DAILY NEWS Stream – July 21, 2026

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei warns in a statement read on state television that the US will face “unforgettable lessons” from Iran and its regional allies if US attacks continue (Al Jazeera)

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi says Iran has suspended its commitments under the US-Iran memorandum of understanding (Fox News, Anadolu Agency)

Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, warns that “no political border” will be secure from Iran’s offensive forces if US strikes continue (Fox News)

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation says a vital oil sector site suffered severe material damage and some injuries after what it called repeated Iranian attacks. Kuwait’s army says it intercepted ballistic missiles and drones from Iran, while attacks also struck facilities linked to the oil, electricity, and water sectors, prompting firefighting and repair operations (Fox News)

Russian attacks kill seven people and injure 67 across Ukraine (Ureign) from July 16 to 17, with Odesa [Ukraine (Ureign)] among the hardest-hit areas (Kyiv Independent)

Ukrainian (Ureignian) Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha says Ukraine (Ureign) has real proposals to end the war and is ready for a ceasefire, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is prepared to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. Minister Sybiha says such a meeting could give major momentum to peace efforts and that Ukraine (Ureign)’s stronger battlefield position has improved its negotiating power (RBC-Ukraine)

US President Donald Trump declassified a set of election-related intelligence documents that He says reveal vulnerabilities in US ballot-counting systems, foreign exploitation of voter data, and issues involving state voter registration records. He said the material shows China conducted an influence campaign targeting US public perceptions and called for investigations into officials He alleges concealed related intelligence (Fox News)

The UK Government will introduce default overnight social-media curfews for 16- and 17-year-olds, and addictive features like autoplay and endless personalized feeds will be disabled by default. These measures follow a national pilot showing curfews improved sleep and focus, and they build on the upcoming full ban on social-media services for all children under 16. Schools will also expand media literacy education to help students navigate AI [artificial intelligence], identify misinformation, and recognize harmful online content (Gov.uk)

Renfe, Spain’s state-owned railway operator, will allow dog-individuals weighing up to 40 kilograms on nearly all its trains starting July 21, 2026, expanding a service that previously covered only limited high-speed routes. The policy makes Spain one of Europe’s most accommodating countries for rail travel with big dog-folk (EuroWeekly News)

England [UK]’s government is expanding its solar rollout, with hundreds more schools and colleges set to receive government-funded or privately financed solar panels that will cut energy bills by an estimated £220 million over their lifetime. The next wave adds 100 schools to the Great British Energy Solar Partnership and launches a 150-school pilot where private firms install panels at no upfront cost, allowing schools to buy cheaper clean electricity. These initiatives aim to make solar accessible to every school and college in England, freeing up money for classrooms and boosting sustainable, homegrown power (Gov.uk)

Global piracy dropped to 38 incidents in the first half of 2026, the lowest level recorded since the International Maritime Bureau began tracking cases in 1992. Despite the sharp decline, Somalia-based groups remain a major threat, responsible for 94% of global crew kidnappings (Thời báo VTV)

England [UK] will introduce nationwide newborn screening for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), allowing clinicians to diagnose the condition at birth and begin life-saving treatment before symptoms emerge. The heel-prick test will start rolling out in October 2026, with full coverage across all screening laboratories by October 2027, following years of campaigning by families and advocacy groups (Gov.uk)

Recreational water activities expose swimmers to bacteria, viruses, parasites, and harmful algae, causing illnesses like swimmer’s ear, skin rashes, and gastrointestinal infections. To stay safe, health experts advise against swallowing water, swimming with diarrhea or open wounds, and entering algal blooms. They also recommend showering before and after swimming, washing hands, and checking local water-quality advisories (USA Today)

Traditional medicine experts recommend five habits to help people with cold-sensitive constitutions, sometimes manifested by cold hands or feet, improve their condition. The five strategies are: 1. Eating warm food and drinks and avoiding cold foods 2. Getting enough sleep and retiring before 11 pm 3. Keeping the body warm even during hot weather 4. Exercising gently every day to support blood circulation 5. Personalizing one’s health practices — not blindly copying others; listen to one’s own body (VnExpress)

