Welcome to the Weekend Briefing. We have plenty to share below, especially our story about the Russian overnight attacks on Kyiv that are robbing the population of sleep. First, I recommend our Saturday edition of the World News podcast on young people who are using drugs such as Wegovy to overcome obesity, and our latest edition of City Memo, which takes us to Nairobi.
Bedouin fighters, Sweida governate, Syria. July 18, 2025. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri
Bodies, looted homes: Survivors emerged after days of bloodshed in the Druze city of Sweida to bury hundreds who were killed in a week of violence that began with clashes between Bedouin fighters and Druze factions. Residents said Syrian troops were responsible. The leader of Syria’s Islamist government blamed “outlaw groups” and deployed security forces in the area, urging all parties to respect a ceasefire. Israel earlier in the week struck Damascus and government forces in the south, drawing U.S. disapproval and surprising Syria.
Gaza and the West Bank: Hamas said it favors an interim truce in the Gaza war, but that its position could change in the absence of a path to a permanent ceasefire. Palestinian Bedouins accused Israeli settlers of killing 117 sheep and stealing hundreds more to drive them off their land. Christian leaders accused settlers of attacking sacred sites in the West Bank. An Israeli strike killed three people in Gaza’s Catholic church.
Posthumous ripples: President Trump sued the Wall Street Journal and its owners, including Rupert Murdoch, for at least $10 billion in damages over the paper’s report that Trump sent the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein a birthday greeting that included a sexually suggestive drawing and a reference to the secrets they shared. The Epstein case has enraged some of Trump’s followers after the administration reversed course on its promise to release files related to the investigation and has become a major headache for Trump. The president accused the defendants of defamation and said they acted with malicious intent. Ps, can Trump draw?
They wanted marble: Trump appointees during his first term pushed the Fed to use more marble for a headquarters renovation. Now the administration is using that to attack Jerome Powell for cost overruns and “ostentatious” features, citing it as evidence of mismanagement.
Noise pollution: Scientists and psychologists say that the lack of sleep is taking its toll on Ukrainians worn down by more than three years of war. Russia's nighttime drone and missile strikes on Kyiv have left its 3.7 million residents exhausted and on edge.
Climate trouble: Rescuers saved families, farm animals and a pet hamster from floods in the remote Sakha Republic region of Russia. Pakistan’s monsoon-rains death toll swelled to 159 as 63 people died in one day alone. Natural disasters in China cost more than $7 billion and affected more than 23 million people in the first half of 2025.
Health is expensive: More than half of large U.S. employers plan to scale back healthcare benefits next year as the cost of weight-loss and specialty drugs rises, a study showed. PepsiCo will stop using artificial dyes and flavors in its Lay’s and Tostitos brands. Coca-Cola said it would use cane sugar in its U.S. beverages instead of corn syrup. The move, which comes at the instigation of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., will be expensive to implement and will hurt farmers.
Business and more business: Alimentation Couche-Tard wanted to create a worldwide convenience-store giant by buying 7-Eleven’s parent company. Here’s how its $46 billion bid fell apart. Meta plans to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to build massive AI data centers. Mark Zuckerberg and others agreed to settle shareholder claims seeking $8 billion for damage they allegedly caused the company by allowing repeated violations of Facebook users’ privacy. A judge dismissed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Amazon for its decision to show commercials on Prime Video unless subscribers pay a $2.99 fee to opt out. In the could-go-either-way department: a Tesla IT executive
