Month: July 2026

Uganda’s health minister declared the country Ebola-free on Tuesday following the East African nation’s latest outbreak of the viral hemorrhagic disease that infected 20 people and killed two of them.

Uganda has suffered multiple outbreaks of Ebola since 2000, when it recorded its first epidemic, and officials say over the years the country gained expertise it has used to bring recent infections under control quickly with limited community spread.

Fifteen people in the latest outbreak, declared in mid-May, were infected in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo – the epicenter of the epidemic, where the number of confirmed cases now stands at more than 3,000.

The last Ebola patient in Uganda, a Congolese national, was discharged on June 22. That is short of the 42-day waiting period required by the World Health Organization to declare the end of an outbreak.

But Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi said the announcement follows the "successful completion of the mandatory 42-day monitoring period which began after the discharge of the last Ugandan national, a locally transmitted patient, on the 16 of June, 2026."

Of the 20 confirmed cases during the outbreak, 18 were discharged while two died from the virus, both of whom were from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“Throughout this period, the Ministry of Health maintained intensive surveillance nationwide, and no new Ebola cases have been detected,” Baryomunsi said.

Officials say Uganda's many tropical forests that teem with fruit bats, which are natural reservoirs for the virus, make it vulnerable to frequent outbreaks.

The virus is transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids and tissue, and symptoms include headache, vomiting of blood, muscle pains, and bleeding.

The US Federal Aviation Administration said on Monday that seats on hundreds of Boeing 737 MAX jets registered in the US may require inspections in case they were incorrectly installed and needed to be fixed.

If not corrected, the seats could injure passengers and crew members during an emergency landing or block the aisle and slow an evacuation, the agency said.

The FAA’s proposed airworthiness directive issued on Monday would apply to 453 jets registered in the US. The agency only has jurisdiction over US airlines, but foreign regulators typically follow FAA directives if applicable.

Nearly 2,300 737 MAX jets are in service around the world, including 823 in the US, according to aviation advisory and intelligence firm IBA.

The proposed directive comes as Boeing works to improve its production quality and boost output under CEO Kelly Ortberg.

Production quality problems were revealed in early 2024 when a door-plug panel blew out of a nearly new Alaska Air 737 MAX in flight.

The FAA said in the airworthiness directive proposal that it received a report that some passenger seat assemblies were not correctly installed in the seat tracks.

That meant the assemblies could disengage from the seat tracks if there was an increased load, turbulence, or an emergency landing, the FAA said.

There could be up to 69 track-mounted passenger seat assemblies on each 737 MAX plane, and the issue would take an estimated one work hour to inspect and then an hour to fix each assembly and required no parts, the FAA said. Airlines might be able to have multiple employees inspecting seats simultaneously, greatly reducing the total time for each aircraft.

It did not say how quickly airlines would need to correct the issue.

A Boeing spokesperson said the planemaker issued guidance to operators about the issue in December 2025.

"We support the FAA making that guidance mandatory," the spokesperson said in an email.

Prosecutors have presented sufficient evidence for the indie pop vocalist known as D4vd to stand trial on charges that he fatally stabbed and dismembered a 14-year-old girl who threatened to expose their clandestine relationship, a Los Angeles judge ruled on Monday.

Judge Charlaine Olmedo found there was probable cause for a jury to decide the fate of David Anthony Burke, 21, whose breakout major-label music success as a recording artist named D4vd (pronounced “David”) was cut short by his arrest last year.

He spent five days in a packed downtown courtroom shackled in his seat as prosecutors presented graphic witness testimony and crime-scene photos to convince Olmedo that their case met the minimum legal standard to put Burke on trial.

The victim's parents were present for most of the testimony.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman told reporters during the first day of the proceedings that his office would decide later whether to seek the death penalty.

Burke began his career as a viral TikTok sensation with songs produced for Fortnite gaming videos in 2022, and his first hit single, "Romantic Homicide," paved the way for a multimillion-dollar deal with Interscope Records.

