AnewZ Morning Brief - 17 July 2026
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 17th of July, covering the latest developments you need to kno...
A new country is poised to join the Abraham Accords, the series of normalisation agreements with Israel, according to U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff.
Speaking at a business forum in Miami on Thursday, Witkoff said he was returning to Washington for the official announcement later in the evening.
“I’m flying back to Washington tonight because we’re going to announce another country joining the Abraham Accords,” he said.
Trump is expected to host the leaders of five Central Asian nations — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan — at the White House on Thursday evening. It remains unclear whether the announcement will take place during the dinner, though the president is expected to attend.
The Abraham Accords, first signed during Trump’s initial term in office, normalised relations between Israel and several Muslim-majority countries. To date, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates have joined the agreements.
According to Axios, the country expected to join is Kazakhstan, which has maintained diplomatic relations with Israel since 1992. A U.S. official told the outlet that the move aims to reinvigorate efforts to expand regional normalisation.
“This demonstrates that the Abraham Accords remain a group many countries wish to be part of. It’s also a step towards turning the page on the Gaza war and fostering greater peace and cooperation in the region,” the official said.
The announcement comes as Israel faces increasing diplomatic isolation amid its ongoing war in Gaza, where nearly 70,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to figures from Gaza's Health Ministry.
In response, several nations have severed diplomatic ties with Israel or officially recognised the State of Palestine, underscoring the growing international backlash over the conflict.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced the reimposition of a U.S. naval blockade on all Iranian ports and warned that power plants and bridges could be targeted next week unless Tehran returns to negotiations.
The U.S. military announced that it has completed a new wave of strikes against Iranian military targets under U.S. President Donald Trump's orders. The operation targeted command centres, air defence systems, missile and drone facilities, and coastal surveillance sites across multiple locations.
The death toll from the fire at a live music pub in Bangkok has climbed to 32 after two more victims died from their injuries, according to Thailand's Police Hospital.
Ukraine and Russia exchanged fresh attacks on Tuesday, with Kyiv targeting shipping and energy infrastructure inside Russia while Moscow launched another large-scale missile and drone assault on Ukrainian cities.
India's investigation into last year's Air India crash that killed 260 people has entered its final stages, with investigators completing a transcript of the cockpit voice recorder and carrying out a psychological autopsy as they work towards a final report.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 17th of July, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has nominated the acting head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Yevhenii Khmara, to serve as acting defence minister. It follows rare protests across Ukraine on Thursday after Zelenskyy dismissed Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov in a government reshuffle.
In a prime-time speech on Thursday, President Donald Trump renewed his claims on the integrity of the 2020 elections, alleging fraud and foreign interference while exposing weaknesses in the country's election system. Here are five takeaways from his speech.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced the immediate declassification of intelligence related to the 2020 presidential election on Thursday, alleging that China carried out what he described as the largest compromise of election data in U.S. history.
The Israeli army has begun setting up a new line of permanent military posts in southern Lebanon, according to a report by Israeli newspaper Maariv, a move that could complicate ongoing efforts to implement a US-backed withdrawal framework.
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