
US halts some weapons shipments to Ukraine, White House says
Air defence missiles and precision munitions would be among the weapons affected, according to the Reuters news agency. A US official said the move was over concerns about U.S. military stockpiles falling too low, the BBC's US media partner CBS News has reported.The Department of Defense "continues to provide the President with robust options to continue military aid to Ukraine... At the same time, the Department is rigorously examining and adapting its approach to achieving this objective while also preserving U.S. forces' readiness for Administration defense priorities," Elbridge Colby, the US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, said."The strength of the United States Armed Forces remains unquestioned - just ask Iran," Kelly added, referring to US strikes at three Iranian nuclear sites last month.The decision comes shortly after US President Donald Trump met with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky at the Nato summit in the Netherlands last week.Trump said US officials "are going to see if we can make some of them available" when asked about providing extra Patriot anti-missile systems to Ukraine. Referring to his conversation with Zelensky, Trump said: "We had a little rough sometimes, but he couldn't have been nicer."The two had a heated confrontation in the Oval Office in March this year. Afterwards, Trump said he was pausing military aid to Ukraine that had been earmarked by the previous Biden administration. It also said it would pause intelligence sharing with Ukraine.Both pauses were subsequently lifted.In late April, the US and Ukraine signed a deal that would give the US access to Ukraine's mineral reserves in exchange for military assistance.The US military aid suspension comes as Russia stepped up its war against Ukraine. Over the weekend, Russia launched one of its largest aerial attacks on Ukraine since the start of the war, using more than 500 different types of weapons, including drones, ballistic and cruise missiles.On Tuesday, three people were killed in a Ukrainian attack on a Russian factory in Izhevsk, more than 1,000km (620 miles) from the border with Ukraine.Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimea peninsula annexed in 2014.
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The Guardian
30 minutes ago
- The Guardian
UPenn updates swimming records set by Lia Thomas, settling with feds on transgender athletes case
The University of Pennsylvania on Tuesday modified a trio of school records set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas and said it would apologize to female athletes 'disadvantaged' by her participation on the women's swimming team, part of a resolution of a federal civil rights case. The US Education Department and Penn announced the voluntary agreement of the high-profile case that focused on Thomas, who last competed for the Ivy League school in 2022, when she became the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I title. The department investigated Penn as part of the Trump administration's broader attempt to remove transgender athletes from girls' and women's sports, concluding the university in Philadelphia had violated the rights of female athletes. Under the agreement, Penn agreed to restore all individual Division I records and titles to female athletes who lost to Thomas and send a personalized apology letter to each of those swimmers, the Education Department said. By Tuesday afternoon, the Penn website showed other athletes holding the school's top times in Thomas' events. The site was annotated with a note that read, 'Competing under eligibility rules in effect at the time, Lia Thomas set program records in the 100, 200 and 500 freestyle during the 2021-22 season.' 'While Penn's policies during the 2021-2022 swim season were in accordance with NCAA eligibility rules at the time, we acknowledge that some student-athletes were disadvantaged by these rules,' Penn president J Larry Jameson said. 'We recognize this and will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or experienced anxiety because of the policies in effect at the time.' As part of the settlement, the university must also announce that it 'will not allow males to compete in female athletic programs' and it must adopt 'biology-based' definitions of male and female, the department said. In his statement, Jameson said Penn has always been in compliance with NCAA and Title IX rules as they were interpreted at the time, and that the university has never had its own policies around transgender athlete participation. The school has followed changes to eligibility guidelines as they were issued earlier this year, he said. The NCAA changed its participation policy for transgender athletes in February, limiting competition in women's sports to athletes who were assigned female at birth. 'Our commitment to ensuring a respectful and welcoming environment for all of our students is unwavering,' Jameson said. 'At the same time, we must comply with federal requirements, including executive orders, and NCAA eligibility rules, so our teams and student-athletes may engage in competitive intercollegiate sports.' Education secretary Linda McMahon called it a victory for women and girls. 'The Department commends UPenn for rectifying its past harms against women and girls, and we will continue to fight relentlessly to restore Title IX's proper application and enforce it to the fullest extent of the law,' McMahon said in a statement. Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines thanked President Donald Trump on social media and wrote of the settlement, 'Are pigs flying?' Gaines has said she started her activism against transgender athletes competing in women's sports after sharing a locker room with Thomas at the 2022 NCAA championships. The Education Department opened its investigation in February and concluded in April that Penn had violated Title IX, a 1972 law forbidding sex discrimination in education. Such findings have almost always been resolved through voluntary agreements. If Penn had fought the finding, the department could have moved to refer the case to the Justice Department or pursued a separate process to cut the school's federal funding. In February, the Education Department asked the NCAA and the National Federation of State High School Associations, or NFSHSA, to restore titles, awards and records it says have been 'misappropriated by biological males competing in female categories.' The most obvious target at the college level was in women's swimming, where Thomas won the national title in the 500-yard freestyle in 2022. The NCAA has updated its record books when recruiting and other violations have stripped titles from certain schools, but the organization, like the NFSHSA, has not responded to the federal government's request and did not respond to emails seeking comment Tuesday. It was not clear how either would determine which events had a transgender athlete participating years later.


