US News

• Joe Biden appoints hawk as a foreign policy adviser. [Link]
• The House passes an anti-BDS bill. [Link]
• Paramount Pictures give the Department of Defense the ability to put talking points into the new Top Gun movie script. In exchange, Paramount was able to use military equipment. [Link]
• The Air Force has withheld $360 million in payments to Boeing for the KC-46 tanker. The plane has flaws in the refueling system. [Link]

UK

• Boris Johnson becomes the UK prime minister. [Link]

Asia

• North Korea seized a Russian fishing ship on July 17th. Russia said the vessel was not in North Korean waters. [Link]
• The US sails a warship through the Taiwan Strait. China has threatened military intervention if Taiwan moves towards independence. [Link]

Afghanistan

• Afghan police withdraw from hundreds of isolated outposts. [Link]  
• A Croatian soldier was killed in Afghanistan by a suicide bomber. [Link]

Middle East

• Sweden is holding talks between the UK and Iran about the seized tankers. [Link]
• Turkey says it is running out of patience with the US on establishing safe zones in Syria. [Link] The US Envoy to Syria says the US and Turkey are committed to an accelerated process in northern Syria. [Link]
• Trump vetoes three bills that would block Trump’s emergency arm sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. [Link]

Africa 

• An al-Shabaab suicide bomber targets a municipal building in Mogadishu. Six people, including Somali officials, were killed in the attack. [Link]
• Sudan’s rulers say a coup attempt has been blocked. Several senior officials have been attested. [Link]