U.S. to Overhaul Radiation Safety Rules to Spur Nuclear Expansion

Brad Plumer | New York Times

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday proposed overhauling its safety rules for radiation exposure from nuclear power plants, saying that the current regulations are too costly and go beyond what is needed to protect human health. The N.R.C. would keep its existing limits on the maximum amount of radiation that workers and the public can receive each year. But it is proposing to eliminate a principle in place for decades that said nuclear-plant operators should keep radiation exposure “as low as reasonably achievable.” In some cases, that meant regulators could order plants to install additional equipment to drive radiation exposure far below the legal limits.

Lithuania moves to end nuclear weapon ban as 'situation getting worse'

Andrius Sytas | Reuters

Lithuania's parliamentary parties have agreed on a plan to lift a constitutional ban on nuclear weapons and foreign military ​bases in the Baltic nation, the president said, in a sign of how ‌Russia is resetting security calculations in the region. The move — a major legal overhaul which will need two-thirds majorities in two parliamentary votes to go through — would remove prohibitions put in place more than three decades ​ago after Lithuania broke away from the Soviet Union.

Russia ‘mounted drone surveillance of European nuclear sites over 18 months’

Dan Sabbagh | The Guardian

The Kremlin orchestrated a concerted surveillance campaign using drones launched from shadow fleet vessels over an 18-month period which targeted nuclear sites in the UK, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, researchers have said. Analysis by the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) of 144 incidents in more than a dozen countries beginning in late 2024 concluded Russian intelligence had operated with “substantial impunity”, leaving authorities across Europe flat-footed and confused. … RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, a UK base that was being prepared to house US nuclear weapons, and France’s nuclear submarine base at Île Longue in Brittany were among the sites targeted by unarmed drones believed to have been launched at sea.

Exclusive: Russia approved secret China military training at top level, sources say

Reuters | July 1, 2026

A classified Russian document seen by Reuters directly referred to an internal decree issued by Defence Minister Andrei Belousov in August, 2025 … A delegation from Russia's armed forces travelled to China to participate in training exercises at People's Liberation Army (PLA) facilities. The same report detailed one of the training courses - a three-week session focused on radiological, chemical and biological protection at a military facility in Beijing in ​November. The report and a second one described and displayed images of Russian soldiers being lectured by a Chinese instructor, looking at a model nuclear reactor, ⁠and being taught about "chemical reconnaissance", "radiation reconnaissance" and protecting ventilation systems from contamination. The inclusion of radiological, biological and chemical warfare training underlined the strategic nature of the exchanges, one of the European officials ​said.

US envoys in Doha to meet mediators but not Iranians, Qatar says

David Gritten | BBC

US special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son-in-law ‌Jared Kushner are in Doha to discuss the US-Iran negotiations with mediators, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman says, but they will not meet Iranian officials there. Majed al-Ansari told reporters that no high-level meetings or direct talks between the two sides were scheduled in the coming days.

Declaration of Independence

Continental Congress | July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.