His debut studio album was released in April 2025, in the week that prosecutors say his underage girlfriend, Celeste Rivas Hernandez, went missing and was stabbed to death.

Her decomposing remains were found five months later crammed into the trunk of a Tesla sedan that authorities say was registered to Burke. The car had been towed to an impoundment lot where workers noticed the stench of decay emanating from the vehicle and called police.

The singer-songwriter was arrested in April of this year and charged with first-degree murder, mutilation of human remains and child sexual abuse.

He pleaded not guilty to all charges during an April 20 arraignment in which his attorney, Blair Berk, vehemently professed her client's innocence.

"We believe the actual evidence will show David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez, nor was he the cause of her death," Berk said then.

In a court brief filed the following week, prosecutors first detailed the gruesome manner in which they said Burke killed the victim and disposed of her body, as well as his alleged motives.

The DA's office said Burke acted in fear she would ruin his burgeoning showbiz career after she threatened, out of jealousy, to go public with damaging information about their sexual relationship, which prosecutors say began when she was 13.

Financial manager Benjamin Greger testified during this week's preliminary hearing that Burke, his sole entertainment client, had grossed earnings of $10 million to $11 million from 2023 to 2025, following his Interscope deal.

The accusation of murder for financial gain is among the special circumstances included in the charges, making Burke potentially liable for the death sentence. Another alleges he did so because the victim was a witness to a crime.

On April 23, 2025, one day after Burke and the girl had quarreled over her threats to expose him, according to prosecutors, he hailed her an Uber ride to his Hollywood Hills home, then stabbed the victim to death after she arrived.

During their evidentiary hearing, the prosecution displayed photos of three chain saws, a shovel, and other items they said Burke had purchased online under a fictitious name and had delivered to his home after the killing on April 23, 2025.

Among these was a plastic blue inflatable swimming pool that prosecutors said the victim's body was placed in to prevent blood from spilling onto his garage floor.

The victim's torso and head were found inside a black vinyl cadaver bag stuffed into the front trunk of the abandoned Tesla, on top of a plastic garbage bag containing the victim's limbs, police homicide detective Joshua Byers testified last Tuesday.

Shreds of blue plastic from the swimming pool were found embedded in the flesh of the severed limbs, Byers said.

Two fingers on the girl's left hand had been amputated but were not recovered, while the girl’s right index finger bore a cryptic tattoo reading, "SHHH…," which matched a marking Burke was later found to have tattooed on his own right index finger, according to Byers.

The remains had to be positively identified through dental records, the detective said.

Several biological samples collected from Burke’s garage tested positive for blood, and DNA analysis of various specimens matched the victim’s unique genetic profile, according to prosecutors’ court brief.

At least one shot was fired outside the US consulate in downtown Toronto early on Monday, but there were no injuries, police said, in what was the second such incident in the last four months.

Police officers, alerted by the sound of a gunshot, said they found evidence of a weapon having been fired outside the building on University Avenue.

Police said that a white sedan was seen fleeing the scene and added that no injuries were reported.

On March 10, several shots were fired at the same building, following three separate incidents in which gunshots were fired at synagogues in the Toronto area. Police increased security outside the US and Israeli consulates in Toronto, Canada's largest city, in response.

In June, police said, without providing any more details, that young people in the Toronto area were being paid to shoot at various targets, including synagogues, Jewish schools and the US Consulate. Police arrested three people in connection with the March shooting, and one police officer was killed during the operation.

Toronto Deputy Police Chief Frank Barredo said an officer assigned to the US Consulate security detail heard a gunshot at about 4:46 a.m., and police later recovered a shell casing and found damage to the front of the building. Police also briefly pursued a vehicle seen leaving the area but discontinued the chase because of its high speed, he said.

Barredo declined to comment on a possible motive, and on whether the shooting was linked to previous incidents at the US Consulate.

