Reuters World News - Platner out, US-Iran strikes, Air Force One and quantum leap

Episode Date: July 9, 2026

Maine's Graham Platner quits the Senate race leaving Democrats scrambling to replace him for a must-win seat. The U.S. and Iran trade fresh strikes. President Donald Trump ditches the new Qatari-gifted Air Force One for the first leg of his flight home from the NATO summit. Before leaving Ankara, he hands Ukraine a license to manufactures its own Patriot missile interceptors. A fatal ICE shooting in Houston triggers protests. Google warns quantum computers could crack crypto encryption by 2029. And HBO Max dominates the Emmy nominations. Listen to the Morning Bid podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, I'm Kim Vennel in Wanganui, New Zealand. It's Thursday, July 9th. Today, Maine's Graham Platner bows out and Democrats scramble to save a Senate seat they can't afford to lose. The US hits Iran again after Trump declares the peace deal over. And the crypto world is on edge over advancements in quantum computing. This is Reuters World News. bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. We believe that for the movement to continue, it can't be made. Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner of Maine, formally withdrawing from the race. It follows a string of controversies, including an accusation of sexual assault,

which Platner denies, adding that his withdrawal is not at admission of guilt. It plunges one of the most competitive midterm elections into turmoil and complicates Democrats' chances of taking control of the Senate. Reuters Andy Sullivan has more. This is a huge deal. This is one of the races that the Democrats really need to win if they're going to win control of the Senate in the November congressional elections. The state of Maine has been voting consistently Democratic for the whole 21st century,

but Susan Collins, who is a moderate Republican, and has consistently held onto the seat. Democrats keep trying to dislodger every six years. They can't do so. They thought they had a really exciting candidate and Graham Platner, an oysterman, a marine veteran who had run against the party establishment and had whipped up a ton of grassroots enthusiasm.

But he also had a lot of skeletons in his closet, and they kept tumbling out of that closet. For the Democrats, time is of the essence. The main state Democratic Party has until July 27th, That's about two and a half weeks from now. They're going to have a big convention of as many people as possible to figure out who the replacement should be. They have a lot of candidates to choose from. One of them is Troy Jackson.

He's not an oyster man. He's a lumberman. He's the northern part of the state right on the Canadian border. He's been a longtime state legislator, a progressive endorsed by sort of progressive kingmaker Bernie Sanders. So he has a lot of chips in his corner. another one could be Narav Shah, who is the state health leader during the COVID crisis, who is a bit of a following. But a lot of other people are coming forward as well.

We're in for a really crazy time over the next few weeks in this tiny crucial state that's really become the focus of American politics. The U.S. military is carrying out fresh strikes on Iran after President Donald Trump declared an interim deal to end the conflict over. U.S. Central Command says the attacks are aimed at degrading Iran's ability to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. The strikes follow what Washington says were Iranian attacks on at least three commercial vessels in the waterway. Meanwhile, Iran escalates as well, launching attacks on targets in Kuwait and Bahrain. So is this all a U.S. negotiating tactic? Here's Foreign Policy

Editor Don Durfee. So this is the second time that Iran has struck ships in the Strait of Form moves since the U.S. and Iran signed this memorandum of understanding that established a ceasefire. And for Iran, the Strait is an incredibly valuable source of leverage. It is basically what allowed them to force the United States military, which is the world's biggest and most powerful military, into a stalemate. And we don't know exactly why it is that they choose to strike ships when they do. But the assumption is that it is a to the U.S. and to others of the kind of leverage that they have. As for the U.S. response, Don says the goal is not to reignite war, but to send a message. As far as we understand that the U.S. has been hitting mostly military and defensive installations, so air defense, missile launchers, things like that, not civilian targets. And so for the U.S., obviously, it is to send a message back to Iran that they're not ready to tolerate interference with shipping in the strait,

it's also to take the opportunity to hit some of Iran's remaining military assets, right, which continue to be a threat to U.S. forces. I think for the U.S., the goal here really is to keep this thing from escalating too much. And the hostilities are rattling markets, sending oil prices up more than a dollar a barrel. For the full markets picture, catch Morning Bit, our markets podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts. There was tremendous unity in that room.

A striking change of tone from President Trump at the NATO summit in Ankara. After lashing out at allies and threatening to cut trade ties with Spain, Trump now says love is in the air. If you could have seen the respect and the love in the room, and it's love really for the country, for our country. I don't want to say me because you'll say,

oh, he's so conceited. He's such a conceited person. Those good vibes extending also to you. We're going to give a license to you to make Patriots. That's pretty cool, right? Announcing the U.S. will allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot Missile Interceptors itself, a major shift that could boost Kiev's ability to defend against Russia's escalating air attacks. When Trump left Turkey to head to the UK, he made a switch, ditching his newly retrofitted Boeing 747, gifted to him by Qatar, and boarding an older airfare.

Force One. He did reboard the new plane in the UK for his flight back to Washington, but the episode is raising eyebrows. Aviation expert Dave Shepardson is in Washington with more. Here's what we know for sure is that in the middle of his first foreign trip on the $400 million, Qatari donated Air Force One, he announced the plane would be sent other military bases to be seen by U.S. soldiers, and that's That's extremely unusual, right? Why aren't you flying on the new Air Force? It's flying to Europe to one of the big bases, two or three of the big bases. What was interesting is when the president was asked directly by a couple of reporters,

was there some sort of security issue that led to his decision not to fly the plane? He didn't directly answer, but he did talk about threats against his life. And so clearly threats against him is something that's top of mind. The White House is not saying neither is the Air Force, but it certainly raises questions about was the Secret Service or the Air Force or the White House, was there some set of security concerns triggered by this most recent renewal of hostilities between Iran and the United States. Protests in Houston, where local leaders are demanding answers after an immigration and

customs enforcement agent shot and killed, a man identified as Mexican National Lorenzo Salgado Arroajo. ICE says the agent acted in self-defense and that Arwaoahot rammed a vehicle and trying to run over an officer. But his family and advocates dispute that account. He did not deserve to die. He did not deserve to be reduced to a headline of Mexican man shot and killed by ICE. That's Lorenzo's son, Ronaldo Salgado. So far, no video of the shooting has emerged, and it's unclear if the agents involved were wearing body cameras.

Mexican president, Claudia Shinebaum, says her government is preparing to take legal measures. Now, you probably aren't losing sleep over recent advancements in quantum computing, but the cryptocurrency industry has definitely taken notice and is racing to protect itself. Google now says quantum computers capable of breaking encryption could arrive as soon as 2029, something until recently that was considered at least a decade away. explains. So crypto is secured via blockchain technology, which is based on a series of kind of complex mathematical problems. And quantum computing is so powerful that it can solve those complex mathematical problems very easily and much faster than today's computers. And that means that it would

undermine the security of the blockchains that underpin crypto today. So crypto companies and blockchain networks, many are drawing up plans right now to become quantum resistant and upgrade their infrastructure. What makes it a bit more difficult in particular for blockchain networks is that they are inherently decentralized, meaning that they are not controlled by one singular party who can make a decision on which algorithm to use or how to upgrade to post quantum security. And finally, the Emmy nominations are in. HBO's medical drama, The Pit, leads this year with 25 nods. Close behind, the final season of Hacks, pulling in 24, the most ever for a comedy in a single year.

HBO Max dominated the field overall with 122 nominations, outpacing Netflix as the industry navigates budget cuts and growing concerns over artificial intelligence. This year's awards are set for September 14th in LA. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast player. If you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week.

We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.