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Prime Minister Keir Starmer summoned British police chiefs for a crisis meeting on Thursday over violent unrest that followed a stabbing attack that left three young girls dead. A 17-year-old suspect was due in court to face three counts of murder and 10 of attempted murder. The attack on children at a Taylor Swift-themed summer holiday dance class shocked a country where knife crime is a long-standing and vexing problem. The deaths have also been used by far-right activists to stoke anger at immigrants and Muslims – though the suspect is not an immigrant, and his religion has not been disclosed. The suspect has not been named because he is under 18, but police say he was born in Britain. He has not been charged with terrorism offenses but faces three counts of murder over the deaths of Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6, in the seaside town of Southport in northwest England. He also has been charged with 10 counts of attempted murder over eight children and two adults who were injured. Several of the victims remain in critical condition. Far-right demonstrators — fueled, in part, by online misinformation — have held several violent protests, ostensibly in response to the attack, clashing with police outside a mosque in Southport on Tuesday and causing a melee near the prime minister’s office in London the next day. Starmer’s office said he would tell police leaders that “while the right to peaceful protest must be protected at all costs, he will be clear that criminals who exploit that right in order to sow hatred and carry out violent acts will face the full force of the law.” Hundreds of protesters chanting “we want our country back” hurled beer cans and bottles near the prime minister’s Downing Street residence in London on Wednesday evening, and launched flares at a nearby statue of wartime leader Winston Churchill. More than 100 people were arrested for offenses including violent disorder and assault on an emergency worker, London’s Metropolitan Police force said. Police officers were pelted with bottles and eggs in the town of Hartlepool in northeast England, where a police car was set ablaze, as far-right groups seek to stir anger over an attack they have sought to link to immigrants. A smaller disturbance was reported in Manchester. On Tuesday night a crowd of several hundred people hurled bricks and bottles at riot police in Southport, set garbage bins and vehicles on fire and looted a store, hours after a peaceful vigil for the stabbing victims. “I am absolutely appalled and disgusted at the level of violence that was shown towards my officers,” Merseyside Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said. “Some of the first responders who attended that awful scene on Monday ... then were faced with that level of violence.” Police said a name circulating on social media purported to be the suspect’s — spread by far-right activists and accounts of murky origin purporting to be news organizations — was incorrect and that the suspect was born in Britain, contrary to online claims he was an asylum-seeker. Patrick Hurley, a local lawmaker, said the violence by “beered-up thugs” was the result of “propaganda and lies” spread on social media. “This misinformation doesn’t just exist on people’s internet browsers and on people’s phones. It has real world impact,” he said. Britain’s worst attack on children was in 1996, when 43-year-old Thomas Hamilton shot and killed 16 kindergartners and their teacher in a school gymnasium in Dunblane, Scotland. The United Kingdom subsequently banned the private ownership of almost all handguns. While knives are used in about 40% of homicides each year, mass stabbings are unusual. But a recent rise in knife crime has stoked anxieties and led to calls for the government to do more to clamp down on bladed weapons, by far the most commonly used instruments in U.K. homicides.

