Weekday morning and evening editions. Saturdays once. Good news on Sundays. All sources labeled.
I will never put the news behind a paywall. If you want to support keeping it free for everyone else, there’s a paid option. That’s all it is.
WATSON
Major Jason Watson was released Thursday. No criminal case will be filed against him by the DC attorney general. He retains his active-duty status in the United States Air Force.
The Capitol Police charges — crowding, obstructing, and incommoding — are gone. What remains is the question the DC attorney general’s decision did not answer: what the Air Force intends to do. Watson is still a commissioned officer. The military has its own legal system, and the Uniform Code of Military Justice does not require a civilian charge to initiate proceedings. Under UCMJ Article 88, commissioned officers are prohibited from using contemptuous words toward the president. Watson did not whisper his. He said them into a microphone, in uniform, on the steps of the US Capitol, with cameras rolling and a congressman standing beside him. The Air Force has not confirmed whether it will open any proceeding. It has not confirmed that it will not.
A DC superior court official told CNN that Watson is being released and that a possible case against him will not be filed. The DC attorney general, which would have decided whether to charge him, did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. The Air Force also did not respond to CNN’s inquiry about Watson’s status.
The civilian charges are gone. The Air Force has said nothing. That silence is the story now.
Watson stood on those steps because he wanted to. He knew it when he put on his uniform Wednesday morning. He knew it when Al Green walked away and the officers told him to stop. He held his sign, put his hands behind his back, and was arrested in front of a crowd chanting “Who do you serve?” He served 17 years. He risked everything that came with them. He was released the next day without charge. His career, his pension, and his freedom from court-martial remain contingent on decisions the Air Force has not yet made.
🌍 TRANSLATOR’S NOTE: International coverage of Watson’s arrest has been sparse. The Sunday Guardian Live of India covered the arrest. No major Western international outlet — BBC, Guardian, CBC, Le Monde, Al Jazeera — had confirmed coverage at publication time. That absence is its own story. An active-duty military officer arrested for publicly calling for his commander-in-chief’s removal, then quietly released without civilian charges, is precisely the kind of story that would dominate international press coverage in most democracies. The rest of the world is not covering it. That may change. This edition will follow it when it does.
🇺🇸 WHAT AMERICAN READERS NEED TO KNOW: Major Jason Watson was released Thursday without criminal charges. The Air Force has not said whether it will pursue its own proceedings under military law. He is still an active-duty officer. The UCMJ exposure he accepted when he put on his uniform and walked up those steps has not gone away. It has simply not been acted on yet.
Sources: CNN (US — release confirmed, no case to be filed confirmed, DC superior court official confirmed, Air Force no response confirmed, Green praise quote confirmed, July 2); The Hill (US — court-martial/UCMJ risk confirmed, Article 88 exposure confirmed, Green quote confirmed, July 2); Newsweek (US — active-duty status confirmed, arrest footage description confirmed, “Who do you serve” chant confirmed, July 2); Sunday Guardian Live (India — only confirmed international outlet covering the story as of publication, July 2)
THE FUNERAL
On February 28, 2026, the first day of the Iran war, US and Israeli airstrikes killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at his compound in central Tehran. He was 86 years old. He had led the Islamic Republic for 37 years. His body has not been buried.
The delay was deliberate. In the immediate aftermath of the war’s opening strikes, with Iran’s military command in disarray and the country’s leadership structure under acute pressure, organizing a state funeral was not immediately possible. The funeral was initially planned for March, then postponed. It has now been scheduled for July 4 through July 9, across Tehran, Qom, and Mashhad in Iran, and the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq. Iranian authorities expect between 15 and 20 million mourners. If those numbers materialize, it would be the largest state funeral in recorded history. For comparison, the funeral of Khamenei’s predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, drew 10 million mourners in 1989, during which eight people were trampled to death.
