Jordan intercepted Iranian missiles and drones. The overnight barrage followed a seventh consecutive night of US strikes targeting Iranian surveillance sites, weapons storage, logistics infrastructure and maritime offensive capabilities as the Department of War seeks to erode Tehran’s leverage on the Hormuz waterway.

As of late Friday, the previous US-Iran wrap stated:

• Surge in more large US refueling planes headed to Mideast, signaling likely expansion of strikes on Iran.
• US attacks hit Iranian energy and transport infrastructure.
• Iran threatens stronger retaliation and claims strike on US base in Qatar – and deepens attacks to include US outposts in Jordan, Syria.
• Iran urges power conservation; Hormuz shipping traffic declines further.
• Oil prices rise to session highs on fears of broader regional conflict.

Brent chart

The latest Hormuz tanker transit data via Bloomberg shows that activity at the maritime chokepoint has all but ceased. This data is based on ships activating their transponders and doesn’t account for ships that ‘go dark’…

Latest overnight headlines (courtesy of Bloomberg):

US-Iran Escalation

• The US launched its seventh consecutive night of strikes against Iran on Friday at 3 p.m. ET, aimed at degrading Iran’s military capabilities, including hitting bridges, energy infrastructure, and a port facility in southern Iran, according to Iranian state media.
• The conflict has intensified beyond military targets, with the US striking six road bridges and reports of attacks near Bushehr’s nuclear power plant and the province of Lorestan, raising fears of a return to full-scale war.
• The hostilities were triggered by an Iranian drone strike on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on June 25, just days after the US and Iran signed a preliminary ceasefire deal, setting off a chain of escalating attacks.
• Iran has threatened a “full-scale offensive” in response to US strikes, with the Strait of Hormuz remaining virtually closed as of Saturday.

Iran Attacks Kuwait

• Iran launched a heavy barrage on Kuwait on Saturday morning, striking a vital oil facility and causing significant material losses and injuries, according to Kuwait Petroleum Corporation via state news agency KUNA.
• Kuwait airport suspended flights following the Saturday attacks, which triggered multiple rounds of sirens from around dawn.
• Iran also struck a power and desalination plant and a transformer at the Zour South facility, causing a fire and marking Tehran’s first targeting of power infrastructure during the current escalation.
• Kuwait’s foreign ministry accused Iran of systematically targeting civilian sites and vital infrastructure, saying it “endangers the lives and safety of civilians.”

Iran’s Counterstrikes

• Iran has been targeting US bases in Kuwait, Jordan, and Bahrain in retaliation for US strikes. The IRGC claimed its 20th wave of “Nasr 2” operations destroyed several American aircraft at a US airbase in Jordan.
• US-sanctioned Iranian tankers are U-turning and zig-zagging in the Gulf of Oman as the US enforces an aggressive blockade of Iranian shipping, having redirected three merchant ships, boarded one vessel, and disabled a non-compliant tanker.

Energy Market Impact

• Crude oil prices surged sharply, posting their biggest rise since April, as fears of renewed escalation grew and shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz slumped significantly.
• The Strait of Hormuz shutdown is expected to spark massive investments aimed at permanently reducing reliance on the chokepoint, restructuring global energy infrastructure and trade flows, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

Authored by Guy Birchall via The Epoch Times,

An Italian court sentenced 32 people to a total of more than 170 years in prison on July 16, over their role in a 2018 bridge collapse that claimed the lives of 43 people.

The former head of Italian motorway operator Autostrade per l’Italia (ASPI), Giovanni Castellucci, received the longest sentence of 12 years in prison for his role in the disaster, which saw the Morandi motorway bridge near the city of Genoa fall apart during a rainstorm on the morning of Aug. 14, 2018.

Michele Donferri Mitelli, another former senior manager at the publicly traded motorway management company, was given an 11-year sentence, with a further 30 defendants receiving custodial sentences.

Others sentenced included managers and engineers from ASPI’s engineering subsidiary SPEA, as well as former officials from Italy’s Infrastructure and Transport Ministry.

Of the 57 people who stood trial, a further 25 were either acquitted or cleared due to the statute of limitations, Italian outlet La Repubblica reported.

The Genoa courtroom fell silent as presiding judge Paolo Lepri read the verdicts for around 45 minutes, with 400 relatives of the victims, lawyers, journalists, and members of the public listening, Reuters reported.

Egle Possetti, president of the Committee for the Remembrance of the Morandi Bridge Victims, called the verdicts “important” and “positive.”

“We believe the judges have done a thorough job, examining each position in detail,” she told Italian public broadcaster RAI.

“We are pleased that responsibility has been acknowledged in all three areas of prosecution, that is, by ASPI, by SPEA, and by the ministry,” said Possetti, who lost her sister, brother-in-law, and her sister’s two children in the collapse.

The verdicts, however, are subject to appeal, with Castellucci, who also served as CEO of Atlantia, the controlling shareholder in ASPI at the time, planning to do so.

He was convicted of complicity in multiple counts of manslaughter through negligence, with prosecutors asking for a sentence of more than 18 years, rather than the 12 years he was eventually given, RAI reported.

Castellucci is already in prison, serving a six-year sentence over another fatal incident in 2013 on a viaduct in southern Italy, and was not in court to hear the verdict, but his legal team said they would appeal and that he had been made a scapegoat.