"We'll point out that it is quite early in this investigation. Some information I may not be able to share, and some information I simply may not know at this point."

The US Embassy in Ottawa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford condemned the shooting, as well as vandalism at two Jewish bakeries in the city over the weekend.

“I’m totally disgusted by the shootings and vandalism that took place in Toronto over the last few days, including at two Jewish-owned businesses over the weekend and near the US Consulate this morning,” he wrote on X. “In all cases, active police investigations are underway. I expect all those responsible to be found, prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law.”

Social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate will press for their release from a US jail as they fight the British government’s efforts to extradite them to face charges of rape, assault and facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation, the brothers’ lawyers told reporters on Monday.

Andrew Tate, 39, and Tristan Tate, 38, were arrested in Miami on July 18. Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said on July 19 it had brought new charges against the brothers relating to alleged offenses involving four alleged victims between July 2010 and August 2017.

The Tate brothers, both former kickboxers who have dual US and British citizenship, have denied any wrongdoing. They are being held in a federal jail in Miami as a US judge weighs Britain's extradition request.

The arrests marked a new chapter in the widening legal troubles for the brothers, who have built a large online following promoting their views on masculinity and wealth. Andrew Tate has previously described himself as a misogynist.

Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate had previously faced rape and human trafficking charges in Britain related to three alleged victims, the Crown Prosecution Service said. A British judge issued a warrant for their arrests in January 2024. They have not appeared in British court to enter a plea to those charges.

Britain is seeking to extradite the brothers to face both sets of charges.

Prosecutors with the Miami US Attorney's Office said in court papers that US Magistrate Judge Lauren Louis should keep the brothers detained because there was a risk they could flee and because they posed dangers to the community.

Joseph McBride, a lawyer for the Tate brothers, denied that the brothers were a flight risk, noting that they had attended their required court hearings in Romania, where they have been under criminal investigation since 2022 on human trafficking allegations.

"Innocent men don't flee from justice. Innocent men lean in to justice because justice vindicates them at the end of the day," McBride told reporters outside the federal courthouse in Miami after a status conference before Louis.

The brothers will file a legal motion seeking their release on bail by August 5, and a hearing over their bid for release will take place on August 13, defense lawyer Jacqueline Perczek said.

The legal process for determining whether the Tate brothers may be extradited could take months. Britain has until September 16 to submit its full extradition request to the State Department, US court records show.

Louis or any other judge who takes up the Tate brothers' case would be responsible for determining whether Britain has supplied enough evidence to provide probable cause that the brothers have committed the crimes of which they are accused, prosecutors said in court papers.

It would then be up to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to decide whether they should be extradited, the prosecutors said.

Rubio told reporters in Manila on July 22 that he did not expect to intervene in the case for now.

"There's no role for us to play at this moment or maybe ever," Rubio said.

Bahrain cannot claim state immunity to block a lawsuit brought in Britain by two dissidents who say its government hacked their laptops with spyware, the United Kingdom's Supreme Court ruled by a majority on Monday.

Saeed Shehabi and Moosa Mohammed allege Bahrain infected their computers with surveillance software called FinSpy around 2011, which allowed agents to monitor their work with political prisoners in the Gulf kingdom.

The men, who both live in Britain, sued Bahrain at London’s High Court in 2020, seeking damages for “psychiatric harm”.

Bahrain denies hacking Shehabi and Mohammed's laptops and has for several years sought to claim state immunity to defeat the lawsuit.

Bahrain’s assertion of state immunity was refused by London’s High Court in 2023 and then the Court of Appeal the following year, prompting an appeal to the UK’s highest court.

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed Bahrain’s appeal by a 3-to-2 majority, ruling that the alleged surveillance took place in Britain even if it was initiated from abroad.

This meant the alleged hacking came within the personal injury exception to state immunity under UK law and that Shehabi and Mohammed's case could proceed.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) faces a challenging search for a new prosecutor after Karim Khan was dismissed, against the backdrop of a US diplomatic campaign to undermine the court and a rise in states withdrawing from the institution.

