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• Political analysts are evaluating the landscape for Israel's 2026 elections, noting that major blocs are currently separated by only a few seats in most polls. • The outcome may depend less on shifts between Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud and Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar, and more on which smaller parties can surpass the 3.25% electoral threshold. • Internal tensions are rising as United Torah Judaism’s Moshe Gafni demands concrete action on Torah-study legislation, while figures like Edelstein, Illouz, and Haskel have broken with the government over draft policies.

Reform leader says support from fraudster before last election is ‘totally undeclarable in every single way’Nigel Farage has admitted his close friend the fraudster George Cottrell let him use one of his London homes and paid for social media filming before the last election but insisted it was “totally undeclarable in every single way”.The Reform UK leader spoke in depth for the first time about his support from Cottrell and the £5m gift from the Thailand-based businessman Christopher Harborne in an interview with the anti-woke Triggernometry podcast. Continue reading...

• Raymond James stock is trading steadily following quarterly results that revealed higher revenue and strong client asset flows. • Growth is primarily driven by the company's diversified business model, specifically its Private Client Group, Capital Markets, Asset Management, and RJ Bank segments. • The firm is balancing disciplined capital returns with the need to retain earnings to support balance-sheet growth in lending and interest-earning activities.

• The Indian government has convened an all-party meeting this Sunday at 11 am in the Parliament House annexe to coordinate before the upcoming Monsoon Session. • The meeting aims to secure cooperation from opposition parties to ensure the smooth functioning of both Houses of Parliament. • Key agenda items for discussion include the NEET controversy, Sonam Wangchuk's protests, and the ongoing Ram Mandir row.

• The Cockroach Janta Party, led by Abhijeek Dipke, is organizing a "Parliament march" that critics claim uses veiled language and dogwhistling to incite violence. • The movement is allegedly leveraging a genuine cause regarding the careers of millions of students to further specific political ambitions. • Concerns are rising as activist Sonam Wangchuk has been hospitalized, potentially ending his hunger strike and disrupting the party's political strategy.

• American television coverage of the World Cup has been characterized by a prevalence of European accents among its broadcasters. • This approach mirrors international standards, such as the BBC's use of global figures like Olivier Giroud and Thomas Frank to provide diverse perspectives. • The strategy reflects the global nature of the tournament, ensuring that coverage remains inclusive of international viewpoints rather than strictly domestic.

• An all-party meeting is scheduled for Sunday to set the agenda for the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament. • The forcible removal of activist Sonam Wangchuk from Jantar Mantar is expected to be a primary point of contention and a dominant topic of discussion. • The session will also address the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which seeks to restructure and strengthen the MSME sector.

• The Monsoon Session of Parliament is beginning with a legislative agenda featuring seven bills, including the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2026, and the MSME Development (Amendment) Bill, 2026. • Key proposed measures include tightening rules for delayed birth and death registrations, imposing stricter penalties for disrespecting national symbols, and improving ease of doing business for small enterprises. • The session is expected to be volatile as the Opposition is likely to protest the absence of critical bills regarding delimitation and women's reservation from the government's agenda.

• The 2026 World Cup concluded with a series of high-profile exits, including Portugal's 1-0 defeat to Spain and Brazil's loss to Norway. • Legendary players Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar have both announced their departures from the international stage, with Ronaldo confirming he will not compete in another World Cup. • Major contenders Germany and the Netherlands suffered unexpected early exits following penalty-shootout losses against Paraguay and Morocco.

• Shanghai Blacklake Technologies Co., Ltd. is showcasing its portfolio of industrial AI agents at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), which opened in Shanghai on July 17. • The company has been named a TOP30 finalist for the SAIL Award, a prestigious honor recognizing breakthroughs in technological application and industrial value. • Black Lake was also selected as a Trusted Partner under the UNIDO Global Call for Industrial AI in the Global South, a partnership involving the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Research Institute.

CEO’s pay packet surges to £791,000 as union says public ‘sick of obscene pay’ and bosses ‘feathering own nests’Wessex Water awarded its chief executive an above-inflation pay increase even as the company was banned from paying bonuses because of sewage spills, it has emerged.Ruth Jefferson received a 14% base salary increase in October, from £590,000 to £670,000, before other benefits, according to accounts published this month. It was far above the 3.5% given to workers, and put her pay at 18 times that of the company’s median employee. Continue reading...

