Kyiv hails US weapons deal as Moscow dismisses Trump’s sanctions threat

US president says he will send Ukraine Patriot anti-aircraft batteries and interceptor missiles paid for by EU allies

Politicians in Kyiv have welcomed Donald Trump’s announcement that billions of dollars worth of US military equipment will be sent to Ukraine, while officials in Moscow dismissed his threat of sanctions against Russia as hot air.

In a meeting with the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, at the White House, Trump said the US would send Patriot anti-aircraft batteries and interceptor missiles, paid for by European allies.

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Trump’s hazy Ukraine arms announcement marks a tonal U-turn

EU will buy some US weapons for Kyiv as president credits Melania Trump for his disenchantment with Putin

For those looking for details, Donald Trump’s rambling half-hour press conference in the Oval Office with the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, offered only a handful of clues. The US will sell weapons to Ukraine, the president said, with other Nato countries paying the bill – but otherwise specifics were scant.

No sums of money were mentioned – making it hard to calibrate how much of a difference the proposed weapon supply would make to Kyiv. Details were light on what munitions would be supplied though Trump mentioned complete Patriot missile systems and Rutte added there would be “missiles and ammunition” too.

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Bank of England governor says jobs slowdown could prompt rate cut; European markets fall after Trump tariff threat – business live

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as Andrew Bailey insists: “I think the path [for interest rates] is down”.

A Bank of England interest rate cut next month is looking more likely, according to the latest city pricing.

The money markets are indicating there’s now an 85% chance that the Bank cuts interest rates at its next meeting on 7 August, up from 76% at the end of last week.

Friday’s disappointing GDP figures, combined with these weak jobs figures boost the case for the Bank of England to cut interest rates in August. The central bank’s governor Andrew Bailey told The Times ‘slack’ was opening up in the labour market, and he believes ‘the path is downward’ for interest rates.

All eyes are on Wednesday’s inflation report with CPI expected to remain at remain around 3.4% in June, roughly unchanged for the third consecutive month.”

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Monday briefing: The ‘toxic cocktail’ of climate denial, federal cuts and the Texas floods

In today’s newsletter: Amid at least 129 deaths and billions of dollars of damage, there has been little reckoning about the part global heating and cuts to public services may have played in the disaster

Good morning. The death toll from the catastrophic floods in Texas has climbed to 129, including at least 27 children and counsellors at Camp Mystic in Kerr County.

With more than 160 people still missing, authorities warn that the number of casualties is likely to rise. On Sunday morning, some search operations were cancelled as heavy rain and strong winds battered the state once again.

Israel-Gaza | An Israeli airstrike has killed at least 10 people, including six children, who were waiting to collect water in Gaza, Palestinian health officials have said. Dozens of others were killed in Gaza over the weekend in a separate strike near a food aid distribution site. Meanwhile, former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert has said that a proposed “humanitarian city” would be a concentration camp for Palestinians.

Health | Health officials have urged people to come forward for the measles vaccine if they are not up to date with their shots after a child at Alder Hey children’s hospital in Liverpool died from the disease.

UK news | Charlotte Church, veteran peace campaigners, Trade unionists, activists and politicians, are among hundreds who have signed a letter describing the move to ban the group Palestine Action as “a major assault on our freedoms”.

Spain | Several people were hurt in a second night of anti-migrant unrest in the town of Torre Pacheco in south-east Spain after a pensioner was beaten up, authorities said.

NHS | Health secretory Wes Streeting will meet representatives from the British Medical Association this week as he looks to avert five days of strikes by resident doctors.

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King Charles schedules Trump state visit for when UK parliament is in recess

Buckingham Palace to host US president during party conferences removing chance of Commons address

King Charles has invited Donald Trump for an unprecedented second state visit in September, scheduling the trip for three days when parliament is not sitting and removing the possibility of the US president addressing parliament.