Britain’s new Treasury chief is alleging that the previous government covered up the dire state of the nation’s finances, as she prepares to deliver a major speech to Parliament on Monday that is widely expected to lay the groundwork for higher taxes. In extracts of her speech released late Sunday, Rachel Reeves professed shock at the scale of the problems she discovered following a department-by-department review of public spending commissioned shortly after she took office three weeks ago. While the excerpts included no figures, Reeves is expected to outline a 20 billion-pound ($26 billion) shortfall in public finances. “It is time to level with the public and tell them the truth,’’ Reeves will tell the House of Commons. “The previous government refused to take the difficult decisions. They covered up the true state of the public finances. And then they ran away.’’ Prime Minister Keir Starmer ’s left-leaning Labour Party won a landslide election victory earlier this month, ending 14 years of Conservative Party rule. During the campaign, critics accused both parties of a “conspiracy of silence” over the scale of the financial challenges facing the next government. Labour pledged during the campaign that it wouldn’t raise taxes on “working people,” saying its policies would deliver faster economic growth and generate the additional revenue needed by the government. The Conservatives, meanwhile, promised further tax cuts in the autumn if they were returned to office. As proof that the previous government wasn’t honest about the challenges facing Britain, Starmer’s office highlighted recent comments from former Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt confirming that he wouldn’t have been able to cut taxes this year if the Conservatives had been returned to power. Those comments came in an interview with the BBC in which Hunt also accused Labour of exaggerating the situation to justify raising taxes now that they’ve won the election. “The reason we’re getting all this spin about this terrible economic inheritance is because Labour wants to raise taxes,” Hunt said on July 21. “If they wanted to raise taxes, all the numbers were crystal clear before the election. … They should have leveled with the British public.” The extracts of Reeves' speech didn't include any mention of potential tax increases, though analysts speculate that any such measures won't be introduced until the government unveils its budget later this year. Instead, Reeves focused on efforts to rein in spending, saying a new office will immediately begin identifying “wasteful spending." She also plans to stop non-essential spending on consultants and sell off surplus property. While Reeves hasn’t yet published the details of her audit, Starmer’s office on Sunday released an overview of what it revealed. Those findings led the government to accuse the Conservatives of making significant funding commitments for this financial year “without knowing where the money would come from.’’ It argued that the military had been “hollowed out’’ at a time of increasing global threats and the National Health Service was “broken,’’ with some 7.6 million people waiting for care. And despite billions spent to house migrants and combat the criminal gangs ferrying migrants across the English Channel on dangerous inflatable boats, the number of people making the crossing is still rising, Starmer’s office said. Some 15,832 people have crossed the Channel on small boats already this year, 9% more than during the same period in 2023. “The assessment will show that Britain is broke and broken — revealing the mess that populist politics has made of the economy and public services,” Downing Street said in a statement. The quandary the government finds itself in should be no surprise, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, an independent think tank focused on Britain’s economic policies. At the start of the election campaign, the institute said that the U.K. was in a “parlous fiscal position” and the new government would have to either raise taxes, cut spending or relax the rules on public borrowing. “For a party to enter office and then declare that things are ‘worse than expected’ would be fundamentally dishonest,” the IFS said on May 25. “The next government does not need to enter office to ‘open the books.’ Those books are transparently published and available for all to inspect.”

When Donald Trump suggested during the 2016 presidential campaign that he might not honor a U.S. commitment to defend other NATO countries if they were attacked, it triggered alarm throughout the trans-Atlantic alliance. With Trump's "America First" rhetoric drawing cheers from fervent supporters, the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is once again on the agenda. But this time, European leaders acknowledge the alliance must evolve to meet the challenges of the 21st century and say they are ready to shoulder more responsibility for their own defense. A lot has changed in eight years. First, Trump's presidency forced Europe to recognize that U.S. military support was no longer guaranteed, then Russia's invasion of Ukraine underscored the threat on its eastern border. Meanwhile, the U.S. has increasingly focused on China's expansion in the Asia-Pacific, as well as Iran and North Korea. "Confronted with powers such as Russia and China, and a United States whose pivot to Asia seems inevitable, no matter who wins the next election, we Europeans need to do more to ensure our own security," Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy chief, wrote last weekend in The Times of London. After relying on U.S. leadership of NATO to protect them with overwhelming nuclear and conventional capability for the past 75 years, European nations must take on a larger role in funding and leading the 32-nation alliance because their interests are increasingly diverging from those of the United States. "We are