Global

An Israeli airstrike before dawn Wednesday destroyed a residential building in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, killing 33-year-old Omar Sami Abu Qasem, his wife, Asma, and their 6-year-old daughter, Habiba. Their 3-year-old son, Sami, survived with injuries while sleeping in his mother's arms. Local health officials and witnesses described the building as a civilian residence. An Israeli military spokesperson had not commented at the time of publication.

Sami Abu Qasem is now an orphan, joining what humanitarian organizations say are tens of thousands of children in Gaza who have lost one or both parents since the war began. He was the sole survivor of his immediate family. According to reports, rescuers found him crawling from the rubble as flames engulfed what remained of his home.

To many Palestinians, Sami's story symbolizes the devastating human cost of the war. They ask what future awaits a child who has lost his entire family and question how such tragedies shape the next generation.

I – There is an option to fossil fuels

Ezra Klein considers the very good and the very bad news on climate crisis:
(https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-bill-mckibben.html).

“Here’s the good news: Green energy is getting better and cheaper, faster than we had ever dared hope.”

“In April, the energy think tank Ember found that all of the new electricity demand around the world in 2025 was met with green power. That is wild.” Klein quotes Bill McKibben. “The stuff that we spent my whole lifetime calling alternative energy from the sun and the wind is now the obvious, common sense, straightforward way to produce power. Sometime earlier this decade, we passed some invisible line where it became cheaper to produce energy from the sun and the wind than from setting stuff on fire.”

McKibben –

There are some not so subtle signs that our billionaire tech overlords are starting to come to grips with their overreach and loose lips in speculating about the good and bad of artificial intelligence. Communities across the country – and the world – have marshalled to pushback on such purpose-built data centers, whether effective or not, stretching from urban centers to farmlands. Big mouths like OpenAI’s Sam Altman who have prophesized huge job losses to AI that might require living wage subsidies for the disappearance of work are now quickly stepping back from such predictions, as they see the skepticism growing among the public about these AI claims. Politicians who listen to their constituents are beginning to moderate their boosterism in state legislatures and Congress. This too may pass, but it’s a sign that the gazillion dollar race among private big tech companies along with the global competition between nation states as large as the US and China, has turned opinion dark on AI.

Duke Energy faces rate hike pushback

Earlier this year, Duke announced a capital spending plan of $103 billion, which company officials called the largest investment on file at any regulated U.S. utility. Now Duke is under pressure from ratepayers and regulators to justify that spending as it seeks to dramatically increase residential rates.

Duke Energy argued the infrastructure plan is driven primarily by soaring electricity demand from artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and advanced manufacturing. Arguments in favor of the plan emphasize meeting this unprecedented regional load growth, modernizing the power grid for better reliability, and shifting infrastructure risks away from existing residential customers

As a consequence of this investment, Duke requested an 18 percent residential rate increase.

However at a recent hearing, a confidential internal memo was placed into the public record that contained a chart showing that Duke estimates "about 98 percent of those identified financial benefits from the infrastructure improvements will accrue to commercial and industrial rather than residential customers.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- A midnight fire burning with the intensity of a huge flame-thrower killed at least 27 people and injured 63 when a suspected electrical short-circuit ignited flamable soundproof foam and decorations on the ceiling and walls of a packed nightclub.

Thailand's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt rushed to the scene in the early hours of Monday (July 13) morning to inspect the charred wreckage from the midnight blaze.

The extreme intensity of the fire forced huge flames to gush in a sustained, billowing, horizontal stream through the nightclub's front door into the street, like a huge flame-thrower or industrial blast furnace, while people screamed and ran.

Some witnesses said the front door's projectile flames looked like fire spewing from a gigantic dragon's mouth.

"The fire spread very quickly, reaching up to the ceiling," Governor Chadchart told reporters.

"Smoke was likely the main cause of death."

President Donald Trump announced that the United States would blockade Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, charge a 20% fee on cargo transiting the waterway, and become the "Guardian of the Hormuz Strait." According to his Truth Social post, the United States would be reimbursed for providing security to commercial shipping.

The Strait of Hormuz is an international waterway located between Iran and Oman. It is not American territory, and the United States has no sovereign authority over it.

The strait is not owned by any single country. Iran borders it to the north, while Oman borders it to the south, with a small section of the southwestern shoreline belonging to the United Arab Emirates. Iran and Oman each exercise sovereignty over their respective territorial seas, but the strait itself is an international strait governed by international maritime law.

The news of a U.S. Senator dying in office is not something many Americans are accustomed to hearing, yet the sudden passing of U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina last week is not unprecedented. Three hundred and two U.S. senators have died in office since the late 18th century. Nearly two hundred senators have died in office in the 20th century. 

Because the U.S. Senate, aka the upper chamber, is considered Congress’s most prestigious and powerful chamber, the passing of one of its members garners national, and sometimes international media attention. Ten U.S. Senators have died in office during the 2000s including Graham. The former United States Air Force Colonel was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2003. Among the key committees on which Republican Lindsey Graham served include the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senate Committee on Appropriations and Senate Committee on the Budget. Prior to being elected to the U.S. Senate he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003.