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1. In international affairs, there were flashpoints around the globe. • In Mali, a separatist movement and an al-Qaida affiliate have formed a battlefield partnership that is transforming the conflict and shifting the military balance. The Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) is a secular nationalist movement seeking independence for a region of northern Mali it calls Azawad, while Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) is an al-Qaida offshoot that seeks to overthrow the government of Mali, which it views as illegitimate, and establish its interpretation of Islamic law. The two groups have set aside their ideological differences to fight a common enemy: the Malian government. • Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel accused the United States of committing genocide against his people and seeking to seize the island nation. Washington’s crippling oil embargo has produced regular blackouts and economic hardship, causing employers to reduce workdays, halting industrial production and triggering water and medicine shortages, among other issues. • In West Asia, regional escalation once again ramped up as Iran targeted U.S. forces in Jordan, and U.S. and Saudi militaries struck Iran-backed militias in Iraq. Iran’s strike occurred shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Donald Trump in Washington. • A new report by the global HIV/AIDS nonprofit amfAR has found that more than 1,700 treatment sites around the world have been closed in the wake of cuts to the U.S.’ global anti-AIDS program PEPFAR and the broader dismantling of USAID by the Trump administration. Experts warn that, beyond the treatment site closures, the impact of what the Trump administration has done is tantamount to what one PBS correspondent called “taking our eyes...off this epidemic.” 2. In immigration news, the legal status allowing hundreds of thousands of people from Haiti and Syria to stay temporarily in the U.S. due to humanitarian crises in their home countries expired Monday. • The expiration comes after a Supreme Court ruling in May cleared the way for the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti and Syria. There are more than 300,000 Haitian nationals and 6,000 Syrian nationals on TPS in the U.S. 3. It was a busy week in the halls of Congress, and the impacts of its decisions were felt by everyday people around the country. • President Trump on Monday demanded that Senate Majority Leader John Thune cancel the chamber’s upcoming August break until senators pass the SAVE America Act, which voting experts say could disenfranchise as many as 20 million voters. Trump made his demand even though Republicans lack the votes to advance the bill. • On Wednesday, Republican senators grilled Anthony Fauci with more than 100 questions at a hearing focused on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and whether Fauci previously lied under oath to Congress. Fauci repeatedly asserted his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself and declined to answer the questions. He had been subpoenaed to appear by Sen. Rand Paul, who has spent years alleging that Fauci participated in a cover-up of the possible origins of the pandemic. • The war with Iran and President Trump’s global tariff agenda are pushing prices higher across the country and raising fears of renewed inflation. Fuel prices are rising again, as are mortgage rates. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told NBC News that the war is costing the average household more than $1,200. • Despite its rhetoric that wholesome eating is a central part of the Trump administration’s efforts to Make America Healthy Again, a landmark nutrition education program for recipients of federal food assistance will soon cease to exist after President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last summer. For decades, SNAP-Ed, as the program is known, has funded programs such as community cooking classes, farmers markets in low-income neighborhoods, school nutrition lessons and more in every U.S. state.
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