About: A break free commentary on events on our Planet, anchored on the news of the world. Any comments beyond the storyline, are entirely mine, without prejudice -take it or leave it. This is a flight of events from 3 July 2025 to 26 July 2025.

America: the Big, the Rap, the Flash; guilty Russia; Wimbledon Tennis; Israel, Syria, India, Spain, and Moon Landing.

America

The Big

President Trump’s sweeping legislation-over which he and Elon Musk sparred and went to war-the so called ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ was passed by the Republican Party controlled House on 4th July by a razor-thin margin, delivering Trump a major legislative victory. It’s expected that the bill will slash almost USD 1 trillion from Medicaid-which could leave nearly 12 million Americans uninsured by 2034-while locking in tax cuts, mostly for the wealthy, and adding USD 3.3 trillion to the deficit. The bill then headed to the President’s desk for signature and after the great, beautiful scrawl it was made into Big Law.

Meanwhile, exasperated by the workings of Trump and the twists and turns of party politics, Elon Musk announced the launch of a new Political party called the ‘America Party’. It challenges the two-party system of Democrats and Republicans. And Musk said the Third Party will focus on deficit reduction and will be fiscally conservative. The party’s platform is to reduce debt, modernise the military with Artificial Intelligence(AI), cut regulations, and encourage more births -the human population is in decline, and we are heading toward extinction! The America Party would focus on two or three Senate Seats and eight to ten House Districts to serve as the deciding vote on contentious laws, and represent the general will. Musk said the Party would run in the 2026 elections, comparing his strategy to that used by the Greek General Epaminondas in the Battle of Leuctra, “a concentrated force at a precise location on the battlefield”.

Trump brushed it off as ‘ridiculous’ and said, Elon Musk has ‘run off the rails’ and is a ‘train wreck’. Great, big colourful words that only Trump uses best.

A third Political Party or Front, has never made headway in America. Will ‘America Party’ break the two?

The Rap

In September 2024, American Rapper, Record Producer, and Music Mogul, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs was arrested in the Southern District of New York and indicted on charges of racketeering, sex trafficking by force, and transportation for purposes of prostitution. He was held in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

This year, after seven long weeks of star testimonies and vigorous nods and combing of evidence, a jury (of mostly men) found Combs not guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking-the most serious charges against him. But they convicted him on two lesser charges of transporting someone for prostitution. Prosecutors claimed that Combs led a criminal organisation for over two decades, forcing people around him into ‘freak-offs’, and using his status to fulfil his sexual desires. His defense team didn’t deny the drug use or domestic violence but argued the other allegations were overblown. In the end, the jurors said the prosecution failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he forced anyone to engage in non-consensual acts. Combs, who maintained his innocence, pumped his fist in the air and thanked the jurors. Bail has not been granted, as yet, and Combs remains in jail and faces up to 20 years in prison, which will be known in October 2025 when the sentence is to be pronounced. What else remains to be combed?

The Flash

In one of the worst natural disasters in America’s history, Flash Floods in Texas saw water swell like never before and swallow trees, bridges, and roads. By the end, one could see a bridge overwhelmed and overtaken by raging water, and debris slamming into it. That was not rising water: it was a wall of death. 10–15 inches of rain fell in hours. The ground couldn’t absorb it. The rivers couldn’t hold it. Gauges failed. It hit hard and fast. The Guadalupe River rose 26 feet in 45 minutes and crested at 39.50 feet, early in the morning while people were sleeping. This wasn’t ignorance. This was sudden, violent and unstoppable. No one saw the severity of this coming. No one could stop it. It was an act of God.

Over 130 have died in the flash flooding. 27 young girls, teenage counsellors and staff perished after a wall of water surged through Camp Mystic, a Christian Summer camp for girls, being held on the banks of the Guadalupe River, in Kerr County. At Camp Mystic, like elsewhere in the county, residents were reliant on an outdated and patchwork early warning system of alerts. Some were from the National Weather Service (NWS), which many concede, they never received. Other messages came from local authorities, some sent only after an inexplicable delay, which others along the Guadalupe’s banks say they did not see in any case. Investigators of the catastrophic Hill Country flooding may never be able to pinpoint a precise moment that sealed the fate of the camping girls.

