🇺🇸🇮🇷🇵🇦⚡️ — U.S. forces opened fire on a Panama-flagged vessel early Tuesday after it allegedly attempted to breach the American naval blockade of Iranian ports, according to WSJ.

A U.S. military helicopter targeted the ship’s rudder after its crew ignored repeated warnings from personnel enforcing the blockade.

The vessel’s crew was seen attempting to transfer to another civilian ship. All 17 crew members were eventually reported safe.

🇵🇰🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif says the U.S. and Iran are nearing an arrangement over the Strait of Hormuz despite both sides recently taking tougher positions in the negotiations.

“Things are shaping up in favor of peace,” Asif said.

🇹🇭⚡️ — Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has suspended the approval of new firearm purchase permits and ordered a review of existing gun licenses following the mass shooting by a 14-year-old that left nine people dead.

🇮🇱❌🇵🇸 — The IDF says Israeli troops opened fire on a Hamas sniper near the Yellow Line in the Gaza Strip after identifying him as an "immediate threat."

The military said forces from the 99th Division spotted the operative and engaged him, with a hit subsequently confirmed.

🇺🇳🇺🇸⚡️ — The UN World Food Programme is finalizing a five-year extension of its contract with US data analytics company Palantir despite privacy concerns identified in a leaked 2025 internal audit, according to France 24.

The leaked 2025 audit found that privacy issues surrounding Palantir’s Digital Operations and Transformation System (DOTS) had not been adequately addressed and classified shortcomings in risk management and data-protection policies as a “high priority.”

Concerns have also been raised over whether provisions in the agreement could allow Palantir to use WFP data to improve or train its systems. Despite the concerns, the WFP says it is finalizing another five-year agreement with Palantir under broadly the same terms as their original 2019 partnership.

🇺🇸🇬🇧⚡️ — The US Embassy in London is offering grants of up to $500,000 for public education and civic engagement projects promoting what it describes as shared Anglo-American values, drawing accusations of interference in British domestic politics, according to The Guardian.

Under the “Liberty Under Law” initiative, priority will be given to projects highlighting principles including freedom of speech, limited government, due process, property rights, and the rule of law, while seeking to influence public discussion and civic engagement around those issues.

Critics have accused Washington of attempting to promote MAGA-aligned narratives inside the UK, while the US Embassy says the grants are nonpartisan and intended to strengthen US-UK ties and understanding of their shared constitutional traditions.

🇨🇴⚡️ — At least 224 people have been killed as a result of Monday's powerful earthquake in Colombia, while more than 2,700 remain reported missing.

The disaster has also destroyed or damaged roughly 1,600 buildings.

🇦🇹🇷🇺⚡️ — Austrian authorities say they have dismantled a sanctions-evasion network involving a Vienna-based company accused of supplying equipment used by Russia’s defense industry to manufacture missile and fighter-jet engines.

The company falsified end-user documents and routed specialized metalworking tools and CNC machines through shell companies in Türkiye, the UAE, Hong Kong, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, South Korea, Poland and Lithuania before they reached firms linked to Russia’s Rostec conglomerate.

Investigators estimate that more than €3.3 million worth of industrial equipment had been delivered to Russian arms manufacturers since 2022. The company’s 28-year-old Belarusian head was arrested in May and remains in custody.

🇺🇸⚡️ — The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has awarded Raytheon a $745 million contract to produce and sustain Standard Missile-3 Block IIA interceptors.

The new order covers additional SM-3 IIA missiles, with production taking place at Raytheon facilities in Tucson, Arizona, and Huntsville, Alabama. RTX has been expanding production capacity for the Standard Missile family, including a $115 million expansion in Huntsville expected to increase missile integration and delivery capacity by more than 50%.

Jointly developed by Raytheon and the Japanese industry, the SM-3 IIA uses an enhanced kinetic warhead and larger rocket motor to intercept short- to intermediate-range ballistic missile threats.

