New U.S. Weapons To Kyiv, Gaza Civilian Deaths, Majestic Sinner

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🗞️ FRONT PAGE​​

“His Majesty Sinner,” titles Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport, celebrating on its front page tennis player Jannik Sinner’s first Wimbledon title. The 23-year-old Italian defeated two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday, becoming Italy’s first ever Wimbledon singles champion. The No. 1-ranked earned his fourth Grand Slam title overall, moving him one away from No. 2 Alcaraz’s total, just five weeks after the pair played an epic final at the French Open, won by the Spaniard.

🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• Trump says U.S. to send “sophisticated” equipment to Ukraine. Ahead of his meeting with NATO chief Mark Rutte, President Donald Trump said the U.S. would ship “various pieces of very sophisticated military” to Ukraine. Top U.S. envoy Keith Kellogg arrived in Kyiv on Monday, as anticipation grows that Washington will commit to sending Patriot missiles. Trump reiterated his displeasure with Vladimir Putin to reporters late Sunday, saying the Russian leader “talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening.” This comes as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov seeks to shore up support in Asia during weekend meetings in North Korea and China. Read more in this analysis translated from Italian by Worldcrunch: Hubris In The Kremlin: Vladimir Putin Is Underestimating The West Again.

• Children killed collecting water in Gaza, as ceasefire talks hit sticking points. Palestinian health officials said an Israeli air strike killed several children at a water distribution point in central Gaza on Sunday. This comes as hope fades for a ceasefire after days of negotiations, with the two sides accusing each other of blocking an agreement. 

• Dozens killed in Syria in violent clashes in predominantly Druze city. At least 37 people have been killed in violent clashes between Bedouin tribes and local Druze fighters in the southern Syrian city of Sweida, a war monitor reported Monday. The Syrian government, which took over after the collapse of the Assad regime in December, has deployed security forces in a bid to restore order, as fears grow of renewed instability in the Druze-majority province.

• Global markets open wobbly after Trump’s weekend tariffs. Stock markets in Europe were down in early trading Monday following U.S. President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement of 30% tariffs on the European Union and Mexico. European trade ministers are meeting Monday to forge strategy after the latest announcement in Washington’s trade war that is slated to be imposed Aug. 1. For more on Trump’s tariffs, check this El Espectador piece, translated from Spanish by Worldcrunch.

• South Africa’s police minister suspended over organised crime allegations. In an address to the nation, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa placed Police Minister Senzo Mchunu on an immediate “leave of absence” after allegations of links to organized crimes were made against the top law enforcement official, Ramaphosa also announced a judicial commission would probe the claims, which Mchunu has vigorously denied.

• Cameroon’s 92-year-old president to seek eighth term. Cameroon’s President Paul Biya said late Sunday that he would be seeking an eighth term in October’s elections in a bid to extend his nearly 43 years in power. Several longstanding supporters of Biya, 92, have appeared to distance themselves from him in recent months, but the opposition remains deeply divided.

• News Quiz! It weighs 25 kilograms (55 pounds) and has been listed at an estimated price of $2 million. What is this special item at Sotheby’s auction on Wednesday in New York?

A. A heart-shaped ruby from Burma
B. A rock from Mars
C. A prehistoric elephant tusk
D. A steel bicycle from the maiden 1903 Tour de France
[Answer below]

#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS

€6.5 billion

French President Emmanuel Macron announced €6.5 billion ($7.6 billion) in extra military spending in the next two years during his traditional address to the military on Sunday, as France marks its Bastille Day national holiday with a traditional July 14 military parade today in Paris. The French leader warned that Europe’s liberty was facing a “greater threat” than at any time since the end of World War II, referring to Russia, nuclear proliferation, terrorists and online attacks. The new military outlays would mark double the €32 billion ($37.4 billion) in annual spending when Macron became president in 2017. Here’s a piece from May by French columnist Pierre Haski on Macron’s approach to defense.

📰 IN OTHER NEWS

🔍 As official data vanishes from Russian state reports, independent experts warn that losses from Putin’s war in Ukraine are becoming too large to hide.
— LA STAMPA

💬 Talking about sexuality and embracing feminist theory collectively is key to dismantling the patriarchal scripts that normalize sexist and sexual violence.
— PIKARA MAGAZINE

🧒 In their quest to raise happy children, many parents have turned to “gentle parenting.” But this approach, filled with ready-made phrases and a fear of saying “no,” clearly has its limits.
— LE FIGARO

📣 VERBATIM

“The pilots shouldn’t be vilified based on conjecture.”

— The Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA) has defended the crew of the Air India Flight 171 which crashed in June after a preliminary report released on Saturday sparked speculation about the pilots’ role in the incident that killed 260 people. The report says that after take-off, both of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s fuel-control switches moved to the “cut-off” position, starving the engines of fuel, and that the cockpit voice recording showed that one pilot asked the other why he “did the cut-off.” This prompted some to speculate that pilot suicide might be the cause of the crash. The ICPA responded that the crew “acted in line with their training and responsibilities under challenging conditions” and that to suggest pilot suicide “without verified evidence is a gross violation of ethical reporting and a disservice to the dignity of the profession.”