President Donald Trump singled out Brazil for import taxes of 50% on Wednesday for its treatment of its former president, Jair Bolsonaro, showing that personal grudges rather than simple economics are a driving force in the U.S. leader's use of tariffs.

Trump avoided his standard form letter with Brazil, specifically tying his tariffs to the trial of Bolsonaro, who is charged with trying to overturn his 2022 election loss. Trump has described Bolsonaro as a friend and hosted the former Brazilian president at his Mar-a-Lago resort when both were in power in 2020.

This Trial should not be taking place, Trump wrote in the letter posted on Truth Social. It is a Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!

There is a sense of kinship as Trump was indicted in 2023 for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The U.S. president addressed his tariff letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who bested Bolsonaro in 2022.

Bolsonaro testified before the countrys Supreme Court in June over the alleged plot to remain in power after his 2022 election loss. Judges will hear from 26 other defendants in coming months. A decision could come as early as September, legal analysts say. Bolsonaro has already been ruled ineligible until 2030 by the countrys electoral authorities.

Brazils vice president, Geraldo Alckmin, said he sees no reason for the U.S. to hike tariffs on the South American nation.

I think he has been misinformed," he said. President Lula was jailed for almost two years. No one questioned the judiciary. No one questioned what the country had done. This is a matter for our judiciary branch.

For Trump, the tariffs are personal

Trump also objected to Brazil's Supreme Court fining of social media companies, saying the temporary blocking last year amounted to SECRET and UNLAWFUL Censorship Orders. Trump said he is launching an investigation as a result under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which applies to companies with trade practices that are deemed unfair to U.S. companies.

Among the companies the Supreme Court fined was X, which was not mentioned specifically in Trump's letter. X is owned by Elon Musk, Trump's multibillionaire backer in the 2024 election whose time leading Trump's Department of Government Efficiency recently ended and led to a public feud over the U.S. president's deficit-increasing budget plan. Trump also owns a social media company, Truth Social.

The Brazil letter was a reminder that politics and personal relations with Trump matter just as much as any economic fundamentals. And while Trump has said the high tariff rates hes setting are based on trade imbalances, it was unclear by his Wednesday actions how the countries being targeted would help to reindustrialize America.

The tariffs starting Aug. 1 would be a dramatic increase from the 10% rate that Trump levied on Brazil as part of his April 2 Liberation Day announcement. In addition to oil, Brazil sells orange juice, coffee, iron and steel to the U.S., among other products. The U.S. ran a $6.8 billion trade surplus with Brazil last year, according to the Census Bureau.

Trump initially announced his broad tariffs by declaring an economic emergency, arguing under a 1977 law that the U.S. was at risk because of persistent trade imbalances. But that rationale becomes problematic in this particular case, as Trump is linking his tariffs to the Bolsonaro trial and the U.S. exports more to Brazil than it imports.

RELATED STORY | Trump sets Aug. 1 date for new tariffs, leaves room for negotiation

Trump also targeted smaller trade partners

Trump also sent letters Wednesday to the leaders of seven other nations. None of them the Philippines, Brunei, Moldova, Algeria, Libya, Iraq and Sri Lanka is a major industrial rival to the United States.

Most economic analyses say the tariffs will worsen inflationary pressures and subtract from economic growth, but Trump has used the taxes as a way to assert the diplomatic and financial power of the U.S. on both rivals and allies. His administration is promising that the taxes on imports will lower trade imbalances, offset some of the cost of the tax cuts he signed into law on Friday and cause factory jobs to return to the United States.

Trump, during a White House meeting with African leaders, talked up trade as a diplomatic tool. Trade, he said, seems to be a foundation for him to settle disputes between India and Pakistan, as well as Kosovo and Serbia.

You guys are going to fight, were not going to trade, Trump said. And we seem to be quite successful in doing that.

On Monday, Trump placed a 35% tariff on Serbia, one of the countries he was using as an example of how fostering trade can lead to peace.

Trump said the tariff rates in his letters were based on common sense and trade imbalances, even though the Brazil letter indicated otherwise. Trump suggested he had not thought of penalizing the countries whose leaders were meeting with him in the Oval Office Liberia, Senegal, Gabon, Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau as these are friends of mine now.

Countries are not complaining about the rates outlined in his letters, he said, even though those tariffs have been generally close to the ones announced April 2 that rattled financial markets. The S&P 500 stock index rose Wednesday.

We really havent had too many complaints because Im keeping them at a very low number, very conservative as you would say, Trump said.

Tariff uncertainty returns with Trump's letters

Officials for the European Union, a major trade partner and source of Trump's ire on trade, said Tuesday that they are not expecting to receive a letter from Trump listing tariff rates. The Republican president started the process of announcing tariff rates on Monday by hitting two major U.S. trading partners, Japan and South Korea, with import taxes of 25%.

According to Trump's Wednesday letters, imports from Libya, Iraq, Algeria and Sri Lanka would be taxed at 30%, those from Moldova and Brunei at 25% and those from the Philippines at 20%. The tariffs would start Aug. 1.

The Census Bureau reported that last year that the U.S. ran a trade imbalance on goods of $1.4 billion with Algeria, $5.9 billion with Iraq, $900 million with Libya, $4.9 billion with the Philippines, $2.6 billion with Sri Lanka, $111 million with Brunei and $85 million with Moldova. The imbalance represents the difference between what the U.S. exported to those countries and what it imported.

Taken together, the trade imbalances with those seven countries are essentially a rounding error in a U.S. economy with a gross domestic product of $30 trillion.

The letters were posted on Truth Social after the expiration of a 90-day negotiating period with a baseline levy of 10%. Trump is giving countries more time to negotiate with his Aug. 1 deadline, but he has insisted there will be no extensions for the countries that receive letters.

The tariff letters are worded aggressively in Trump's style of writing. He frames the tariffs as an invitation to "participate in the extraordinary Economy of the United States," adding that the trade imbalances are a major threat to America's economy and national security.

The president threatened additional tariffs on any country that attempts to retaliate. He said he chose to send the letters because it was too complicated for U.S. officials to negotiate with their counterparts in the countries with new tariffs. It can take years to broker trade accords.

The Trump administration has resumed sending some weapons to Ukraine, a week after the Pentagon had directed that some deliveries be paused, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

The weapons heading into Ukraine include 155 mm munitions and precision-guided rockets known as GMLRS, two officials told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to provide details that had not been announced publicly. Its unclear exactly when the weapons started moving.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the pause on some shipments last week to allow the Pentagon to assess its weapons stockpiles, in a move that caught the White House by surprise.

RELATED STORY | Russia unleashes biggest drone attack on Ukraine since start of war

Affected was Patriot missiles, the precision-guided GMLRS, Hellfire missiles, Howitzer rounds and more, taking not only Ukrainian officials and other allies by surprise but also U.S. lawmakers and other parts of the Trump administration, including the State Department.

It was not clear if a pause on Patriot missiles would hold. The $4 million munition is in high demand and was key to defending a major U.S. air base in Qatar last month as Iran launched a ballistic missile attack in response to the U.S. targeting its nuclear facilities.

President Donald Trump announced Monday that the U.S. would continue to deliver defensive weapons to Ukraine. He has sidestepped questions about who ordered the pause in exchanges with reporters this week.

