News

A magnitude-6.8 earthquake struck Kumamoto Prefecture on July 28, 2026, killing at least 30 people and injuring 63 others across two major collapse sites: a shopping mall where a gas explosion followed the quake and a paper mill where a smokestack fell on workers. With the 72-hour survival window now closed, over 10,000 displaced residents face a secondary threat from heat, as temperatures are forecast to reach 39°C in the coming days while nearly 23,000 homes remain without power.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has ordered 23 plaintiff states to respond by August 3 to the DOJ's application to lift a First Circuit injunction blocking key provisions of Executive Order 14399, which would require citizenship verification lists before mail ballots are delivered. The First Circuit upheld the injunction 2-1 on July 25, while the D.C. Circuit separately dismissed a parallel challenge as unripe, creating conflicting appellate records now before the Supreme Court. A ruling is needed before September 4, the deadline for transmitting citizenship lists ahead of the November 2026 midterms, and no final USPS implementing rule has yet been issued.

Former FBI Director James Comey's legal team filed three pretrial motions in late July 2026 arguing that his Instagram seashell post is protected political speech, that the prosecution was directed by the White House out of personal retaliation, and that federal agents conducted warrantless surveillance of his phone and vehicle that a Secret Service supervisor called 'legally questionable.' The government has until August 18 to respond, with arraignment set for September 30 and trial scheduled to begin October 21, 2026. A Secret Service supervisor's sworn acknowledgment that the surveillance was conducted despite internal doubts about its legality is among the most concrete factual claims the defense has put before the court.

On July 28, 2026, Florida executed James Duckett and Dominick Occhicone hours apart at Florida State Prison, marking the first U.S. double execution since Arkansas in 2017 and Florida's first since 1964. The executions were the state's 11th and 12th of 2026, bringing Florida's total under Governor DeSantis to 32 and accounting for 12 of the 17 executions recorded nationally this year. Duckett, who maintained his innocence through 38 years on death row amid unresolved DNA questions, and Occhicone, 80, who became the second-oldest person executed by lethal injection in the modern U.S. era, both had last-minute stay requests denied by the Florida Supreme Court, federal courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court.