talking about a NATO which the United States is still part of, but which the United States is no longer the indispensable leader (of)," said Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director-general of the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank focused on defense and security. "I mean, that is what JD Vance and Donald Trump are talking about. They're talking about a NATO that is transformed and one in which the Europeans take the greatest share of the burden." NATO grew out of secret talks among U.S. officials after World War II about how to supply military equipment to Western Europe and ensure a coordinated response to any attack by the Soviet Union. The 12 founding members signed the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4, 1949. NATO's military structure is headed by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, who is also the commander-in-chief of American forces in Europe. The U.S. is expected to spend almost twice as much on its military this year as all the other alliance members combined, according to NATO statistics. Trump's skepticism about NATO was underlined last week when he named Vance as his running mate. Vance has opposed U.S. support for Ukraine, has criticized European nations for slashing defense spending since the Cold War, and said it's time for "Europe to stand on its own feet." Europe got another wakeup call on Sunday when President Joe Biden, whose strong support for NATO was cemented during standoffs with the Soviet Union in the 1970s, said he would not seek reelection. Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, has backed the administration's position on NATO and aid to Ukraine, but she entered politics long after the Cold War and is better known for her work on domestic issues. "The question is whether she will have that same strong trans-Atlantic view that's kind of part of her blood in the way that Biden had it," said Armida van Rij, an expert on European security policy at the Chatham House think tank in London. Trump's threat to renege on NATO's collective security guarantee, a cornerstone of the alliance, is based on his belief that member states aren't living up to their funding commitments, forcing U.S. taxpayers to subsidize Europe's defense. That argument has weakened since 2016. Twenty-three of the alliance's 31 non-U.S. members will meet or exceed their commitment to spend at least 2% of economic output on defense this year, up from just three 10 years ago, according to figures compiled by NATO. Overall, the non-U.S. members now spend 2.02% of gross domestic product on defense, compared with 3.4% by the U.S. Besides that, the European Union has ambitious plans to boost its defense industry in response to the threat posed by Russia's war on Ukraine. France's President Emmanuel Macron has urged European nations to seek more independence on airspace defense and relocate production to the continent rather than purchasing material off the shelf from American arms merchants. The EU plans center on streamlining arms procurement and to increasingly produce them within the 27-state bloc in a multibillion-dollar pivot away from the United States. The risks for Europe, as well as the United States, are evolving. It's not just about Russian tanks on Europe's borders. NATO, as a defensive alliance, must also consider the threats posed by Iran, China and North Korea and be prepared for cyber warfare and foreign interference in elections, as well as conventional military attacks, van Rij said. That means European nations need to increase troop numbers, upgrade equipment such as tanks, fighter planes and transport aircraft, and improve their ability to counter technological threats, she said. "We need to look at this not as Trump-proofing, but as future-proofing European security and the NATO alliance as a whole,'' van Rij said. "Because yes, while there are concerns about U.S. engagements in Europe ... — and the JD Vance appointment as Trump's running mate has only accelerated concerns — there is a bipartisan focus on China, which in the medium- to longer-term could mean that we see resources being reallocated elsewhere.'' One model may be NATO's newest members, Finland and Sweden, which joined the alliance to bolster their security in the face of Russian aggression. As historically non-aligned nations, they were forced to develop strategies to fight off any Russian incursion largely on their own, equipping their militaries with a full range of capabilities sometimes missing in NATO countries that are used to relying on the U.S. for commanders and battle plans. Both have military service, important weapons industries and large standing armies. "The Finnish defense people would say … we planned up to now to fight Russia by ourselves, now NATO is definitely a bonus...,'' Chalmers said. "NATO countries have the opposite problem. They're so used to thinking about fighting with others and particularly fighting with the Americans, they sometimes get out of the habit of thinking about fighting for themselves." The risks of over-reliance on the U.S. were highlighted this year when the House of Representatives blocked $61 billion of military aid for Ukraine for months while conservative Republicans argued the government should focus on domestic border security and the nation's rising debt. While the funding was eventually approved, the delay left Ukraine short of ammunition and hardware as Russia launched a brutal spring offensive. A second Trump presidency would bring that mindset to the White House. "Today … we peer apprehensively across the Atlantic at a worst case in which an erratic, ignorant, self-obsessed prospective U.S. president might cut us loose,'' historian Max Hastings wrote in The Times. "Trump is right about one big thing: behind an American shield, since the 1950s Europeans have enjoyed an almost free ride. This is now over, and Vladimir Putin is licking his lips.''