His lawyers, Giovanni Paolo Accinni and Guido Carlo Alleva, said they are “ready to appeal” the sentence, saying they believe their client “could not and should not have been convicted.”

“We will read the reasons. We are convinced of Castellucci’s innocence, but the trial doesn’t end here. Criminalizing company CEOs is unfair; Castellucci is already in prison for this. And so is another CEO who bears no guilt,” they said, according to Genoese outlet Il Secolo XIX.

The other CEO they are referring to is the former CEO of Ferrovie dello Stato and RFI, Mauro Moretti, who is currently serving a five-year sentence relating to a 2009 rail disaster in Viareggio, Tuscany, which killed 32 people.

Under the Italian legal system, the ruling of the first instance can be appealed at least twice.

Following the sentencing, Possetti said that “the new battle begins to succeed in having this ruling confirmed on appeal and above all to delegitimize any attempt to provide additional protection to managers, who should be subject to the law like the rest of us,” Il Secolo XIX reported.

The Collapse

The collapse of the Morandi bridge in August 2018 stunned Italy and sparked years of investigations into the management and maintenance of its aging infrastructure.

A 650-foot portion of the bridge collapsed, plunging 160 feet onto a riverbed, a railway, and two warehouses, while as many as 35 vehicles were driving across it.

The disaster sparked a dispute between Atlantia, controlled by the Benetton family, and the Italian government, which eventually culminated in the sale of Atlantia’s controlling stake in ASPI.

Prosecutors argued that years of poor maintenance, ignored warning signs, and delayed improvement works contributed to the collapse, saying that vital repairs were postponed while profits continued to be pocketed.

The prosecutors’ argument was backed up by a 2020 expert report into the disaster, which said the collapse was triggered by the rupture of corroded steel cables inside one of the stay cables on the southern side of pile 9, Italian outlet IVG reported that year.

A “pile,” known as a “pier” in the United States, is a vertical concrete structure that supports the weight of the bridge deck above it.

The corrosion of the prestressing strands within pile 9 had progressed over decades due to the ingress of water and oxygen, according to the report, which concluded that the root cause was long-term inadequate maintenance and insufficient inspections by ASPI and its subsidiary Spea.

It found that proper controls and maintenance interventions, if properly implemented, would have had a high probability of preventing the collapse. The report also noted that warnings and recommendations made by the bridge’s original designer, Riccardo Morandi, regarding corrosion risks had been progressively neglected over the years.

The defense teams rejected this theory, saying that the disaster was caused by an original design defect in the bridge’s stay cable in pile 9, which failed, and that no maintenance program could have prevented the collapse.

Via Remix News,

Finnish MEP Sebastian Tynkkynen has warned that Britain is fast becoming the worst example in Europe when it comes to defending free speech after he became the latest elected European politician to be banned from entering the country ahead of his appearance at the inaugural Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Great Britain.

In a video posted on social media, the conservative politician said, “I was just banned from entering the U.K. I am an elected member of the European Parliament and was invited to speak at the very first conservative CPAC conference in the U.K.

“We had the adverts out, flights and hotel booked, and I was supposed to head to the airport in just two hours.

“Then, only moments ago, I was informed that my presence wouldn’t be conducive to the public good.

“Throughout my political career, I have defended our girls and women from the threats posed by mass migration. For some, like U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, this is hate speech.

“For me, it is simply what all politicians should be doing: addressing the problem, changing the legislation and sending them home.”

Tynkkynen then warned the British people that something is “deeply wrong” with their country, and that it was “becoming the worst example in Europe of the death of freedom of speech.”

“Dear British People, something is deeply wrong with your country. You are becoming the worst example in Europe of the death of free speech.”

Finnish conservative @SebastianMEP reveals he is the latest elected politician to be banned from entering Britain on the eve of #CPACUK,… pic.twitter.com/Q73a2dwtGQ

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) July 16, 2026

He urged them to change their leadership if they wanted to change their lives “for the better.”

Tynkkynen is a member of the co-governing Finns Party, a right-wing populist party that is currently the second-largest in the Finnish parliament. The party holds seven of the 19 ministerial positions in Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s coalition government.

He is also a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR), the European parliamentary faction originally founded by the U.K. Conservative Party when Britain was still a member of the European Union.

Tynkkynen is the latest in a growing list of European and US politicians and political commentators to be banned from Britain after the Home Office deemed their conservative views not to be “conducive to the public good.”

This is the phrase used by the U.K. government in notices handed to individuals when they are informed that their Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) has been revoked.

In May, Polish MEP Dominik Tarczyński vowed to sue U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer personally after the Home Office cancelled his permission to travel to Britain ahead of a major patriotic rally in London.

“This is what communism looks like in the 21st century,” Tarczyński said.

“Starmer will be sued by me. Not the government, not the Home Office, but Starmer personally. Once you lose the next election, communist, we’ll meet in court!” the conservative politician added.

Other figures banned ahead of speaking at the London rally back in May included Dutch conservative activist Eva Vlaardingerbroek, US commentator Joey Mannarino, MAGA influencer Valentina Gomez and Spanish political commentator Ada Lluch.

Read more here…