Giant portraits of Khamenei hang from Tehran’s Grand Mosalla. Cooling systems are being installed in the courtyard of the Imam Khomeini Musalla Mosque to help mourners cope with the heat. Tehran, Qom, and Mashhad will observe public holidays through Monday. Officials from roughly 40 countries are expected to attend, including delegations from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Iran’s Foreign Ministry confirmed it has not extended an official invitation to Europe, citing European nations’ support for the US-Israeli war as “truly disgraceful.”
One question hangs over the entire week: whether Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded his father as Supreme Leader following the elder Khamenei’s death, will appear. Mojtaba has not been seen in public since his appointment. When asked about his attendance, the head of the funeral organizing authority said the decision “lies entirely with the Supreme Leader’s office.” His absence would raise questions that Iran’s government would find difficult to manage, about his health, his readiness to lead, and the stability of the Islamic Republic’s succession. His presence would answer them.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian called on Iranians to attend “regardless of ethnicity, religion, personal preference, or political affiliation.” The funeral’s official slogan is “We Must Rise.”
The funeral is also the reason the next round of Iran-US talks has been postponed. Qatar’s spokesman confirmed the next meeting will take place at the earliest possible time after the funeral processions. Both sides are observing the pause.
🌍 TRANSLATOR’S NOTE: AFP confirmed the funeral preparations from Tehran, with its correspondent describing the Grand Mosalla preparations and the cooling systems being installed. South China Morning Post confirmed the ceremony schedule and the foreign attendance figures. CNN’s live blog confirmed the Mojtaba attendance question and Qatar’s statement on the talks delay. The international framing is consistent: this is a delayed reckoning with a death that changed the war’s character on Day 1, taking place while a ceasefire holds but a final agreement has not been reached. The question of whether Mojtaba Khamenei appears — and in what condition — is being watched closely by every government with interests in Iran’s stability.
🇺🇸 WHAT AMERICAN READERS NEED TO KNOW: The man the US and Israel killed on the first day of the war is being buried this weekend, four months later. Fifteen to twenty million people are expected to attend his funeral across Iran and Iraq. His successor has not been seen in public since taking power. The Iran-US talks have been paused until after the funeral. The 60-day clock does not pause with them.
Sources: AFP / BSS News (wire — Grand Mosalla preparations confirmed, Mojtaba attendance question confirmed, Pourjamshidian “not within our domain” quote confirmed, July 1); South China Morning Post (Hong Kong, editorially independent — July 4-9 schedule confirmed, Khomeini 10 million comparison confirmed, eight trampled 1989 confirmed, Najaf/Karbala confirmed, July 1); CNN live blog (US — Qatar talks delay confirmed, “earliest possible time after funeral” confirmed, Vance technical talks quote confirmed, Araghchi warning confirmed, Pezeshkian Telegram statement confirmed, July 2); The Hill (US — 15-20 million mourners estimate confirmed, 40 countries attending confirmed, Pezeshkian full statement confirmed, July 2)
COLLATERAL DAMAGE
Seventy-three Palestinian children were shot in the head by Israeli forces. That is the finding of a United Nations Commission of Inquiry, reported by Al Jazeera on Thursday.
Israel has rejected the commission’s findings entirely. Its foreign ministry called the report “deeply flawed,” “libellous,” and “a propaganda piece,” arguing that the commission lacks “any credible verification mechanism for its claims.” Israel maintains its military operations are directed at armed groups and conducted in accordance with international law.
The UN commission’s finding does not exist in isolation. Foreign doctors who volunteered in Gaza — 15 of 17 interviewed by the Dutch daily Volkskrant — described treating children under 15 with single bullet wounds to the head or chest. Together they documented 114 such cases. “This is not crossfire,” American emergency physician Mimi Syed told the newspaper. “These are war crimes.” California trauma surgeon Feroze Sidhwa said he initially assumed the cases were isolated until he encountered multiple boys in one hospital, all shot directly in the head.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has verified 241 children killed in the West Bank alone since October 7, 2023. The Gaza Health Ministry puts the number of children killed in Gaza above 21,000 since the same date. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights estimated in December that an average of 28 children were being killed daily in Gaza. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the killing of children in Gaza is “without parallel in the history of the United Nations.”
