A US trade expert says the US, Mexico, and Canada need to hold trilateral talks to get a cross-border trade deal signed. Ex-lead US international trade negotiator Harry Broadman says the longer it takes Trump to get a trade deal with his neighbours, the weaker he looks to China.
Published On 14 Jul 2026
US President Donald Trump is threatening to attack a heavily-fortified underground nuclear facility in Iran known as ‘Pickaxe Mountain’. It followed a third night of US strikes and a demand the US be paid 20% of the value of all cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Published On 14 Jul 2026
State attorneys general are now seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to pause Paramount‘s proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, warning that the company may otherwise close the transaction as soon as July 22.
That date is around the time that the European Union is expected to issue its decision on the transaction, with the U.S. Justice Department having already cleared the deal.
The motion for a temporary restraining order was filed in federal court in Sacramento late on Monday. If granted, the TRO would temporarily pause the transaction as the legal proceedings take place.
In their lawsuit filed earlier in the day, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 11 other state attorneys general argued that the merger would give Paramount leverage to harm competition for wide release theatrical distribution, anticipated top grossing film releasing, and basic cable channel licensing.
In their motion, the states argued that they have met the threshold for a TRO and preliminary injunction, including the risk of irreparable harm without swift court action and that they had a likelihood of success on the merits.
The state AGs wrote that the merger “will increase market concentration to presumptively unlawful levels in three relevant antitrust markets. Once consummated, layoffs, content cancellations, and harms to competition would commence immediately. If the Court subsequently determines that the Transaction is unlawful, it will then be ‘extraordinarily difficult to unscramble the egg’ and ‘too late to preserve competition if no preliminary injunction has issued.’”
Paramount responded to the lawsuit with a statement saying that it “reflects a fundamentally flawed application of the antitrust laws and is wrong on both the facts and the law.”
“We will vigorously defend the transaction and demonstrate that this challenge is inconsistent with sound competition policy and the competitive realities of the media marketplace. Delaying this transaction will only harm entertainment workers who have already suffered over recent years as technology has disrupted their livelihood and cost California tens of thousands of entertainment jobs.”
Per court documents, among those representing Paramount in the proceedings is Daniel Petrocelli, the litigator who successfully fought a federal antitrust challenge to AT&T’s acquisition of Warner Bros. in 2018. That case was brought by Makan Delrahim, then antitrust chief at the DOJ who is now chief legal officer for Paramount.
In the motion for a TRO, the AGs said that Paramount declined to pause the merger until the court ruled on the merits. The AGs also argued that there would be “no cognizable harm” to Paramount or Warner Bros. to a pause as the case is adjudicated.
The AGs wrote, “The merger agreement sets an outside date of March 4, 2027, which automatically extends to June 4, 2027 if antitrust review is still pending. The agreement also imposes a $7 million daily ticking fee on Paramount beginning September 30, 2026. The Defendants thus agreed to an outside date that contemplates more than eight months of accumulated ticking fees as part of the price of completing a transaction that might face antitrust scrutiny. Paramount’s interest in completing the Transaction now to spare it the costs of its own agreement is not a cognizable equity interest.”
Bonta was among the state AGs who won a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that has paused Nexstar’s proposed merger with Tegna, creating a broadcast station powerhouse. The case is on appeal, but the companies have to remain separate as the legal fight proceeds.
On Monday night’s episode of “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart slammed President Donald Trump for the reaction he gave to the press following the death of Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham. Graham died on July 11 at 71 years old.
“The big news from the weekend was the sudden passing of Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina,” Stewart said at the top of the show. “Now obviously, I knew him a bit from lobbying down at Capitol Hill, but I didn’t know him particularly well. So I’ll let Lindsey Graham’s best friend memorialize the late senator.”’
Stewart then cut to a soundbite of Trump talking with the hosts of “Fox and Friends,” who he told over the phone, “He was a great guy and he was a friend. He would call me all the time. He would just — I’d say, ‘Stop calling me, Lindsey.’”
“’I’ll never forget the way that I always let him go to voicemail. It was our thing,’” Stewart joked. “Obviously, he’s just opening the eulogy on a lighthearted note. I’m sure the poignancy follows.”