‘Strong confrontation’ comes at fragile moment for Reform’s relations with rightwing media as coverage turns negativeNigel Farage is no stranger to expressing his ire at what he regards as the liberal establishment, but even figures close to him were surprised at the tirade of anger he unleashed upon the editor of the Times.The exchange, which is said to have included an expletive aimed at Tony Gallagher, was triggered by the Reform UK leader’s outrage that the paper was planning to run a story about his houses, which he said endangered his family. Continue reading...

• Arm and Google have introduced a new vertical stack combining Google Axion CPUs and the GKE Agent Sandbox to optimize the cost and performance of agentic AI workloads. • The solution utilizes gVisor, an open-source application kernel, and default-deny Kubernetes network policies to isolate sensitive tasks at the kernel level. • This architecture is designed to enhance security and efficiency by providing secure container sandboxing with sub-second latency.

• Federal health agencies, including the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), are requesting significant funding increases to better prepare for future pandemics and public health emergencies. • Concurrent health concerns include a challenging Cyclospora parasite outbreak, with over 1,200 cases reported in Michigan and additional cases in Florida and Georgia. • The situation is complicated by the fact that surveillance of the parasite has been optional for a year, hindering efforts to identify the source of the outbreak.

Tondra Madruga named as second victim in deadly capsizing as police continue search for two missing peoplePolice on Friday discovered the wreckage of a boat that sank this week in the San Francisco Bay after recovering the body of a missing person the day before.The body was identified as Tondra Madruga, 58, also known as Tondra Miller, the San Francisco medical examiner said. She was one of three people missing after the Volare, a 49ft (15m) cabin cruiser, sank on Wednesday afternoon with 20 people onboard after being hit by a wave and capsizing. The group was on the boat to scatter the ashes of a loved one. Continue reading...

• South Korean regulators have frozen the issuance of new single-stock leveraged tech ETFs following extreme volatility in the KOSPI index. • The crackdown includes tripling retail margin requirements to curb speculative AI-driven bets that have decoupled from the stable earnings of giants like Samsung and SK Hynix. • This move matters as it aims to protect retail investors from the "Roller KOSPI" effect, where high-leverage trading amplified market swings during the AI chip rally.

Fears of light charges in case of Bianca Jones and Holly Morton-Bowles and four other travellers confirmed by Laos courtThe distillery owner linked to the deaths of Australian backpackers Bianca Jones and Holly Morton-Bowles could serve just three months in jail after a court in Laos announced charges over the case.The teenagers, who were both 19, were travelling through south-east Asia when they were fatally poisoned with methanol while drinking at Nana backpackers hostel in Vang Vieng. Continue reading...

Reform leader says he’s been ‘demonised’ since revelation he received £5m from billionaire before electionNigel Farage has accused people raising questions about his financial backing of “demonising” him as part of a “coordinated pile-on” to stop Reform UK.In one of his first speeches since the opening of two parliamentary standards inquiries into his financial support, the Reform UK leader said he had been “dehumanised in the most extraordinary way” in recent months, after the Guardian revealed in April that he had received a £5m gift from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne before the last election. Continue reading...

Firm pleaded guilty to 13 offences over discharges at Margate and Broadstairs wastewater pumping stationsSouthern Water has been fined more than £7m after dumping sewage illegally off the Kent coast between 2019 and 2021.The company, described by the judge as having a “record of criminality” which is “an exceptionally serious aggravating factor”, pleaded guilty to 13 offences at Medway magistrates court last April over sewage discharges at Margate and Broadstairs wastewater pumping stations between 2019 and 2021. Continue reading...

The acclaimed Irish actor started her career in Coronation Street and Casualty before a string of high-profile Hollywood rolesBrenda Fricker, who became the first female Irish Oscar winner for acting with My Left Foot, has died aged 81. Her agent Phil Belfield told the BBC in a statement: “We will never see her like again and the world is lesser for the lack of her … I was honoured to know, love and work with her and she will always have a place in my heart and in the heart of so many film and TV fans the world over.”In My Left Foot, Fricker plays the mother of Christy Brown, whose cerebral palsy means he only has muscular control over one of his feet. The film, directed by Jim Sheridan, was released to enormous acclaim in 1989, winning the best actor Oscar for Daniel Day-Lewis as well as best supporting actress for Fricker. Continue reading...

