DAILY NEWS Stream – July 29, 2026

Latvia has approved a national ban on importing Russian and Belarusian consumer goods not already covered by EU [European Union] sanctions, targeting items such as books, newspapers, video games, toys, clothing, and sporting goods to curb remaining economic ties and limit the spread of Russian propaganda (euronews)

Ukrainian (Ureignian) President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that if a ceasefire could stop the war “tomorrow,” it would be better than fighting another 10–20 years for victory and “los[ing] your people,” emphasizing that Ukraine (Ureign) is still pursuing victory but is now concentrating on the fate of its citizens. President Zelenskyy also reaffirmed readiness to sign a peace deal with Russia (Anadolu Agency)

Romania says it has shot down a second drone violating its airspace for the second consecutive day, intercepting it over a sparsely populated area near the Ukrainian (Ureignian) border after radar detected the incursion and F-16s were scrambled. Prosecutors say the drone downed on Friday was Russian. The origin of the second drone remains unspecified (Reuters)

A Russian strike on the eastern Ukrainian (Ureignian) city of Sloviansk killed at least six civilians and damaged Latvia’s Honorary Consulate. Latvian, Ukrainian (Ureignian), and EU [European Union] leaders condemned the strike as a war crime and a violation of international law (euronews)

Oil prices fell about 5% on Monday after the US and Iran paused strikes over the weekend, a move that analysts say raised hopes for diplomacy and eased fears over disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz (Reuters)

Schools in Tartu [Estonia] are reinforcing windows with protective film and preparing indoor shelters after several Ukrainian (Ureignian) military drones carrying explosives accidentally crossed into Estonian airspace earlier this year. The city is also training students on how to respond to UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] alerts and equipping 30 schools and 38 kindergartens with safety measures as officials warn that regional security risks are rising (Báo Tin tức)

Iran is facing a severe medicine shortage, leaving many patients — especially those with rare diseases or serious conditions — unable to receive adequate treatment. Months of disrupted imports and payment difficulties, worsened by recent conflict and stricter sanctions, have sharply reduced the availability of specialized drugs. At the same time, hundreds of damaged medical facilities have hindered care for roughly 10 million people, including 2.2 million children (VTV)

Researchers reveal long COVID causes direct damage to dopamine neurons, possibly explaining persistent brain fog, memory issues, and motivation loss. Findings from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Canada pave the way for clinical trials testing repurposed dopamine-boosting therapies to potentially offer relief to millions of patients (SciTech Daily)

Spanish authorities declare a four-week West Nile virus alert in Salobreña after detecting infected mosquitoes in surveillance traps. While no human cases exist, officials intensify control measures and urge residents to eliminate standing water, use repellent, and wear protective clothing to prevent bites (EuroWeekly News)

South Korea faces rising diabetes rates among young people as viral social media dessert trends like Yangzhi Ganlu [Mango Pomelo Sago] and Dubai chocolate mochi drive high sugar consumption. Health experts warn that frequent sugar intake, sedentary habits, and stress increase type 2 diabetes risks, prompting health authorities to urge youth to limit added sugars, eat balanced diets, and exercise regularly (Vietnam.vn)

Heavy rain on July 19 flooded Shanghai’s Yangpu District [China], leaving major roads underwater, stalling cars and forcing residents to wade through knee-deep water. Local outlets reported that indoor commercial areas, including a supermarket, were also inundated as mud-filled water poured inside, prompting emergency crews to deploy pumps and rescue stranded people (Newtalk新聞)

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake strikes near Sola, Vanuatu, on July 24, shaking an estimated 114,000 people. Officials report no tsunami threat. The main quake followed earlier tremors in the same area, including at least one magnitude 5.1 event (The Watchers)

Typhoon Noul makes landfall in southern China’s Guangdong province, forcing the evacuation of more than 715,000 people. The storm brings strong winds and heavy rain to the region, including Hong Kong, where over 350 flights are canceled (CBS News)