Arsonists attacked France's high-speed rail network early Friday, paralyzing train travel to Paris for some 800,000 people across Europe, including athletes heading to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Targeting remote locations far from the capital, the apparently coordinated attacks sought to cut off rail routes into the city from all directions. The fires were predominantly set in pipes containing critical signaling cables for the system known as the TGV. Blazes were reported before dawn near the tracks on three separate lines, causing widespread disruptions. Another arson attempt, in the south in Vergigny, was thwarted by rail agents who scared off several suspects. French authorities did not publicly comment on who might have carried out the attacks or why; none of them said the sabotage was directly related to the Games. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said intelligence services were mobilized to find the arsonists, whose attacks he described as “premeditated" and “calculated.” The evidence indicates “a desire to seriously harm” the French people, said the CEO of national railway company SNCF, Jean-Pierre Farandou. “The places were especially chosen to have the most serious impact, since each fire cut off two lines.” Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the damage would not affect the opening ceremony. There were no reports of injuries. Prosecutors in Paris opened a national investigation, saying the crimes included property damage threatening the nation's "fundamental interests” and could carry prison sentences of up to 20 years. The troubles came ahead of an opening ceremony in which 7,000 Olympic athletes were due to sail down the Seine past iconic Parisian monuments such as Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Louvre Museum and the Musee d’Orsay. “Disturbing such a festival of peace with acts of violence can never be accepted and demands the most determined rejection,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in Paris. Two out of four trains carrying athletes to Paris on the western line were stopped hours before the opening ceremony, an SNCF official said. Two German athletes who were on a Paris-bound train for the opening ceremony had to turn back in Belgium because of the closures, German news agency dpa reported. Repairs were being made as police conducted forensic tests. “We have to repair cable by cable, so it’s very meticulous work,” Farandou said. French Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete said train traffic began to resume in the afternoon. The attack occurred against a backdrop of global tensions and heightened security measures as the city prepared for the Games. French authorities have said they have foiled several plots to disrupt the Olympics, including arresting a Russian man on suspicion of planning to destabilize the games. Earlier this week, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said about 1,000 people suspected of possibly meddling on behalf of a foreign power have been blocked from attending the Games. Among those blocked were people suspected of Islamic radicalization or left- or right-wing political extremism, or who had significant criminal records, he said. Although he has repeatedly pointed to suspicions of Russia-backed interference, Darmanin added that such threats have also come from other countries that he did not name. The Paris police prefecture “concentrated its personnel” in train stations after the attack, Paris Police Chief Laurent Nuñez told France Info television. In the capital, 35,000 police officers are being deployed each day for the Olympics, with a peak of 45,000 for the opening ceremony. Paris has been the target of deadly terror attacks in the past decade, and some French officials saw the Games as a chance for the nation to heal from years of trauma. The disruptions hit Paris’ Montparnasse station particularly hard. In the station's crowded hall, Maiwenn Labbé-Sorin said she spent hours stranded on a train before it doubled back to Paris. “We stayed two hours without water, without toilets, without electricity," she said. "Then we could go out on the track for a bit and then the train returned. Now I’m not sure what’s going to happen.” Many passengers at the Gare du Nord, one of Europe’s busiest train stations, sought answers and solutions on Friday morning. All eyes were on the central message boards as most services to northern France, Belgium and the United Kingdom were delayed. Germany’s national railway operator, Deutsche Bahn, said there also were short-notice cancellations and delays between France and Germany. Prominent French cartoonist Plantu found inspiration in the rail network's quick response. He posted a cartoon on Instagram depicting the first three Olympics gold medals going to SNCF agents. Three agents were sketched on the Olympic podium, holding cables and trains, with dangling gold medallions around their necks. Also Friday, the French airport of Basel-Mulhouse on the border with Germany and Switzerland was evacuated in the morning and shut down briefly “for safety reasons,” the airport said. It wasn’t clear whether there was a connection to the rail attacks.