The show then cut back to Trump’s reactions. He said across several call-in interviews with outlets like NBC, CNN and Fox News, “He loved playing golf. He loved being outside. It wasn’t that he was a great striker of the ball. He wasn’t — he wasn’t exactly a perfect — he wasn’t Jack Nicklaus. He was not Tiger. He was totally against me. He said, ‘I’ll get you in South Carolina. I’m going to get you in South Carolina.’ That didn’t work out too well. It was a nasty campaign. He was tough and nasty. I wanted to see the war with Ukraine end very quickly. I think he was more into, you know, keeping it going, frankly. He was a total workaholic politician. You know, some people don’t call that work. Some people call that a lot of talking.”
Stewart then said, “Well, I think the President has zoomed through the first five stages of grief and gone straight to number six: Fuck that guy.”
Watch the entire monologue below.
James Franco has found his way back on social media, but this time, it’s to reveal “some serious shit” that he claims has been going on.
On June 3, the scandal-plagued Oscar-nominated actor popped up on TikTok with a new account, as he’s mostly remained off social media since his 2018 following sexual misconduct allegations. In his first video, he clarified that it’s really him and not AI, writing in the caption, “I can’t say too much right now. But stick around and I promise it will all make sense.”
To any average TikTok user, their first thought might be: Is James Franco crazy? Don’t worry, because he already clarified in that first video that he’s not. “I maybe seem crazy, like, why? What’s going on? What’s the gimmick? No. This is real,” he said.
However, in the many bizarre and cryptic videos that he’s posted since the beginning of June, they tell a different story. Appearing often frantic, Franco has continued to state that he thinks he’s being watched or followed and that he’s worried he might disappear.
This led fans to speculate what was really going on, with many predicting that it’s all tied to promotion for an upcoming movie project. But on June 15, Franco revealed in another video that all the secrecy has to do with an alien he allegedly witnessed on his property.
After saying that he’s going to expose the footage of the extraterrestrial encounter, Franco started teasing the date, July 13. “OK, they hacked my account. I got it back. They want me to stop. People think I’m acting crazy. Whatever. I’m not acting crazy. I saw something. They tried to hack my account and I got it back,” he said in a panicked video on June 25. “They don’t want me to show what I’m gonna show. I’m gonna show it. I already told you, 7/13.”
Once the big day arrived on Monday, Franco said in the much-anticipated video that this was “thrust upon me” to reveal. “I saw something, and I thought, you know what? I can’t keep this quiet,” he stated. “I need to get this out for that very reason that people are trying to stop me.”
However, I’m not sure the footage that Franco has been hyping up for a month was what fans were expecting. In the black-and-white clips, an alien-like figure can be seen roaming outside his house as well as coming up close to his windows.
But truthfully, the footage didn’t seem too convincing, and fans in the video’s comment section agreed. “Clearly fake but I’ll say it again, I’m excited for whatever movie this is for,” one person wrote, while another added, “God damnit James Franco, you made us wait for this?!” Users also note that you have to be a paid subscriber to Franco’s account to see additional footage.
It seems fans will just have to wait and see if Franco really is just trolling the internet in his free time or if this is all part of a larger project — a movie perhaps? “A lot more footage dropping soon! It gets very crazy!!!” a message read at the end of Monday’s video.
The Hollywood Reporter reached out to Franco’s rep for more information and to confirm it’s the actor’s real TikTok account, but did not hear back at the time of publication. Also, according to Franco’s IMDb page, he’s currently working on several films, but none appear to be centered on extraterrestrial life.
Once known for his prolific output, Franco has barely featured in mainstream film and television projects since the sexual misconduct allegations against him became public. The actor’s last major film project was the Coen brothers’ comedy Western anthology film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs for Netflix in 2018. Franco’s last TV project was the HBO series The Deuce, which ended in 2019. He will feature in two upcoming films distributed by Lionsgate, however, including John Rambo in 2027 and the yet to be dated Golden State Killer, a film directed by and starring fellow Hollywood pariah Vincent Gallo.
