Politics & World Affairs — July 10, 2026

Burnham set to lead Britain. Andy Burnham is on the brink of becoming Britain's next prime minister after most Labour lawmakers backed him to replace Keir Starmer.

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Congo Ebola deaths reach 600. The Ebola death toll in the Democratic Republic of the Congo reached 600. New suspected cases spread to previously unaffected provinces beyond the epicenter in Ituri.

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Court upholds Illinois weapons ban. A federal appeals court upheld Illinois' ban on semiautomatic weapons, keeping in place a law passed largely in response to a deadly Independence Day parade shooting.

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Eight indicted in White House plot. Federal prosecutors charged eight men with murder and terrorism conspiracy for their alleged roles in a thwarted drone and sniper attack on a UFC event staged at the White House.

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Mediators push to revive Iran talks. Qatar and Pakistan are scrambling to revive U.S.-Iran nuclear talks after tit-for-tat strikes resumed and shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell sharply.

According to Axios, Qatar and Pakistan are among several regional mediators working to de-escalate tensions between Washington and Tehran and bring both sides back to negotiations on a nuclear agreement. The economic stakes extend beyond the region: the International Energy Agency has warned of the first annual decline in oil demand since 2020, underscoring the disruption tied to reduced traffic through the strait.

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Platner to exit Maine race. Democrat Graham Platner plans to file paperwork by Monday's deadline to exit the Maine Senate race, leaving Democrats searching for a replacement with Senate control potentially at stake.

The Hill reports the withdrawal is one of two recent developments, alongside another in Michigan, that have damaged Democrats' prospects of retaking the Senate. The Monday filing deadline compresses the party's timeline for recruiting a new candidate in Maine, a seat that figures into the broader fight over which party holds the chamber.

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Spain wildfire kills 12. A wildfire in southern Spain's Andalusia region killed at least 12 people, one of the country's deadliest on record, during a third wave of extreme heat across Europe.

Al Jazeera reports the blaze is the deadliest fire on record in Andalusia. It comes as successive heatwaves have left large areas of Europe highly vulnerable to fire, with the current episode marking the continent's third round of extreme heat. The conditions have raised concern that other parched regions face similar risk as temperatures remain elevated.

Al Jazeera · Read more →