The Sun
30 minutes ago
- The Sun
Disturbing footage shows Putin's sick invaders dragging hogtied Ukrainian prisoner to his DEATH on rope behind motorbike
SICKENING footage of a Ukrainian prisoner being dragged across a road to his death by evil Russian invaders has been released. The defenceless prisoner of war (PoW) can be seen hogtied and strapped up to the back of a motorbike by a rope. 7 7 7 Disturbing video shows the fiend callously driving his military motorbike down an empty road in Russian occupied Ukraine. The Sun is choosing not to show the footage due to its barbarity. Two of Vladimir Putin's men can be seen taking part in the fatal act as one sits on the bike and the other drags the PoW into position. Moments later, aerial video captures the men driving away as the prisoner is taken along with them. It is unclear exactly where the footage is filmed from. It has now been blasted by Ukraine's human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets who blamed it on Putin's brainwashed invaders. Lubinets said: 'A video is being circulated on social media: it shows a man tied to a motorcycle and dragged along the road. 'This is demonstrative cruelty and another war crime by the Russian Federation.' He has contacted the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross over the alleged atrocity which - if confirmed - amounts to a heinous war crime. It would be a 'gross violation' of the Geneva Conventions and International Humanitarian Law. Ukrainian PoW with says sick torture method left him begging for death 'Russia is acting like a terrorist state,' Lubinets continued. 'And it must bear fair responsibility for every crime. 'The Prosecutor General's Office reported on May 23 that 75 criminal cases involving the killing of 268 prisoners by Russian troops are being investigated in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion.' Throughout the conflict, Putin's men have been accused of carrying out brutal war crimes. In January, Russian soldiers filmed themselves shooting dead six Ukrainian PoWs in cold blood. Kyiv launched a criminal investigation into the murders and reported the sickening killings to the UN and Red Cross - insisting Russia cannot be allowed to so brazenly flout the laws of war. The PoWs are seen lying face down on the ground in a wooded area next to a temporary hut. 'This one's mine,' says one of the executioners after demanding: 'Give me two machine guns." And last October, a squad of Ukrainian drone pilots were executed by the Russians. I was branded by Putin's men and left begging for death as a PoW WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT A UKRAINIAN prisoner of war who had the words "Glory to Russia" burnt on his skin has said he was left begging to die. Following his release in a prisoner swap earlier this year, Andriy Pereverzev has revealed disturbing details of his time in captivity, including the sick torture method known as "Calling Putin". The Ukrainian POW was captured in February 2024 on the battlefield after being severely wounded. Despite his pleas to just "end it" and "finish" him off, Pereverzev was carried to an encampment where he was brutally tortured. Speaking for the first time about his experience, Pereverzev told how he was mercilessly electrocuted by Vlad's troops seeking intelligence. He said: "While they were carrying me. I kept asking them, 'Finish me off. Just end it, but they didn't. "They used electric shocks on my open wounds a couple of times, and I started blacking out again." As well as being horrifically beaten, the POW described how he had the words "Glory to Russia" burned on his skin whilst in captivity. A disturbing photo emerged earlier this month showing the mutilated soldier. Nine of the unmanned vehicle aces were filmed being shot dead after being stripped to their underwear. Russia's dictator is also wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) after tens of thousand of Ukrainian children have been snatched by Russia in recent years. It comes as fighting between Russia and Ukraine has continued to escalate - over three and a half years into the conflict. One of Putin's top commanders was wiped out this week following the first Brit-made Storm Shadow blitz in months. The deadly strike hit "the headquarters of the 8th combined arms army of the Russian Armed Forces" in occupied Donetsk - killing Colonel Ruslan Goryachkin. Russia has unleashed deadly strikes almost every night in recent weeks as they look to steal away more land from Ukraine before agreeing to a peace deal. The strikes came as Donald Trump's special envoy Keith Kellogg hit back at Putin over delays in the peace process. Kellogg targeted the dictator's mouthpiece Dmitry Peskov as he slammed him, saying: "Peskov's recent comments on the state of negotiations are Orwellian. 'Russian claims that it is the US and Ukraine stalling peace talks are unfounded - President Trump has been consistent and adamant about making progress to end the war. 'We urge an immediate ceasefire and a move to trilateral talks to end the war. Russia cannot continue to stall for time while it bombs civilian targets in Ukraine.' 7 7 7 7


