Putin Turns the Heat in Ukraine and the Pacific Rim with A Little Help From his Friends

As the conflict in Ukraine escalates on a global scale, Vladimir Putin is ramping up military operations with substantial support from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. This growing collaboration has raised alarms in Japan and throughout the Pacific region.

August 6, 2026

North Korea's involvement in Ukraine is nothing new; on April 26 in Pyongyang, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un opened a memorial museum honoring the tens of hundreds of North Korean troops killed while fighting for Russia in the war against Ukraine. That event, attended by prominent Russian defense officials, is proof of the growing military collaboration between the two nations. Yet, now, North Korea is expected to enhance military support to Russia by supplying additional ballistic missile launchers for its operations. And that's not all. 

Red alert issued for all major Italian cities as blistering heat wave grips Europe, sets Austria record

 

Rose Manister and Ramy Inocencio contributed to this report

Updated on: August 6, 2026 / 8:23 AM EDT /

CBS/AP

Italy placed all of its major cities under the highest heat alert Thursday as a blistering heat wave gripped Europe.

The heat has set a national temperature record in Austria, fueled wildfires in France and disrupted energy and transport systems across the continent. Temperatures have climbed to above 104 degrees Fahrenheit in several countries, prompting health warnings for millions of people.

Senate Homeland Security committee votes to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress

 

POLITICS 

Updated August 6, 2026 9:18 AM ET
Eric McDaniel

Heard on Morning Edition

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has voted to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress.

Thursday's vote was along party lines, and came after Fauci refused to answer lawmakers' questions in a hearing last week about the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, citing his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination.

JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon warns of high leverage: ‘Somebody will disrupt the market’

CEOs
Published Wed, Aug 5 202610:02 PM EDT
 Lee Ying Shan
         Key Points

• JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon warned that leverage across financial markets remains elevated.
• “Margin debt is the highest it has ever been,” he said in an interview with CNBC’s Leslie Picker.

JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon has warned that leverage across financial markets remained elevated, adding that investors should be mindful that hidden borrowing could amplify market disruptions.

Euro news: Suspect accused of killing woman found in suitcase in Greece gives statement

Copyright © 2026 ΑΘΗΝΑΙΚΟ-ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΚΟ ΠΡΑΚΤΟΡΕΙΟ ΕΙΔΗΣΕΩΝ
By Ioannis Karagiorgas
Published on 05/08/2026 - 15:11 GMT+2

The 26-year-old, identified in media reports as an Afghan national, confessed to putting the woman in a suitcase, but denied having killed her.

A 26-year-old man accused of the murder of a British woman whose body was found in a suitcase, attended a court in Athens on Wednesday to give his account.

Nearly 80% of interceptors for a key missile defense system depleted, sources say

By Zachary Cohen, Jim Sciutto, Haley Britzky
Updated Aug 4, 2026

In the August 27, 2025 photo, an Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) is displayed in Unterluess, Germany. Annegret Hilse/Reuters

The US military has exhausted nearly 80% of its interceptors for a key missile defense system as senior US military commanders are warning that the Pentagon’s munitions stockpile is “dangerously low,” according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

A Mystery Object in the Milky Way Is Blasting Out Particles 100 Times More Powerful Than the LHC

SPACE & SPACEFLIGHT

The cosmic accelerator can push protons beyond one quadrillion electric volts
BY PASSANT RABIE

PUBLISHED AUGUST 5, 2026, 2:10 PM ET

READING TIME 3 MINUTES
The source is marked by a solid circle. For comparison, the size of the Moon is indicated by a dashed circle. Adapted from Tsunefumi Mizuno, et al. The Astrophysical Journal

Within the constellation Aquila in the northern skies, a powerful cosmic accelerator has been pumping out fast-moving particles at the some of the highest known energies in our galaxy, far outdoing human-made colliders on Earth.

Trump administration accused of ‘destroying’ Reflecting Pool evidence after lawsuit sheds light on construction damage

The Independent

Foundation suing over Trump’s renovations to the landmark want access to the site before recently revealed damage is ‘lost forever’

Alex Woodward in New York

Wednesday 05 August 2026 17:02 BST

A preservation group suing Donald Trump’s administration over renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool says the government is working to “destroy the very evidence” that proves recent construction caused damage to the landmark.

How Abdul El-Sayed went from political oblivion to progressive breakthrough in Michigan Senate race

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI
Updated 3:57 PM PDT, August 5, 2026

The Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official who harnessed Democratic frustration with the party establishment, narrowly defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s U.S. Senate primary, setting up a crucial test for progressives in a key battleground state.

