France Orders Nationwide Block on Polymarket Website Over Betting Violations

French gaming regulator ANJ ordered a nationwide block on online prediction market Polymarket, following a surge in local traffic despite an existing financial transaction ban.

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Iran launched attacks on at least two Jordanian military bases this week, injuring several U.S. service members after one facility was hit.

Source: CBS News

BIG: Iran's Tasnim:

US strike destroys desalination plant in Jask, cutting drinking water to 20 villages (around 10,000 people).

The attack destroyed the plant's seawater pumping station and power transformer, leaving the area without running water.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe:

China is the second-largest economy in the world. Russia's economy is about the size of my home state, Texas.

Russia has to choose where they are gonna compete, but China competes with us across the board.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe:

If China gets a technological advantage over us, that's a real problem.

We can't let that happen.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe:

Average life expectancy of a Russian recruit arriving on the battlefield in Ukraine now is estimated to be between 20 and 30 minutes.

That's because AI-powered drones have become specialized, low-cost killing machines.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe:

Right now, Russia occupies 20% of Ukraine. When I came in as CIA Director 18 months ago, Russia occupied 19% of Ukraine.

The pace of their advance has stopped because Ukraine's mastery of drone warfare and asymmetric warfare is such a great equalizer.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe:

The Chinese steal the technology, they replicate it, the state subsidizes it, and that's their model of success.

They are very good at it.

The Kirkuk–Baniyas pipeline (built 1950s, shut since the early 1980s) is being revived to route Iraq's crude through Syria to the Mediterranean.

Combined with new parallel lines, capacity could reach ~2–2.5M barrels/day flowing to Syria's Baniyas port or onward via Türkiye.

US companies including Chevron are expected to join the technical and financing side.

Full revival estimated at $4 billion+ and 2–3 years.

Strategic aim: create a corridor bypassing the Strait of Hormuz after recent Iranian disruptions, cut Iraq's dependence on Iranian-linked routes and militias, and give Syria transit revenue that could pull both countries westward.

Iraq–US memoranda signed June–July 2026, momentum accelerating.

Chairman of the Turkish Parliament’s National Defense Committee, Hulusi Akar, on Türkiye's S-400 & F-35 jets:

The S-400 issue will be solved in some way. We expect developments. And it looks like it will happen.

The justification for suspending the F-35 program was the S-400.

Once that is removed, the F-35 will start directly.

Regarding the F-35, our hand is actually very strong. We were a country that manufactured 1,000 parts of the F-35 — literally exactly 1,000 parts as a number.

It will be solved. We have no doubt.