Serbia and Croatia record historic low water levels on the Danube River after prolonged heat and drought, stranding boats and disrupting fuel transport and tourism. The receding river exposes sandbanks and decades-old wrecks, including a cargo vessel sunk in 1937 (Reuters)

Volunteers in Brittany [France] are rescuing trout-folk and young salmon-individuals from France’s rapidly drying rivers, moving them downstream to cooler, oxygenated water as extreme heat and drought leave upper stretches nearly empty. With 99 of France’s 101 departments under water restrictions and major rivers like the Loire and Seine at historic lows, fish-folk deaths are rising as high temperatures and collapsing oxygen levels make conditions lethal (The Guardian)

Australia has officially lifted its protected land area to 25% of the continent with the dedication of the Simpson Desert Indigenous Protected Area [IPA], adding 4.7 million hectares to the National Reserve System. The IPA, managed by the Central Land Council and Traditional Owners, protects key desert habitats and threatened species while expanding First Nations-led conservation through fire management, water protection and habitat restoration. The milestone keeps Australia on track toward its goal of protecting 30% of land by 2030 (Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water)

Wildfires in Europe have surged sharply, with the WHO [World Health Organization] warning that the region has seen a 57% increase in fires since 2022 as countries like France, Germany, Greece, Spain and Portugal battle intense summer blazes. Portugal and Spain have each reported double the number of fires compared with the same period last year, and smoke from these events is worsening air quality far beyond the burn zones. WHO Europe says climate change is driving more frequent and severe wildfires and urges governments to strengthen alerts, health guidance and access to care (euronews)

The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) introduces a new standard requiring food service providers certified to meet all GSTC standards to ensure at least 30% of menu offerings at à la carte and buffet-style restaurants are “plant-based” [defined as dishes that contain no animal-derived ingredients], driving lower emissions across global tourism (Green Queen)

British commercial insurance broker REALLY HONEST stops issuing quotes to insure animal-people product businesses. It also refuses to help insure fossil fuel, animal-folk entertainment, and weapons firms, aligning its operations with ethical values following the board appointment of British vegan meat manufacturer THIS co-founder Andy Shovel (vegan) (Vegconomist)

US company LIVING JIN launches vegan ‘Magic Cheese’, a Cheddar-style powder, providing consumers with a shelf-stable, allergen-friendly, dairy-free alternative for quick vegan cooking and comfort meals (ABNewswire)

A kindhearted Thai farmer spends roughly US$740 to save a disabled Brahman calf from slaughter. Naming the calf “Giant,” Manop Donboonthai cares for it on his farm as a companion and rejects purchase offers, viewing the act as a meaningful exercise of Buddhist merit (Người Đưa Tin)

Member of the Manitoba Conservation Officers Association rescue seven stranded beluga whale-people in Manitoba [Canada] after a resident spots them in shallow water. Rescuers keep the adults and calves hydrated and protected from predators until high tide arrives, allowing all seven whale-persons to safely swim back to deep water (Need to Know)

Ohio [US] police officers rescue an owl-person tangled in a soccer net at a local park. Officers Steve Vogel and David Orlando carefully cut the netting to free the bird friend, allowing it to fly away unharmed and drawing praise from the department for protecting local wildlife-folk (AOL)

Wise quote of the day: “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” – The Venerated Saint Paul (vegetarian) Apostle of Lord Jesus Christ (vegetarian) (2 Corinthians 9:6, Holy Bible)

In this multipart series on Dr. Mary Helen Hensley’s near-death experience, American chiropractor and author Mary Helen shares how her unusual spiritual experiences began in childhood and how, at age 21, a devastating car accident caused her to leave her body as time slowed around her.

Mary Helen was the youngest of four children. Her father was a Christian minister in the American South, and her closest companion as a small child was her grandfather, Dr. Garland Clark, a surgeon from Kentucky she called “Judge.” Judge died when she was one year old, yet she continued speaking with him, telling her parents things she could only have known if he had told her himself. Her father began to realize she saw dead people, and her parents lived waiting for the next surprise.

