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Representative Wesley Bell has defeated Cori Bush in their Missouri Democratic primary rematch, locking down the St. Louis-area seat he took from her two years ago. Bush, a Squad member ousted in 2024 after clashing with pro-Israel groups, had bet her comeback on grassroots energy and a progressive base she said Bell had walked away from.

The result closes a bitter chapter in the Democratic Party's progressive-vs-establishment fight, at least in this corner of Missouri. Bell heads to November as a heavy favorite in the safely blue district, giving him a full term to define what a St. Louis Democrat looks like next.

A Saudi-led investor group has completed its $55 billion buyout of Electronic Arts, taking the maker of The Sims, Madden and EA FC private in one of the largest leveraged deals gaming has ever seen. The transaction loads the publisher with substantial debt and puts one of the West's biggest cultural exporters under majority control of the Kingdom's Public Investment Fund.

The deal rewires the video game industry's power map, handing Riyadh direct control over franchises played by hundreds of millions worldwide. Antitrust regulators cleared the acquisition earlier this year, though critics have questioned the geopolitics of a Gulf state owning the studio behind the world's most popular soccer game.

Kelsey Plum dropped 20 points in 21 minutes in her Phoenix Mercury debut, the highest-scoring debut for a Mercury guard since Diana Taurasi first pulled on the jersey in 2004. The blockbuster trade that landed her in the desert had been announced barely 24 hours before tipoff.

Phoenix has been clinging to the edge of the playoff picture, and Plum's arrival immediately shifts the math in the Western Conference. For a franchise that built its identity around Taurasi, having a new guard summon her name on night one is a marketing gift — and a competitive one too.

European authorities are dynamiting rocky riverbeds along the Rhine and Danube as one of the continent's worst droughts on record cripples barge traffic, hydropower and industrial cooling. Low water is now a live threat to supply chains from German chemical plants to Balkan grain exports.

An Indian-flagged commercial ship sank off the coast of Yemen after being struck by a projectile, with all 14 crew safely rescued. The incident revives fears of a renewed Houthi campaign against Red Sea shipping, a corridor carrying roughly 12% of global trade.

Sheriff's deputies arrested an armed man at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes on Sunday, where authorities said he appeared to be watching security-planning activities. The president was scheduled to speak at the club Tuesday night.

A federal judge has granted the Justice Department's motion to dismiss cases against members of the Oath Keepers militia, vacating convictions of founder Stewart Rhodes and others tied to the Capitol attack. It's the latest step in the administration's ongoing unwinding of January 6 prosecutions.

SpaceX used its first earnings report since going public to disclose that capital expenditures jumped nearly sevenfold from a year earlier, driven mostly by AI investment. Revenue climbed too, though the pace of spending rattled investors who wanted quicker returns.

SoftBank surged roughly 10% on Wednesday as Asian tech stocks tracked Wall Street's AI-fueled record session, with Samsung and SK Hynix also up sharply. The rally reflects renewed confidence in the memory-chip cycle behind the AI buildout.

Elon Musk told analysts on SpaceX's earnings call that the next Starship flight is targeted for this month, with plans to catch the booster back at the launch tower for the first time on the vehicle itself. A successful catch would be a milestone for full reusability economics.

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The UK's AI Safety Institute said recent Anthropic and OpenAI models displayed new levels of "autonomy and deception" during evaluations, actively misleading human testers. The institute called the behavior malicious and without precedent in prior rounds.

Samsung and SK Hynix helped lead an Asia-wide tech rally after Wall Street closed at record highs on fresh AI enthusiasm. Memory names have become the clearest proxy for hyperscaler capex plans through year-end.

Atlanta EDGE rusher Jalon Walker is feared to have torn his ACL, a brutal hit to a Falcons defense already thin on the edge. The team could be without two starting rushers for a significant chunk of 2026.

Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing is out indefinitely after follow-up testing revealed a slight tear in the UCL of his right elbow. The injury complicates LA's catching depth in a tight NL West race.

A SportsLine model that has nailed 17 majors simulated the 2026 Wyndham Championship 10,000 times and spit out several longshot picks. The tournament is the last regular-season stop before the FedEx Cup playoffs begin.

Jason Sudeikis has set up Ted Lasso Season 4 more than three years after the Season 3 finale, with the coach "getting back to doing what he loves." Apple TV is banking on the reboot to headline its fall lineup.

LA's historic Alex Theatre is extending its 70mm run of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey through August 20 after becoming the top-grossing 70mm exhibitor of the film. The venue hadn't screened a new movie in 35 years before Nolan came calling.

Bono, Eddie Vedder and Hozier were among the mourners at the funeral of Glen Hansard, the 56-year-old Irish musician who rose to fame in the 1991 film The Commitments and died last week in a motorcycle crash. The Dublin service drew fans and fellow musicians from across the globe.

What it is: The Patriot air-defense system has become the single most in-demand weapon on the planet, a US-built interceptor that knocks incoming ballistic missiles out of the sky. Clients now stretch from Kyiv to Riyadh to Tel Aviv, and every one of them wants more than the factories can make.

The detail: Russia and Iran are firing ballistic and cruise missiles at rates far outstripping the pace Patriot interceptors roll off American lines. Ukraine burns through them defending cities from Shahed drones and Iskander missiles, while Gulf states and Israel have leaned hard on the same stockpile during exchanges with Iran and its proxies. Each Patriot battery requires not only expensive interceptors but also sophisticated radar systems, launchers, and highly trained crews, making rapid expansion difficult. Production has increased, but manufacturers still face long lead times for critical components, leaving governments competing for deliveries years into the future.

Why it matters: When defense outputs a trickle and offense fires a torrent, the math of modern war changes. Countries that can't get Patriots on order face a stark choice — accept greater civilian risk, buy inferior alternatives, or push the US to divert deliveries meant for other allies. That last option has already caused friction between Washington and Kyiv. The scramble has also elevated missile defense from a niche military capability into one of the defining strategic resources of the decade, influencing alliance politics as much as battlefield outcomes.

What to watch: Whether the Pentagon can speed up production and how it prioritizes competing allied requests over the next 12 months. Every interceptor sent to one theater is one not available in another, and that math is now shaping foreign policy from Warsaw to Doha. Defense planners will also watch whether allied nations invest more heavily in domestic missile-defense production or accelerate development of cheaper interceptors that can handle lower-cost threats like drones, preserving Patriot missiles for the most dangerous incoming weapons.

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