5 Big News Stories Overnight - Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Judge Says Trump Tried to Manipulate Legal System With IRS Lawsuit

The WSJ reports:

President Trump and his family acted in bad faith in bringing a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, a federal judge ruled Monday in a scathing rebuke of the president, his attorneys and the Justice Department.

The lawsuit led to Trump’s extraordinary agreement in May with his own administration, in which the U.S. moved to create a nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund,” and the government promised to cease all pending tax audits of Trump, his family and his businesses. The administration backed off the fund amid pushback from lawmakers, including Republicans concerned that it could be used to compensate Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The no-audit promise, however, has remained intact.

“This was an attempt to use the Court to provide some legitimacy to an agreement to confer immunity to people and entities affiliated with the President and to earmark billions of dollars from American taxpayers to redress grievances not defined in the law,” wrote Judge Kathleen Williams.

Her 56-page order excoriated the decision to file the lawsuit and the government’s failure to respond to it, but didn’t appear to alter the agreements between Trump and his administration, including the deal to end pending tax audits of him and his businesses. Those documents were never officially filed with the court in this case.

Police in South Africa open probe into post-World Cup death of Jayden Adams

Al Jazeera reports:

Police in Cape Town, South Africa, have opened an investigation into the death of football player Jayden Adams, whose body was found shortly after he returned from North America, where he played in the FIFA World Cup.

A 25-year-old midfielder on South Africa’s national team, Adams was found dead at a home in the Schotsche Kloof neighbourhood of Cape Town. The South African Football Players Union confirmed his death on Saturday.

The cause of death has not been revealed.

Adams started two of the three World Cup matches he appeared in for South Africa, despite the death of his grandmother, Marianna, one day before the 1-1 draw with the Czech Republic. He started in that match, as well as the game in which South Africa lost 2-0 to Mexico. He was a substitute in a 1-0 win over South Korea.

“The family is struggling to process it. It won’t be easy to carry on,” the player’s father, Juanito Adams, said on Sunday, according to South Africa news service eNCA.

UK children will be one of unhealthiest generations in decades, doctors say

The Guardian reports:

Children in the UK will grow up to be one of the unhealthiest generations in decades, with child health outcomes having declined or stalled completely across all areas, a group of leading paediatricians has said.

Reduced vaccination rates alongside rising hospital admissions for asthma and mental health disorders are all contributing factors to the UK’s record on children’s health, which should be seen as a “national embarrassment”, their analysis has found.

The report, published by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), analysed 12 globally recognised indicators of child health and wellbeing including infant mortality rates, oral health, obesity, vaccination rates, the prevalence of mental health disorders and asthma rates. Child health outcomes across the UK had significantly stagnated across all metrics, portraying the UK’s children as among the unhealthiest in western Europe.

For example, only 84% of children in the UK receive two doses of the MMR vaccine by age five, which is below the World Health Organization’s 95% target and makes the UK the worst performing of G7 nations. The UK also has one of the highest asthma-related mortality rates in Europe. Infant mortality rates in the UK have shown little improvement since 2023 while remaining higher than in other European countries, according to the report.

Wealthy planning to emigrate if Miliband becomes chancellor

The Telegraph reports:

Wealthy Britons are preparing to leave the country if Ed Miliband becomes chancellor and launches a new tax raid on the rich, The Telegraph can reveal.

Ultra-high net worth individuals based in the UK have contacted international tax advisers looking for a way to avoid the possible equalisation of capital gains tax with income tax in the first months of Andy Burnham’s government.

Mr Burnham – who has said the country has “overtaxed jobs [and] undertaxed wealth” – is widely expected to launch a review of CGT ahead of his first Budget later this year.

Although the incoming Labour leader has pledged to remain within the party’s manifesto pledges on tax, including not to raise VAT, income tax or National Insurance, he is thought to be considering a range of changes to personal taxation.

Trump notifies Congress of new war against Iran

Politico reports:

President Donald Trump formally notified lawmakers this weekend that the nation is once again at war with Iran, giving his administration another 60-day clock to use the military in the region without congressional approval.

In a letter to Congress dated July 10, obtained by POLITICO, Trump stated that the strikes that began on July 7 represent “military action consistent with my responsibility to protect Americans and United States’ interests both at home and abroad.”

The on-again, off-again war has proved very difficult for Trump to resolve, as the two nations wrestle over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital choke point for world energy supplies. Trump has fumed about an inability to strike a peace deal with Iran, while Republicans worry about being blamed for high gas prices ahead of the midterm elections.

Trump further ratcheted up military pressure against Iran on Monday, declaring that the U.S. will reimpose a blockade and will take over the strait, charging ships to transit the waterway.