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Europe
Luxembourg
(2 July 2025) "Luxembourg unlikely to fully meet defence spending target report says". (Source: Luxembourg Times)
Spain
3rd July 2025 Princess Leonor, the future queen of Spain having disembarked from Spanish waters in mid-January for six months of practical training aboard the naval training ship Juan Sebastián de Elcano, sailed the seas and stopped at ports all over South and Central America before arriving in New York City on 5 June. From there, the future queen carried out engagements with her shipmates - including a concert at Carnegie Hall and an oath of allegiance ceremony involving Spanish residents of the United States, where she acted as flag bearer. Before flying back to Spain, for 20 days, Princess Leonor joined the Spanish Navy for military exercises off the Canary Islands, training aboard the Blas de Lezo frigate. On 3 July, future queen arrived in Gijón aboard the Blas de Lezo. Princess Leonor visited the Jovellanos Maritime Rescue Centre. The future queen had lunch with civil and military authorities aboard the Juan Sebastián de Elcano. Princess Leonor will complete her six months of life at sea on 13 July, when the training ship arrives in Marín. Three days later, she will graduate with the rank of Naval Ensign. After the summer, Princess Leonor will enroll at the San Javier Academy in Murcia for her final year of military training. The future queen will train within the Spanish Air and Space Force over the next year; completing a three-year program that saw her train with the Spanish Army and the Spanish Navy. (Source: Royal Central - United Kingdom)
European Commission
(Thursday), 3 Jul 2025 EU Commission President der Leyen faces no-confidence vote next week. MEPs will take a vote of no-confidence next Thursday. (Source: The Journal - Ireland)
02.07.2025 The EU breaks the rule of law, somehow der Leyen will be forced to resign. A motion, supported by over 70 MEPs and due to face a procedural hurdle today, accuses der Leyen of breaching EU transparency standards in 2021 by negotiating a multi-billion-euro COVID-19 vaccine deal via text messages with Pfizer CEO Bourla. Despite pressure from lawmakers and the media, the messages were never released. The motion is now awaiting a procedural review by the Conference of Presidents, the European Parliament's top political steering group, which will decide today whether it can proceed to debate. Nobody, at this moment, is very pleased to work with der Leyen anymore, Romanian Member of the European Parliament Piperea said. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
Russia
04.07.2025 The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed carrying out a massive strike on targets in the Ukrainian capital in a statement. The ministry said that the strike was carried out using ground-based high-precision long-range weapons, the Kinzhal (Dagger) hypersonic missile system, and long-range drones against industrial enterprises developing and manufacturing different drones' types, including FPV, other robotic mobile complexes, and various equipment. Infrastructure of a military airfield and the oil refinery was struck. 'The objective of the strike has been achieved. All designated targets have been hit,' it said. The Southern group of forces captured the settlement of Predtechine in Donetsk region over the past day, and five settlements over the week, the ministry said. Meanwhile, over the past week, Russian armed forces carried out five group strikes against Ukrainian military industry enterprises, oil refineries, control points, radar stations, ammunition depots, drones' production workshops, storage, and launch sites, as well as temporary deployment points for Ukrainian troops and foreign mercenaries. Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski claimed today that the consular section of his country's embassy was damaged in Kyiv during Russia's overnight airstrike. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
9:33 am, July 4, 2025 Russian air defenses shot down or intercepted 48 Ukrainian drones across five regions overnight, the country’s Defense Ministry reported yesterday. (Source: Meduza - based in Riga, Latvia)
Jul 4 2025 Vice-president of Russia's state oil pipeline operator Transneft, the largest such company in the world, Badalov, 62, fell from the 17th floor of the luxury Moscow tower block - where he lived in a tenth floor penthouse. This is at least the 12th such death among high-ranking industry figures since the beginning of 2022. (Source: The U.S. Sun)
3 July 2025 On March 27 Putin appointed Gudkov to be the Russian Navy's new deputy leader, second in rank after Admiral Moiseev. Gudkov led the 155th Separate Marine Brigade, a Pacific Fleet unit that took part in the February 2022 occupation of areas north of Kyiv, including Bucha. The strike that killed Gudkov happened on July 2 and his death was confirmed on July 3 by the Ministry of War on Telegram. He was killed during combat operations in one of the border areas of the Kursk region, the ministry writes. (The Barents Observer - Norway)
Ukraine
(July 4, 2025) Russia launched 550 drones and missiles across Ukraine overnight in the largest aerial assaults since the war began. Ukrainian air defenses shot down 270 targets, including two cruise missiles. Another 208 targets were lost from radar and presumed jammed. Russia successfully hit eight locations with nine missiles and 63 drones. Debris from intercepted drones fell across at least 33 sites. Emergency services reported damage in at least five of the capital's 10 districts. Drone strikes damaged rail infrastructure in Kyiv. (Source: ABC News - U.S.)