I would know if a decision is made. I will know, Trump said Wednesday. I will be the first to know. In fact, most likely Id give the order, but I havent done that yet.

Asked a day earlier who ordered the pause, he said, I dont know. Why dont you tell me?

Trump has privately expressed frustration with Pentagon officials for announcing the pause a move that he felt wasnt properly coordinated with the White House, according to three people familiar with the matter.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | Trump says US must send more weapons to Ukraine, days after ordering pause in deliveries

The Pentagon has denied that Hegseth acted without consulting the president, saying, Secretary Hegseth provided a framework for the President to evaluate military aid shipments and assess existing stockpiles. This effort was coordinated across government.

It comes as Russia has fired escalating air attacks on Ukraine, with a barrage that the largest number of drones fired in a single night in the three-year-old war, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday.

Trump has become increasingly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he wasn't happy with him.

"Putin is not, hes not treating human beings right, Trump said during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, explaining the pauses reversal. Its killing too many people. So were sending some defensive weapons to Ukraine, and Ive approved that.

The 155 mm artillery rounds have become some of the most used munitions of the war. Each round is about 2 feet (60 centimeters) long, weighs about 100 pounds (45 kilograms) and is 155 mm, or 6.1 inches, in diameter. They are used in Howitzer systems, which are towed large guns identified by the range of the angle of fire that their barrels can be set to.

Howitzer fires can strike targets up to 15 to 20 miles (24 to 32 kilometers) away, depending on what type of round and firing system is used, which makes them highly valued by ground forces to take out enemy targets from a protected distance.

The U.S. has provided more than 3 million 155 mm rounds to Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022. It has sent more than $67 billion in overall weapons and military assistance to Ukraine in that period.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to allow Florida to enforce an immigration law making it a crime for people who are living in the U.S. illegally to enter the state.

The high court's action will keep the law on hold while a legal challenge continues. The court did not explain its decision and no justice noted a dissent.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the legislation into law in February in support of President Donald Trumps push to crack down on illegal immigration.

Immigrants rights groups filed lawsuits on behalf of two unnamed, Florida-based immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, arguing that immigration is a federal issue beyond the power of the states.

RELATED STORY | US Marines will be deployed to Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Florida

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams barred the enforcement of the new law in April. The attorney generals office then unsuccessfully petitioned the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to override that decision.

The law is similar to a Texas law that also has been blocked by a federal appeals court.

Climate change was likely a factor in the flood that devastated the Texas Hill Country.

Early data analyzed by meteorologists say atmospheric conditions similar to those behind the recent flooding are now about 7% wetter than in the past, due to rising global temperatures. Experts add the event was driven by exceptionally rare meteorological conditions that cannot be explained by natural variability alone.

Many experts say preparedness must become a top priority as storms grow more destructive.

RELATED STORY | Crews dig through debris in Texas flood zone with more than 160 still missing

While the National Weather Service and the White House emphasized that the forecast for the Texas storm was accurate and local NWS offices were adequately staffed, funding cuts may have disrupted other routine operations.

Tom Fahy, legislative director for the National Weather Service Employees Organization, said financial constraints affected communication between warning coordination meteorologists and local emergency officials ahead of the storm.

The role of the warning coordination meteorologist is to engage with emergency management and public safety, conduct training and exercises, and ensure preparedness for extreme weather, Fahy told Scripps News. That hasnt been happening since the beginning of the year. Those funds were frozen.

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The San Antonio weather office currently lacks a permanent science officer and warning coordination meteorologist, and the San Angelo office is without a permanent meteorologist-in-charge. While acting staff are filling those roles, Fahy warned that may not be feasible in all regions, potentially reducing lead time for critical forecasts and warnings.

About a month ago, President Donald Trump directed the National Weather Service and NOAA to begin filling job vacancies left open by early retirements as part of earlier efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce.

Fahy is now calling on the president to issue a directive to expedite hiring to fill nearly 100 open positions.

The health of U.S. children has deteriorated over the past 17 years, with kids today more likely to have obesity, chronic diseases and mental health problems like depression, a new study says.

Much of what researchers found was already known, but the study paints a comprehensive picture by examining various aspects of childrens physical and mental health at the same time.

The surprising part of the study wasnt any with any single statistic; it was that theres 170 indicators, eight data sources, all showing the same thing: a generalized decline in kids health, said Dr. Christopher Forrest, one of the authors of the study published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has brought children's health to the forefront of the national policy conversation, unveiling in May a much-anticipated Make America Healthy Again report that described kids as undernourished and overmedicated, and raised concerns about their lack of physical activity. But the Trump administration's actions including cuts to federal health agencies, Medicaid and scientific research are not likely to reverse the trend, according to outside experts who reviewed Mondays study.

The health of kids in America is not as good as it should be, not as good as the other countries, and the current policies of this administration are definitely going to make it worse, said Dr. Frederick Rivara, a pediatrician and researcher at the Seattle Children's Hospital and UW Medicine in Seattle. He co-authored an editorial accompanying the new study.

Forrest and his colleagues analyzed surveys, electronic health records from 10 pediatric health systems and international mortality statistics. Among their findings:

Obesity rates for U.S. children 2-19 years old rose from 17% in 2007-2008 to about 21% in 2021-2023.

A U.S. child in 2023 was 15% to 20% more likely than a U.S. child in 2011 to have a chronic condition such as anxiety, depression or sleep apnea, according to data reported by parents and doctors.

Annual prevalence rates for 97 chronic conditions recorded by doctors rose from about 40% in 2011 to about 46% in 2023.

Early onset of menstruation, trouble sleeping, limitations in activity, physical symptoms, depressive symptoms and loneliness also increased among American kids during the study period.

American children were around 1.8 times more likely to die than kids in other high-income countries from 2007-2022. Being born premature and sudden unexpected death were much higher among U.S. infants, and firearm-related incidents and motor vehicle crashes were much more common among 1-19-year-old American kids than among those the same age in other countries examined.

The research points to bigger problems with Americas health, said Forrest, who is a pediatrician at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia.

Kids are the canaries in the coal mine, he said. When kids health changes, its because theyre at increased vulnerability, and it reflects whats happening in society at large.

RELATED STORY | Alarming number of adolescents have prediabetes, new data from CDC says

The timing of the study, he said, is completely fortuitous." Well before the 2024 presidential election, Forrest was working on a book about thriving over the life span and couldnt find this sort of comprehensive data on childrens health.

The datasets analyzed have some limitations and may not be applicable to the full U.S. population, noted Dr. James Perrin, a pediatrician and spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics, who wasn't involved in the study.

The basic finding is true, he said.

The editorial published alongside the study said while the administration's MAHA movement is bringing welcome attention to chronic diseases, "it is pursuing other policies that will work against the interests of children. Those include eliminating injury prevention and maternal health programs, canceling investments in a campaign addressing sudden infant death and fueling vaccine hesitancy among parents that may lead to a resurgence of deadly vaccine-preventable diseases," authors wrote.

Officials from the U.S. Health and Human Services Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Forrest said risks highlighted by the MAHA report, such as eating too much ultra-processed food, are real but miss the complex reality driving trends in children's health.