On Monday, Chad became the fifth country to start the formal withdrawal process in recent months, following Venezuela, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.

The African state's announcement came just days after 82 of the court's 125 member states voted to dismiss Khan for serious misconduct. That triggered an election process for a new prosecutor, but details still have to be hammered out, and a vote is not expected before the new year.

After Khan's removal from office, the court said it will continue to carry out its mandate.

"The ICC remains firmly committed to advancing accountability and delivering justice for victims of crimes that deeply shock the conscience of humanity," it said.

While the ICC member states consider the procedure to find Khan's replacement, the office of the prosecutor will be run by the current deputy prosecutors, Nazhat Shameen Khan from Fiji and Senegal's Mame Mandiaye Niang.

Court watchers say it may be hard to find a good replacement for Khan amid the US's ramped-up diplomatic campaign.

“Who is now going to want to nominate for a position that has such challenges, because they know they will automatically be sanctioned by the US,” Melanie O’Brien, professor of international law at the University of Western Australia, told Reuters.

Washington wants the ICC to drop its arrest warrants against Israeli leaders over Gaza and to stop investigating alleged crimes involving US troops. Officials told Reuters they were considering pressuring countries to withdraw from the court.

Chad announced its withdrawal on Monday, and late Friday Venezuela, where the ICC had been conducting investigations into allegations of crimes against humanity by the previous government, said it had started the formal procedure to withdraw. Both states accused the court of disproportionately focusing on non-Western states.

In early July, the court said three military-led African countries – Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger – formally started their withdrawal, which takes a year to go into effect.

The European Union and several of the court’s big backers, including the Netherlands and Japan, one of the court’s biggest financial contributors, have voiced support for the court and concern over the US position but have not announced any practical steps to shore up the institution.

In the coming months, the court's governing body, the Assembly of States Parties (ASP), is expected to set out the specific procedure for the election of a new prosecutor. Many legal commentators have criticized the process around Khan's removal for its lack of transparency.

The next election will be a litmus test, especially since earlier votes were criticized for facing a lot of political influence and last-minute changes of procedure, according to Ezequiel Jimenez Martinez, who wrote a book on governing the ICC.

“The ASP now needs to reassure stakeholders it has the stamina to support the court in its darkest hour and elect a prosecutor worth the office and role,” he told Reuters.

An Australian court on Monday rejected an appeal from right-wing leader Pauline Hanson to overturn a ruling that she racially discriminated against a Muslim senator by telling her to "piss off back to Pakistan."

The three-judge panel of the Full Federal Court of Australia unanimously upheld a 2024 ruling that the comment, addressed to Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi on social media, was unlawful and unprotected by free speech defenses.

"Today, justice has prevailed," Faruqi told reporters outside court. "Today's win is for every single person out there who has been told to go back to where you came from."

Hanson said in a statement she was disappointed in the outcome.

“My legal team and I will now closely review the decision in the coming days, with a view to commencing an appeal in the High Court of Australia,” she added. The High Court of Australia is the country’s final court of appeal.

Hanson, who leads the hard-right One Nation party, made the remarks in September 2022 after Faruqi posted on X/Twitter following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Faruqi wrote that she could not "mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonized peoples."

Hanson replied: “When you immigrated to Australia you took every advantage of this country… It’s clear you’re not happy, so pack your bags and piss off back to Pakistan.”

A judge in 2024 found Hanson's post breached Australia's laws against racial discrimination as it was reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate, and intimidate Faruqi, as well as Muslim Australians and people of color who had migrated to the country.

Hanson appealed the decision, arguing she did not breach the law and the law was in any case constitutionally invalid.

“We have 434 paragraphs of dismissing Pauline Hanson’s appeal, of confirming that indeed Pauline Hanson behaved in racism, Islamophobia, and hate,” Faruqi said.