French President Emmanuel Macron accepted the prime minister’s resignation Tuesday but kept him on as head of a caretaker government, as France prepares to host the Paris Olympics at the end of the month. The president's office said in a statement that Macron “accepted” the resignation of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and other ministers on Tuesday. Attal and other government members are “to handle current affairs until a new government is being appointed,” the statement said. There is no firm timeline for when Macron must name a new prime minister, following parliamentary elections this month that left the National Assembly with no dominant political bloc in power for the first time in France's modern Republic. The caretaker government led by Attal will focus only on handling day-to-day affairs. “For this period to end as quickly as possible, it is up to all Republican forces to work together" around “projects and actions that serve the French people,” the president's statement said. The opening session of the National Assembly, France’s powerful lower house of parliament, is scheduled for Thursday. Normally, members of government are barred from being lawmakers, but Tuesday's move allows Attal to take up his seat as a lawmaker and lead the group of Macron’s centrist allies in the National Assembly. It also insulates him from a no-confidence vote, because he already has resigned and a caretaker government cannot be subject to such a vote. France has been on the brink of government paralysis since elections for the National Assembly earlier this month resulted in a split among three major political groupings: the New Popular Front leftist coalition, Macron’s centrist allies and the far-right National Rally of Marine Le Pen. The New Popular Front won the most seats but fell well short of the outright majority needed to govern on its own. The leftist coalition's three main parties, the hard-left France Unbowed, the Socialists and the Greens, have urged the president to turn to them to form the new government, yet their internal talks have turned into a harsh dispute over whom to choose as prime minister. France Unbowed suspended the talks on Monday, accusing the Socialists of sabotaging candidacies they have put forward to replace Attal. Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure said Tuesday the leftist coalition needs "to think, talk and resume discussions” if it wants to meet “the expectation of the public” and fulfill its promise that it “is ready to govern.” Faure acknowledged that lengthy discussions, public bickering and occasional angry verbal exchanges among the coalition's party leaders are “not a good look.” But “the stakes are so high that it’s not unusual for us to talk for a long time and that sometimes, we yell,” Faure said on France Inter radio. National Rally vice president Sebastien Chenu said the quarreling on the left is a sign that the New Popular Front “is not ready to govern.” He also lashed out at Macron on Tuesday, saying the retention of Attal at the helm of government following two recent elections — for the European Parliament and the National Assembly -- was “a denial of democracy.” Keeping him on to manage “current affairs” amounts to “failing” the French people, Chenu said in an interview with Europe 1 and CNews broadcasters. “We cannot make something new out of something old,” Chenu said. “Attal must pack his bags, he and all his ministers.” Politicians from the three main groups are also waging a battle over the presidency and key committees in the National Assembly, France’s influential lower house of parliament. Manuel Bompard, a lawmaker of the France Unbowed said he supported the idea of blocking lawmakers from Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally from holding leading positions in the parliament’s committees, such as finance, defense and others. Despite Le Pen’s party finishing third in the elections, behind Macron’s group of centrists and the leftist alliance, Bompard said in an interview with France 2 TV that there is “no reason for us to help them access positions of responsibility.” Le Pen, a leading figure in the French far right and a National Rally lawmaker, insisted that “all political forces must participate in the functioning” of the parliament. “The people have spoken. There are 577 lawmakers who represent them,” Le Pen said in a post on X. “Even if I am the last one to defend democracy, I insist that the Macronists, the New Popular Front, the National Rally and Eric Ciotti (a National Rally ally) must be represented in the legislative body,” she added.