Thursday is the 1,000th day since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostage. A thousand days. The hostages who have not been released remain in Gaza. The children who have been killed there are not coming back either.
🌍 TRANSLATOR’S NOTE: Al Jazeera published the 73-children finding today from its video report, with IBTimes UK summarizing the UN Commission’s findings and Israel’s response. The Volkskrant reporting on foreign doctors, 15 of 17 documenting children with single bullet wounds to the head or chest, was covered by Al Jazeera in September 2025. The UN Palestine office report is a primary source read directly. The commission’s finding is contested by Israel. The documented pattern is not, because it comes from doctors who were there, not from a commission they can dismiss.
🇺🇸 WHAT AMERICAN READERS NEED TO KNOW: A UN Commission found that 73 Palestinian children were shot in the head by Israeli forces. Israel called it propaganda. Foreign doctors who treated the children — in Gaza, with their own hands — documented 114 cases of children under 15 with single bullet wounds to the head or chest. Today is Day 1,000 since October 7. The 1,200 Israelis killed that day are remembered. The children killed since are being counted.
Sources: Al Jazeera (Qatar, state-funded/editorially independent — 73 children shot in head confirmed, UN Commission finding confirmed, Israel “utterly rejected” confirmed, July 2); IBTimes UK (UK — “deeply flawed” “libellous” “propaganda piece” Israel foreign ministry quotes confirmed, commission findings summary confirmed, July 2); Al Jazeera (Qatar, state-funded/editorially independent — Volkskrant 15 of 17 doctors confirmed, 114 cases documented, Syed “war crimes” quote confirmed, Sidhwa quote confirmed, September 2025); UN Palestine Office (UN primary — 241 West Bank children confirmed, 21,000+ Gaza children confirmed, 28 per day average confirmed, Sam Fahed Abu Haykal June 6 confirmed); UN News (UN primary — Guterres “without parallel in the history of the United Nations” quote confirmed, August 2025)
ALSO DEVELOPING
Iran/Doha: Two days of indirect talks between the US and Iran concluded without progress toward a lasting peace agreement. Negotiators focused on Hormuz safe passage and unfreezing Iranian assets. Iran’s nuclear program was not discussed. Qatar’s spokesman confirmed the next meeting will take place at the earliest possible time after Khamenei’s funeral processions, which run July 4-9. Day 16 of 60.
Sources: Just Security Early Edition (US — talks concluded without progress confirmed, nuclear program not discussed confirmed, Hormuz and assets focus confirmed, July 2); CNN live blog (US — Qatar spokesman “earliest possible time after funeral” confirmed, July 2)
WAR DAY 124 | NUMBERS AT PUBLICATION
🇮🇷 Iran: 3,468 killed, 26,500+ injured (Iran Ministry of Health, via Al Jazeera live tracker, last updated June 10)
🇱🇧 Lebanon: 4,230 killed, 12,179 injured (Lebanon Ministry of Public Health, updated June 25)
🇮🇱 Israel: 35+ killed (Israeli news source via Time, June 21 — tracker frozen June 10)
🌍 Gulf states/Iraq: 131 killed — Iraq 118, Kuwait 7, Bahrain 3, Oman 3 (Al Jazeera live tracker, last updated June 10)
🇺🇸 US military: 13 killed, 381 injured (Al Jazeera live tracker, last updated June 10)
🛢️ Brent crude: $71.58/barrel (OilPrice.com — essentially flat; OPEC+ July production increase continuing to weigh)
⛽ US national gas average: $3.84/gallon (AAA)
Sourcing note: All war casualty figures sourced to the Al Jazeera live tracker, last updated June 10, 2026, except Lebanon. Lebanon updated to 4,230 killed, 12,179 injured per Lebanon Ministry of Public Health, confirmed June 25. All figures are floor estimates. Methodology differs between sources; figures are not directly comparable.
“Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government.” — Thomas Jefferson, 1789