California and 11 other states have filed for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to prevent the Paramount-Warner Bros. deal from closing while the states pursue an antitrust lawsuit.
In a motion filed on Monday evening, the states asked a federal judge to act by July 22. Paramount has previously informed the states that it will not close the transaction before that date.
“The Transaction will eliminate competition between Paramount and Warner Bros. and enable the combined entity to raise prices and reduce output,” the motion states. “Plaintiff States have an interest in enforcing antitrust laws and their citizens face the risk of profound and irreversible injury in the absence of an injunction.”
The states filed a lawsuit earlier in the day, alleging that the $111 billion transaction violates federal antitrust law in three markets: wide-release theatrical distribution, blockbuster film distribution, and basic cable TV distribution. The states argued that the deal would hurt consumers as well as theater owners and cable and satellite companies.
Paramount Skydance quickly responded, saying the states had a “fundamentally flawed” understanding of the facts and the law.
“Delaying this transaction will only harm entertainment workers who have already suffered over recent years as technology has disrupted their livelihood and cost California tens of thousands of entertainment jobs,” the company said.
To get an injunction, the states will have to persuade a judge that the case has a likelihood of success, and that they will suffer “irreparable harm” in the absence of an injunction. The states argue that if the deal is allowed to close — and subsequently ruled unlawful — it will impossible to “unscramble the egg” at that point.
The California attorney general’s office had said earlier on Monday that it would seek an injunction if Paramount did not agree to pause the merger while the case is pending. As expected, the company did not agree to that, prompting the filing.
“These titans of industry must not move to merge until a court properly evaluates our claims,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement Monday evening. “Today, alongside a coalition of attorneys general, I’ve filed an emergency motion asking the court to immediately stop this merger. I will not let Warner Bros. and Paramount merge without a fight.”
The injunction ruling will be an early test of the strength of the states’ case. In March, a similar coalition was able to obtain an order blocking the Nexstar-Tegna merger from taking effect. That ruling is now on appeal.
The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act has secured support from a second law enforcement organization before a Senate push.
The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association said it supports H.R. 3633 but wants lawmakers to revise several provisions before passage.
In a July 10 statement, FLEOA said the bill “represents meaningful progress” toward balancing digital asset development with public safety. The group represents more than 34,000 active and retired federal officers across over 65 agencies.
FLEOA asked the Senate Banking Committee to make accountability clearer in decentralized finance, or DeFi. It also wants language that prevents companies from avoiding regulation by presenting controlled services as decentralized. The association urged senators to replace the bill’s “specific intent” test with an existing knowledge standard.
The group also asked Congress to state clearly that the legislation does not reduce current federal investigative powers or block lawful court processes. FLEOA said agencies must retain authority covering criminal cases, anti-money laundering rules, sanctions and counterterrorism financing. National President Mathew Silverman said officers need tools to investigate complex financial crimes.
The support follows the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives’ endorsement earlier in July. As previously reported, NOBLE became the first major law enforcement group to publicly back the bill.
Ji Kim, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, said FLEOA’s position showed the measure was strong on consumer protection and law enforcement.
Significant. @FLEOAORG expressing support for CLARITY and confirming what many of us know–this bill is strong on consumer protection and law enforcement. The time is now to pass CLARITY to ensure the U.S. has these strong guardrails in place. https://t.co/DOBfOKjz0X
— Ji Kim (@_jikim) July 13, 2026
Other organizations have raised concerns about Section 604. The provision would protect some software developers and non-custodial service providers from being treated as money transmitters when they do not control customer funds. As reported by crypto.news, four law enforcement groups warned that broad protections could make some crypto crime investigations harder.
In addition, the Department of Justice later challenged parts of those claims.The agency viewed some warnings about lost enforcement powers as inaccurate. The Major County Sheriffs of America also moved from opposition to a neutral position after further talks over Section 604.
The Senate’s published 2026 schedule places its August state work period from Aug. 10 through Sept. 11. That leaves Aug. 7 as the final scheduled session day before the break. As of July 14, the Senate’s public floor schedule did not list a vote on the CLARITY Act.
President Donald Trump urged the Senate to pass the measure on July 13, linking the appeal to the late Senator Lindsey Graham.The request came as negotiators worked to complete a merged draft before recess.