Buckingham Palace announced on Monday that Trump would come to the UK from 17-19 September, soon after the House of Commons rises for its traditional break for the annual party conferences.

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Two dead and three injured, including state trooper, in Kentucky shootings

Unidentified shooter wounded trooper near airport in Lexington, then fled to a nearby church and opened fire

A suspect shot and wounded a state trooper near a Kentucky airport on Sunday before fleeing to a nearby church, killing two women and wounding two men, before being fatally shot.

At 11.36am ET on Sunday an unidentified shooter opened fire near Blue Grass airport in Lexington and wounded a state trooper, according to authorities. The shooting occurred after the trooper had pulled over a vehicle after receiving a licence plate reader alert in the area of Versailles Road, Lexington police said.

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Heavy rain in Texas halts rescue efforts as officials warn of further flooding

State authorities believe more than 160 people could still be missing as flash flood warnings remain in Kerr county

More heavy rains in Texas on Sunday paused a weeklong search for victims of catastrophic flooding along the Guadalupe River and led to high-water rescues elsewhere as officials warned that the downpours could again cause waterways to surge.

It was the first time a new round of severe weather had paused the search since the 4 July floods, which killed at least 129 people. Authorities believe more than 160 people may still be missing in Kerr county.

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Wildfires destroy historic lodge on Grand Canyon’s North Rim, park says

Grand Canyon Lodge consumed by two wildfires that have burned more than 45,000 acres in area

The historic Grand Canyon Lodge on the monument’s North Rim has been destroyed by a fast-moving wildfire, the park said on Sunday. The blaze has forced officials to close access to that area for the season.

The Grand Canyon Lodge, the only lodging inside the park at the North Rim, was consumed by the flames, park superintendent Ed Keable told park residents, staff and others in a meeting Sunday morning. He said the visitor center, the gas station, a waste water treatment plant, an administrative building and some employee housing also were lost.

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Trump wants to ‘remake’ Fema, not eliminate it, Kristi Noem says

Noem says president’s response to Texas floods shows how he wants to change US disaster relief agency to help states

Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, said on Sunday that Donald Trump wants to have the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) “remade” instead of eradicated entirely.

In a new interview on Sunday with NBC, Noem defended the Trump administration’s response to the deadly Texas floods that have killed at least 120 people, saying: “I think the president recognizes that Fema should not exist the way that it always has been. It needs to be redeployed in a new way, and that’s what we did during this response.”

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Trump’s latest tariffs ‘are real’ unless deals improve, economic adviser says

Kevin Hassett says talks are ‘ongoing’ after US president announced 30% tariffs on goods from EU and Mexico

Donald Trump has seen some trade deal offers and thinks they need to be better, Kevin Hassett, the White House economic adviser, said on Sunday, adding that the president will proceed with threatened tariffs on Mexico, the European Union and other countries if they don’t improve.

“Well, these tariffs are real if the president doesn’t get a deal that he thinks is good enough,” Hassett told ABC’s This Week program. “But you know, conversations are ongoing, and we’ll see where the dust settles.“

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Secret Service’s ‘cascade of failures’ allowed Trump assassination attempt, report says

Highly critical Senate committee report calls for severe disciplinary action against Secret Service in the future

A new Senate committee report on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year, described the events as a “cascade of preventable failures” and called for more severe disciplinary action to be taken with the Secret Service in the future.

In the 31-page, highly critical findings released on Sunday, the Senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee lamented the mishandling of communications around the rally and said Trump was denied extra security on the day.

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Macron calls on EU to ‘defend European interests resolutely’ from Trump tariffs

French president says bloc should be ready for trade war after 30% tariff threat but other EU leaders call for calm

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has called on the EU to “defend European interests resolutely” after Donald Trump threatened to impose 30% tariffs on nearly all imports from the EU.

It came as the EU moved to de-escalate tensions after the blunt move by Trump on Saturday. The bloc declared a further pause on €21bn of retaliatory tariffs until 1 August, dovetailing with the US president’s new deal deadline.

