The briefing for Sunday, July 19.

The United States and Iran exchanged major strikes Saturday night as their month-old ceasefire completely unraveled. Two U.S. service members were killed and one remains missing after Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks on a base in Jordan on Friday, bringing the total U.S. death toll to 16 since fighting began in February. The U.S. military responded with its eighth consecutive night of airstrikes, targeting Iran's Revolutionary Guard facilities, coastal surveillance sites, and weapons storage locations.

Iran suspended its commitments under the interim deal signed in June, with a deputy foreign minister declaring the agreement void due to U.S. violations. The conflict has expanded beyond military targets to critical civilian infrastructure. Iranian strikes hit a desalination plant and oil facility in Kuwait, injuring several people and forcing power generation units offline—the second attack on Kuwait's water supply in two days. The desert nation depends on desalination for 90% of its drinking water.

The battle centers on control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil once passed. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei warned of 'unforgettable lessons' if U.S. attacks continue, while threatening to mobilize regional proxy forces. Oil prices rose above $86 per barrel Friday as shipping through the strait fell to a three-week low, with air raid sirens sounding across multiple Gulf states including Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Hungarian President Tamás Sulyok signed a constitutional amendment Saturday night ending his presidency at midnight Sunday, concluding a standoff with Prime Minister Péter Magyar's government. Sulyok, appointed by former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, had five days to sign the law or face impeachment. In a Facebook video, he called the forced resignation 'lasting proof' that fundamental democratic values had been 'trampled on in the interest of power.'

The amendment, passed by Magyar's Tisza party majority, removes not only Sulyok but also Constitutional Court head Péter Polt and judges over age 70. It imposes a 12-year term limit on lawmakers, affecting more than half of current Fidesz deputies. Parliament speaker Ágnes Forsthoffer will assume presidential duties until lawmakers elect a replacement within 30 days.

The dramatic move represents the latest step in Magyar's systematic dismantling of what he calls Orbán's 'mafia state' since taking office in May following a landslide election victory. His government has suspended state media operations, shuttered Orbán's Sovereignty Protection Office, and established an office to investigate financial abuses under the previous administration. Orbán, who held power for 16 years, has remained largely out of public view since the April defeat and refused to take his parliamentary seat.

Taylor Farms expanded its voluntary recall of iceberg lettuce products Friday, now covering items shipped to 27 states including Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and New Jersey. The California-based company stopped sourcing from an implicated supplier lot in central Mexico after health officials linked its lettuce to a multistate cyclospora outbreak. The recall includes 25 shredded lettuce and salad mix products with 'best by' dates as late as August 3.

Cyclospora, a microscopic parasite spread through contaminated water, has infected at least 1,645 people in the U.S. this year and hospitalized 141, according to the CDC. The agency is investigating more than 5,000 additional suspected cases. This represents a dramatic surge from 2025, when only 249 cases had been reported by this date. The parasite causes severe intestinal illness marked by 'frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,' according to the CDC.

U.S. health officials initially traced the contamination to lettuce served at Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia. Taco Bell removed the affected ingredient from its supply chain nationwide. Sysco, the nation's largest food distributor, halted all distribution of Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce from Mexico and ordered customers to destroy existing inventory.

The Federal Aviation Administration announced Friday it will allow Boeing to resume self-certifying all 737 Max and 787 aircraft as airworthy starting next week. The decision follows months of joint oversight during which Boeing and government inspectors took weekly turns performing final safety checks, producing similar findings throughout the review period.

Federal regulators stripped Boeing of Max certification authority in 2019 after two crashes blamed on faulty software, then ended self-certification for 787 Dreamliners in 2022 due to ongoing production quality issues. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the restoration was 'only possible because we are confident it can be done safely,' adding that government inspectors will now focus on identifying potential defects earlier in manufacturing.

The decision marks a significant vote of confidence in Boeing's quality control systems after years of intense scrutiny. Government oversight will continue at Boeing factories, but the company will once again bear primary responsibility for declaring its planes safe to fly. Boeing said it would continue working to improve safety standards.

Beijing-based startup Moonshot unveiled its Kimi K3 AI model Friday, topping performance charts and matching capabilities of Anthropic's Claude and OpenAI's ChatGPT. The release took the U.S. tech industry by surprise, with Arena—a platform for evaluating AI systems—ranking K3 first in 'front-end coding capability.' Arena co-founder Anastasios Angelopoulos called it 'the single biggest release of the year' and a moment when open-source Chinese models are surpassing closed U.S. systems.

The timing coincided with Chinese President Xi Jinping's opening address at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai. Xi called for global cooperation, stating that AI development 'should not be a solo performance by any single country but rather a symphony of global cooperation.' The comments came as American-led export restrictions have blocked China from accessing advanced chip technologies, spurring domestic innovation efforts.

Moonshot is led by an entrepreneur who earned his doctorate in Pittsburgh, highlighting the international nature of AI development even amid U.S.-China technology tensions. The company's success demonstrates China's progress in building homegrown AI capabilities despite facing restrictions on advanced semiconductors and other critical technologies.

Russia carried out one of its largest ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv since the invasion began, killing one person and wounding at least 14 overnight Saturday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called it 'one of the most massive ballistic attacks on Kyiv' in the war. The assault involved 41 missiles including Iskander and hypersonic Zircon systems, along with 125 drones. Ukrainian air defenses shot down 18 missiles and intercepted 108 drones.

The strikes damaged residential buildings, a supermarket, and a dormitory across the capital region, with firefighters battling blazes at two warehouses. Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko reported both residential and non-residential areas hit. Zelensky said Russia used approximately 1,450 strike drones, more than 1,640 guided bombs, and 99 missiles against Ukraine in the past week alone.

Ukraine continued its own counteroffensive, with drone strikes destroying two warehouses belonging to Russia's largest online retailer Wildberries, killing eight people and causing major fires. The governor of Russia's southwestern Stavropol region reported additional drone attacks sparked fires at an industrial park. The escalating drone warfare on both sides shows no signs of abating.