Founded in 1997, One Nation was long seen as fringe but Hanson's ​hard line on immigration has ​drawn more support in recent ⁠polls.

At least three people were killed, and four were wounded during a shooting at Seattle Center in the early morning hours on Monday, according to The Seattle Times, citing the Seattle Fire Department.

Local media had earlier reported that there were two deaths and five wounded, including a two-year-old girl, a 23-year-old man, a 39-year-old woman, a 40-year-old woman, and a 56-year-old woman are among the wounded and were transported to the hospital.

Seattle Assistant Police Chief Tyrone Davis said one of the victims at the hospital did not survive their wounds, bringing the toll to three. He added that the four others in the hospital were now in stable condition.

Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center told CNN that it is receiving and treating victims of the shooting.

Multiple gunshots were heard at the site at around 6 p.m. local time on Sunday at the Bite of Seattle food festival. Davis announced that one suspect has been taken into custody while another remains at large, as of 10:50 p.m. local time.

The Seattle Police Department stated that officers responded to the scene and are investigating the incident after recovering two guns in the area. They are advising all residents to avoid the area.

A Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) spokesperson told ABC News that the agency has been made aware of the shooting.

One witness, who was attending the festival with his girlfriend, told The Seattle Times that he saw several victims on the ground and a body covered with a yellow sheet.

“It was just pure chaos,” the witness said, describing that after the gunshots began, festival attendees began trying to escape to safety.

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson released a statement shortly after the incident, calling the Seattle Center shooting an "act of horrific violence."

“No one should have to weigh the risk of being shot before attending an event, gathering with friends, or experiencing their city,” she added. “Gun violence changes families forever. Its trauma reaches far beyond the people struck by bullets. In the days ahead, we will establish what happened and be transparent with the public about what we have learned.”

Washington Congresswoman Rep. Pramila Jayapal stated that she is closely monitoring the situation and has been in close contact with Wilson, as coordination with police continues.

“We ask that the public please stay away from the Seattle Center as there is still an active investigation happening at this time. We will provide updates as we have additional information,” Jayapal emphasized in a statement released on X/Twitter.

Governor of Washington Bob Ferguson also released a statement on X/Twitter, saying he's being briefed on the tragedy and that a SWAT team is on the way to the scene to assist.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that Russia is seeking an additional 30,000 North Korean troops for its war.

"We also see Russia’s cooperation with North Korea. Russia wants to receive another 30,000 troops from North Korea," Zelensky said in his nightly address on Saturday. "Since June, preparations have been underway in Russia’s Voronezh region to receive them."

He also alleged that North Korea will transfer additional launchers for ballistic missiles to Russia.

“This is a threat not only to Ukraine. Russia is helping North Korea learn how to wage war, improve its weapons, and gain real combat experience in using them,” he said.

“All of this is a threat to everyone in Asia who is within range of North Korean missiles.”

Ukrainian intelligence estimates that Pyongyang has sent between 12,000 and 14,000 soldiers in 2024 to help Russia’s assault on Kursk.

As many as 6,000 of them have died since then, The Guardian reported in April, citing South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence.

Several international media outlets have reported that North Korea has also sent laborers to Russia to work in slave-like conditions.

One worker told the BBC that he was chaperoned from the airport to a construction site in far-eastern Russia by a North Korean security agent, where he worked 18 hours a day with only two days off per year.

Another worker said that his supervisors wouldn't allow him to check into a hospital after he gravely injured his face after falling four meters.

Notably, North Korea has not publicly stated the number of its troops lost in Russia, but Pyongyang’s supreme leader Kim Jong Un has mourned their losses.

"Ours is a heroic army … Our army has fully demonstrated its unique qualities. Such a result has cemented its appellation and reputation as the most powerful army in the world," Kim said in August, according to KCNA.

Kim "highly appreciated their feats of leading the combat units of our armed forces, which participated in the operations to liberate the Kursk Region of the Russian Federation, to victory," KCNA reported.