July 1, 2025 Overnight on June 30, Russia launched the largest aerial assault in the entire Ukraine War: 537 aerial weapons - 477 drones and 60 missiles. Ukraine was allegedly intercepting 475 of the 537 aerial weapons. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)
Asia
China
03 July 2025 Earlier this year, a new Bill was introduced in the US Congress to combat organ harvesting in China, specifically from Uyghur and Falun Gong communities. China ‘to triple number of Uyghur organ-harvesting centres’. (Source: The Telegraph - United Kingdom)
Iran
July 1, 2025, 3:19 AM Israel’s war on Iran backfired. Iran’s stockpile of 60 percent enriched uranium and its advanced centrifuges - the core ingredients for developing a nuclear weapon - appear to remain intact. Tehran appears set to embrace a strategy of nuclear ambiguity, similar to the posture Israel itself has long maintained - refusing to clarify the scope of its nuclear capabilities and denying access to inspectors.Tehran has remained firm that enrichment is nonnegotiable. Netanyahu launched this war to eliminate the strategic challenge posed by Iran. Instead, he exposed Israel’s vulnerabilities, intensified Iranian nationalism, and failed to destroy Iran’s core military and nuclear capabilities. Iran’s missile strikes appeared deliberately calibrated. Iran’s ballistic missiles successfully penetrated Israeli and U.S. air defenses, targeting military bases, intelligence compounds, oil refineries, and research centers. Ben Gurion Airport was shut down, economic activity slowed dramatically, and capital flight increased. Missile defense systems such as Arrow and THAAD were heavily depleted, with estimates indicating that Israel used at least $500 million worth of U.S. THAAD interceptors. Inside Iran the war became a unifying moment around the idea of defending the nation from foreign aggression. They saw their country bombed while seeking compromise. 'According to CNN, the Trump administration has been engaged in behind-the-scenes talks - some held even during the height of the war - that propose up to $30 billion in investment for a civilian nuclear program in Iran, contingent on Iran forgoing enrichment. These proposals also include sanctions relief and access to frozen Iranian funds. While U.S. officials maintain that zero enrichment is a red line, the push for a new deal suggests a shift in priorities'. (Source: Foreign Policy - U.S.)
by Toossi, a senior nonresident fellow at the Center for International Policy.
North America
United States
7/5/2025 The U.S. Air Force has abandoned plans to test hypersonic rocket cargo deliveries from the remote Johnston Atoll - an unincorporated U.S. territory some 800 miles southwest of Hawai, designated as a National Wildlife Refuge home to 14 species of tropical birds - in the Pacific Ocean, using Musk’s SpaceX. The decision was made after Reuters reported that experts were concerned the project, which would harm the seabirds that nest on the islands. The proposed program involves test landing rocket re-entry vehicles that are designed to deliver up to 100 tons of cargo anywhere on Earth within 90 minutes. (Source: MSN / The Daily Beast = U.S.)
5 July 2025 Trump signs 'Big Beautiful Bill' - the crucial 4.5 trillion USD tax cuts bill - during July 4 celebrations at White House. A day before, the crucial 4.5 trillion USD tax cuts bill was passed by the US Congress with a 218-214 vote turnout. Not a single democrat voted for the bill. "You have the biggest tax cut, the biggest spending cut, the largest border security investment in American history," Trump said. The legislation reportedly includes provisions to make the 2017 tax cuts permanent, implement broad spending cuts, and fund a stringent immigration strategy. One of the highlights of the bill is a USD 350 billion border and national security plan including the USD 46 billion to expand the US-Mexico border wall, USD 45 billion for 100,000 migrant detention beds, and a hiring blitz for immigration enforcement, including 10,000 new ICE officers, each receiving a USD 10,000 signing bonus, as per media reports. (Source: Outlook - India)
July 4, 2025 Military expansion. Two militarized zones form a buffer along 370 kilometers of border, from Fort Hancock, Texas, through El Paso and westward across vast New Mexico ranchlands. The Defense Department added an additional 400-kilometer zone last week in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley and plans another near Yuma, Arizona. Combined, the zones will cover nearly one-third of the U.S. border with Mexico. They are patrolled by at least 7,600 members of the armed forces. More than 1,400 migrants have been charged with trespassing on military territory, facing a possible 18-month prison sentence for a first offense. Border Patrol arrests along the southern border this year have dropped to the lowest level in six decadese. On June 28, the Border Patrol made only 137 arrests, a stark contrast with late 2023, when arrests topped 10,000 on the busiest days. (Source: AP - U.S.)