Leaked US intelligence report concluded Iran retained 70% of missiles and launchers after 38-day spring campaignIran and the US have been trading blows for six consecutive nights and there are no shortage of signs that the renewed fighting will worsen further. Tehran and Washington remain far apart diplomatically, and though the US retains a significant military overmatch, Iran has more than enough capability to inflict damage.Friday’s developments are a case in point. A wave of US attacks, with missiles launched from jets, drones and warships, targeted Iranian ports and the south of the country, collapsing a tower at Chabahar, on the Gulf of Oman, and highways and bridges into the key Hormuz port of Bandar Abbas, perhaps in an effort to cut it off. Continue reading...

Banks and building societies have started relaxing affordability rules and becoming more creative with productsFor many first-time buyers, getting their foot on the property ladder can feel like an impossible dream. However, the good news is that there are a growing number of mortgage deals that require only a small deposit, or no deposit at all.Metro Bank is the latest high street lender to launch a deal that allows eligible first-timers to borrow up to 100% of the value of a property. Home loans that let people borrow 100% have been making a bit of a comeback – they were once fairly commonplace but were axed after the 2008 financial crisis. Continue reading...

• Companies across eight Asian markets, including Singapore, South Korea, and Vietnam, are rapidly adopting AI agents to automate tasks such as coding, drafting emails, and updating documents. • A survey of over 1,200 regional firms highlights a critical tension between the operational rewards of AI autonomy and the resulting security vulnerabilities. • Cybersecurity experts warn that the same independence that makes these agents valuable creates new attack vectors that could be exploited by malicious actors.

Telco outlines reasons for network failure that hit mobiles, trains and retailers ahead of appearance at Senate inquiryFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastTelstra has blamed the lack of a software update for a key time-keeping system for outage that caused nation-wide chaos last week, with its maintenance teams also unaware of a design change that affected how it would reset.Ahead of an appearance by its chief executive, Vicki Brady, at a Senate inquiry over the mobile outage on Friday, Telstra provided a written submission that revealed the cause. In it, the company stated it didn’t lack redundancy in its network – but the redundancy also did not prevent the outage. Continue reading...

Australian government says it is ‘deeply frustrated’ and will continue to press for ‘real charges with teeth’ over deaths of Bianca Jones and Holly Morton-BowlesFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Australian government says it wants “real charges with teeth” over the fatal methanol poisoning of two teenage travellers in Laos, as authorities prepare to lay lesser charges that have been called “bitterly” disappointing.Melbourne travellers Bianca Jones and Holly Morton-Bowles, both 19, were backpacking through the south-east Asian nation in late 2024 when they were fatally poisoned with methanol while drinking at Nana backpackers hostel in Vang Vieng. Continue reading...

• The Albanian Parliament is holding a plenary session today, which is marked by a continued boycott from opposition members. • The agenda includes an interpellation of Finance Minister Petrit Malaj, requested by MP Jorida Tabaku, to address specific financial concerns. • Lawmakers are scheduled to review several draft laws and evaluate the performance of various independent institutions for the year 2025.

Vicki Brady due to appear at inquiry over mobile outage last week. Follow today’s news live.Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastTelstra’s bosses are set to be grilled over a nationwide outage that affected triple zero calls and businesses, disrupted payment systems and stopped trains in two states.Telstra’s chief executive, Vicki Brady, will be among a group of executives who will front a parliamentary inquiry into the incident in Canberra on Friday. Continue reading...

Marco Rubio and Stephen Miller took aim at only leftwing activism at meeting of 66 nations against political violenceTop Trump officials on Thursday hosted a gathering of 66 nations to discuss the supposed threat of leftwing violence, and launched a series of diatribes, harsh even by the standards of the Trump administration, against leftism.The conference, convened by Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, and attended by Stephen Miller, a top Trump adviser, and Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary, was billed as a “ministerial on the resurgence of political violence” but the focus was solely on crushing leftist violence. It came as Donald Trump ramps up his efforts to label his political opponents, and a rising number of politicians identified with the Democratic Socialists of America as “communists”. Continue reading...