A Syrian court sentenced ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad along with his younger brother to death in absentia on Tuesday for crimes against humanity and war crimes during Syria’s 14-year conflict that left about half a million people dead.

The sentences at the Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus are the first against Assad or members of his inner circle since the Assad family’s five decades in power came to an end 20 months ago.

“Bashar Assad used state agencies to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity,” said judge Fakhareddine al-Aryan during a court session that was aired live on state TV.

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White House officials have urged Ohio Republicans in recent days to avoid publicly pressuring Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) to drop out, according to a Politico report that cited three anonymous sources.

Officials reportedly argued that any efforts to boot Miller, who faces serious domestic abuse allegations, would be beside the point given the Republican lawmaker’s refusal to leave the race. Miller has denied the allegations.

“They basically told us to back off and let the voters decide,” one Ohio Republican told Politico.

President Donald Trump also publicly said he wouldn’t be getting involved in the conversations about Miller’s possible withdrawal and noted that he felt “badly” for the congressman.

A White House spokesperson did not respond to Politico’s request for comment.

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Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) on Monday signed legislation that expands abortion access in the state, lifting restrictions that patients faced for obtaining medical care later in their pregnancies.

Previously, Massachusetts limited abortion after 24 weeks of pregnancy to a narrow set of circumstances. The new law now allows abortions to occur after 24 weeks “based upon the professional judgment of the physician.”

The law is aimed at guaranteeing that patients who need care for “devastating fetal diagnoses, serious pregnancy complications or other complex medical circumstances” later in pregnancy are able to receive it in the state, according to a release from Healey’s office.

During Monday’s bill signing, Kate Dineen and her husband Alex Lawton described how they had to travel to Maryland for an abortion after their son experienced a “catastrophic stroke” in utero at 33 weeks of pregnancy. Although that meant that he would either die or survive with a spectrum of “devastating outcomes,” the diagnosis didn’t qualify for an exception under Massachusetts’s prior policy, Dineen said.

“I’ve heard heartbreaking stories from women and families who were preparing to welcome a healthy baby into their family, only to receive devastating news later in their pregnancy. Instead of being able to rely on the doctors they knew and trusted at home, they were forced to travel hundreds of miles and pay out of their pockets while navigating unimaginable grief,” Healey said in a statement. “That should never happen in Massachusetts. This law continues our efforts to have the strongest abortion protections in the country because in Massachusetts, we believe health care decisions should be made between women and their doctors.”

Army Under Secretary Michael Obadal purchased stocks from Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which has billions of dollars in contracts with the Department of Defense, NOTUS reported.

Obadal’s reported purchase of between $1,001 and $15,000 worth of SpaceX stock has raised ethical questions about whether he violated conflict-of-interest rules. He is responsible for managing the Army’s business operations.

A spokesperson for Obadal defended the purchase, telling NOTUS in a statement that the secretary has never personally interacted with SpaceX.

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Federal prosecutors on Monday charged Manuel Hernandez, captain of the boat that capsized in New York Harbor over the weekend, with two counts of misconduct and neglect of a ship officer resulting in death.

Hernandez was helming the vessel last Saturday when it overturned near Liberty Island, killing a 27-year-old woman and her 5-month-old child.

Prosecutors allege that Hernandez transported paying customers on a commercial vessel without the appropriate licenses, that he overcrowded the boat and that he embarked on the trip without infant life vests onboard.

Hernandez did not comment after a hearing on Monday, The New York Times reported.

Republican officials in North Carolina selected a new candidate Monday to replace GOP Rep. Chuck Edwards, who dropped out after a House Ethics investigation found he acted inappropriately toward two young female staffers.

State Rep. Jennifer Balkcom, representing the Henderson County area, will face off against Democratic nominee Jamie Ager in November.

Edwards ended his bid for reelection last week after increasing calls for him to resign following the committee’s findings and recommendation of censure.

Balkcom announced her plans to seek the Republican nomination on Sunday, writing in a social media post that “Western North Carolina needs a strong voice right now.”

“This race is too important to sit out,” she wrote. “We must hold this seat, preserve our mountain values, and make sure Washington never forgets the people who call these mountains home.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Monday urged the heads of three of the country’s most prominent artificial intelligence companies to pause development amid growing concerns about the risks that their technologies pose.

In a letter to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Sanders sounded the alarm over recent instances when companies, including OpenAI, have seen their models go rogue.

“In the interest of humanity, stand by your words. Pause AI development. It is not too late to avoid disaster. Stop building machines that humans cannot control,” Sanders wrote in the letter, which was first obtained by Axios.

Sanders also warned that Congress would take steps to address the issue if Silicon Valley leaders failed to do so. “Let me be very clear: If you do not take appropriate action now, my colleagues and I in the U.S. Senate will,” he wrote.