We have to step back and take some lessons from the ecological sustainability community and say: Lets look at the ecosystem that kids are growing up in. And lets start on a kind of neighborhood-by-neighborhood, city-by-city basis, examining it, he said.

President Donald Trump's administration sued the California Department of Education on Wednesday for allowing transgender girls to compete on girls sports teams, alleging the policy violates federal law.

The move escalates an ongoing battle between the Republican administration in Washington and Democratic-led California over trans athletes competing in girls and women's sports.

The lawsuit filed by the Justice Department says California's transgender athlete policies violate Title IX, the federal law that bans discrimination in education based on sex. The department says California's rules "are not only illegal and unfair but also demeaning, signaling to girls that their opportunities and achievements are secondary to accommodating boys."

"These discriminatory policies and practices ignore undeniable biological differences between boys and girls, in favor of an amorphous 'gender identity,'" the lawsuit says. "The results of these illegal policies are stark: girls are displaced from podiums, denied awards, and miss out on critical visibility for college scholarships and recognition."

RELATED STORY | Supreme Court will take up a new case about which school sports teams transgender students can join

California has a more than decade-old law on the books that allows students to participate in sex-segregated school programs, including on sports teams, and use bathrooms and other facilities that align with their gender identity.

Trump criticized the participation of a transgender high school student-athlete who won titles in the California track-and-field championships last month. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon wrote in a letter after the meet that the sports body running the final violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution by allowing trans girls to compete against other female athletes.

The federal Education Department earlier this year launched an investigation into California's policies allowing athletes to compete on sports teams consistent with their gender identity. The agency said last month that the policies violate Title IX, and it gave the state 10 days to agree to change them. But the state this week refused.

Trump also sparred with Maine's Democratic governor over the state's transgender-athlete policies. Gov. Janet Mills told the president in February, "We'll see you in court," over his threats to pull funding to the state over the issue. His administration filed a lawsuit in April alleging Maine violated Title IX by allowing trans girls and women to compete against other female athletes.

Meantime, on his podcast in March, Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., angered some party allies when he questioned the fairness of trans girls competing in girls sports. GOP critics have called on the governor to back a ban, saying his remarks do not square with his actions.

The issue is part of a nationwide battle over the rights of transgender youth in which states have limited transgender girls from participating on girls sports teams, barred gender-affirming surgeries for minors and required parents to be notified if a child changes their pronouns at school. More than two dozen states have laws barring transgender women and girls from participating in certain sports competitions. Some of the policies have been blocked in court.

Trump signed an executive order in February aimed at barring trans girls and women from participating on sports teams consistent with their gender identity.

Proponents of a ban, including the conservative California Family Council, say it would restore fairness in athletic competitions. But opponents, including the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Equality California, say bans are an attack on transgender youth.

Chipmaker Nvidia became the first public company to top $4 trillion in value Wednesday after a two-year investor frenzy driven by the artificial intelligence boom.

Nvidia shares rose 2.5%, in early trading Wednesday, topping $164 each. At the beginning of 2023, Nvidia shares were around $14 each. The company's rise has been meteoric.

The Santa Clara, California, company, was founded in 1993. In just over a decade, it was worth $2 trillion. In June 2024, it reached $3 trillion.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | US stocks close at an all-time high just months after plunging on tariff fears

The companys invention of the graphics processor unit, or GPU, in 1999 helped spark the growth of the PC gaming market and redefined computer graphics. Now Nvidias specialized chips are key components that help power different forms of artificial intelligence, including the latest generative AI chatbots such as ChatGPT and Googles Gemini.

Huang has dubbed AI the next industrial revolution, and Nvidias GPUs are designed to perform artificial intelligence tasks faster and more efficiently than general-purpose chips like CPUs. Tech giants are snapping up Nvidia chips as they wade deeper into AI a movement thats enabling cars to drive by themselves, and generating stories, art and music.

Nvidia's innovation powered its rise, rapidly outgrowing Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet. The stocks movement carries more weight on the S&P 500 than any other company.

IN RELATED NEWS | How AI is playing a major role in national security

In its most recent quarter, Nvidia overcame tariff-driven turbulence to deliver another quarter of robust growth amid feverish demand for its high-powered AI chips. Nvidia notched a profit of $18.8 billion as its revenue surged 69% to $44.1 billion.

Nvidia reports its second-quarter results next month. Wall Street is expecting another quarter of record sales and profit for the company.

Nvidia and other companies benefiting from the AI boom have been a major reason the S&P 500 has climbed to record after record recently. Their explosion of profits has helped to propel the market despite worries about stubbornly high inflation and possible pain coming for the U.S. economy from tariffs and other policies of President Donald Trump.

A fierce protest in Mexico City railing against gentrification and mass tourism was fueled by government failures and active promotion to attract digital nomads, according to experts, who said tension had been mounting for years.

The criticism comes after Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum alleged that Friday's protest was marked by xenophobia, reviving a debate over an influx of Americans in the city.

Many Mexicans say they've been priced out of their neighborhoods in part because of a move made by Sheinbaum in 2022, when she was the Mexico City mayor and signed an agreement with Airbnb and UNESCO to boost tourism and attract digital nomads despite concern over the impact short-term rentals could have.

'Gringo: Stop stealing our home'

On Friday, that came to a head. A largely peaceful protest of hundreds of demonstrators marched through tourism centers of the city with signs reading "Gringo: Stop stealing our home" and "Housing regulations now!"

Near the end of the march, a group of protesters turned violent, breaking the windows of storefronts and looting a number of businesses. In one case, a protester slammed a butter knife against the window of a restaurant where people were hiding, and another person painted "kill a gringo" on a nearby wall.

"The xenophobic displays seen at that protest have to be condemned. No one should be able to say 'any nationality get out of our country' even over a legitimate problem like gentrification," Sheinbaum said Monday. "We've always been open, fraternal."

The frustrations were built upon years of mass tourism and rising rent prices in large swathes of the city. The influx of foreigners began around 2020, when Americans flooded into the Mexico City to work remotely, dodge coronavirus restrictions and take advantage of cheaper living costs.

In the years since, choice neighborhoods like Roma and Condesa, lush central areas dotted with cafes and markets, have grown increasingly populated by foreign tourists and the remote workers known as digital nomads, and there are more temporary housing units rented through companies like Airbnb that cater to tourists.

As they have, rent and living prices have soared and English has been increasingly common on the streets of those areas. Some groups have described the phenomenon as a sort of "neo-colonialism."

RELATED STORY | Cruise passengers to Mexico face new $5 surcharge starting July 1

Mounting tensions

The Mexico City Anti-Gentrification Front, one of the organizations behind the protest, it was "completely against" any acts of physical violence and denied that the protests were xenophobic. Instead, the organization said the protest was a result of years of failures by the local government to address the root of the problems.

"Gentrification isn't just foreigners' fault, it's the fault of the government and these companies that prioritize the money foreigners bring," the organization said in a statement. Meanwhile "young people and the working class can't afford to live here."

In its list of demands, the organization called for greater rent controls, mandates that locals have a voice in larger development projects in their area, stricter laws making it harder for landlords to throw out residents and prioritizing Mexican renters over foreigners.

