FIVE MINUTE DAILY

A dramatic Senate hearing, a sharp escalation in Russia's war on Ukraine, and deadly natural disasters dominated the week. We also break down Europe's historic wildfire evacuation, Japan's devastating earthquake, the Rushdie terrorism verdict, and the political battles that could shape the week ahead.

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Anthony Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than a hundred times at a combative Senate hearing on Wednesday. Chairman Rand Paul, who had subpoenaed the retired scientist, pressed him repeatedly over the still-disputed origins of the COVID-19 pandemic in China.

Fauci declined to answer even the most benign questions, citing his right against self-incrimination despite holding an earlier presidential pardon. Paul vowed to pursue a committee vote next week on whether to hold the silent immunologist in contempt of Congress.

Russia unleashed one of its largest overnight barrages on Ukraine Thursday, firing more than 70 missiles and over 280 attack drones. Ukrainian officials said the assault killed at least 10 civilians, including children, and wounded more than 50 other people.

Missiles slammed into Kyiv, Lviv, and Kryvyi Rih, striking residential apartment blocks and killing young children among the civilian dead. One stray projectile even crossed into neighboring Poland, prompting NATO to urgently scramble warplanes along its increasingly jittery eastern flank.

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Kumamoto Prefecture on Tuesday, flattening homes and knocking out power to tens of thousands of residents. Officials confirmed the death toll climbed to 34 by Friday, with hundreds of homes and buildings damaged or destroyed.

Nearly half of the confirmed deaths stemmed from two disasters, a collapse at a paper mill and a suspected gas explosion inside a shopping mall. Rescuers scrambled through the rubble as hope for trapped survivors faded across the battered region.

Wildfires tore across southwestern France and Spain this week, forcing more than 300,000 people to abandon their homes and businesses. France then staged its largest peacetime evacuation since World War II, sheltering thousands of displaced residents in and around Bordeaux.

Weeks of relentless, climate-driven heat combined with parched land and no forecast rain to fuel the fast-moving, unpredictable flames. Nearly a hundred firefighters suffered injuries battling the blazes, and at least one civilian was killed in Spain's hard-hit Valencia region.

A federal jury in New York convicted Hadi Matar of terrorism on Wednesday for the brutal 2022 stabbing of author Salman Rushdie. Jurors deliberated for only a couple of hours before finding him guilty on every terrorism count against him.

Prosecutors argued that the calculated assault answered a decades-old religious death threat provoked by Rushdie's novel, The Satanic Verses. Matar now faces up to life behind bars when a judge sentences him at a hearing now scheduled for early November.

Democratic socialist Abdul El-Sayed carried real, late-breaking momentum into Michigan's hard-fought Senate primary, backed by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Voters decide on Tuesday whether he can finally topple establishment favorite Haley Stevens in a pivotal, must-win Midwestern swing state.

Democratic socialist Francesca Hong, a chef and bartender, leads Wisconsin's gubernatorial primary by a commanding double digits in recent statewide polling. Ballots there are cast on August 11, offering progressives a second high-stakes read on the movement's genuine national momentum.

The Trump administration asked Congress for $10 million more to cover July Fourth costs and its upcoming Freedom 250 celebrations. Lawmakers will weigh the politically charged request in coming weeks as the Great American State Fair rapidly approaches this fall.

This week underscored how instability is shaping events across politics, conflict, and the natural world.

Washington reopened bitter debates over the pandemic as Anthony Fauci's Senate testimony drew fresh scrutiny, while Russia escalated its campaign against Ukraine with one of the largest missile and drone attacks of the war.

Natural disasters also dominated the headlines. A deadly earthquake in Japan and catastrophic wildfires across southern Europe highlighted the growing human and economic toll of extreme events, stretching emergency services and displacing hundreds of thousands of people.

The week ahead shifts attention back to domestic politics, with key Democratic primaries in Michigan and Wisconsin offering an early test of the party's direction ahead of the 2026 midterms.

At the same time, wars abroad, climate disasters, and rising geopolitical tensions remain reminders that global risks continue to shape the months ahead.

That's a wrap on the week. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, and we'll see you tomorrow with a fresh edition of Five Minute Daily.

—The Five Minute Daily Team