On Friday, OpenAI paused some activities involving one of its models due to security concerns. That model, however, was different than the one involved in a cyberattack earlier this year.

Sanders’ letter adds to congressional scrutiny of AI behemoths. In a separate letter on Monday, several House lawmakers including Reps. Greg Casar (D-Tex.) and Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) called on House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to schedule Congressional hearings with the CEOs of the countries’ largest AI companies.

“Unfortunately, Congress has so far completely failed to respond to the threats posed by AI development. That must change,” the House members noted in their letter, which was first obtained by CNBC. “The CEOs of the largest AI companies should answer questions under oath, and Americans should have a chance to hear from independent experts on the dangers posed by this technology.”

Spokespeople for Anthropic and Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and an OpenAI spokesperson did not provide additional comment. A spokesperson for Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Spurred by an assassination threat from Iran, President Donald Trump secretly flew out of Turkey last month on an alternate military aircraft while the White House publicly stated he was aboard the former Air Force One, sources told The Washington Post.

Mystery has surrounded Trump’s decision to suddenly travel on the former Air Force One rather than the new $400 million, Qatar-gifted aircraft he flew to Turkey after it had undergone pricey security enhancements.

But according to the Post, Trump actually boarded the old Air Force One on July 8 in front of television cameras, then was covertly shuttled to a smaller plane via an airport catering truck that’s typically used to transport meals and other supplies. The clandestine mission was kept secret from the press, who flew back on the old Air Force One, and from some White House staff members.

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A New York state judge on Monday temporarily blocked New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani from implementing a tax on some second homes, often referred to as pieds-à-terre.

Judge Wayne M. Ozzi sided with a group of homeowners who sued last week to block the proposed tax, arguing that Mamdani’s administration made a series of mistakes in introducing the tax. Ozzi’s ruling is in effect while legal arguments proceed.

Lawyers for the city said they plan to appeal the motion.

The tax, proposed by Gov. Kathy Hochul in April, would primarily target ultra-wealthy New York City homeowners who spend a majority of their time outside of the city.

A man previously pardoned for his role in the Jan. 6 riots is facing new gun charges in upstate New York, according to multiple outlets.

Thomas Sibick was charged with several counts of felony weapon possession in Erie County. He was initially charged with a misdemeanor for allegedly destroying a woman’s phone, but the charges were later upgraded, The Buffalo News reported.

He had previously been sentenced to four years after pleading guilty to attacking a Capitol police office during the attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

The contiguous United States sizzled to its hottest month ever last month, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

July averaged 76.89 degrees Fahrenheit (24.94 degrees Celsius) across the Lower 48 states, eclipsing the Dust Bowl’s July 1936 by an eighth of a degree. Records go back to 1895.

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Traffic to Truth Social, the social media platform President Donald Trump co-founded in 2022 after being kicked off other major platforms for using them to attempt a coup, has fallen off a cliff.

Data compiled by Similarweb and shared with TheRighting, a media company that tracks right-wing outlets, showed Truth Social traffic was down 36% last month compared to a year prior, and 48% year-over-year for June.

“I have been following traffic to Truth Social for years, and I am really struck by the steepness of the plunge,” Howard Polskin, who publishes TheRighting, told The New York Times. “When you think of how much Trump uses Truth Social as a megaphone you would think the numbers would be skyrocketing.”

The plummet coincided with Trump’s brazen pitch to pivot the platform to one driven primarily by insider trading. Since August 1, Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns the platform, has been charging Wall Street traders and investment firms as much as $100,000 a month for faster access to Trump’s posts.

Shares of Trump Media have fallen precipitously since its 2024 public offering, from a high of around $60 to around $9. On Monday, the company reported a net loss of $238.1 million for the second quarter of 2026.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a doctor, said Monday that President Donald Trump “does not have the expertise” to push his newly-signed executive order breaking up the MMR vaccine ― and implored parents to listen to their child’s pediatrician instead of inaccurate orders.

“Breaking up vaccines will mean children have to get more shots to get the same protection, not fewer shots,” Cassidy wrote on X. “It will increase hesitancy and make children less safe.”

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President Donald Trump first tried hedging a comment he made earlier in his press conference – in which he described the MMR vaccine as “lethal” – before quickly rebounding into his usual hyperbolic language by claiming, without evidence, that the vaccine “can be explosive.”

“What I’ve heard is that, there are some people that say it is that way. And I say well, let’s say there’s a 5% chance of it. Let’s split it up, let’s split it up. Because they do say that, given individual[ly], there is no impact,” he said when asked about his claim that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is “lethal.” “In fact, they’ve said how safe it seems to be. But I’ve heard when you put them together, they can be explosive.”

