🇨🇦🇪🇺 | Several European diplomats were caught off guard and questioned the practical feasibility of Canada becoming an "associate member" of the EU — Politico

🇬🇷🇮🇱 | Two Greek frigates and two Israeli missile boats have conducted joint naval exercises in the eastern Mediterranean in recent days — Kathimerini

🇩🇪🇺🇸 | The Pentagon says Hegseth and Germany's defense minister signed an agreement to deepen cooperation between arms makers in both countries — statement

🇫🇷🇰🇷 | The air forces of France and South Korea held an aerial exercise this week, marking the first joint drills between the two countries in three years — Yonhap

🇬🇧🇺🇸🇻🇪 | Venezuela's government and the opposition are nearing a deal to move the central bank's gold reserves, worth ∼$4 billion, from the UK to New York — FT

🇮🇷🇺🇸 | Trump says he is approaching a critical juncture regarding whether to restart massive attacks against Iran in an effort to bring the war to a close — Axios

🇷🇺 | The chair of Russia's Central Election Commission says all polling stations across the country have opened as scheduled for the State Duma elections — TASS

🇮🇹🇸🇦 | Italy's defense minister says an Italian F-2000 fighter jet stationed at King Fahd Air Base in western Saudi Arabia was hit in an attack overnight — Il Sole 24 Ore

🇺🇸 | Lockheed Martin says General Motors will manufacture components for Patriot missiles, potentially boosting efforts to plug gaping munitions holes — Semafor

🇫🇷🇬🇳 | Guinea has banned France 24 from broadcasting in the country, citing the airing of "remarks deemed to undermine the dignity of the head of state" — AFP

🇺🇸 | The US is moving "most" of its MQ-9 UAVs from Africa to South America ahead of counternarcotics and counterterrorism operations, sources say — CNN

🇵🇰🇺🇸 | Trump family-backed Powerus has signed an agreement with Pakistan's military for the sale of UAVs and interceptor products, a source says — FT

🇨🇳 | The war in the Middle East is fueling an unexpected boom in China's shipbuilding industry, with new orders in H1 2026 surging 2.7-fold year-on-year — Nikkei Asia

🇫🇷🇺🇸 | France's Thales has unveiled HexaForce, an AI-powered military command-and-control platform seen as a sovereign alternative to Palantir's Maven — Les Échos

🇸🇦 | Saudi Aramco has told at least two refining customers in Europe that they will receive no crude next month under long-term agreements, sources say — Bloomberg

🇲🇱 | Touted as precise and aimed at terrorists, Mali's drone strike campaign has repeatedly killed civilians in a pattern that experts dub "guilt by location" — Bellingcat

🇰🇷🇺🇸 | South Korea has reaffirmed to the US its will to contribute substantively to restoring free passage through the Strait of Hormuz — Yonhap

🇩🇰🇬🇱🇺🇸 | Trump says he has reached an agreement with Denmark and Greenland that grants the US "permanent control over security" on the island — Truth

🇸🇩 | Sudan's military says it has recaptured 11 areas in North Kordofan following fierce battles against the RSF and combing operations west of El Obeid — SUNA

🇺🇸 | Trump says MSNOW, CNN, and Politico are banned from the White House effective immediately "as a result of their constant 'reporting' fake news" — Truth

🇮🇶 | The security adviser to Iraq's prime minister says there is "no deadline" for bringing arms under state control — Rudaw