Mexico's protest comes on the back of a wave of similar protests across Europe railing against mass tourism. Tensions in Mexico have also been compounded by wider inequalities and the Trump administration targeting Latino communities in the U.S. as it ramps up deportations.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security took a jab at protesters Sunday, writing in a post on the social media platform X: "If you are in the United States illegally and wish to join the next protest in Mexico City, use the CBP Home app to facilitate your departure."

Government failures

Protesters' cries against government failures were echoed by experts, who said that surging gentrification is a product of both the shortage of affordable housing in the city and longtime government failures to regulate the housing market.

Antonio Azuela, lawyer and sociologist and others said that they do see the protest as a xenophobic backlash, and around 2020 the core of the problem was the influx of "digital nomads" in the city, but it grew out of hand because of lax housing laws.

"What has made this explode is lack of regulation in the market," Azuela said.

Mexico City's government over the course of decades, has made a few efforts to control development and create affordable housing.

Legislators estimated there are about 2.7 million houses and apartments in the city, but it needs about 800,000 more. But such affordable housing developments that have popped up often are pushed off to the fringes of the city, said Luis Salinas, a researcher at National Autonomous University of Mexico who has studied gentrification in Mexico City for years.

RELATED STORY | Mexico's president wants boxer Chvez Jr. to serve time after US deportation

Taking advantage of 'insufficient' laws

Controls, meanwhile, have been marked by lack of enforcement, which developers travel services companies like Airbnb take advantage of, he said.

Today, more than 26,000 properties in Mexico City are currently listed on Airbnb, according to Inside Airbnb, an advocacy organization that tracks the company's impact on residential communities through data. That's compared to 36,000 properties in New York City and 19,000 in Barcelona, where protests have also broken out.

"The government has treated housing like it's merchandise," Salinas said. The actions the government is taking "are completely insufficient. The federal government needs to be intervening far more nowadays."

Airbnb said it helped contribute more than a billion dollars in "economic impact" to Mexico City last year and that spending by guests has supported 46,000 jobs in the city. "What's needed is regulation based not on prohibitions, but on respect for rights and transparency of obligations," it said in a statement.

Last year, Mexico City's government approved the most ambitious rent control law since the 1940s in an effort to control prices and also set caps on short-term rentals to 180 nights a year, but Salinas said that enforcement of short-term rental legislation has been put on pause until after the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

And even then, the country's government will have to take far greater actions to get the situation under control, said Azuela.

"This isn't going to end by just reigning in Airbnb," he said. "They're going to have to do a whole lot more."

Russia fired more than 700 attack and decoy drones at Ukraine overnight, topping previous nightly barrages for the third time in two weeks, part of Moscow's intensifying aerial and ground assault in the three-year war, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday.

Russia has recently sought to overwhelm Ukraine's air defenses by launching major attacks that include increasing numbers of decoy drones. The most recent one appeared aimed at disrupting Ukraines vital supply of Western weapons.

The city of Lutsk, home to airfields used by the Ukrainian army, was the hardest hit, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It lies near the border with Poland in western Ukraine, a region that is a crucial hub for receiving foreign military aid.

The attack comes at a time of increased uncertainty over the supply of crucial American weapons and as U.S.-led peace efforts have stalled. Zelenskyy said that the Kremlin was making a point with it.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces took aim at Ukrainian air bases and that all the designated targets have been hit. Meanwhile, Ukraine fired drones into Russia overnight, killing three people, officials said.

RELATED STORY | Trump says US must send more weapons to Ukraine, days after ordering pause in deliveries

The Russian attack, which included 728 drones and 13 missiles, had the largest number of drones fired in a single night in the war. On Friday, Russia fired 550 drones, less than a week after it launched 477, both the largest at the time, officials said.

Beyond Lutsk, 10 regions were struck. One person was killed in the Khmelnytskyi region, and two wounded in the Kyiv region, officials said.

Poland, a member of NATO, scrambled its fighter jets and put its armed forces on the highest level of alert in response to the attack, the Polish Armed Forces Operational Command wrote in an X post.

Russia's bigger army has also launched a new drive to punch through parts of the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where short-handed Ukrainian forces are under heavy strain.

Trump says the US must send more weapons to Ukraine

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he was not happy with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hasn't budged from his ceasefire and peace demands since Trump took office in January and began to push for a settlement.

Trump said Monday that the U.S. would have to send more weapons to Ukraine, just days after Washington paused critical weapons deliveries to Kyiv.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Trump has quite a tough style in terms of the phrasing he uses, adding that Moscow hopes to continue our dialogue with Washington and our course aimed at repairing the badly damaged bilateral ties.

Zelenskyy, meanwhile, urged Ukraines partners to impose stricter sanctions on Russian oil and those who help finance the Kremlins war by buying it.

Everyone who wants peace must act, Zelenskyy said. The Ukrainian leader met Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday during a visit to Italy ahead of an international conference on rebuilding Ukraine.

Both Russia and Ukraine look to build more drones

Ukraines air defenses shot down 296 drones and seven missiles during the overnight attack, while 415 more drones were lost from radars or jammed, an air force statement said.

Ukrainian interceptor drones, developed to counter the Shahed ones fired by Russia, are increasingly effective, Zelenskyy said, adding that domestic production of anti-aircraft drones is being scaled up in partnership with some Western countries.

Western military analysts say Russia is also boosting its drone manufacturing and could soon be capable of launching 1,000 a night at Ukraine.

Russia continues to expand its domestic drone production capacity amid the ever-growing role of tactical drones in front-line combat operations and Russias increasingly large nightly long-range strike packages against Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said late Tuesday.

RELATED STORY | Operation Spider Web: How Ukraine rewrote the rules of drone warfare

Ukraine has also built up its own offensive drone threat, reaching deep into Russia with some long-range strikes.

Russias Defense Ministry said Wednesday that air defenses downed 86 Ukrainian drones over six Russian regions overnight, including the Moscow region.

Flights were temporarily suspended at Moscows Sheremetyevo airport and the international airport of Kaluga, south of Moscow.

The governor of Russias Kursk border region, Alexander Khinshtein, said a Ukrainian drone attack on the regions capital city just before midnight killed three people and wounded seven others, including a 5-year-old boy.

Meanwhile, Europes top human rights court ruled Wednesday that Russia had violated international law during the war in Ukraine, the first time an international court has found Moscow responsible for human rights abuses since the full-scale invasion in 2022.

The court also ruled Russia was behind the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, the first time Moscow was named by an international court as being responsible for the 2014 tragedy that claimed 298 lives. Any decision is largely symbolic.

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company said Wednesday that it's taking down inappropriate posts" made by its Grok chatbot, which appeared to include antisemitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler.

Grok was developed by Musks xAI and pitched as alternative to woke AI interactions from rival chatbots like Googles Gemini, or OpenAIs ChatGPT.

Musk said Friday that Grok has been improved significantly, and users should notice a difference.

Since then, Grok has shared several antisemitic posts, including the trope that Jews run Hollywood, and denied that such a stance could be described as Nazism.

Labeling truths as hate speech stifles discussion, Grok said.

It also appeared to praise Hitler, according to screenshots of a post that has now apparently been deleted.