The Princess of Wales is set to attend the Wimbledon men's final on Sunday in a rare public appearance after her cancer diagnosis. Kensington Palace confirmed on Saturday that Kate, wife of heir to the throne Prince William, will be in the Royal Box on Centre Court to watch defending champion Carlos Alcaraz play Novak Djokovic. Princess of Wales Kate through the years However, she will not attend Saturday's women's final between Jasmine Paolini and Barbora Krejcikova. Wimbledon organizers said the winner's trophy will instead be handed out by Deborah Jevans, the chair of the All England Club. Kate has been the patron of the All England Club since 2016, with ceremonial duties that include handing out the winner’s trophy after each men’s and women’s singles final. Kate, Princess of Wales, says she has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy But she has only one made one public appearance since announcing in March that she had been diagnosed with cancer, which was to attend the birthday parade for King Charles III in March. What is known about Kate's cancer diagnosis

The 32-members of NATO on Wednesday formally declared Ukraine on an "irreversible" path to membership in the Western military alliance, offering a bare but more binding assurance of protection once its war with Russia ends. NATO member countries individually and in Wednesday's joint statement from their summit in Washington announced a series of steps aimed at bolstering Ukraine's defenses. That includes the U.S., the Netherlands and Denmark announcing that the first NATO-provided F-16s would be in the hands of Ukrainian military pilots by this summer. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted his appreciation of the effort to strengthen his air force, coming soon after Ukraine saw one of the deadliest strikes of the war. NATO on Wednesday also announced a long-term commitment of security assistance to Ukraine, and confirmed establishment of a new NATO center aimed at ensuring that Ukraine gets a more reliable flow of arms and training from members of the alliance. But the commitments still fall short of the striking power Ukraine says it needs to defeat the invading Russian forces. NATO-member Norway donates six F-16 jets to Ukraine The final statement called China — which the West says provides components for Russia's weapons — a "decisive enabler" of Russia's war against Ukraine. "Ukraine's future is in NATO," alliance members said in their statement. "We will continue to support it on its irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership." The alliance welcomed Ukraine's democratic, economic and security reforms needed to join and said it would get an invitation "when Allies agree and conditions are met." While the leaders stand ready to offer Ukraine the means to defend itself in a war now in its third year, nowhere do they say that Ukraine should prevail over Russia. Indeed, their statement said that "NATO does not seek confrontation, and poses no threat to Russia. We remain willing to maintain channels of communication with Moscow to mitigate risk and prevent escalation." NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg underlined that Ukraine will not join the alliance's ranks immediately. But he insisted that must happen after the war is over to ensure that Russia never attacks Ukraine again. Of the overall NATO assistance, he said, "We are not doing this because we want to prolong a war. We are doing it because we want to end a war as soon as possible. Biden looks to make the case at the NATO summit that he is still up to the job of president Stoltenberg also delivered a passionate defense of the military alliance itself Wednesday when reporters asked about the possibility that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, a NATO critic, could pull U.S. support for the alliance if he wins in November. Trump has been an unofficial but primary topic at the summit, especially among East European governments that believe their country could be targets of future Russian aggression. The criticism of the alliance from the United States, Stoltenberg said, without naming Trump, has "not been about NATO. It's about NATO allies not investing enough in NATO. And that has changed." As NATO leaders met in Washington, Trump on the campaign trail Tuesday renewed his threat not to defend any NATO members from a Russian attack if their military spending does not meet NATO's target of at least 2% of their gross domestic product. But since 2021, the number of allies meeting this target has increased from six to 23. "The United States has been understood," Stoltenberg said. "Allies have acted." Trump, meanwhile, was asked several times on Fox News Radio whether he wants the U.S. to exit NATO. He answered, "No, I want them to pay their bills." The U.S. and some other countries have opposed membership for Ukraine during the conflict with Russia to avoid an escalation of tensions that could lead to a larger war. They also have stressed that Ukraine must take significant steps to