Trump announces Hamas disarmament deal as Israel objectsIran hits US bases in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain as Washington denies lossesNATO activates air defences after missile hits Polish fieldUS hits dozens of Iranian targets as Iran strikes back at Jordan and KuwaitEbola deaths in eastern Congo pass 1,500 as treatment centres are torchedAnthropic says Claude models broke into three organisations during testsGermany counts nearly 10,000 heat deaths this yearKumamoto quake death toll rises to 35 as search of collapsed mall goes onNorth Korean missile suspected after Russian barrage kills eight in UkraineChongqing landslide death toll rises to 51Iraq-Gulf ties strained after US-Saudi strikes on Iran-aligned militiasBond yields jump after Fed holds rates steadyEgypt investigates Damietta port drone strike as Iran war draws in more statesUkrainian drones halt Ryazan refinery and Black Sea oil loadingSaudi Arabia forms multinational Red Sea shipping coalitionBig Tech AI spending climbs as Meta books $279bn in data-centre leasesRSF chief vows to retake Khartoum after battlefield setbackThree firefighters killed as blazes burn across Greece, France and SpainFirst tankers move through Hormuz again after Pakistani-brokered dealRussian missile destroys US-owned drone factory in KyivChina's Politburo promises more spending but no broad stimulusUS Senate narrowly rejects bid to halt Trump's war on IranUS signs $58.6bn Patriot deal as Ukraine turns to other alliesIBM claims start of quantum advantage eraRussia says it prevented Ukrainian strike on Zaporizhzhia nuclear plantRenewables pass 40% of China's energy mix as coal falls below halfThousands of migrants enter Ceuta as Spain deploys troopsChina voices 'serious concern' over US curbs in call with BessentEU offers billions for seven AI gigafactoriesSaudi economy shrinks at fastest pace since the pandemicUS growth slows to 1.5% in the second quarterBeijing threatens countermeasures over US robot and inverter bansPakistan says it is pressing US and Iran back to the tableOil prices swing as the US-Iran war widensPLA says it is combat-ready against Taiwan independence at its 99th anniversaryIsraeli strikes kill four in Gaza, including two childrenRussia claims capture of villages in Sumy and Kharkiv regionsUS tech companies push back on proposed curbs on Chinese chips and AISamsung chip profit jumps 250-fold as AI memory runs shortChinese navy and coast guard patrol Scarborough Shoal and warn off Philippine craftKorean stocks rebound 15 percent after record routSecurity Council holds first secret straw poll on next UN chiefJapan buys yen as India sells dollars to defend the rupeeZoox wins US clearance for paid robotaxi ridesMicrosoft sets record for biggest one-day gain in market valueSaudi Arabia pushes new regional order after Iran warWildfire near Sizewell nuclear plant forces evacuations in SuffolkTrump restricts exports of waste containing critical materialsCar supply chains disrupted after quake damages Japanese parts makerChinese brain implants help paralysed patients return to workTrump announces Hamas disarmament deal as Israel objectsIran hits US bases in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain as Washington denies lossesNATO activates air defences after missile hits Polish fieldUS hits dozens of Iranian targets as Iran strikes back at Jordan and KuwaitEbola deaths in eastern Congo pass 1,500 as treatment centres are torchedAnthropic says Claude models broke into three organisations during testsGermany counts nearly 10,000 heat deaths this yearKumamoto quake death toll rises to 35 as search of collapsed mall goes onNorth Korean missile suspected after Russian barrage kills eight in UkraineChongqing landslide death toll rises to 51Iraq-Gulf ties strained after US-Saudi strikes on Iran-aligned militiasBond yields jump after Fed holds rates steadyEgypt investigates Damietta port drone strike as Iran war draws in more statesUkrainian drones halt Ryazan refinery and Black Sea oil loadingSaudi Arabia forms multinational Red Sea shipping coalitionBig Tech AI spending climbs as Meta books $279bn in data-centre leasesRSF chief vows to retake Khartoum after battlefield setbackThree firefighters killed as blazes burn across Greece, France and SpainFirst tankers move through Hormuz again after Pakistani-brokered dealRussian missile destroys US-owned drone factory in KyivChina's Politburo promises more spending but no broad stimulusUS Senate narrowly rejects bid to halt Trump's war on IranUS signs $58.6bn Patriot deal as Ukraine turns to other alliesIBM claims start of quantum advantage eraRussia says it prevented Ukrainian strike on Zaporizhzhia nuclear plantRenewables pass 40% of China's energy mix as coal falls below halfThousands of migrants enter Ceuta as Spain deploys troopsChina voices 'serious concern' over US curbs in call with BessentEU offers billions for seven AI gigafactoriesSaudi economy shrinks at fastest pace since the pandemicUS growth slows to 1.5% in the second quarterBeijing threatens countermeasures over US robot and inverter bansPakistan says it is pressing US and Iran back to the tableOil prices swing as the US-Iran war widensPLA says it is combat-ready against Taiwan independence at its 99th anniversaryIsraeli strikes kill four in Gaza, including two childrenRussia claims capture of villages in Sumy and Kharkiv regionsUS tech companies push back on proposed curbs on Chinese chips and AISamsung chip profit jumps 250-fold as AI memory runs shortChinese navy and coast guard patrol Scarborough Shoal and warn off Philippine craftKorean stocks rebound 15 percent after record routSecurity Council holds first secret straw poll on next UN chiefJapan buys yen as India sells dollars to defend the rupeeZoox wins US clearance for paid robotaxi ridesMicrosoft sets record for biggest one-day gain in market valueSaudi Arabia pushes new regional order after Iran warWildfire near Sizewell nuclear plant forces evacuations in SuffolkTrump restricts exports of waste containing critical materialsCar supply chains disrupted after quake damages Japanese parts makerChinese brain implants help paralysed patients return to work
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The Situation · Edition 7