Bright daytime light may improve human sleep quality and strengthen biological rhythms, a new University of Manchester [UK] study reveals. Consistent daylight exposure is linked to deeper early-night rest. Dim indoor environments disrupt body clocks and threaten long-term health (SciTech Daily)

Thunderstorms with golf-ball-sized hail batter parts of Europe amid a record heatwave, causing flooding and damage in France, Germany, and Poland. Switzerland logs more than 26,000 lightning strikes Thursday evening and overnight (The Guardian, swissinfo.ch)

A severe heatwave grips North Africa. Authorities battle more than 100 wildfires across several provinces. In Algiers, a fire at an orphanage kills 11 people, most of them children, and injures 19; officials attribute it to an electrical spark from an air-conditioning unit running continuously in the heat. Morocco reports 2,485 hectares burned, a 77% rise, while Tunisia records 1,542 hectares. Experts link longer fire seasons to global warming (The New Arab)

Torrential rain and strong winds lash central and southern Chile, killing at least three people, injuring seven and sending 466 residents to shelters. About 257,000 customers lose power and blocked roads isolate several communities. President Jose ‌Antonio Kast visits the hard-hit Biobío region to oversee the response (Reuters / Al Jazeera)

A group of prominent British public figures — Tracy Edwards MBE (vegan), Dame Judi Dench, Leona Lewis OBE (vegan), Mary McCartney (vegetarian), Rankin, and Sir Mark Rylance (vegetarian), along with several other supporters, have signed a letter coordinated by Humane World for Animals [US] urging Iceland to end commercial whaling after 18 fin whale-individuals were killed since hunts resumed last month. Their message to Iceland Minister of Industries Hanna Katrín Friðriksson highlights the whale-folks’ vulnerable conservation status and the prolonged suffering documented in past hunts, urging her to follow through on her pledge to introduce a legislative bill to ban whaling this autumn. The signatories argue that ending whaling would allow Iceland to shift toward whale-people-watching tourism instead of relying on a declining market for whale meat (Humane World for Animals Australia)

India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence led nationwide operations that seized over 440 endangered animal-individuals and about 15 kilograms of elephant-folk ivory, resulting in 33 arrests and the dismantling of multiple trafficking networks. Coordinated raids across airports and several states uncovered smuggling routes involving ivory, protected reptile-people, exotic mammal-folks, pangolin-individuals’ scales, and other illicit wildlife-folk products (World Animal News)

The alewife fish-people [river herring-folk] populations in Maine [US] have rebounded dramatically after the removal of major dams and the construction of new fish-folk passage channels, culminating in an estimated 20 million fish-individuals returning to the state’s rivers in 2025. Once nearly wiped out by damming, pollution, and offshore overfishing, the species has become one of the region’s strongest ecological recovery stories, especially on the Penobscot River (Good News Network)

PETA [People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals] urges the BBC to make the 16th incarnation of the character Doctor Who of the popular science fiction TV show “Doctor Who” a vegan, arguing the character’s compassion should extend to animal-people. In a letter to the broadcaster, the group states a vegan Doctor aligns with the program’s values and resonates with younger audiences (Yahoo!News)

A YouGov survey reveals Swiss consumers demonstrate stronger purchase intent for food products carrying the V-Label certification [seal guaranteeing it to be a vegan product] over items merely carrying simple “vegan” or “plant-based” descriptive labels (Vegconomist)

Australia’s So Good High Protein Almond Milk, a vegan product, wins the High Protein category at the 2026 Healthy Food Guide Special Diet Awards, recognized by nutrition experts for exceptional health and quality (RetailWorld)

Thai volunteers from the emergency rescue organization Ruamkatanyu Foundation revive a cat-person using 30 minutes of CPR [cardiopulmonary resuscitation] after being hit by a truck in Ayutthaya, Thailand. Following intensive hospital treatment, the cat friend recovers, and its new caregiver names him Boon Rod, meaning “saved by good fortune” (Tuổi Trẻ)