While we explore the skies and beyond, we certainly need to take a closer look at dear Earth. By this time, should we not be able to read Planet Earth like the plan of our hand?

Russia is Guilty

On 9th July, Europe’s top Human Rights Court found that Russia shot down a regular civilian flight, Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, Flight MH17, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew members. The European Court of Human Rights also delivered damning judgments against Russia in three other cases brought by Ukraine and the Netherlands accusing Russia of atrocities in Ukraine going back more than a decade.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur-was shot down on 17 July 2014, using a Russian-made BUK 9M38 surface-to-air missile. This was fired during the war in Donbas, Eastern Ukraine, from territory controlled by separatist rebels backed by Russia-fighting the Ukrainian Government.

The Donbas War is a phase of the Russian-Ukraine War which began in April 2014, when Russian paramilitaries seized several Ukrainian Towns. Ukraine launched an operation against the separatists but failed to re-take territory. Due to the armed conflict in the region some airlines had began avoiding eastern Ukrainian airspace, in early March 2014.

The Court said that the evidence suggested that the missile had been intentionally fired at flight MH17, most likely in the mistaken belief that it was a military aircraft. The Court found that Russia’s refusal to acknowledge its involvement in the Flight MH17 disaster violated international law and its failure to properly investigate the matter significantly aggravated the suffering of the relatives and friends of the dead. In May, the United Nations’ Aviation Agency also found Russia responsible for the disaster.

Russia excels at being the ‘grizzly’ bad-boy of the world and gets away with everything?

Wimbledon 2025

This year’s Wimbledon tennis tournament saw new Champions walking the grass carpet and creating new records, new firsts, on a green background.

In a comeback, after recovering from cancer, the Royal Patron of Wimbledon, Catherine-Kate Middleton-Princess of Wales, handed over the Trophies, bouncing on court and making blue and white fashion statements with young Royals in tow. Something to watch besides the balls?

Kate became Patron of the All England Tennis Club in 2016, taking over from Queen Elizabeth. As Patron, she regularly attends the Women’s and Men’s Finals. However, she wasn’t there when Barbora Krejcikova defeated Jasmine Paolini for the women’s title, last year. And she was catching-up, quickly.

This year, the Women’s Singles Title winner is Poland’s, Iga Swiatek who defeated America’s Amanda Anisimova, with a brutal 6-0, 6-0 scoreline, in just 57 minutes. This is the first double bagel in a Wimbledon final, since 1988, and only the second in a Grand Slam Final in over a century. Iga Swiatek is the first Polish woman to claim the Wimbledon singles champion in the Open Era. The defending champion Barbora Krejcikova, of the Czech Republic, lost in the third round to America’s Emma Navarro.

In the Men’s Singles, Italian Jannik Sinner demonstrated superb resilience by recovering from a set down to win his first Wimbledon title. It was a phenomenal performance, toppling the two-time defending champion, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 6-4. Sinner is the first Italian Wimbledon singles champion in the Open Era, and he now stands as a four-time Grand Slam Champion. He breaks his ­overall tie with an assortment of famous names, including Arthur Ashe, Andy Murray, and Stan Wawrinka. Perhaps, most important, he ends his rival, Alcaraz’s, run of five consecutive wins against him, adding a new dimension to a rivalry that seems set to decide the majority of major tournaments in the near future. This is also Sinner’s first Grand Slam title away from hard courts, after two victories at the Australian Open and last year’s US Open.

Then, there is a ‘sin’ angle. This is Sinner’s first grand slam victory and overall title since his three-month doping ban between February and May this year. Sinner had tested positive for the banned substance Clostebol last year before successfully arguing, during his initial tribunal in August, that the positive test had been a result of contamination, receiving no suspension. After the World Anti-Doping Agency(WADA) chose to appeal the case, Sinner’s team and WADA eventually entered a case resolution ­agreement, essentially a ­settlement, agreeing on the three-month suspension.

The prize money for the Wimbledon Championship is a record £53,500,000 with the Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s Singles, each receiving £3,000,000. The runner-up receives £1,520,000.

Other Stories

The Ukraine-Russia War plods on with US President, Donald Trump, mediated loud ceasefire attempts falling on deaf ears, and failing to inspire Russia. Now, the US is arming Ukraine to the teeth, to fight Russia, tooth and nail!