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DoJ drops charges against Utah doctor accused of destroying Covid vaccines

Michael Kirk Moore accused of distributing at least 1,937 false vaccination cards and administering saline to children

The US Department of Justice dropped charges on Saturday against Michael Kirk Moore, the Utah doctor accused of destroying more than $28,000 worth of government-provided Covid-19 vaccines and administering saline to children instead of the shot.

Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, announced the news in a statement on the social media platform X, saying the charges had been dismissed under her direction.

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‘Now or never’ to save replica of American revolutionary war vessel, say French campaigners

Fresh plea for funds to repair €26m copy of frigate that carried Louis XVI’s promise of aid in war of independence

French maritime enthusiasts are battling to save a replica of an 18th-century warship that became a symbol of the country’s historic relationship with America.

The copy of L’Hermione, a three-mast, 32-gun frigate that carried the Marquis de Lafayette across the Atlantic to announce France’s support for American independence from Great Britain in the revolutionary war, has been in dry dock at Anglet, near Bayonne, since its oak hull was found to be riddled with fungus four years ago.

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Rosie O’Donnell dismisses Trump’s threat to revoke her US citizenship

Actor says she is latest in long list of artists, activists and celebrities to be threatened by US president

Rosie O’Donnell has shrugged off a threat from Donald Trump to revoke her US citizenship on the grounds that she is “a threat to humanity”.

The New York-born actor and comedian said on Sunday that she was the latest in a long list of artists, activists and celebrities to be threatened by the US president.

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Some gut microbes can absorb and help expel ‘forever chemicals’ from the body, research shows

Previously, the only way to reduce levels of Pfas was by bloodletting or a drug with unpleasant side effects

Certain kinds of gut microbes absorb toxic Pfas “forever chemicals” and help expel them from the body via feces, new first-of-its-kind University of Cambridge research shows.

The findings are welcome news as the only options that exist for reducing the level of dangerous Pfas compounds from the body are bloodletting and a cholesterol drug that induces unpleasant side effects.

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David Gergen, ex-adviser to Republican and Democratic presidents, dies aged 83

Serving Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton, Gergen was a speechwriter and communications director

David Gergen, a veteran of Washington politics and an adviser to four presidents, Republican and Democrat, in a career spanning decades in government, academia and media, has died. He was 83.

Gergen was perhaps best known for a line he summoned for then presidential candidate Ronald Reagan for a TV debate with Jimmy Carter: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”

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Elon Musk’s AI firm apologizes after chatbot Grok praises Hitler

xAI’s lengthy apology for antisemitic remarks says they ‘apologize for the horrific behavior many experienced’

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has issued an apology after its chatbot Grok made a slew of antisemitic and Adolf Hitler-praising comments earlier this week on X.

On Saturday, xAI released a lengthy apology in which it said: “First off, we deeply apologize for the horrific behavior that many experienced.”

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Trump’s 10% tariff on most UK goods ‘here to stay’, says Lord Mandelson

British ambassador to US believes universal levy unlikely to change but there is ‘scope’ for negotiations in some sectors

The 10% tariffs on most UK goods imported into the US are likely “here to stay”, according to Lord Mandelson.

The British ambassador to the US said the “universal 10% tariff” was unlikely to change but that there was “scope” for negotiations in different sectors and industries, such as technology.

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World Cup will use more indoor venues for day-time kick-offs to combat heat

  • Infantino acts after player welfare fears at Club World Cup

  • ‘Heat is definitely an issue. We have covered stadiums’

Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, has said indoor air-conditioned venues will be used as much as possible for day-time kick-offs at the 2026 World Cup to combat expected high temperatures. Concerns have been raised about player welfare during the Club World Cup in the US, which will co-host next year’s tournament with Canada and Mexico.

Enzo Fernández described conditions during Chelsea’s semi-final against Fluminense, when the temperature was 35C, as “very dangerous”.

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