First Thing: US agrees Saudi uranium deal as strikes on Iran continue and Yemen’s Houthis hit tankers

Good morning. The US has signed a landmark nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia that could allow the kingdom to enrich uranium in the future. The deal will be submitted to Congress for review, where it could face opposition among lawmakers who fear a lack of monitoring safeguards.

R James Woolsey, embattled ex-CIA director under Bill Clinton, dies aged 84

R James Woolsey, a national security expert who led the CIA for two turbulent years after his appointment by Bill Clinton, has died. He was 84.

Woolsey, who became CIA director in early 1993, died on Tuesday at his home in Washington, according to several newspapers. Conchita Sarnoff Woolsey, his wife, told the newspapers that he died from a stroke.

Badenoch says Burnham’s ambitions for Britain are ‘too small’ after business rates cut for pub and clubs in England – UK politics live

From

3h ago

Kemi Badenoch is speaking in central London at the moment and is expected to say that Andy Burnham is “still thinking like the mayor of Manchester”.

“Going by what he’s announced so far, Andy Burnham’s ambitions for Britain are too small,” she was expected to say.

Amish Shah wins in Arizona Democratic House primary in blow to establishment

Amish Shah won the Democratic primary on Wednesday in a hotly contested congressional district in Arizona, delivering another defeat to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which backed a rival, as more voters reject the preferences of party leaders in Washington.

EU fines Google €890m for competition breaches over search and apps

Google has been fined a total of €890m (£760m) by the EU for breaches of online competition laws by its search and app store services.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said Google had broken the Digital Markets Act by giving priority to its own services, such as shopping and hotel deals, in search results over those of its rivals.

June heat wave cost UK economy more than £1bn: Study

The UK broke the record for its hottest ever June day during last month's heatwave
The UK broke the record for its hottest ever June day during last month's heat wave.

Britain's record-breaking June heat wave resulted in some 24 million lost hours of work, costing the economy £1.15 billion ($1.5 billion), according to an estimate released Thursday by the London School of Economics (LSE).

Burnham's plan to collaborate with social media creators

Andy Burnham is a past master at using social media to create a political brand - and it seems he has no plans to let up now that he is prime minister.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is expected to crash into the moon this August - Engadget

Astronomers will be able to observe it from our planet.

A rocket

SpaceX

On August 5 at around 2:35 AM ET, the upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket is expected to crash into the moon near the Einstein Crater. As Gizmodo reports, it will likely be observable from certain locations on our planet using ground-based telescopes. It was Bill Gray, the creator of Project Pluto desktop planetarium program, who first determined that the rocket will hit the moon next month after feeding data into his program to predict the rocket's orbit and future path

Florida researchers bring endangered elkhorn coral ashore to protect them

Florida researchers bring endangered elkhorn coral ashore to protect them
Senior research associate Hesley Dalton, center, reviews the placement of elkhorn coral in a saltwater restoration tank with research assistant Julia Cafiero and interns Jennifer Dranetz and Jonathan Smotrich at the the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in Key Biscayne, Fla. Credit: AP Photo/Marta Lavandier

Scientists working to save a coral species from extinction transported 30 pieces from nurseries off the Florida coast to a hatchery on land Wednesday, fearing that warming waters could trigger a mass bleaching event this summer that could wipe them out.

NASA will test SpaceX and Blue Origin Moon landers before the next lunar landing

NASA is preparing for future astronaut landings on the Moon with a major orbital rehearsal planned for 2027. During the Artemis III demonstration mission, crews in space and teams on Earth will practice rendezvous and docking operations between the Orion spacecraft and commercially developed lunar landers.