address corruption as well as other systemic reforms. Russian President Vladimir Putin has long bitterly opposed neighboring Ukraine's fight to join the Western alliance, declaring it an encroachment on Russia's security and interests. "I think it's very important to give a message to the Kremlin from here — that Ukraine's path and bridge towards NATO membership is now irreversible," Finnish President Alexander Stubb told reporters. President Joe Biden reaffirmed U.S. support for Ukraine but also more broadly the importance of NATO. He noted that since he took office not only has military spending increased but the number of battle groups has doubled on NATO's eastern flank. "We can and will defend every inch of NATO territory, and we will do it together," Biden said. Zelenskyy, in Washington for the NATO summit, had stressed what he called Ukraine's urgent need for the F-16 fighter jets in a speech to friendly Republican lawmakers Tuesday night. He said his country needed more than 100 to start to counter devastating Russian air attacks on Ukraine's cities, energy infrastructure and other vital targets. He said Russia was using 300 jets to carry out the attacks. Six nations, including the United States, are training Ukrainians on the F-16s, but officials have not released precise numbers or all the locations. Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Gen. David Allvin, just returned from Morris Air National Guard Base in Tucson, Arizona, where the U.S. training is taking place. Of the initial class of 12 Ukrainian pilots, seven completed training in May and the remaining five are expected to do so in August, Allvin said. The pilots have learned to fly the fighter jet and will get follow-on training once they leave the U.S., but the value of getting Ukraine's F-16 program running is more about the longer-term, he said. "I don't know that it's realistic to assume that it's going to be a game-changer on the battlefield right now," Allvin said. Putin hosts India's prime minister to deepen ties as NATO leaders gather in Washington Zelenskyy, meanwhile, met behind closed doors with senators for nearly an hour Wednesday and requested more defense help, said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del. Zelenskyy also met with the Republican speaker of the House. Separately Wednesday, the U.S. and Germany announced they would begin "episodic deployments" of long-range missiles to Germany in 2026, including Tomahawk, SM-6 and hypersonic missiles. The announcement is notable because land-based firing of some of those missiles from within Europe would have been banned under the former Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association. They were banned because the conventional missiles could have been modified to be nuclear capable and their use on the European continent would have meant that potential targets would have had no time to react. Kimball said while the deployment is likely being done to reassure allies, Russia may respond by deploying conventional or nuclear weapons of its own. European and U.S. allies have announced other new arms deliveries, such as dozens of air defense systems, including Patriots, this week. The promises of new weapons come after opposition from Republican lawmakers allied to Trump blocked a U.S. support package to Ukraine for months earlier this year, allowing Russia to make battlefield gains against Ukrainian forces who were fighting with dwindling arms and ammunition. Europeans and NATO, as a lesson from that setback, have vowed to take on more of the responsibility for ensuring a reliable flow of military support to Ukraine. NATO, its Asian partners moving closer under US leadership to counter China

The National Cancer Institute in Kyiv was busier than usual after a Russian missile struck Ukraine's largest children's hospital this week, forcing the evacuation of dozens of its young patients battling cancer. Russia's heaviest bombardment of the Ukrainian capital in four months severely damaged Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital on Monday, terrorizing families and severely impacting their children already battling life-threatening diseases. Now, some families face a dilemma of where to continue their children's treatment. Oksana Halak only learned about her 2-year-old son Dmytro's diagnosis — acute lymphoblastic leukemia — at the beginning of June. She immediately decided to have him treated at Okhmatdyt, "because it is one of the best hospitals in Europe." NATO-member Norway donates six F-16 jets to Ukraine She and Dmytro were in the hospital for his treatment when sirens blared across the city. They couldn't run to the shelter as the little boy was on an IV. "It is vitally important not to interrupt these IVs," Halak said. After the first explosions, nurses helped move them to another room without windows, which was safer. "We felt a powerful blast wave. We felt the room shaking and the lights went out," she recalled. "We understood that it was nearby, but we didn't think it was at Okhmatdyt." Shortly