Senator Cynthia Lummis said on July 8, “This is likely our last chance to get real legislation for digital assets on the books before 2030.” She warned that other countries could set the rules if Congress fails to act.
This is likely our last chance to get real legislation for digital assets on the books before 2030. If we fail to pass the Clarity Act, we are ensuring another country will write the rules for digital assets and we spend the next decade catching up.
— Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) July 8, 2026
Senate staff still need to align Banking and Agriculture Committee language before a final floor vote. The bill also needs bipartisan support to clear the Senate’s 60-vote threshold.
FLEOA’s endorsement gives supporters another law enforcement voice during negotiations. Its requested revisions show that questions over DeFi accountability, developer protections and investigative authority remain active before the scheduled summer break.
Anya Taylor-Joy was a strict “Harry Potter” fan as a child, but now, having been cast in “The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum,” she’s ready to dive into the world of J.R.R. Tolkien.
“I’m about to read the books now, actually,” Taylor-Joy told Variety at the Monday night premiere of Apple TV’s “Lucky.” “So as a child, I had a misguided idea that you could only be a ‘Harry Potter’ fan or a ‘Lord of the Rings’ fan. Nobody told me that. I just came up with that on my own. Luckily, throughout COVID, I then watched all of ‘Lord of the Rings,’ and turns out you can love both, and you should.”
When asked about her initial reaction to getting cast in “The Hunt for Gollum,” Taylor-Joy said, “It’s so fun. I mean, if my tombstone can say ‘Lethal Elf, I feel like I did a good job on this planet. So yeah, I’m excited.”
In June, it was revealed that Taylor-Joy was joining “The Hunt for Gollum” as Seren, a Sindar Elf of the Woodland Realm, who is described as “a trusted and lethal agent of King Thranduil.” She joins fellow “LOTR” newcomers Kate Winslet, Leo Woodall and Jamie Dornan. Dornan is taking over the role of Aragorn for Viggo Mortensen.
Directed by Andy Serkis, who will also reprise his role as Gollum, the film follows Aragorn during the time between “The Hobbit” and “The Fellowship of the Ring,” during which he searched for the ring-obsessed creature. Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Elijah Wood (Frodo) and Lee Pace (King Thranduil) are all set to return.
Despite being replaced by Dornan, Serkis recently told the “Happy, Sad, Confused” podcast that Mortensen is “thrilled” about the direction of the film.
“I really, really don’t want to go into it right now because I do want to save that for, you know, further down the line,” Serkis said. “I’m gonna save all discussion about casting. Other than that, we are thrilled that Jamie’s doing it. I mean, we’re, you know, we’re absolutely thrilled. And, by the way, so is Viggo.”
Binance has released its 44th proof-of-reserves report, showing that customer Bitcoin holdings increased during June while Ethereum and Tether balances declined.
The report used a snapshot taken on July 1 and compared the figures with customer balances recorded on June 1.
Customer Bitcoin holdings rose 1.22% to about 640,000 $BTC, an increase of 7,715 $BTC. Ethereum holdings fell 1.41% to around 4.08 million $ETH, a decline of 58,591 $ETH. Customer Tether holdings dropped 1.51% to about 33.7 billion $USDT, falling by roughly 510 million $USDT.
The July figures extend the rise in customer Bitcoin balances reported one month earlier. Binance users added 25,838 $BTC in May, lifting their total holdings by 4.26% to about 630,000 $BTC in the exchange’s 43rd proof-of-reserves report.
The latest increase was smaller than the previous month’s gain, but it kept customer $BTC balances moving higher. The report does not show whether the change came from purchases, deposits, transfers between Binance services, or movements from other assets. It records balances at one point in time rather than individual customer activity.
Ethereum moved in the opposite direction after recording a strong increase in the previous report. Customer $ETH holdings had risen 10.17% in May to about 4.14 million $ETH. The July snapshot showed that the total fell by 58,591 $ETH during June.