The ongoing Israel-Hamas War, to avenge the 7 October 2023 barbarism on Israel, rescue the 50 remaining hostages, and obliterate the terrorist Hamas, is still a hard work in progress. Israel is going in for the kill while humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip gets strangulated: the usual blame-game between the United Nations (UN) and Israel. But the UN can do better with tons of aid already in the Gaza remaining undistributed.

Over the past weeks, France said it plans to recognise Palestine as a State at the UN General Assembly Meeting in September, which drew fire from those on the side with Israel. Wait until the Palestine State actually comes into being, said Italy.

In Syria, a fresh wave of deadly sectarian violence erupted with fighting in the province of Suweida between Druze and Bedouin militias-two groups with long-running disputes-as well as government forces ‘joining the party’. The latest violence started on 13 July with the abduction of a Druze merchant. A few days later, Israel launched air strikes on Damascus, Suweida, and Deraa seeking to protect the Druze against government-affiliated forces. One week on, more than 1,100 people have been killed in Suweida. All sides – Druze, Bedouin and Syrian Government forces-have been accused of atrocities, but mainly the Government.

The Druze are an Arabic-speaking ethno-religious minority in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. The Druze faith is an offshoot of Shia Islam with its own unique identity and beliefs. Half of its roughly one million followers live in Syria, where they make up about 3% of the population. Druze in Israel are largely considered to be loyal to the state, owing to their participation in military service. There are some 152,000 Druze living in Israel and the Golan Heights.

Towards the end of July, Thailand and Cambodia’s decades old border dispute escalated into deadly clashes after both sides accused each other of opening fire, and then exchanged fire along the disputed border. More than a dozen people have been killed and more than 135,000 civilians evacuated from the region. Tensions between the Southeast Asian neighbors have been boiling for months over disputed sections of their 800 km land border, demarcated partly by Cambodia’s former colonial ruler France, and which runs near several archaeologically significant Hindu religious sites that both countries claim.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi set out on a historic 5 nation – Ghana, Trinidad & Tobago, Argentina, Brazil, Namibia-visit, between 2 July and 9 July. This was to fill the period gaps left by other PMs, deepening trade and improving bilateral hand-shake and hugging ties, and attending the BRICS Summit in Brazil. This was also the longest diplomatic visit outside India, in 10 years, by India’s PM.

The first visit to Ghana in 30 years; the first visit to Trinidad & Tobago in 27 years, where India’s PM also picked-up the nation’s highest national award – The Order of the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago; the first diplomatic visit to Argentina in 57 years; and in the final leg, the first visit by an Indian PM to Namibia, in nearly 30 years. That’s decades of ‘distance generating love’, and the visit heats it up. Did India get that far from all these countries?

Then on returning, in a brilliant reverse swing, PM Modi topped-up with a visit to the United Kingdom(UK) on 24 July where he signed a landmark Free Trade Agreement between the countries. This will see growth in every part of the UK-delivering on the government’s Plan for Change.The deal will see tariffs lowered so businesses can expand more easily in one of the fastest growing economies in the world-India, while UK consumers will benefit from lower prices and greater choices. India’s PM also welcomed nearly £6 billion in new investment and export wins, which will create 2,200 jobs across the UK. For Britain, eager to score a post-Brexit win, the deal is its most economically significant trade agreement since leaving the European Union. For India, it marks its first major free trade pact outside Asia. For both countries, the agreement signals a long-term economic partnership.

It’s not over, not yet. Before returning to India from Britain, the PM dropped-in at Maldives, to warm-up things up after a period of cold unfriendliness crept-in between the nations over the past year. Cheers to that!

Spain’s Pain: Brutal heat scorched Spain in the first week of July, a blistering reminder of the climate change that is battering the world-stretching finances even a government debt climbs to new heights.

Humans landed on the moon for the first time 56 years ago on 20 July 1969, which is celebrated as Space Exploration Day, the anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. On this Day in 1969, the Apollo 11 crew of America’s NASA, successfully accomplished the first human landing on the Moon, touching down in the Sea of Tranquility. Six and a half hours later, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made history as the first humans to walk on the lunar surface. Armstrong took the first step with that that iconic phrase, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”.

More scorching stories about giant leaps coming-up in the weeks ahead. Watch that step, with Freewheeling.