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Moscow has launched extensive drone strikes against Ukraine for a third consecutive night, killing at least six people, as Donald Trump broke his silence to suggest Vladimir Putin had “gone crazy”.
Overnight on Monday, Russia fired a record 355 Shahed drones as well as nine cruise missiles, in an escalating drone campaign targeting cities and communities, with Ukraine’s air force spokesperson, Yuriy Ignat, calling it the largest drone attack since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
While the US president railed against Putin, saying he had “gone absolutely CRAZY”, he also criticized the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for calling out US inaction against Russia.
What did Trump say about Putin? “Something has happened to [Putin]. He has gone absolutely CRAZY!” Trump said of the Russian president on Truth Social. “I’ve always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia!”
What did he say about Zelenskyy? He said the Ukrainian president was “doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does”. He added: “Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop.”
Head of US-backed Gaza aid group resigns, saying he will not abandon ‘principles’
The head of a US-backed private humanitarian organization tasked with distributing aid in Gaza using an Israeli-initiated plan resigned yesterday, saying that the operation could not fulfil its mission in a way that adhered to “humanitarian principles”.
Jake Wood announced his resignation in a statement from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), adding fresh uncertainty to the operation’s future.
The foundation, which has been based in Geneva since February, has vowed to distribute 300m meals in its first 90 days of operation. But the United Nations and traditional aid agencies have already said they will not cooperate with the group, fearing it violates “fundamental humanitarian principles” and breaches international law.
What else is happening in the Israel-Gaza war? An Israeli strike killed dozens of Palestinians early this morning, including people sleeping in a school serving as a shelter, according to local health officials. Israel’s military said it targeted militants operating from the school.
Commission president secures EU tariffs delay after talk with Trump
Trump has announced that he will pause his threatened 50% tariffs on the European Union until 9 July, after a “very nice call” with the EU chief, Ursula von der Leyen.
The European Commission president announced in a social media post that she had spoken with Trump and secured the delay to give the two sides more time to negotiate.
“Europe is ready to advance talks swiftly and decisively,” von der Leyen wrote. “To reach a good deal, we would need the time until 9 July.”
Brussels and Washington have been locked in negotiations in a bid to avert an all-out transatlantic trade war, after Trump’s tariff threat on Friday dramatically raised the stakes.
What did Trump say on Friday? The US president warned he would impose 50% tariffs on all of the bloc’s imports into the US, saying “discussions with them are going nowhere”, adding that the tariffs would be applied from 1 June, repeating his longstanding view that European states had “banded together to take advantage of us”.
In other news …
A Georgia police officer resigned from his job on Friday after erroneously pulling over a teenager, causing her to be sent to a federal immigration jail, and leaving her facing deportation.
While many teachers ban smartphones from their classrooms, in Estonia – regarded as the new European education powerhouse – students are regularly asked to use their devices in class, and from September they will be given their own AI accounts.
Elon Musk, the US president’s billionaire backer, was ever-present at the start of Trump’s term but is now pulling back from politics – and Republicans want to keep it that way.
Don’t miss this: George Floyd’s family fights for sacred ground where he took his last breath
Five years since George Floyd’s murder, the question of what to do with the place where he died has served as an existential conflict for Minneapolis as a split city council decides how best to commemorate the site of his death and the birthplace of a global racial justice movement. As the city council deliberates on development plans, his family, including Thomas McLaurin, his uncle, and Roger Floyd, his cousin, want the area to be commemorated as a historic site.
… or this: How Trump is turning American democracy against itself
Unlike autocracies such as Russia or China, the US has strong liberal guardrails to prevent a dictatorship: a sturdy commitment to the separation of church and state; the distribution of powers between legislature, judiciary and executive; and a deep antipathy towards tyrants, royal or otherwise. Trump thus comes to his dictatorship fantasy faced with a globally unmatched set of institutional powers that could theoretically stand in his way. But Trump has a plan for dismantling them.
Climate check: Scientists seek to save Florida’s dying reefs with hardy nursery-grown coral
A taskforce of experts looking into the mass bleaching and decline of Florida’s delicate coral reefs is planting more than 1,000 nursery-grown juveniles from the reef-building elkhorn species in a new effort to reverse the tide of destruction.
Last Thing: Almost 200 Marilyn Monroe lookalikes join Irish charity swim
Almost 200 Marilyn Monroe lookalikes have made a splash by taking part in a themed charity swim at an Irish beach. Sporting retro swimsuits and blond wigs, swimmers dressed as the film star took the plunge at Balcarrick beach in Donabate, County Dublin, for Marilyn’s Mater Paddle.
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