$USDT balances also declined for a second monthly report. Binance users held about 34.3 billion $USDT in the June 1 snapshot after balances fell by roughly 460 million tokens in May. The latest decrease brought the total to about 33.7 billion $USDT. Lower stablecoin balances do not confirm that users converted $USDT into Bitcoin or withdrew funds.
A similar pattern recently appeared at other major exchanges. As reported by crypto.news, Bybit and OKX recorded higher customer Bitcoin holdings while $USDT balances fell in their latest reserve snapshots. However, the reports did not identify the reasons behind the balance changes.
Binance states on its proof-of-reserves page that it holds customer assets on a 1:1 basis, along with additional reserves. The exchange uses Merkle Trees and zero-knowledge proofs to let customers check whether their account balances were included in the total liabilities covered by each report.
A proof-of-reserves report can show whether listed wallets hold assets linked to customer balances at the time of a snapshot. However, it does not provide a complete financial audit or explain every off-chain liability. A recent proof-of-reserves explainer noted that useful disclosures should remain recent, frequent and matched against customer liabilities.
The figures should therefore be read as a record of asset backing and customer balances on a specific date. They do not show the exchange’s complete financial position or the reasons customers moved assets between accounts, platforms or private wallets.
The latest reserve report arrived after a month of active derivatives trading. Binance recorded about $1.63 trillion in futures trading volume during June, its highest monthly total of 2026, according to CryptoQuant data.
Binance also introduced service changes for some European users when the European Union’s MiCA transition ended on July 1. As previously reported, the exchange said affected users could continue using options already communicated to them, including withdrawals where available. The date matched the snapshot used for the latest reserve report.
Earlier reserve rankings placed Binance ahead of other major exchanges. As reported by crypto.news, CoinMarketCap data ranked the platform first in January 2026 with about $155.6 billion in proof-of-reserve assets. The July report adds a new monthly view of customer balances, with $BTC rising while $ETH and $USDT moved lower.
Long-time crypto trader Ogle warned on July 13 that small meme coins with limited liquidity can collapse within minutes when a few large holders decide to sell.
Pointing to recent losses around the latest sensation in the space, $CASHCAT, the market watcher reiterated the risks in chasing fast-moving tokens, where paper gains can disappear really fast when leverage, thin markets, and concentrated ownership collide.
In a post on X, Ogle made a basic observation about this market: that a lot of people are sitting on hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions of dollars in gains that they have not actually cashed out. According to him, if even two or three of these traders were to sell, it would trigger a major price drop, especially for smaller meme coins.
“When a ton of people have made hundreds of $k or $m in a token, unrealized, in this type of market, it only takes 2-3 of them to sell (if the token is small, especially a meme with little liquidity) for everything to collapse quickly,” he wrote.
The analyst explained that the problem became even worse if the token was listed on perpetual futures exchanges, where traders often borrowed funds to place large bets.
He gave an example of $CASHCAT, the meme coin built on the Robinhood Chain, that jumped more than 3,200% over the past week and briefly pushed its market cap to around $226 million about a day ago when its price hit an all-time high ($ATH) of $0.2288 per CoinGecko data.
According to Lookonchain, that rally saw a few winners, including one trader who bought 15 million $CASHCAT tokens for about $838 and turned that into a profit of over $1 million. However, had they waited a few more days, they would have walked away with nearly $2.9 million. Another trader spent $69 and sold for $711, which, while a tidy 10x on their investment, would have been worth $2.7 million had they also waited.
However, things may have also gone south for those traders since, as Ogle noted, the asset experienced some pretty big liquidations, which came right after the launch of a perpetual contract on Hyperliquid.
Data from CoinGecko shows $CASHCAT’s value crashed by approximately 60% with about 90% of long positions liquidated, intensifying selling pressure and volatility. At the time of writing, the meme coin had made some recovery and was trading just below $0.16, although that price still represented an over 18% dip in 24 hours, pushing the coin more than 30% below its $ATH.
In his X post, Ogle, who’s an advisor for the Trump family-backed World Liberty Financial, said that while meme coins can produce quick returns, his trading experience had seen him make the biggest gains from utility-focused assets such as Solana, BNB, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin.
According to him, those investments are slower plays that require patience, and many traders often lose interest before the assets can deliver larger returns.