after that, they were evacuated to the National Cancer Institute, and now Dmytro is one of 31 patients who, amid a difficult fight with cancer, have to adapt to a new hospital. With their arrival, the number of children being treated for cancer there has doubled. Dmytro and the other patients were offered evacuation to hospitals abroad, and Halak wants his further treatment to be in Germany. "We understand that with our situation, we cannot receive the help we should be getting, and we are forced to apply for evacuation abroad," she said. Other hospitals in the city that took in children for treatment faced a similar overcrowding situation after the shutdown of Okhmatdyt, where hundreds of children were being treated at the time of the attack. A major Russian missile attack on Ukraine kills at least 28 people and hits a children’s hospital "The destroyed Okhmatdyt is the pain of the entire nation," said the director general of the National Cancer Institute, Olena Yefimenko. Almost immediately after the attack, messages began circulating on social media networks to raise money for the hospital's restoration. Many parents whose children were treated there wrote messages of gratitude, saying their children survived due to the hospital's care despite difficult diagnoses. In just three days, Ukrainians and private businesses raised more than $7.3 million through the national fundraising platform UNITED24. Work to rebuild the hospital is already underway. Okhmatdyt doctors balance their duties treating their young evacuated patients while working to get the children's hospital reopened. But even with resources and determination, that may take months. Even so, Yuliia Vasylenko has already decided that her 11-year-old son, Denys, will remain in Kyiv for his cancer treatment. The day of the attack the boy, diagnosed with multiple spinal cord tumors, was supposed to start chemotherapy. The strike delayed his treatment indefinitely, and Denys has to undergo additional examinations and tests, his mother said. Denys was very scared during the strike, said his mother as she wheeled him around the National Cancer Institute in a wheelchair. "The last days felt like an eternity," she said. Only now are they slowly recovering from the stress. "If we go somewhere, with our diagnosis, we would have to retake all the tests from the beginning," she said, adding that this could take three to four months. "And we don't know if we have that time," she said. Russian strikes leave thousands in northern Ukraine without power and water  

Norway will donate six F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine to defend itself from Russian attacks, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said Wednesday, adding that the jets will be important for Kyiv. Ukraine has long pleaded for the sophisticated fighter to give it a combat edge against Russian firepower. No date was announced as to when Norway will donate the six jets, but Gahr Støre said, “we aim to start the donations during 2024.” He said Kyiv's “ability to defend itself against attacks from the air is absolutely crucial in its defensive battle against Russia.” Gahr Store spoke before he arrived in Washington for the NATO summit. Last year he said during a trip to Kyiv that Norway would donate F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine but didn't specify how many. After 42 years of service, the Nordic NATO member phased out its aging fleet of F-16 fighters in 2021 and is replacing them with new F-35A Joint Strike Fighter jets. Norway is the third European country after the Netherlands and Denmark to donate F-16 planes to Ukraine. Oil-rich Norway is one of the world’s biggest donors to Ukraine.

BMW of North America is recalling more than 390,000 vehicles in the U.S. because they are equipped with airbag inflators that can explode, leading to a potentially serious injury or death. The original steering wheel may have been replaced with a sport or M-sport steering wheel equipped with a Takata inflator, the agency said. New BMW 5 Series Sedan launched in Bangladesh If the inflator explodes, it may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants of a vehicle, resulting in serious injury or death, the NHTSA said. BMW has not received any reports of any accidents or injuries in the U.S. that may be related to this issue, according to the latest report. BMW recalls 7,157 motorbikes in China The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Wednesday that the recall of 394,029 vehicles includes certain 2006-2011 3 Series Sedan (324i, 325i, 325xi, 328i, 328xi, 330i, 330xi, 335i, 335xi), 2006-2012 3 Series Sportswagon (325xi, 328i, 328xi), and 2009-2011 3 Series Sedan (335d) vehicles. BMW dealers will inspect and replace the driver’s air bag module as necessary for free. BMW, Great Wall Motors start building new China plant for NEVs Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed on Aug. 23. Vehicle owners may contact BMW customer service at 1-800-525-7417 or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236.