The president did not elaborate on who “some people” are. The MMR vaccine has repeatedly been proven safe.

Tyler Boebert, son of Trump ally Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), is facing several felony charges, including three charges of sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The charges were first reported by The Denver Gazette.

According to court records, the 21-year-old allegedly committed the offenses in 2024, but was not arrested until last week. He was released on a $10,000 bond and will next appear in court in Colorado on Aug. 19.

Boebert told the Denver Gazette that she loved her son and was taking the allegations “very seriously.”

Tyler Boebert flipped his father’s SUV in 2022, causing a passenger to be hospitalized. He was later arrested in 2024 on 22 criminal charges after a string of robberies and trespass incidents unfolded in Rifle, Colorado. He pleaded guilty to some of those charges.

In 2025, he was charged with misdemeanor child abuse after his toddler son wandered away from his mother’s home in Windsor, Colorado.

President Donald Trump explained that his executive order on childhood MMR vaccinations is structured so children “get 20% of what they would have gotten in one big shot — a big shot like the size of a large glass of something.”

The order recommends that the MMR vaccination be split into three separate shots delivered at three separate care appointments.

He strongly suggested that, while scientists do not fully understand what causes autism, Monday’s order would likely result in fewer diagnoses. But that suggestion is not backed by science: Evidence does not show a link between childhood vaccinations and autism.

“There’s something wrong when we see record numbers, all the time, every year for years and years. Every year gets higher, higher, higher — autism. And we think we have a very good recommendation,” Trump said.

He asserted that the worst thing that could come of his new policy would be “nothing,” but recommending parents return for several health care appointments decreases the chance of follow-through, meaning some children may not end up receiving all the shots.

Read more here.

Todd Blanche has officially been sworn in as attorney general of the United States, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posting a video of the private event to social media.

The video shows Blanche being sworn in by Circuit Judge Emil Bove inside the Oval Office as President Donald Trump looks on. Bove and Blanche both defended Trump in his New York hush money trial.

In news sure to irk parents everywhere, President Donald Trump will reportedly sign an executive order this afternoon splitting up the MMR vaccine (“measles, mumps, and rubella”) into three separate shots.

So instead of getting one shot that covers three separate diseases, presumably American kids will now have to get three separate shots.

A draft of the executive order obtained by Axios says that “the combined MMR vaccine should be administered in three separate single-disease shots once such products are domestically available and that, to the maximum extent feasible, all childhood immunizations should be administered at separate medical visits.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt alluded to the forthcoming order on social media, touting it as “More Vaccine Flexibility And Research.” Health & Human Services Secretary and prominent vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will reportedly be on hand for the signing.

President Donald Trump is set to swear in Todd Blanche as the new attorney general any moment now, though the ceremony will be closed to the press.

While Blanche’s event wouldn’t be the first time Trump has made such a moment private, major swearing-in ceremonies like Monday’s normally include cameras that air them to the public. The president has no other public events for the rest of the day.

Hunter Biden sat for a lengthy two-hour interview with Tucker Carlson that premiered today, during which he called President Donald Trump an “existential threat” to America while slightly criticizing people who say he’s merely a symptom of broader political rot.

“The one existential threat that I think that we face, as a country, is Donald Trump,” he told Carlson. “I am not this believer that Trump is merely the symptom of a disease. I believe that Trump is central to why this disease has gone from a local epidemic to a pandemic in the United States of America.”

Carlson offered the ongoing war in Iran as evidence of one of “the big failures” of the Trump administration, then confusingly suggested that a lack of criticism from Democrats, notably Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), amounts to condoning the war:

“I mean you could say lots of things about Trump that are bad, but getting us into a war we can’t win, in which Americans are dying, in Iran, that will only diminish America’s power and bankrupt us — I mean, that’s the only exit — really. And make Iran stronger. And, like, Chuck Schumer is like ‘Yeah it’s bad,’ but of course he endorses it.”

President Donald Trump demanded compensation from Iran on Monday, in response to Iran’s demands that the U.S. pay compensation for damage caused by an extensive five-month bombing campaign there.

While Iran is refusing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz unless Trump bends to its will, Trump has no such leverage. That didn’t stop him from making the claim, however.

“I see that Representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran are asking for compensation for the damage done to them during the last five month Military Conflict,” Trump wrote on social media.

“Now I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran,” he added, claiming to speak on behalf of “all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts, for which they are famous.”

“Additionally, compensation should be paid to the families of the hundreds of thousands of innocent protestors that Iran has killed over the last 50 years, not to mention the 52,000 that have been killed in the last five months,” he concluded. “I have instructed my representatives to put this firmly into any, and all, future negotiations.”

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