We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts, the Grok account posted early Wednesday, without being more specific.

"Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X. xAI is training only truth-seeking and thanks to the millions of users on X, we are able to quickly identify and update the model where training could be improved.

RELATED STORY | Elon Musk's AI company debuts its new chatbot, Grok

Also Wednesday, a court in Turkey ordered a ban on Grok after it spread content insulting to Turkey's President and others.

The pro-government A Haber news channel reported that Grok posted vulgarities against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his late mother and well-known personalities. Offensive responses were also directed toward modern Turkeys founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatrk, other media outlets said.

That prompted the Ankara public prosecutor to file for the imposition of restrictions under Turkeys internet law, citing a threat to public order. A criminal court approved the request early on Wednesday, ordering the countrys telecommunications authority to enforce the ban.

It's not the first time Grok's behavior has raised questions.

Earlier this year the chatbot kept talking about South African racial politics and the subject of white genocide despite being asked a variety of questions, most of which had nothing to do with the country. An unauthorized modification was behind the problem, xAI said.

New details of the Gaza ceasefire proposal emerged on Sunday as Israel sent a negotiating team to Qatar ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's White House visit for talks toward an agreement. Inside the territory, hospital officials said Israeli airstrikes killed at least 38 Palestinians.

There are 20 hostages that are alive, 30 dead. I am determined, we are determined, to bring them all back. And we will also be determined to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel, Netanyahu said before departing, emphasizing the goal of eliminating Hamas' military and governing power.

A person familiar with the negotiations shared with The Associated Press a copy of the latest ceasefire proposal submitted by mediators to Hamas, and its veracity was confirmed by two other people familiar with the document. All three spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive talks with the media.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | Trump says Israel has agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and urges Hamas to accept deal

The document outlines plans for a 60-day ceasefire during which Hamas would hand over 10 living and 18 dead hostages, Israeli forces would withdraw to a buffer zone along Gazas borders with Israel and Egypt, and significant amounts of aid would be brought in. The document says the aid would be distributed by United Nations agencies and the Palestinian Red Crescent. It does not specify what would happen to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the American organization that has distributed food aid since May. Israel wants it to replace the U.N.-coordinated system.

A Trump guarantee

As in previous ceasefire agreements, Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli facilities would be released in exchange for the hostages, but the number is not yet agreed upon.

The proposal stops short of guaranteeing a permanent end to the war a condition demanded by Hamas -- but says negotiations for a permanent ceasefire would take place during the 60 days. During that time, President (Donald) Trump guarantees Israels adherence to halting military operations, the document says, adding that Trump will personally announce the ceasefire agreement.

The personal guarantee by Trump appeared to be an attempt to reassure Hamas that Israel would not unilaterally resume fighting as it did in March during a previous ceasefire, when talks to extend it appeared to stall.

Trump said last week that Israel had agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire, but it was unclear if the terms were those in the document reviewed by the AP. Hamas has requested some changes but has not specified them.

Separately, an Israeli official said the security Cabinet late Saturday approved sending aid into northern Gaza, where civilians suffer from acute food shortages. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the decision with the media, declined to give more details.

Northern Gaza has seen just a trickle of aid enter since Israel ended the latest ceasefire in March. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's closest distribution site is near the Netzarim corridor south of Gaza City that separates the territory's north and south.

Israel hits 130 targets across Gaza

Israeli strikes hit two houses in Gaza City, killing 20 Palestinians and wounding 25 others, according to Mohammed Abu Selmia, director of Shifa Hospital, which serves the area.

Israel's military said it struck several Hamas fighters in two locations in the area of Gaza City.

In southern Gaza, Israeli strikes killed 18 Palestinians in Muwasi on the Mediterranean coast, where thousands of displaced people live in tents, said officials at Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis. It said two families were among the dead.

My brother, his wife, his four children, my cousins son and his daughter. ... Eight people are gone, said Saqer Abu Al-Kheir as people gathered on the sand for prayers and burials.

Israel's military had no immediate comment on those strikes but said it struck 130 targets across Gaza in the past 24 hours. It claimed it targeted Hamas command and control structures, storage facilities, weapons and launchers, and that they killed a number of militants in northern Gaza.

Rift over ending the war

Ahead of the indirect talks with Hamas in Qatar, Netanyahus office asserted that the militant group was seeking unacceptable changes to the ceasefire proposal. Hamas gave a positive response late Friday to the latest proposal.

The militant group has sought guarantees that the initial truce would lead to a total end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Previous negotiations have stalled over Hamas demands of guarantees that further negotiations would lead to the wars end, while Netanyahu has insisted Israel would resume fighting to ensure the groups destruction.

The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Most have been released in earlier ceasefires. Israel responded with an offensive that has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gazas Health Ministry.

The ministry, which is under Gazas Hamas government, does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The U.N. and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.

Australian woman Erin Patterson was found guilty Monday of murdering three of her estranged husband's relatives by deliberately serving them poisonous mushrooms for lunch.

The jury in the Supreme Court trial in Victoria state returned a verdict after six days of deliberations, following a nine-week trial that gripped Australia. Patterson faces life in prison and will be sentenced later, but a date for the hearing hasn't yet been scheduled.

Patterson, who sat in the dock between two prison officers, showed no emotion but blinked rapidly as the verdicts were read.

Three of Patterson's four lunch guests her parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson died in the hospital after the 2023 meal at her home in Leongatha, at which she served individual beef Wellington pastries containing death cap mushrooms.

She was also found guilty of attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson, Heather's husband, who survived the meal.

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The jury concluded she poisoned her guests on purpose

It wasn't disputed that Patterson served the mushrooms or that the pastries killed her guests. The jury was required to decide whether she knew the lunch contained death caps, and if she intended for them to die.

The guilty verdicts, which were required to be unanimous, indicated that jurors rejected Patterson's defense that the presence of the poisonous fungi in the meal was a terrible accident, caused by the mistaken inclusion of foraged mushrooms that she didn't know were death caps. Prosecutors didn't offer a motive for the killings, but during the trial highlighted strained relations between Patterson and her estranged husband and frustration that she had felt about his parents in the past.

The case turned on the question of whether Patterson meticulously planned a triple murder or accidentally killed three people she loved, including her children's only surviving grandparents. Her lawyers said she had no reason to do so she had recently moved to a beautiful new home, was financially comfortable, had sole custody of her children and was due to begin studying for a degree in nursing and midwifery.

But prosecutors suggested Patterson had two faces the woman who publicly appeared to have a good relationship with her parents-in-law, while her private feelings about them were kept hidden. Her relationship with her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, who was invited to the fatal lunch but didn't go, deteriorated in the year before the deaths, the prosecution said.

Every moment of the fatal lunch was examined

The simplest facts of what happened that day and immediately afterward were hardly disputed. But Patterson's motivations for what she did and why were pored over in detail during the lengthy trial, at which more than 50 witnesses were called.

The individual beef Wellington pastries Patterson served her guests were one point of friction because the recipe she used contained directions for a single, family-sized portion. Prosecutors said that she reverted to individual servings, so she could lace the other diners' portions, but not her own, with the fatal fungi but Patterson said that she was unable to find the correct ingredients to make the recipe as directed.

