Twin improvised explosive device (IED) blasts injured at least 18 people in central Damascus on Tuesday, occurring just as Emmanuel Macron arrived at the presidential palace for a landmark meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa (a.k.a. al-Jolani).

The explosions, caused by devices hidden in a parked car and a garbage bin near the Four Seasons Hotel where Macron had stayed, detonated while security forces were attempting to dismantle them; Macron was unharmed and his visit proceeded as planned.

Syria's Interior Ministry confirmed that the blasts occurred outside the designated security perimeter for the French president, who was already inside the palace and did not hear the explosions.

The attack wounded four police officers among the 18 injured, with no immediate fatalities reported, though footage showed burning vehicles and smoke rising near the Tourism Ministry and Damascus National Museum.

While no group has claimed responsibility, analysts suggest the timing indicates an attempt to target the French delegation or undermine the new government's image of stability ahead of al-Sharaa's scheduled meeting with US President Donald Trump at the NATO summit in Ankara.

Despite the violence, al-Sharaa and Macron emphasized their commitment to cooperation, with the French president stating that "nothing can smother the aspiration of Syrian women and men to live in a fully sovereign, safe, pluralistic, and united Syria."

This historic visit marks the first by a Western head of state since al-Sharaa's forces ousted Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, signaling a shift in international relations despite al-Sharaa's past leadership of the al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group.

Macron, who advocated for lifting sanctions to aid reconstruction, oversaw the signing of several economic agreements, including a partnership with French shipping giant CMA CGM to manage air freight at Damascus International Airport; discussions with TotalEnergies regarding new energy exploration contracts; and a process to return $58.3 million (€51 million) in assets confiscated from the late Rifaat al-Assad.

SpaceX Falcon 9 launched the Transporter-17 rideshare mission early Tuesday, (July 7) from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, deploying into Sun-Synchronous Orbit 81 payloads including the Betavoltaic Orbital High-Reliability (BOHR) satellite, the world's first commercially built nuclear-powered satellite which utilizes City Labs’ proprietary NanoTritium betavoltaic technology to generate electricity from radioactive decay.

As scheduled, Falcon 9’s first stage booster (B1097) landed on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, stationed in the Pacific Ocean, 8.5 minutes after liftoff. B1097 previously supported 10 missions: Sentinel-6B, Twilight, NROL-172 and 7 Starlink missions. The Payloads were deployed over roughly 2.5 hours, with the heaviest payload, South Korea’s CAS500-4 (~500 kg), requiring multiple upper-stage burns for precise orbital insertion.

CubeSat BOHR, Built by City Labs, tests a betavoltaic micropower source that converts beta particles from tritium decay into electricity. Unlike nuclear reactors, it produces no fission or chain reaction, offering continuous power for decades without sunlight.

“This is a historic step for commercial nuclear power in space,” said City Labs CEO Peter Cabauy in a statement.

Similar to how spacecraft like NASA's Voyager probes' radioisotope thermoelectric generators produce power from the heat emitted from their plutonium cores, City Lab's NanoTritium device harnesses the beta particles emitted from the radioactive decay of tritium, which can be converted directly to electricity using a semiconductor.

BOHR is designed as a pathfinder mission to test the feasibility of City Labs' new technology, which is meant to provide continuous power to spacecraft without a reliance on solar energy. The cubesat is still dependent on solar power for general operations — City Labs' technology could help introduce new vehicles capable of exploring places that current spacecraft can't operate for long periods of time, like permanently shadowed regions at the moon's poles.

With its abundance of water ice there and potential for extraction as a resource, the moon's south pole has become a focus as the target region for NASA's Artemis lunar landing mission as it's suited for long-term habitation of the moon. NASA is also actively funding the development of nuclear reactor technology to support that goal.

"City Labs’ BOHR arrives as the first commercial answer to that challenge," the company said in a statement. Though the cubesat's NanoTritium power source cannot produce nearly enough energy to power something like a moon base, City Labs sees its application scaling to eventually be able to do so.

One benefit of using tritium as the basis for a power system is the low radiation levels it emits. "City Labs’ tritium-based power systems… are engineered for safe handling, transportation, and integration within standard commercial launch environments," the company stated.

