ADVISORY  The World This Week: ‘How close are we to nuclear war?’ at 8 p.m. EDT. Joe Lauria, editor-in-chief of Consortium News, hosts weapons expert Peter Kuznick, economist and filmmaker Richard Wolff, and former CIA analyst Ray McGovern. From CN intro: “Some NATO and Russian advisers think nuclear war is viable. Would a desperate Israel really nuke Iran?” Click HERE around 8 tonight EDT to livestream, and later for video of discussion.

–   –   –

For now, links to three reports and a commentary: from Reuters, Agence France-Presse, and Indian Punchline via Consortium News; others or at least headlines are accessible by clicking on their names or initials. (Scroll up or down for today’s IRAN, LEBANON, GAZA and MEDIA, and down for UKRAINE 7-31-26.) — MCM

–   –   –

Russia pounds Kyiv, kills 10 as Ukraine appeals for Patriot interceptors. From Reuters. Russia pounded Kyiv and the region in a heavy ballistic missile attack early today, killing 10 people, as President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Ukraine had run out of interceptor missiles for its U.S. Patriot air defense systems. READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

Ukraine sinks Russian-owned container ship in Black Sea: Rosatom. From AFP.  Ukrainian drones sank a Russian-owned container ship in the Black Sea early today, forcing its 17-member crew to abandon the vessel, the ship’s owner said. READ MORE . . . Click HERE for similar AFP report in French, and HERE for headlines of others.

–   –   –

FROM JULY 29  U.S. conjoins wars in Eurasia, western Asia, by M.K. Bhadrakumar | Indian Punchline / Consortium News  On Friday, July 24, even as U.S. President Donald Trump was announcing the end of the latest round of the conflict with Iran, the Pentagon unobtrusively extended the war theatre to the Caspian Sea in a hugely consequential geopolitical thrust — which hardly figured in the Western news cycle. READ MORE . . .

.