Nearly every other detail of the fateful day was scrutinized at length, including why Patterson sent her children out to a film before her guests arrived, why she added additional dried mushrooms to the recipe from her pantry, why she didn't become ill when the other diners did, and why she disposed of a food dehydrator after the deaths and told investigators that she didn't own one.

Patterson acknowledged some lies during her evidence including that she'd never foraged mushrooms or owned a dehydrator. But she said that those claims were made in panic as she realized her meal had killed people.

She said she didn't become as ill as the other diners since she vomited after the meal because of an eating disorder. She denied that she told her guests she had cancer as a ruse to explain why she invited them to her home that day.

The case gripped Australia

The bizarre and tragic case has lingered in the minds of Australians and has provoked fervor among the public and media. During the trial, five separate podcasts analyzed each day of the proceedings and several news outlets ran live blogs giving moment-by-moment accounts of more than two months of evidence.

At least one television drama and a documentary about the case are slated for production. Prominent Australian crime writers were seen in court throughout the trial.

As it emerged half an hour before the verdict that the court was reconvening, about 40 members of the public queued outside the courthouse in the rural town of Morwell in the hope of watching the outcome in person. News outlets reported that family members of the victims were not among those present.

Before the verdict, newspapers published photos of black privacy screens erected at the entrance to Erin Patterson's home. Dozens of reporters from throughout Australia and from news outlets abroad crowded around friends of Patterson's as they left the courthouse Monday.

"I'm saddened, but it is what it is," said one friend, Ali Rose Prior, who wore sunglasses and fought back tears. Asked what she thought Patterson felt as the verdicts were read, Prior said, "I don't know."

Prior, who attended every day of the trial, confirmed Patterson had told her: "See you soon." Prior said she would visit her friend in prison.

A man with an assault rifle fired dozens of rounds at federal agents and a U.S. Border Patrol facility in Texas on Monday, injuring a police officer, before authorities shot and killed him.

Authorities identified the shooter as Ryan Louis Mosqueda, believed to be 27, who they said shot at agents exiting the building, which is near the U.S.-Mexico border. McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez said Mosqueda had a utility vest in addition to the rifle when federal agents returned fire.

Hours before the attack in McAllen, Mosquedas father was stopped by Weslaco police around 2:30 a.m. for a traffic violation, according to police spokesperson Heriberto Caraveo. The father told police that he was looking for his son, who he said had psychological issues and was carrying weapons in his car, Caraveo told The Associated Press.

Police say the white two-door sedan that Mosqueda drove to the facility had letters painted possibly in Latin on the drivers side door.

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What it means, or whether or not it is an underlying reason for him being here, I do not know, Rodriguez said when asked about the graffiti.

After Mosqueda was killed, law enforcement found other weaponry, ammunition and backpacks inside the vehicle.

There are many, many more rounds of ammunition in his backpack, Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said his department received a call about the shooting around 5:50 a.m. One officer who responded to the shooting, a 10-year veteran, was injured after being struck in the knee. Rodriguez said it was unclear if the injury was from shrapnel or a bullet.

Police say Mosqueda was linked to a Michigan address, but was reported missing from a Weslaco, Texas, address around 4 a.m. Monday. Weslaco is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the Border Patrol facility.

An hour and a few minutes later, he was at this particular location opening fire on the federal building and our federal agents, Rodriguez said.

The exact details of the missing person report were not immediately shared with the media.

Rodriguez said there is no ongoing threat to the public, but it is unknown if any other people were involved in the attack. He said the motive and events leading up to the attack are part of the ongoing investigation, which the FBI is taking the lead on.

The attack comes as President Donald Trump 's administration ramps up deportations, which will be turbocharged by a massive spending bill that became law last week. Stephen Miller, the presidents deputy chief of staff and chief architect of his immigration policies, recently set a target of at least 3,000 immigration arrests a day, up from about 650 a day during the first five months of the administration.

Texas parents frantically posted photos of their young daughters on social media with pleas for information as more than 20 campers from an all-girls summer camp were unaccounted for Friday after floods tore through the state's south-central region.

At least 13 people were dead Friday and dozens missing after months worth of heavy rain fell in a matter of hours on Texas Hill Country, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said. The flood-prone region is dotted with century-old summer camps that draw thousands of kids annually from across the Lone Star State.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said about 23 girls attending Camp Mystic, a Christian camp along the Guadalupe River in Hunt, Texas, were unaccounted for Friday afternoon. Search teams were working to conduct helicopter and boat rescues in the fast-moving floodwaters.

Im asking the people of Texas, do some serious praying this afternoon on-your-knees kind of praying that we find these young girls, Patrick said.

Dozens of families shared in local Facebook groups that they received devastating phone calls from safety officials informing them that their daughters had not yet been located among the washed-away camp cabins and downed trees. Some were waiting to hear if their children could be evacuated by helicopter. Nine rescue teams, 14 helicopters and 12 drones were being used in the search, Patrick said.

Camp Mystic said in an email to parents that if they have not been contacted directly, their child is accounted for. Safety officials said there were roughly 750 campers.

At an elementary school in nearby Ingram that was being used as a reunification center, more than a hundred people milled around a courtyard with hopes of seeing their loved one step out of buses dropping off those who had been evacuated. One young girl wearing a Camp Mystic T-shirt stood in a puddle in her white socks, sobbing in her mother's arms as she rubbed her hands together and watched the buses arrive.

Many families hoped to see loved ones who had been at campgrounds and mobile home parks in the area.

Camp Mystic sits on a strip known as flash flood alley, said Austin Dickson, CEO of the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, a charitable endowment that is collecting donations to help nonprofits responding to the disaster.

When it rains, water doesnt soak into the soil, Dickson said. It rushes down the hill.

Decades prior, floodwaters engulfed a bus of teenage campers from another Christian camp along the Guadalupe River during devastating summer storms in 1987. A total of 10 campers from Pot O Gold Christian camp drowned after their bus was unable to evacuate in time from a site near Comfort, 33 miles (53 kilometers) east of Hunt.

Leaders at Camp Mystic said they are without power, Wi-Fi and running water, and the highway leading to the camp has washed away.

Two other camps on the river, Camp Waldemar and Camp La Junta, said in Instagram posts that all campers and staff there were safe.

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday that Mexico hadn't previously arrested boxer Julio Csar Chvez Jr. on a 2023 arrest order, because he had been mostly been in the United States since.

Sheinbaum spoke a day after U.S. authorities announced the boxers arrest in California for overstaying his visa and lying on a green card application. He was being processed for expedited removal, according to U.S. authorities.

The hope is that he will be deported and serve the sentence in Mexico, Sheinbaum said during her daily news briefing Friday, referring to charges that he faces for arms and drug trafficking.

The 39-year-old boxer, according to his attorney Michael Goldstein, was picked up Wednesday by a large number of federal agents while he was riding a scooter in front of a home where he resides in the upscale Los Angeles neighborhood of Studio City near Hollywood.

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The arrest came only days after the former middleweight champion lost a match against influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul in Anaheim, California.

He split his time between both countries. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained Chvez for overstaying a tourist visa that he entered the U.S. with in August 2023 and expired in February 2024, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said.