BOHR, and City Labs' tritium development, was funded under a Department of Defense contract. It's also the first nuclear-powered mission to be greenlit under the Federal Aviation Administration's nuclear launch approval under Trump's National Security Presidential Memorandum-20, which was issued in 2019.

"BOHR demonstrates that safe, compact, and regulatory-approved nuclear power systems are ready for routine commercial deployment," Cabauy said.

Other notable payloads on Transporter-17 include the following.

FireSat: Three wildfire-detection satellites from Muon Space, backed by the Bezos Earth Fund, designed to detect fires at high resolution.

SAR and RF Detection: Four ICEYE synthetic aperture radar satellites and BRO-31 from Unseenlabs for maritime and all-weather observation.

Technology Demonstrators: Orbital Matter’s Replicator-2 spacecraft, which includes in-orbit 3D printers and foldable solar array tests; and SPEAR-1, a rapid technology transition demo for the Naval Research Laboratory.

International Contributions: Leonav-1 (UAE’s first PNT satellite), GRITSS (NASA/UMass Lowell sea level research), and academic payloads from Taiwan and Canada.

Transporter-17 marked SpaceX’s 79th Falcon 9 launch of 2026, pushing its cumulative rideshare payload count past 1,800. However, the program faces a supply crisis as SpaceX reportedly stopped accepting reservations for late 2028/early 2029, redirecting capacity toward Starlink, national security, and its own Starfall manufacturing program. This shift has created a gap in launch availability for smallsat operators, prompting launch competitors like Arianespace and SEOPS to develop alternative rideshare solutions.

Belgium defeated the United States 4-1 in the Round of 16 of the 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup at Lumen Field in Seattle, eliminating the co-hosts and advancing to the quarterfinals to face Spain. This comes amid the controversy surrounding FIFA's suspension of the one=game ban of American player Folarin Balogun.

Belgium dominated early when Nicolas Raskin exploited defensive lapses on the left, crossed low, and Charles De Ketelaere tapped in unmarked scoring in the 9th minute. The U.S. defense (including Sergiño Dest and others) was caught ball-watching.

In the 31th minute, Malik Tillman scored a free-kick from ~25 yards (straight-on but deeper than his previous one vs. Bosnia). It deflected off Belgian player Hans Vanaken and wrong-footed Thibaut Courtois, giving the US an equalizer that energized the American crowd.

In the 33rd minute, Leandro Trossard crossed from the byline; De Ketelaere headed home unmarked, beating Tim Ream. Poor marking again from the U.S. put Belgium ahead 2-1.

A major error by U.S. goalkeeper Matt Freese when he came off his line for a long ball, chested it down under pressure from De Ketelaere, hesitated, and lost control. Hans Vanaken pounced for a long-range finish in the 57th minute putting Belgium ahead 3-1. This effectively ended U.S. hopes.

In the 93rd minute, Amrican Chris Richards' giveaway in the box allowed Romelu Lukaku to seal it in stoppage time, 4-1, for the Belgians.

Belgium dominated possession and exploited U.S. defensive errors and naivety throughout. De Ketelaere was outstanding. The U.S. had moments, especially after the equalizer, but looked overmatched, with Christian Pulisic underperforming before a leg injury forced him off. Balogun was largely quiet. Substitutions like Gio Reyna and Ricardo Pepi couldn't turn it around.

Belgium joins Spain (their next opponent, Friday in the LA area), England, Norway, France, and Morocco in the quarterfinals. All three co-hosts, USA, Canada, Mexico, were eliminated in the Round of 16.

Pre-match coverage which added extra tension, Monday, was a surprise move by FIFA. The soccer body suspended Balogun's one-game ban (probationary period of one year under their disciplinary code, Article 27). If he commits a similar offense in that period, the ban activates. But he was cleared to play in the match against Belgium, after President Trump's intervention.

Trump and U.S. officials appealed to FIFA, including a phone call to the organization's President Gianni Infantino.

Critics called it favoritism toward the co-hosts. Belgium's federation in a statement said it was "astonished," and accused FIFA of crossing a "red line" on fair play. The Belgian soccer body appealed the decision but FIFA denied it. They considered post-match challenges to the decision, but the match proceeded with Balogun playing. Given the match result early Tuesday morning (UTC), the Belgians may not bother appealing afterall.