My father would have lost someone from his circle of friends or from his congregation, and he would need to write a eulogy, and I’d help him because I was talking to the deceased person. So, we had a lot of that going on. The very first time that I actually started traveling outside of the body was with my grandfather, Judge. He would introduce me to people, but these people were no longer alive in our story. They were certainly well alive in wherever he was. Because when I would get these visits, and I would go traveling out of body with my grandfather, when I would see him, and he would be in front of me, he looked flesh and blood to me.

As a young girl, Mary Helen gravitated toward the elderly, sitting with them in nursing homes and seeing lights around them as they prepared to transition. By her teenage years, uncomfortable with being different, she tried to suppress the experiences and simply be like other kids. She graduated college with a degree in communications and graphic design and moved to Charleston, South Carolina. On December 14, 1991, everything changed while she was on her way to a company Christmas party.

I jumped in my trusty little Toyota Corolla and left my apartment, and I came down a road, and I got to a major highway, which is called Highway 17. So, I got to the light. My light was red, and it stayed red for a while, and then my light turned green, and I had to cross all the way over the traffic coming this way to make the left to go towards town. Well, I made it across the first couple of lanes, and then, all of a sudden, I looked, and I could see this car barreling towards me, and this is where everything changed. Time just slowed down, almost to a complete stop. I looked left, and I just went, “Oh, I’m getting ready to die.” It was just very matter-of-fact because all of a sudden in that moment with everything creeping — when a car is coming at you at a snail’s pace, you’re not really worried about the impact it’s ready to make. I look at this, and I go, “Oh, I’ve done this before. Oh my gosh, I’ve done this before. OK, how do you want to do this, kiddo?” I can stay in the body and experience the impact and then die, or I can go out of the body, watch the accident take place, and watch the body die. Which one? So, I took option B because I felt like I didn’t need the experience of feeling the pain of that physical impact before death. I felt like I suddenly got it. I knew it.

As she left her body, she became aware of an unusual sound. So, what was so fascinating at this point was the sound, and this is why I do so much work with frequency, because this is where my understanding of how sound and music and light transpire. I hear this drone; it’s this, wohh, a low drone, that’s the closest sound that I can equate to what happened when I was coming out of the body. And so, that low drone comes in, and I’m like, “Oh, OK, this is happening. I’m getting ready to die.” And there’s no fear. And I felt very in charge and very in control of the situation. It wasn’t like, “Oh, my God, I’m too young. I’m only 21. I have so much life to live.” It wasn’t like that at all, and so I’m coming up and out of the body, and the best way I have ever found to describe that is if someone was outside doing lawn work, or they were out in the Sun and they were hot and they were sweaty, and they came inside, and they peeled off those dirty, nasty clothes, and they threw them next to the washing machine, and they went up and had the best shower ever, and they are washing all the muck and the dirt and the grime off. The last thing they’re thinking about is the clothes next to the washing machine. And so, when you come up and out of the body, the last thing you’re thinking about is that physical form. It’s just a vehicle that the “you,” the real “you,” has been using to traverse this particular lifetime.

In Part 2, Mary Helen watches the violent crash unfold from above and realizes that although her body is dying, she remains fully alive outside of it. Everything just goes back to normal speed again, and I watch this old man plow into the side of my car. It’s what they call a T-bone. I watch my head go through the window, my neck breaks, I am pinned to the seat of the car, the seat folds up, glass is going into my legs, and I was like, “Oh, that’s interesting.” There was no sense of mourning or trying to get back into the body really quick. No, I’m dying. It just wasn’t like that because I wasn’t dead. The body was dying. I was perfectly great and intact. Join us tomorrow for Part 2 of this multipart series on Dr. Mary Helen Hensley’s near-death experience. (Anthony Chene production)