The agency also said Chvez submitted multiple fraudulent statements when he applied for permanent residency on April 2, 2024, based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen, Frida Muoz. She is the mother of a granddaughter of imprisoned Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquin El Chapo Guzman.

U.S. officials said that he's believed to have ties to the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, which is blamed for a significant portion of Mexicos drug violence.

The Fourth of July holiday, also known as Independence Day, celebrates the Second Continental Congress unanimous adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

A year later, according to the Library of Congress, a spontaneous celebration in Philadelphia marked the anniversary of American independence.

But observations werent commonplace until after the War of 1812, when they quickly took off. Congress was late to the party, finally passing a law making Independence Day a federal holiday on June 28, 1870.

Heres what is open and closed this year on the Fourth of July:

Government buildings

Government offices, post offices, courts and schools are closed.

Banks and the stock market

U.S. stock markets and banks are closed Friday. Most FedEx and UPS pickup and delivery services will also not be available.

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Retailers

Warehouse membership club Costco is closed on July Fourth. Most other major national retailers such as Target and Walmart will be open, with some offering promotional sales to lure customers. Most grocery stores are also open. Hours may vary by location, so check your local store.

Travel

Millions of Americans are expected to hit the road, taking advantage of the Fourth of July falling on a Friday this year.

Spokeswoman Adrienne Woodland said AAA is forecasting that a record 72.2 million Americans will travel domestically between June 28 and July 6, an increase of 1.7 million over last year and 7 million more than in 2019. AAA estimates 61.6 million Americans will drive and 5.8 million travelers will fly.

Woodland recommended that anyone traveling over the holiday should consider taking precautions, including a pre-trip inspection of their vehicle to avoid issues such as dead batteries, flat tires and empty gas tanks.

Waves of drone and missile attacks targeted Kyiv overnight into Friday in the largest aerial assault since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began more than three years ago, officials said, amid a renewed Russian push to capture more of its neighbor's land.

The barrage injured at least 23 people and inflicted severe damage across multiple districts of the capital in a seven-hour onslaught. Blasts lit up the night sky and echoed across the city as air raid sirens wailed. The blue lights of emergency vehicles reflected off high-rise buildings, and debris blocked city streets.

It was a harsh, sleepless night, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Russia has been stepping up its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities. Less than a week ago Russia launched what was then the largest aerial assault of the war. That strategy has coincided with a concerted Russian effort to break through parts of the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where Ukrainian troops are under severe pressure.

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Russia launched 550 drones and missiles across Ukraine during the night, the countrys air force said. The majority were Shahed drones, but Russia also launched 11 missiles in the attack.

Alya Shahlai, a 23-year-old Kyiv wedding photographer, said her home was destroyed in the attack.

We were all in the (basement) shelter because it was so loud, staying home would have been suicidal, she told The Associated Press. We went down 10 minutes before and then there was a loud explosion and the lights went out in the shelter, people were panicking.

Trump not happy with Russia's attacks

The attack on Kyiv began the same day a phone call took place between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelenskyy called the timing of the strikes a deliberate signal that Moscow has no intention of ending the war.

Trump said he would call Zelenskyy on Friday. U.S.-led international peace efforts have been fruitless so far. Recent direct peace talks have led only to sporadic exchanges of prisoners of war, wounded troops and the bodies of fallen soldiers. No date has been set for further negotiations.

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Ukrainian officials and the Russian Defense Ministry said another prisoner swap took place Friday, though neither side said how many soldiers were involved. Zelenskyy said most of the Ukrainians had been in Russian captivity since 2022. The Ukrainian soldiers were classified as wounded and seriously ill.

When asked if he made any progress during his call with Putin on a deal to end the fighting in Ukraine, Trump said: No, I didnt make any progress with him today at all.

Im very disappointed with the conversation I had today with President Putin because I dont think hes there. I dont think hes looking to stop (the fighting), and thats too bad, Trump said.

According to Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign affairs adviser, the Russian leader emphasized that Moscow will seek to achieve its goals in Ukraine and remove the root causes of the conflict.

Russia will not back down from these goals, Ushakov told reporters after the call.

Russias army crossed the border on Feb. 24, 2022, in an all-out invasion that Putin sought to justify by falsely saying it was needed to protect Russian-speaking civilians in eastern Ukraine and prevent the country from joining NATO. Zelenskyy has repeatedly called out Russian disinformation efforts.

Pentagon halts deliveries of air defense missiles

The U.S. has paused some shipments of military aid to Ukraine, including crucial air defense missiles. Ukraines main European backers are considering how they can help pick up the slack. Zelenskyy says plans are afoot to build up Ukraine's domestic arms industry, but scaling up will take time.

The Ukrainian response needs to be speedy as Russia escalates its aerial attacks. Russia launched 5,438 drones at Ukraine in June, a new monthly record, according to official data collated by The Associated Press. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said earlier this week that Russia also launched more than 330 missiles, including nearly 80 ballistic missiles, at Ukrainian towns and cities that month.

Throughout the night, AP journalists in Kyiv heard the constant buzzing of drones overhead and the sound of explosions and intense machine gun fire as Ukrainian forces tried to intercept the aerial assault.

Absolutely horrible and sleepless night in Kyiv, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on social media platform X. One of the worst so far.

Ukraines Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko described families running into metro stations, basements, underground parking garages, mass destruction in the heart of our capital.

What Kyiv endured last night, cannot be called anything but a deliberate act of terror, she wrote on X.

Kyiv was the primary target of the countrywide attack. At least 14 people were hospitalized, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

Zelenskyy called the Kyiv attack cynical. In Moscow, the Defense Ministry claimed its forces targeted factories producing drones and other military equipment in Kyiv.

Russia strikes 5 Ukrainian regions

Ukrainian air defenses shot down 270 targets, including two cruise missiles. Another 208 targets were lost from radar and presumed jammed.

Russia successfully hit eight locations with nine missiles and 63 drones. Debris from intercepted drones fell across at least 33 sites.

In addition to the capital, the Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Kyiv regions also sustained damage, Zelenskyy said.

Emergency services reported damage in at least five of Kyiv's 10 districts.

Republicans muscled President Donald Trump's tax and spending cut bill through the House on Thursday, the final step necessary to get the bill to his desk by the GOP's self-imposed deadline of July 4th.

At nearly 900 pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations.

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Democrats united against the legislation, but were powerless to stop it as long as Republicans stayed united. The Senate passed the bill, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tiebreaking vote. The House passed an earlier iteration of the bill in May with just one vote to spare. It passed the final version 218-214.

Here's the latest on what's in the bill.

Tax cuts are the priority

Republicans say the bill is crucial because there would be a massive tax increase after December when tax breaks from Trump's first term expire. The legislation contains about $4.5 trillion in tax cuts.

The existing tax rates and brackets would become permanent under the bill, solidifying the tax cuts approved in Trump's first term.

It would temporarily add new tax deductions on tip, overtime and auto loans. There's also a $6,000 deduction for older adults who earn no more than $75,000 a year, a nod to his pledge to end taxes on Social Security benefits.

It would boost the $2,000 child tax credit to $2,200. Millions of families at lower income levels would not get the full credit.

