Good morning.
President Donald Trump and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, have given Hamas an ultimatum, warning the militant group to accept their 20-point peace plan or face the consequences.
Mahmoud Mardawi, a Hamas official, said the group had not even received the plan at the time of the announcement, the Reuters news agency reported. It was later briefed that Qatari and Egyptian mediators met with Hamas on Monday evening to provide them with it.
Trump and Netanyahu made clear that they were not giving Hamas a choice, with Trump saying that if the group refused the plan, “Israel would have my full backing to finish the job of destroying the threat of Hamas”. Netanyahu said if Hamas did not accept, “Israel will finish the job by itself”.
What does the plan call for? A ceasefire, a swap of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, a staged Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, Hamas disarmament and a transitional government led by an international body.
Trump talks with Democrats fail to yield breakthrough as US shutdown nears
JD Vance said the US government was “headed into a shutdown” after a meeting between Trump and top congressional Democrats on Monday resulted in no apparent breakthrough in negotiations.
Democrats are refusing to back Republicans’ legislation to continue funding after Tuesday, unless it includes certain healthcare provisions. They appeared more positive after the Oval Office meeting. The Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, said he had spoken to the president about the state of healthcare and believed Trump “seemed to, for the first time, understand the magnitude of this crisis”.
What healthcare provisions are Democrats demanding? An extension of subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans, which expire at the end of the year, and a reversal of Medicaid cuts.
How would a shutdown be received? 45% of voters would blame congressional Republicans for a shutdown, while 32% would blame Democrats, according to polling from Morning Consult.
Mormon church shooting suspect had Trump sign outside home, records show
The man believed to have shot dead at least four worshippers on Sunday at a Mormon church in Michigan had a sign bearing Trump’s name on his house, public records show.
Images on Google Maps taken in June show that Sanford had a blue “Trump” sticker attached to his shed in Burton, Michigan.
Employing language more measured than when the far-right activist Charlie Kirk was killed, Trump responded to the shooting in Grand Blanc township by saying there was “still a lot to learn” about the assailant. Identified as 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford, the suspected gunman injured eight people before he was shot dead by police.
What do authorities say about his motivations? The FBI called the attack an act of targeted violence, while the White House press secretary suggested the assailant was motivated by a hatred of Mormons.
In other news …
The Utah governor, Spencer Cox, has urged Americans to “stop shooting each other”, saying he was unable to “unsee” a video of Kirk’s death.
The US justice department has sued Minnesota over its sanctuary city immigration policies. Minneapolis, St Paul and Hennepin county have become the latest Democratic-led areas to be targeted by the Trump administration.
One person has been killed and 65 are presumed buried under rubble after a school building collapsed in Indonesia on Monday. The death toll is expected to rise.
Stat of the day: World’s biggest cities hit by 25% leap in extremely hot days
The world’s biggest cities are experiencing 25% more extremely hot days annually compared with in the 1990s, an analysis has found. The assessment by the International Institute for Environment and Development found the average number of days above 95F had doubled in Rome and Beijing and tripled in Manila.
Don’t miss this: How scared should we be of Tilly Norwood, the viral AI ‘actor’?
Tilly Norwood is a divisive figure in Hollywood. That’s because she does not really exist – the so-called AI actor is the creation of an artificial intelligence talent studio. The backlash from real-life stars has been swift – but Stuart Heritage argues it is audiences who will determine whether AI actors thrive. “If, as a species, we decide that we want to pay money to be unsettled by a pretty girl who can’t decide how many teeth she’s supposed to have at any given moment in time, then AI will be with us for generations.”
Climate check: Trump administration to spend $625m to revive dying coal industry
The White House will open 13.1m acres of public land to coal mining and provide $625m for coal-fired power plants, the Trump administration has announced, despite coal being the most polluting and costly fossil fuel. Last year, wind and solar produced more electricity than coal in the US for the first time in history, according to the International Energy Agency, which expects that may happen worldwide by the end of 2026.
Last Thing: Can love survive when one partner is cooler than the other?
Even if you’ve not heard of the “swag gap”, you’ve probably seen it in action. It’s when half of a couple is much cooler than the other and, in the view of Cosmopolitan, it’s a dealbreaker. Here’s the magazine’s brutal take: “Not even your own swag is safe from the black hole of a swagless partner’s swaglessness.”
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