Iran war live: Tehran says it agreed coordinates of Hormuz route with Oman

AL JAZEERA

By Mariem Bah and Stephen Quillen

Published On 5 Aug 2026

Iran’s foreign ministry says a deal with Oman on a route through the Strait of Hormuz is being “finalised”, but the US and Israel still pose a danger to ships in the vital waterway. 

Israel’s military says it has started carrying out attacks on southern Lebanon in response to what it calls a “blatant violation of the ceasefire” by Hezbollah. One person has so far been reported killed and 11 injured in the offensive. Earlier, Israeli media reported that two Israeli soldiers were killed and several others wounded after an IED exploded inside a booby-trapped building in the Lebanese village of Majdal Selm.

After Trump’s Board of Peace Made a Plan for Gaza, the Bombings Grew Worse

President Trump announced a proposal aimed at achieving the disarmament of Hamas and an Israeli withdrawal. Israel ramped up attacks on the Palestinian enclave.

By Isabel Kershner and Adam Rasgon

Isabel Kershner reported from Jerusalem, and Adam Rasgon from Tel Aviv.

Aug. 5, 2026

Updated 8:05 a.m. ET

Soon after President Trump announced a new plan last week to deliver peace and security in Gaza, the Palestinian enclave instead experienced a spike in deadly Israeli bombings, which threatened to undermine hopes for long-awaited progress.

Ships stuck in the Strait of Hormuz pose ‘super-spreader’ biodiversity threat, scientists warn

Biologists say cargo ships stranded in Gulf may carry highly potent invasive species around the world 

as trade resumes

Matthew Pearce

Wed 29 Jul 2026 06.00 BST

The closure of the strait of Hormuz has created conditions for an extreme global biodiversity threat, with scientists warning that thousands of stranded ships could spread invasive marine species across the world’s oceans once they begin sailing again.

Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, notching a Midwest victory for the left

The former public health official has defeated Rep. Haley Stevens, NBC News projects, despite facing a huge advertising disadvantage.

Aug. 4, 2026, 10:58 PM PDT / Updated Aug. 5, 2026, 1:48 AM PDT

By Henry J. Gomez

Abdul El-Sayed has won Michigan’s slugfest of a Democratic Senate primary, NBC News projects, clinching the nomination in a close race over Rep. Haley Stevens and establishing a Midwest beachhead for a progressive left on the march this midterm cycle.

Let’s Be Clear: Todd Blanche Is an Unqualified Hack Who Shouldn’t Be U.S. Attorney General

If Congressional Republicans had any spine at all, they wouldn’t let something like this happen.

By Charles P. Pierce 

PUBLISHED: AUG 04, 2026 2:53 PM EDT

Let us state the obvious, because to state the obvious remains a kind of patriotic duty in the land of the madmen: Todd Blanche is no more qualified to be the attorney general of the United States than Jeffrey Dahmer was qualified to be chef d’hotel at the Pfister in Milwaukee.

A Normie Democrat Revolt Is Pushing Abdul El-Sayed Toward Victory

“The only reasonable thing seems to be: Burn it down and start over, and make it different,” one Michigan organizer said.

By Alex Roarty

August 2, 2026 07:00 a.m.

WILLIAMSTON, Mich. — Kent Tisdale spent most of his life voting for Republicans before he started voting for Democrats, even backing Donald Trump in 2016. The 70-year-old retiree can even remember that his biggest concern backing Mitt Romney in 2012 was that the GOP presidential nominee wasn’t conservative enough.

Michigan midterm primaries

Politics 

Aug 4, 2026 9:51 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Michigan voters will decide a competitive Democratic U.S. Senate primary Tuesday in a contest that not only has implications for control of the chamber next year but will also test the growing clout of the party's progressive wing as well as that of a powerful pro-Israel organization.

Trump touts his ‘real polling numbers’ in paranoid ‘fake news’ rant but offers no proof they exist

Beleaguered president blames ‘corrupt’ journalists for very real polls showing just over a third of Americans approve of his performance

John Bowden in Washington, D.C.

Monday 03 August 2026 

Donald Trump exploded at coverage of his job performance on Monday morning as his voter ID agenda continues to stall in Congress and the war with Iran pushes his numbers down more and more each day.

Drama, debt and dysfunction at the DNC

27 July 2026, 6:27pm Cockburn

 Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin stepped into his role in early 2025. He said last year it’s the “political equivalent of being a fire hydrant. You get pissed on by everyone.” That might be partially his own fault. The committee, under his leadership, is $2 million in debt. Their physical headquarters have been put up for collateral in a last-ditch attempt to obtain a line of credit. And Martin threw his phone at a junior aide in a fit of frustration at the beginning of the month, resulting in an HR investigation.