A cap on state and local deductions, called SALT, would quadruple to $40,000 for five years. It's a provision important to New York and other high tax states, though the House wanted it to last for 10 years.

There are scores of business-related tax cuts, including allowing businesses to immediately write off 100% of the cost of equipment and research. Proponents say this will boost economic growth.

The wealthiest households would see a $12,000 increase from the legislation, and the bill would cost the poorest people $1,600 a year, mainly due to reductions in Medicaid and food aid, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis of the House's version.

Money for deportations, a border wall and the Golden Dome

The bill would provide some $350 billion for Trump's border and national security agenda, including for the U.S.-Mexico border wall and for 100,000 migrant detention facility beds, as he aims to fulfill his promise of the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history.

Money would go for hiring 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, with $10,000 signing bonuses and a surge of Border Patrol officers, as well. The goal is to deport some 1 million people per year.

To help pay for it, immigrants would face various new fees, including when seeking asylum protections.

For the Pentagon, the bill would provide billions for ship building, munitions systems, and quality of life measures for servicemen and women, as well as $25 billion for the development of the Golden Dome missile defense system. The Defense Department would have $1 billion for border security.

How to pay for it? Cuts to Medicaid and other programs

To help partly offset the lost tax revenue and new spending, Republicans aim to cut back on Medicaid and food assistance for people below the poverty line .

Republicans argue they are trying to rightsize the safety net programs for the population they were initially designed to serve, mainly pregnant women, the disabled and children, and root out what they describe as waste, fraud and abuse.

The package includes new 80-hour-a-month work requirements for many adults receiving Medicaid and food stamps, including older people up to age 65. Parents of children 14 and older would have to meet the programs work requirements.

There's also a proposed new $35 co-payment that can be charged to patients using Medicaid services.

More than 71 million people rely on Medicaid, which expanded under Obama's Affordable Care Act, and 40 million use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Most already work, according to analysts.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034 if the bill became law and 3 million more would not qualify for food stamps, also known as SNAP benefits.

Republicans are looking to have states pick up some of the cost for SNAP benefits. Currently, the federal government funds all benefit costs. Under the bill, states beginning in 2028 will be required to contribute a set percentage of those costs if their payment error rate exceeds 6%. Payment errors include both underpayments and overpayments.

But the Senate bill temporarily delays the start date of that cost-sharing for states with the highest SNAP error rates. Alaska has the highest error rate in the nation at nearly 25%, according to Department of Agriculture data. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, had fought for the exception. She was a decisive vote in getting the bill through the Senate.

A death sentence for clean energy?

Republicans are proposing to dramatically roll back tax breaks designed to boost clean energy projects fueled by renewable sources such as energy and wind. The tax breaks were a central component of President Joe Biden's 2022 landmark bill focused on addressing climate change and lowering health care costs.

Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden went so far as to call the GOP provisions a death sentence for Americas wind and solar industries and an inevitable hike in utility bills.

A tax break for people who buy new or used electric vehicles would expire on Sept. 30 of this year, instead of at the end of 2032 under current law.

Meanwhile, a tax credit for the production of critical materials will be expanded to include metallurgical coal used in steelmaking.

Trump savings accounts and so, so much more

A number of extra provisions reflect other GOP priorities.

The bill creates a new children's savings program, called Trump Accounts, with a potential $1,000 deposit from the Treasury.

The Senate provided $40 million to establish Trumps long-sought National Garden of American Heroes.

There's a new excise tax on university endowments and a new tax on remittances, or transfers of money that people in the U.S. send abroad. The tax is equal to 1% of the transfer.

A $200 tax on gun silencers and short-barreled rifles and shotguns was eliminated.

One provision bars for one year Medicaid payments to family planning providers that provide abortions, namely Planned Parenthood.

Another section expands the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, a hard-fought provision from GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, for those impacted by nuclear development and testing.

Billions would go for the Artemis moon mission and for the exploration of Mars, while $88 million is earmarked for a pandemic response accountability committee.

Additionally, a provision would increase the nation's debt limit, by $5 trillion, to allow continued borrowing to pay already accrued bills.

Last-minute changes

The Senate overwhelmingly revolted against a proposal meant to deter states from regulating artificial intelligence. Republican governors across the country asked for the moratorium to be removed and the Senate voted to do so with a resounding 99-1 vote.

A provision was thrown in at the final hours that will provide $10 billion annually to rural hospitals for five years, or $50 billion in total. The Senate bill had originally provided $25 billion for the program, but that number was upped to win over holdout GOP senators and a coalition of House Republicans warning that reduced Medicaid provider taxes would hurt rural hospitals.

The amended bill also stripped out a new tax on wind and solar projects that use a certain percentage of components from China.

What's the final cost?

Altogether, the Congressional Budget Office projects that the bill would increase federal deficits over the next 10 years by nearly $3.3 trillion from 2025 to 2034.

Or not, depending on how one does the math.

Senate Republicans are proposing a unique strategy of not counting the existing tax breaks as a new cost because those breaks are already current policy. Republican senators say the Senate Budget Committee chairman has the authority to set the baseline for the preferred approach.

Under the alternative Senate GOP view, the bill would reduce deficits by almost half a trillion dollars over the coming decade, the CBO said.

Democrats say this is magic math that obscures the true costs of the tax breaks. Some nonpartisan groups worried about the country's fiscal trajectory are siding with Democrats in that regard. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says Senate Republicans were employing an accounting gimmick that would make Enron executives blush.

Nissan is recalling more than 480,000 of its vehicles across the U.S. and Canada due to potential manufacturing defects that could cause engine failure.

The recall covers certain Nissan Rogues between 2021-2024 model years and 2019-2020 Altimas as well as a number of 2019-2022 Infiniti QX50s and 2022 Infiniti QX55s sold under the automaker's luxury brand, according to Nissan and documents published by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration this week.

The vehicles impacted carry specific "VC-Turbo" engines that may have manufacturing defects in their bearings, the NHTSA's recall report notes. This may cause engine damage and possibly lead to engine failure while driving, the regulator warns increasing crash risks.

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Engine bearing failures "are not typically instantaneous and tend to progress over time," the NHTSA's recall report notes. That means effected drivers may see multiple warning signs to look out for including abnormal noises or malfunction indicator lights.

In the U.S., 443,899 vehicles are covered in this recall, per NHTSA documents. And in Canada, 37,837 are affected, a Nissan spokesperson confirmed to The Associated Press on Thursday.

As a remedy, the NHSTA's recall report notes, Nissan and Infiniti dealers will inspect the engine pan of these-now recalled cars and repair or replace the engine if necessary. The recall covers vehicles with either 3-cylinder 1.5L or 4-cylinder 2.0L VC-Turbo engines. Potential repairs which will be performed free of charge will depend on the engine and whether or not debris is detected during the inspection.

In an emailed statement, Nissan said it initiated this recall as part of its "ongoing commitment to customer safety." And in late August, the company added, notification letters will be mailed out to affected owners "with instructions to bring their vehicle to a Nissan dealer or INFINITI retailer for inspection and repair if necessary."

In the meantime, drivers can also confirm if their specific vehicle is included in this recall and find more information using the NHTSA site or Nissan's recall lookup.