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Michigan Democrats head to the polls in a race that could shape one of 2026's most closely watched Senate contests, while deadly violence in Russian-occupied Crimea raises fresh questions about stability behind the front lines. Plus, scientists uncover remarkable clues inside a meteorite, Wall Street reacts to a fresh round of earnings, and the stories you need to start your day.

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Cyber-defense analysts told the BBC that Iran was likely behind the coordinated cyberattack that hit water systems across seven US states last week, even as President Trump publicly said Iran should not be blamed. Attack targeted operational-technology controls rather than customer data.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has issued fresh mandatory-patch guidance to every water utility above 3,300 customers, and Senate intelligence-committee members demanded a classified briefing this week. State attorneys general in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ohio have opened parallel investigations.

Michigan Democrats vote today in a Senate primary pitting moderate Rep. Haley Stevens against progressive former health director Abdul El-Sayed. Chuck Schumer threw his weight behind Stevens, while Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lined up firmly behind El-Sayed.

Stevens pulled in tens of millions in outside money, including the largest single-race investment AIPAC has ever made. Whoever survives tonight faces former Rep. Mike Rogers, running unopposed, for the seat retiring Sen. Gary Peters leaves open.

The House Ethics Committee found that Representative Chuck Edwards, Republican of North Carolina, likely violated sexual harassment rules and recommended he be censured by the full House. The panel said Edwards showered two female staffers with lavish gifts and personal attention that crossed workplace conduct lines.

Censure is one of the strongest punishments the chamber can hand down short of expulsion, requiring a member to stand in the well of the House while the resolution is read aloud. Edwards, a second-term congressman, hasn't said whether he'll resign or contest the recommendation on the floor.

A soldier opened fire on fellow service members in Russian-occupied Crimea Monday, killing four before being detained. Russian military authorities offered no immediate explanation, though early reports point to an internal dispute rather than an infiltration.

Guatemalan authorities ordered evacuations around the Fuego volcano after Monday's eruption intensified through the day. National disaster agency CONRED confirmed pyroclastic flows into two ravines and asked residents to move to designated shelters.

Three lionesses died within a single week at Tama Zoological Park in western Tokyo, with autopsies showing dehydration and multiple organ failure. Zoo representative Miwa Kosaka said staff had never seen anything like it, even through last summer's punishing heat.

A federal judge blocked New York's new law barring ICE agents from wearing masks during enforcement operations, a setback for state efforts to rein in the agency. A separate provision limiting formal cooperation between ICE and local police was allowed to move forward.

The House Ethics Committee recommended censure for Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards of North Carolina after finding "persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct" toward two young female aides. The full House will vote on the recommendation in September.

State Democratic Party leaders formally endorsed a November ballot measure that would tax California billionaires, but the party remains split over the mechanics of how such a tax would actually work. The debate reflects a broader Democratic struggle over wealth inequality heading into the next cycle.

Snap shares climbed 8% after the company beat analyst estimates across the board in its second-quarter report and issued a stronger-than-expected sales forecast. A rare bright quarter for a stock that's spent much of the year in the shadow of larger rivals.

Toyota nearly doubled quarterly net profit to 1.48 trillion yen, about $9.4 billion, as the soft currency alone added $2.2 billion to operating income. Global vehicle sales actually slipped to 2.39 million units, meaning almost the entire gain came from the exchange rate.

HSBC posted $19.5 billion in pretax profit for the first half, up 23% on stronger net interest income and fee revenue. Chief executive Georges Elhedery announced a buyback of up to $1 billion and lifted banking net interest income guidance above $46 billion.

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An international research team has built the world's first all-optical photonic time crystal, a material whose optical properties shift on picosecond timescales. The breakthrough cracks open the door to ultrafast optical computing and communications that don't rely on electronics at all.

The meteorite that famously crashed through a New Jersey roof turns out to contain evidence of ancient salty fluids and complex organic chemistry sealed inside a primitive asteroid. A rare, intact window into the chemical soup of the early solar system.

A U.S. company has equipped Ukraine's low-cost kamikaze drones with AI targeting that lets them track objectives on their own, cutting down the need for constant human piloting. The upgrade lays groundwork for coordinated swarm strikes and reshapes the economics of frontline warfare.

Brazilian UFC flyweight Allan Nascimento died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack, the promotion confirmed on Monday. He was 34 and had last fought in a split-decision loss in June.

Alec Burleson hit three home runs and drove in six as St. Louis outslugged the Yankees 13-7 at Busch Stadium after the Yankees had built a six-run lead. Willson Contreras added a two-run shot in the eighth to seal it.

Seiya Suzuki homered twice, and Carson Kelly drove in three as Chicago blew out Los Angeles 10-5 at Wrigley Field. Dodgers have now dropped six of their last eight and slid two games back in the NL West.

Broadway's Hadestown has parted ways with Geno Segers after past comments about transgender people resurfaced online. Segers had been set to join the show's all-new principal cast in September.

Mary Egida Rivera, who played Ned Leeds's grandmother in Spider-Man: No Way Home, has died at 82 following a stroke. She was a beloved presence in one of the 2021 film's most memorable comic scenes.

Ghosts actress Mary Holland has been cast as the female lead in HBO Max's Jimmy Olsen spinoff, a DC series expanding James Gunn's Superman universe. She'll play a character named Sandra opposite the previously announced cast.

What it is: New reporting walks through why three deeply un-glamorous American supplies — blood, water, and helium — are all running short at the same time, and what it says about how the country manages its most basic infrastructure. Deep Dive walks through the specifics of each and the pattern connecting them.

The detail: Blood donations have run below transfusion demand for three straight quarters, with the American Red Cross calling a national crisis last week. Municipal water systems in the Southwest are cutting allocations to farmers and towns as the Colorado River watershed remains in a decade-long drought. And medical-grade helium — used in MRI machines, semiconductor manufacturing, and rocketry — has been rationed by hospitals after the second Wyoming plant failure this year. Each shortage traces to the same structural pattern: infrastructure built for a different scale, capacity investment deferred for two decades, and no clean substitute available.

A short history: All three shortages were forecast by industry groups years ago. Red Cross has published donor-decline curves since 2012 warning of exactly this collapse. Colorado River overallocation was formally recognized in a 1980s legal settlement that everyone knew was optimistic. And helium reserve draws from the federal helium program were understood to be non-renewable by design in the 1996 privatization bill. Each was a slow-moving crisis that governments and industry mostly filed for "next administration."

Why it matters: These three are less about the specific commodities than about how the US invests in — or doesn't invest in — the invisible plumbing behind everyday life. Hospitals ration MRIs. Farmers walk away from land. Blood-transfusion candidates get moved down the list. And crucially, none of the three have quick fixes, because donor pools, water rights, and helium wells are all measured in years or decades of policy work.

What to watch: Watch Red Cross regional donor-rate data over the fall, which is the clearest tell for whether the blood shortage has bottomed. Watch Bureau of Reclamation Colorado River basin allocation notices, which will trigger further ag-vs-city fights across seven states. And watch how the semiconductor industry — Intel, TSMC, Samsung — responds to the helium ration, because their capex plans are the marginal buyer of the entire commodity.

Five Minute Daily brings the day’s biggest developments together without the noise. Share this edition and subscribe to make the world easier to follow.

—The Five Minute Daily Team