From the Iran war threatening to expand in the Middle East to additional tariffs levied on U.S. trade partners, here are topics that made headlines this past week and a quiz to test your knowledge.
House passes defense policy legislation
WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives narrowly passed a defense policy bill Wednesday, despite Democrats’ concerns about its huge price tag, the Iran war and a provision that would boost Pentagon ties to Israel.
The fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, which authorizes an unprecedented $1.15 trillion in spending for the military, passed 216 to 212. The vote was largely along party lines, as all but seven Republicans voted in favor of the measure and all but six Democrats voted against.
Democrats objected to the huge amount of money for the Pentagon as President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans slash spending on social programs. They also object to the war with Iran.
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US, Saudi Arabia reach deal on nuclear power
The U.S. and Saudi Arabia reached an agreement on civil nuclear power, the U.S. Energy Department said Wednesday, a deal that allows the kingdom to build nuclear reactors using American technology and enrich uranium.
It does not include a protocol that allows the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency to carry out intrusive snap inspections. It also would allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium and reprocess nuclear waste, potential paths to making a nuclear weapon.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and his counterpart, Price Abdulaziz bin Salman, signed the pact along with a bilateral safeguards agreement, the U.S. Energy Department said. The deal now goes to Congress. President Donald Trump on Thursday conditioned the deal on Riyadh normalizing relations with Israel, which the kingdom so far refused to do.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino and U.S. President Donald Trump present the World Cup trophy to Spain on July 19 at New York/New Jersey Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Spain secures victory in World Cup final
Spain needed an extra-time goal by substitute Ferran Torres to edge past 10-man defending champions Argentina 1-0 to win the World Cup last Sunday.
Superstars Madonna, BTS, Justin Bieber and Shakira offered a high-energy musical medley in the first halftime show at a World Cup final.
In other news
A ship is seen Thursday off the port of Aden, Yemen, where traffic remained steady after the Iran-aligned Houthis said their forces carried out missile and drone strikes on Saudi oil tankers.
MIDEAST: Yemeni fighters struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea on Thursday, extending the Middle East war to a second major shipping chokepoint.
WAR POWERS: The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives backed a resolution Thursday directing President Donald Trump to halt U.S. military action against Iran unless he obtains Congress’ approval, but hours later the Senate voted to block a separate, similar measure.
TRADE: The Trump administration imposed new 10% and 12.5% tariffs Friday on goods from 60 trading partners, including the European Union and China, over claims of lax enforcement of forced labor bans, just as a temporary 10% global tariff expired.
UKRAINE: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy named Maj. Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces Tuesday, replacing Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, as he sought to reset his military strategy in the war with invader Russia.
MEDICAID FUNDING: The Trump administration paused $1 billion in Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota over “suspected fraud and noncompliance,” U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday.
NEW JERSEY: Almost 400 New Jersey residents who were not U.S. citizens cast ballots after about 6,600 noncitizens were accidentally registered to vote between 2023 and 2024 due to a software error, Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill said Tuesday. The Trump administration seeks to use the errors in its broader fight with states over election security.
The water cooler — trending news
ROGUE AI: OpenAI said Tuesday an autonomous agent powered by its advanced artificial intelligence models went rogue during a security test and triggered a hack that compromised the infrastructure of AI startup Hugging Face the prior week. OpenAI said the breakout was “an unprecedented cyber incident, involving state-of-the-art cyber capabilities” and the company was reinforcing its safeguards.
Vance Boelter appears Thursday during his sentencing hearing after he pleaded guilty to the 2025 killings of Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and the shootings of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at the Diana E. Murphy United States Federal Courthouse in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
SENTENCED: Vance Boelter, 58, received two consecutive life sentences plus 40 years in prison Thursday for killing Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and attempting to kill state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, on June 14, 2025; a plea deal allowed him to avoid the death penalty.
The Pan American plane the Clipper Endeavor crashed in 1952 in the Atlantic Ocean off Puerto Rico.
PLANE FOUND: A search team, including Discovery Channel’s series “Expedition Unknown,” found the wreckage of the Pan American Airways “Clipper Endeavor” off Puerto Rico last month, Discovery said Tuesday. The plane went down April 11, 1952, with 64 passengers and five crew members on board; only 12 people were rescued. The crash led to aviation reforms.
Jia (Kaylee Hottle) communicates with King Kong like no one else in "Godzilla vs. Kong."
ACTOR KILLED: The young actor Kaylee Hottle, who starred in “Godzilla vs. Kong” and “Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire” and was deaf, was killed at age 18 in a car crash Tuesday in Maryland. Her father, Joshua Hottle, confirmed the death to TMZ and shared the news on Facebook. The crash is under investigation, police said.
Big number
$37.5 billion: The cost of the war with Iran so far, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Congress on Tuesday.
Quote of the week
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in this still image taken from handout video released Tuesday.
“It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Tuesday, after he said the city’s legal department considered having Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested on an International Criminal Court warrant for alleged war crimes in Gaza when Netanyahu visits in September.