Daily Mail
33 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Trump settlement with CBS sparks viewer outrage
By and ALEX HAMMER FOR Published: | CBS and Paramount are set to pay a humiliating settlement to Donald Trump that goes beyond millions in cash payouts and could flood their liberal audiences with conservative content. The president is set to get $16million from CBS and Paramount straight away to reimburse him for legal fees for what he claims is misleading editing to an interview before the election with rival Kamala Harris. The remaining money will help fund a future presidential library and serve some of Trump's favorite charities, at his discretion. However, the president has also won more than $15million more in earned media for both himself and the conservative movement that could have left-leaning viewers seeing red. The president will receive that much in advertising, public service announcements and other content that backs conservative causes, Fox News Digital reports. Further, CBS will institute a new 'Trump rule' in its editorial standards that forces them to quickly put out unedited transcripts of any interviews with presidential candidates. 'With this record settlement, President Donald J. Trump delivers another win for the American people as he, once again, holds the Fake News media accountable for their wrongdoing and deceit,' a spokesperson for Trump's legal team said. 'CBS and Paramount Global realized the strength of this historic case and had no choice but to settle. President Trump will always ensure that no one gets away with lying to the American People as he continues on his singular mission to Make America Great Again.' The suit, filed last October, accuses Paramount, CBS and its flagship show 60 Minutes of deceptively editing an interview with then–Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris just weeks before the election. Trump alleges the footage was manipulated to 'tip the scales' in Harris's favor. Lawyers for Trump and CBS parent company Paramount have been 'engaged in good faith, advanced, settlement negotiations,' according to court filings Monday. Now, it appears that Trump is set to get more than even the $20million a mediator for both sides proposed, and is set to have a new rule named after himself at the network. Trump alleges the 60 Minutes footage was manipulated to 'tip the scales' in Harris's favor. CBS has denied the claim, slamming the allegations as coming 'completely without merit.' In recent weeks, Paramount reportedly balked at settling the suit over fears of facing legal backlash for bowing to the president. Paramount brass believed any large settlement could be considered a bribe, since the the company's proposed $8 billion merger with Skydance must be approved by the Trump administration. Trump's team has denied that his administration's approval of the deal is contingent on settling. Paramount heiress Shari Redstone, who has been pushing to close the Skydance deal, stands to make more than $1 billion as Paramount's primary shareholder. She reportedly offered to pay as much as $50 million to make the suit go away. Skydance is run by David Ellison, the son of Trump ally Larry Ellison. Last week, sources told the New York Post that David, 41, had become confident the $8 billion deal would close by the end of the summer. Former CBS CEO Wendy McMahon and longtime 60 Minutes boss Bill Owens both left their roles in protest of Paramount's willingness to settle. The A-List stars of 60 Minutes recently demanded that CBS News appoint their pick for the show's next executive producer. It's a settlement that continues Trump's winning streak against media companies he believes have engaged in dishonest practices against him. In December, ABC News agreed to pay $15 million to Donald Trump to settle a lawsuit over assertions made by top anchor George Stephanopoulos that he was found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll. The settlement, first reported by Fox News , was publicly filed on Saturday and revealed that the parties had come to an agreement in the suit. It stipulates that the network will pay $15 million as a charitable contribution towards Trump's presidential library. ABC will also post a note on its website expressing regret over the claim in a March 10 segment on "This Week" made by Stephanopoulos. They will also pay his legal fees as part of the settlement, which have totaled $1 million. A statement from the network said: 'ABC News and George Stephanopoulos regret statements regarding President Donald J. Trump made during an interview by George Stephanopoulos with Rep. Nancy Mace on ABC's This Week on March 10, 2024.' Trump had sued Stephanopoulos and the network for defamation soon after the segment aired. His lawyers accused Stephanopoulos of making the statements with 'malice' and a disregard for the truth.