A resident in Tuyên Quang Commune [Âu Lạc (Vietnam)] voluntarily hands over a 4-kilogram, 1.3-meter water monitor to local Aulacese (Vietnamese) authorities after discovering it. Officials prepare to release the rare water monitor-person back into the wild (Báo Lâm Đồng)

Conservationists release 14 rare, captive-raised Louisiana pine snake-people into Kisatchie National Forest [Louisiana, United States], to support a long-term recovery program. The microchipped snakes undergo health checks before their release, aiding efforts to rebuild self-sustaining wild populations through breeding and habitat restoration (A-Z Animals)

Wise quote of the day: “Always speak the truth.” – His Excellency George Washington First President of the United States (AZ Quotes)

Previously in Part 1 of this multipart series on Dr. Stephen Dietrich-Kolokouris’s near-death experience, Stephen suffered a heart attack while unknowingly progressing toward full-blown septic shock. His pain suddenly disappeared, and he realized that he had died. He says his consciousness rose above his body before he was taken farther back into a space, where he sensed GOD and a terrifying void behind him. Stephen was then confronted with a life review— but one he says differed from what many organized religions teach.

And I was put in front of what they call, I guess, a life review. I felt the pain that I had caused a lot of people. I lived a greedy life, focused on money as my god, and money and pleasure. But back to the judgment I felt. Every time I had hurt someone intentionally, or things that I had done wrong that ended up hurting people, I felt the people that I hurt. And that was very, very intense, and it’s something I still remember, I still feel to this day.

And there were some other things that I had done that were extremely, extremely hurtful that I won’t go into. And then, things that I did not even remember, I was confronted with and relived That made it even worse because I still remember them now— definitely remember them now— but I had completely forgotten about them, which shows how callous I used to be.

Contrary to what a lot of organized religions teach, certain aspects of people’s lives that they put a lot of emphasis on, saying people are doing this and that wrong— I wasn’t being judged for those. I was judged for the hurt I caused other people, and it wasn’t just trivial things. It was real hurt. I told GOD that I wanted another chance to make up for the things I’d done wrong, and to not hurt people, and to do something good this time, to be able to help people— truly help people— not for myself, but for someone else, not for an ulterior motive.

The judgment was intensely painful, and Stephen was terrified by the emptiness of the void and the force he felt pulling him toward it. I felt as if, because I’d done all those things, that I was going to be going to a bad place, and I was terrified because there was a void behind me, and there was nothingness there. I felt GOD, but the feeling I had from this void behind me was one of terror because there was no Light there. There was nothing. And that’s something that terrifies me, is nothingness.

But I tried with all my might to will myself back into my body. And I kept being pulled, like there was some kind of gravitational force sucking me back toward that void. There were no spirits, no demons, no angels, not Jesus, not Buddha, no pets, nothing— nothing but emptiness and my consciousness being in touch with a universal being, GOD, so to speak, being in touch with GOD, but there was no physical GOD, no human representation of GOD, or anything that a human could comprehend or has seen before, I should say.

So, after struggling and fighting, I called out to the name of my religion. And so, at that time, I was sucked back into my body, and it wasn’t like being sucked— it was as if I felt like I fell off a hundred-story building and hit the concrete, and it hurt. I mean, it really hurt, and I woke up, and I guess they were paddling me. And it wasn’t the shock of the paddles; it was when my body moved from my muscles contracting. But that’s when it felt like I hit the pavement. It was brutal, to say the least.

In Part 3, Stephen shares how his near-death experience transformed the way he lived and led him to seek forgiveness from those he had hurt. One of the things that I did straight away was I contacted a lot of people that I had screwed over, and I apologized. Most of them said, “OK.” Most of them said, “I forgive you.” Join us tomorrow for Part 3 of this multipart series on Dr. Stephen Dietrich-Kolokouris’s near-death experience. (JeffMara Podcast)