Iran’s government says at least eight people were killed as the United States carried out a sixth straight day of attacks. Targets included a railway station, six bridges and other civilian infrastructure. Iran’s Energy Ministry is calling on citizens to reduce their electricity use after Iran’s energy grid came under attack — that’s despite sweltering summer heat with temperatures well into triple digits. In another bombing, the U.S. struck near a children’s cancer hospital in the southwestern city of Ahvaz. The attack sparked the panicked evacuation of more than 200 people, including young patients undergoing chemotherapy.

In response, Iran claimed a 13th wave of retaliatory strikes against U.S. bases. Missile and drone attacks were reported in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Syria and Qatar, where officials say a child was injured by falling missile debris.

Here in the United States, dense smoke from Canadian wildfires brought air quality alerts to people in more than 20 states in the northeast and upper Midwest on Thursday, with more smoke in the forecast this weekend. The Air Quality Index in Toledo, Ohio, climbed to over 600 — that compares to a “good” air quality score of 50 or less. In Detroit, Michigan, it topped 720 — more than double what’s needed to trigger a “hazardous air” alert. Here in New York, Mayor Zohran Mamdani spoke as readings topped 250, a level he said posed a health risk for everyone, regardless of their health status.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani: “Whether we’re speaking about the heat, whether we’re speaking about the air quality, or whether we’re even speaking about the levels of rainwater and flooding in our city, I am concerned. And I’m concerned because what we see is that the climate crisis exacerbates so much of what our city is facing.”

Meanwhile, in Texas, at least two people died as dangerous flooding swept through the central part of the state, the same area where more than 130 people, including 25 children at a summer camp, died in flash floods last summer.

President Trump used a primetime address Thursday to accuse China of interfering in the 2020 election. That’s despite a U.S. intelligence assessment finding no ​evidence to support his claim. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said President Trump’s accusations were “totally fabricated and a malicious smear.” President Trump also urged Republicans in Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which requires IDs at the polls and proof of citizenship during voter registration.

President Donald Trump: “Tonight I’m announcing the immediate declassification and release of critical intelligence revealing shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure. This evidence shows that the election system we have dangerously exposes, and really exposes, like levels never thought possible, to hacking, exploitation and foreign interference.”

Federal investigators have found that President Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez made more than $100,000 by betting on Trump’s speeches. He allegedly used the prediction market Kalshi to place the bets. The company alerted the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to Perez’s suspicious activity on its “Mentions” market, where users can bet on whether specific words or phrases are uttered during public remarks. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was questioned Thursday about the scandal.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt: “Obviously, I’m aware of the report. The president is, too. I spoke with him about it. He believes it’s deeply unfortunate and, frankly, a disgrace.”

President Trump’s company Truth Social has announced plans to charge for special high-speed access to Trump’s social media posts, including statements on national security and financial topics. In response Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal wrote, “The President’s social media posts — covering war & peace & government regulations — move markets. Truth Social selling preferential access is yet another example of flagrant corruption, trading access to the White House for Trump’s self-enrichment.”

Meanwhile, a senior Iranian official told Drop Site News that Iran had informed Vice President JD Vance that Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff were more interested in exploiting insider knowledge of the ceasefire negotiations to potentially profit than they were in reaching a deal. Iran provided Drop Site written documentation of evidence that Kushner and Witkoff were using diplomatic developments to manipulate financial markets. The White House flatly denied the allegations.

In Maine, the ICE agent who fatally shot Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero during a traffic stop in Biddeford last Monday has been identified as David Brouillette, a former police officer and U.S. Army veteran. His ex-wife, Ashley Brouillette, told the Portland Press Herald he called her and admitted he was the officer behind Monday’s shooting. Ashley Brouillette described abusive behavior both during and after her marriage to David Brouillette. She said she wanted to speak out publicly because she’d previously reported concerns about her husband’s mental health to his superiors in the military.

Separately, the Associated Press reports several of David Brouillette’s close relatives say he struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood and never should have been given access to a badge and gun. Speaking anonymously, one relative said, “Afghanistan destroyed him — trained him to be a killing monster, a machine. They took someone who was extremely mentally ill and turned him into a killing machine.”

On Thursday, the widow of Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero spoke publicly for the first time since her husband was killed as he set off for work Monday morning. Karolina Rojas Alvarez said the loss of her husband has been devastating for their 3-year-old daughter.

Karolina Rojas Alvarez: “The day before, he took her to the park, and they had a wonderful time. That Monday afternoon was supposed to be her day with her dad, but he never came home. And now my daughter is asking about her father, and I don’t have the strength to tell her that he’s not coming, that she can’t hug him anymore or say, 'Daddy, I love you.'”

In Nevada, rights groups are demanding an investigation into the violent attempted arrest of an elderly man by plainclothes ICE agents at the Las Vegas international airport. Video of Monday’s incident shows two people in plain clothes — one masked, the other hooded — pushing a man to the floor and handcuffing him as he cries out for help. One of the agents then tries to swat away an observer’s camera as he approaches.

Phu Nguyen: “I don’t know what they’re doing!”

Eyewitness: “What’s going on?”

Phu Nguyen: “They say [inaudible]”

TSA agent: “Back up.”

Eyewitness: “What’s going on?”

TSA agent: “It’s law enforcement.”

Eyewitness: “What’s going on? We still have a right to know what’s going on.”

Phu Nguyen: “Hey! Where are you going?”

TSA agent: “Everyone, back up.”

Phu Nguyen: “Hey!”

Eyewitness: “Are you OK?”

Phu Nguyen: “What are they doing?”

Eyewitness: “Are you OK?”

Responding to the video, Nevada Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen called for ICE to follow the same guardrails as other law enforcement agencies. She wrote, “Plain clothes. No uniforms. No body cameras. No identification.”

The White House’s so-called border czar, Tom Homan, has issued a warning to Democrats who are critical of ICE, its mass deportation campaign or its violent encounters with the public: Shut your mouth or the “bloodshed” will continue. Homan issued the threat during an appearance Wednesday on Fox News.

Tom Homan: “I said if the hateful rhetoric didn’t stop, there will be bloodshed. And I’m saying it right now. There’s still going to be more bloodshed, unless they shut their mouth and let ICE enforce the laws that they enacted.”

The Trump administration has moved to tighten visa rules for foreign students, journalists and cultural exchange visitors. Student and cultural exchange visas would be limited to four years. Visas for journalists, which previously lasted for years,​ would now last up to 240 days. In the case of Chinese nationals, journalist visas would last up to 90 days.

Denise Oliver-Vélez, a lifelong activist, organizer and educator, has died at the age of 78. She was a central figure in the civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s and was the first woman elected to the Young Lords Central Committee, a radical Puerto Rican civil and human rights organization. She was also a member of the Black Panther Party and later became the first Black female program director in public radio and taught at SUNY New Paltz. This is Denise Oliver-Vélez describing the legacy of the Young Lords during a 2019 appearance on Democracy Now!

Denise Oliver-Vélez: “I think that what is so revolutionary about the Young Lords was we created a bridge. We broke down a lot of barriers between groups that were dealing with their individual communities. And that also has a lot to do with, when you talk about Spanish Harlem, El Barrio, you had about a third of the population in El Barrio was African American. And you also had marriages between Black Americans and Puerto Ricans, so we had people in the Lords who identified as both.”