🇩🇪🇺🇦⚡️ — German investigators probing the suspected August 4 sabotage attempt at Leipzig/Halle Airport have discovered an antenna believed to have been installed to strengthen control signals and guide the explosive-laden drone toward Ukrainian cargo aircraft parked at the airport, according to Tagesschau.

The modified drone carried an additional battery for extended range, a camera, a 5G router, and two SIM cards while operating without navigation lights. Investigators believe it was controlled through the cellular network, theoretically allowing it to be operated remotely from anywhere in the world.

Forensic teams also recovered DNA traces from the drone and an unexploded Semtex (600 grams) explosive device, with one of the traces leading investigators to Lithuania. The explosive failed to detonate due to a defective detonator.

🇱🇧⚡️ — Lebanon’s parliament has voted to abolish the death penalty, making it the first Arab country to formally eliminate capital punishment.

Death sentences will instead be replaced with life imprisonment with aggravated hard labor.

Lebanon had maintained an unofficial moratorium on executions since 2004, although courts continued to hand down death sentences that were later suspended or commuted.

🇨🇾🇬🇷🇮🇱⚡️ — Cyprus has rejected an offer of Greek Leopard 1A5 tanks after a National Guard delegation inspected the vehicles in Greece and concluded they did not meet operational requirements, Cyprus Mail reports.

The Leopard 1A5s had been considered as a potential replacement or interim solution for Cyprus’ aging Russian-built T-80 fleet, which has become increasingly difficult to maintain because of restrictions on spare parts, ammunition, and technical support.

Cyprus favors Israel’s more modern Merkava tanks, although discussions have made little progress due to Israeli production requirements for its own military.

🇩🇪⚡️ — A drone was spotted several times near Hanover-Langenhagen Airport in Germany overnight into Tuesday, prompting authorities to temporarily suspend flight operations. Runways were repeatedly closed between 3:44 and 5:20 a.m., with all flights halted for a period around 4:00 a.m.

The disruption delayed six passenger flights bound for Mallorca, Rhodes, Antalya, Corfu and Hurghada, while a cargo flight from Paris was diverted. Police spent around two hours tracking the drone but were unable to detect it with Federal Police equipment, raising concerns over a possible new “hybrid activity.”

🇸🇩🇪🇹⚡️ — UAE-backed RSF rebels alongside the SPLM-N faction of Abdelaziz al-Hilu have captured the Sudanese border town of Qaysan in the Blue Nile region near the border of Ethiopia.

The RSF/SPLM forces used the Ethiopian territory as a staging ground, allowing them to easily cross the border by surprise.

🇱🇾⚡️ — UAV strike against warehouses connected to the Zawiya oil refinery, Zawiya, GNU-controlled northwestern Libya.

🇮🇱🇨🇴🇸🇾⚡️ — Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu:

We are with Colombia because our friend, the President of Colombia, recognized Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights. I thank you, Mr. President.

🇮🇱🇸🇾⚡️ — Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu:

This is the Golan Heights. The Israeli flag flies here, and it will continue to fly here because this is our land. Today it's ours, it's back to being ours, and it will always be ours.

🇮🇱🇮🇷⚡️ — Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen said Mossad agents had visited or “toured” Iran’s underground Fordow nuclear facility “many times” to better understand the site.

He described the 2025 U.S. bombing of Fordow as “the realization of all my dreams” and said Iran’s uranium enriched to 60% remains “far from a nuclear bomb.”

🇺🇸🇷🇺⚡️ — President Trump announced that former U.S. Marine Robert Gilman, who was imprisoned in Russia in 2022, is being released and returning to the U.S. following discussions with President Vladimir Putin.

Trump said Russia agreed to release Gilman on a “humanitarian basis” and that “no exchange took place.”

Gilman is expected to arrive at Andrews Air Force Base, where he will be reunited with his mother and other family members.

Trump also said Gilman’s first request was for a “GREAT cheeseburger.”

🇮🇱🇻🇪⚡️ — Israel and Venezuela agreed to renew consular relations and establish an official coordination channel after 17 years without diplomatic ties.