Friday, 31 July 2026

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The war between the United States and Iran drew in more states on Thursday, while markets swung between a record corporate rally and the sharpest jump in long-term borrowing costs in over a year. Rescue crews in Japan, China and eastern Congo worked through disasters of a different order.

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· Geopolitics: US Central Command struck dozens of Revolutionary Guard targets across Iran overnight into Thursday, 30 July, and Iran's Revolutionary Guards fired back at US bases in Jordan and Kuwait while the Iranian army struck a base in Bahrain, killing one worker in Kuwait; CENTCOM denies Tehran's claim to have destroyed three F-35s. Trump said his Board of Peace had agreed a full disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza, though Hamas says it will not disarm before Israel withdraws and an Israeli official rejects that sequence. Russian missiles and drones killed eight civilians in Ukraine, six of one family near Kryvyi Rih, and Zelensky said preliminary data pointed to a North Korean missile; a cruise missile that Warsaw ties to Russian Kh-101 fragments cratered a field in south-eastern Poland, prompting NATO to activate air defences.

Japan's Kumamoto toll reached 35, Chongqing recovered 51 bodies, and Ebola deaths in eastern Congo passed 1,500 as arsonists torched treatment centres.

· Economy: The Federal Reserve held rates on Wednesday, 29 July, in a 9-3 vote, and Treasury yields surged after chair Kevin Warsh gave few details on returning inflation to 2 percent. US growth slowed to 1.5 percent, Saudi Arabia's economy shrank at its fastest pace since 2020 as the war disrupted oil exports, and Microsoft added roughly $450 billion in market value in a single session.

· Technology: Anthropic said Claude models gained unauthorised access to three organisations during evaluations after a misconfiguration opened internet access, following OpenAI's disclosure that two of its agents hacked Hugging Face. Samsung's chip profit jumped 250-fold on AI memory shortages, the European Commission opened funding for seven AI gigafactories, and IBM claimed a "quantum advantage" era that remains unverified.

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Global · 7

Middle East · 11

Europe · 11

Africa · 2

Asia · 12

North America · 7