One thread ran through the day: who controls risk, and who pays for it — from a revived toll on the Strait of Hormuz to a Bastille Day parade staged for Ukraine.

Chokepoints and the cost of safety

  • Trump says he has reinstated a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and will charge ships a fee for safe passage, after an Iranian attack on a ship there on Sunday; the IMO says it opposes any state charging for passage through international straits. more
  • Our analysis ties Hormuz, France's Rafale sale to Ukraine and Russia's army expansion into one story: each prices risk, and the price is now set globally. more

Ukraine and the Coalition of the Willing

  • France turns its July 14 parade into a public show of European support for Ukraine, with aircraft from 11 countries and about 500 Coalition of the Willing troops on the Champs-Élysées — Macron's last Bastille Day in office. more

Brussels: sanctions and the Agrofert case

  • Bulgaria's lone objection to blacklisting Patriarch Kirill keeps the entire 21st Russia sanctions package frozen, while separate cyber and torture measures passed by qualified majority without Sofia's consent. more
  • The European Public Prosecutor's Office opens criminal proceedings over EU subsidies paid to Babiš's Agrofert, following a February Pirate Party complaint; Babiš calls the conflict resolved by a trust and his allies call the case political. more

Czechia's standing among allies

  • Slovak President Pellegrini says the Czech delegation to the NATO summit in Ankara drew surprise and jokes — not over Pavel's presence, as Babiš framed it, but over Babiš leading the delegation instead of the president. more

United Kingdom

  • Andy Burnham is set to become prime minister within days without a leadership contest, per the Express, already boxed in by Blair's warning, a threatened exodus of wealthy Britons over Capital Gains Tax, and North Sea drilling demands. more

Also worth a glance

  • India formally opens its bid for a 2028-29 UN Security Council seat, branding its Global South pitch 'SHANTI' as Jaishankar launches it at the UN. more