Jul 3, 2025 The greenback is down more than 7% this year and Morgan Stanley predicts it could fall another 10%. A weaker dollar could make US exports more competitive, boosting Trump’s plan to rebalance US trade, but makes imports more expensive, adding to the sting of tariffs. (Source: Semafor - website, U.S.)
July 2, 2025 During the transition from the Biden administration to the second Trump administration, neoconservative Senator Graham (R-SC) propagated a proposal for the United States to gain access to rare earth minerals in eastern Ukraine. It called for the United States to extract from Kyiv prominent access to Ukraine’s bountiful natural resources as repayment for the years of expensive American aid to Ukraine. Graham’s proposal was primarily intended as a poison pill designed to prevent a real peace deal from being brokered. The end result? Rather than staying focused on an immediate peace deal to end the war, Trump went down a rabbit hole. He became involved in securing mineral rights for after the war, rather than just ending the war and worrying about mineral rights thereafter. In doing so, valuable time was lost. Ukraine was never serious about such a deal. Many of the minerals Trump sought were in Russian hands to begin with. Beyond that, leader Zelenskyy had used the mineral deal as bait to hook the British and French. In other words, the minerals Trump coveted were not in direct control of Ukraine - and even if they were, Ukraine had already promised much of them to the British and French. One of the few mineral deposits in Ukraine that was not under Russian control was the lithium mines to the east of the Ukrainian village of Shevchenko in the Donetsk region, along the border with the Dnipropetrovosk Region of Ukraine. This is along the main axis of fighting in the war today, and the Russians have been advancing there - slowly, yet methodically and (apparently) irreversibly. Had Trump eschewed Graham’s proposal about taking mineral rights from Ukraine, the fighting would likely have been paused months ago, and a real deal could have been made with Russia to stop the killing. The peace process is dead. Before long, Trump will be left with nothing to bargain over, and Moscow will take what it wants - regardless of what the West says about the matter. Another reason why Trump needs to stop listening to Graham and his allies. The mythical resource non-deal was always intended to kill the peace process, and it appears to have done just that. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)
by Weichert
July 2, 2025, 1:19 PM The White House confirmed yesterday that President Trump's administration froze the shipment of some air defense and precision guided weapons that were on track to be sent to Ukraine. Officials said the decision followed an assessment of U.S. stockpiles. The military shipment was frozen comes just a week after Trump signaled his openness to selling Patriot missiles to Ukraine. (Source: ABC News - U.S.)
Jul 02, 2025 The state of Alaska has floated the possibility of detaining migrants in an isolated site surrounded by bears - 'Bear Alcatraz'. (Source: Newsweek - U.S.)
01 Jul 2025 Trump's 'Alligator Alcatraz' detention center was constructed in eight days over 10 miles of alligator-infested swampland and features heavy security which critics have compared to the conditions in concentration camps of Nazi Germany. Images inside the facility showed rows of bunk beds surrounded by cages. Trump yesterday toured the detention center, which is surrounded by alligator-filled swamps in the Everglades, designed to hold migrants prior to deportation. It features barbed wire, 200 cameras and 400 personnel. It would house around 3,000 detainees. Trump said he’d like to see similar facilities in other states. Alligator Alcatraz is a concentration camp, an X user wrote. 'This facility’s remote, harsh nature could leave people in very real danger, especially as Florida’s heat index skyrockets and hurricane season escalates,' Abdo, The National Parks Conservation Association’s Sun Coast Regional Director said in a statement. Florida’s fresh drinking water supply would be at risk from this ill-conceived plan, she added. (Source: The Irish Star - Ireland)
See also: Photos on (X)
NATO
4th July 2025 US Air Force's General Grynkwich became Nato's Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). Grynkewich has taken over from the US Army's General Cavoli, who has been in the post for the past three years. (Source: BFBS Forces News - United Kingdom)
Space
July 2, 2025 Astronomers track the third known interstellar object that may have wandered over from another star system, the European Space Agency said today. Designated for now as A11pl3Z, it is currently near Jupiter and moving toward Mars, but it should get no closer to the sun than that. More observations are needed to confirm that it is a rocky asteroid or a icy comet, or what shape it is. Its size is estimated at roughly 40 kilometers across. (Source: The Associated Press - U.S.)
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