Trump Threatens Russia, Bitcoin Record High, German Gas Protest

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🗞️ FRONT PAGE​​

Dutch-language Belgian daily De Morgen dedicates its front page to a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office on Monday, with the headline “American anger at Putin after all.” Trump announced a plan to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine, threatening “very severe tariffs” of up to 100% on Russia if a peace deal is not reached within 50 days. Trump and Rutte also announced a deal with several European nations to send weapons to Ukraine. Tensions between the U.S. and Russian presidents have increased as the war continues nearly six months into Trump’s second term. 

🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• Trump allocates arms for Ukraine, threatens Russia with tariffs if no truce in 50 days. Donald Trump has threatened Russia with steep tariffs and announced a renewed pipeline for American weapons to reach Ukraine. The U.S. president’s harsher stance toward Moscow comes after months of frustration about unsuccessful negotiations for ending the war. Meanwhile, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Russian foreign ministry said on Tuesday. Read more in Worldcrunch’s latest piece, translated from Italian to English: How Vladimir Putin Is Misreading The West — Again

• Netanyahu’s coalition rattled as ultra-Orthodox party announces exit. An Israeli ultra-Orthodox party that has been a key governing partner of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early Tuesday it was leaving the coalition government. This threatens to destabilize Netanyahu’s rule at a pivotal time in the war in Gaza. Meanwhile, foreign ministers from the EU’s 27-member states are meeting Tuesday in Brussels in the wake of a new aid deal for Gaza largely forged by Kaja Kallas, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar. For more on the Gaza war, check this Daraj OpEd translated from Arabic by Worldcrunch.

• China’s economy slows as consumers tighten belts, U.S. tariff risks mount. China’s economy grew at an annual rate of more than 5%in the second quarter, according to official data, staying on track to meet its 2025 growth target despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war. 

• Syrian government forces enter city of Sweida after deadly sectarian clashes. Syrian troops have entered the predominantly Druze city of Sweida after days of deadly clashes with Bedouin tribes that have killed dozens of people. The deployment on Tuesday came after the Druze spiritual leadership, which had resisted any deployment of Syrian troops in the southern city, urged Druze fighters to lay down their arms and allow government forces in.

• U.S. giant Nvidia says it will resume sale of key AI chip to China. The U.S. government has assured Nvidia that it will grant the licenses needed to restart exports to the world’s second largest economy, the technology giant said in a blog post. The move reverses a ban on sales of Nvidia’s H20 chips to Beijing, which was imposed by the Trump administration in April over concerns that they could be used by the Chinese military.

• Biggest human imaging study scans 100,000th person. UK Biobank, the world’s biggest human imaging project, says it has now hit its target of scanning the brains, hearts and other organs of 100,000 people, the culmination of an ambitious 11-year study. The data is made available at low cost to teams around the world to find new ways of preventing common health conditions from heart disease to cancer. 

• News Quiz! The X account of Sesame Street’s famous character Elmo was hacked. What was posted on the puppet’s account?

A. Big Bird deepfakes
B. Anti-semetic messages
C. Russian propaganda
D. Scam links
[Answer below]

#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS

$123,153

Bitcoin rose to a record high of $123,153.22 on Monday, increasing over 3% and surpassing $120,000 for the first time. The surge comes as U.S. lawmakers are preparing to deliberate crypto-related bills, in what has been dubbed “Crypto Week.” The legislation would provide a regulatory framework for the digital asset industry, which is supported by the industry and U.S. President Donald Trump. Bitcoin has increased over 60% since the reelection of Trump, who has established himself as pro-crypto and even created his own crypto token, the $TRUMP coin.

📰 IN OTHER NEWS

🇺🇸 Have we truly realized the extent of what Donald Trump is inflicting on the world? He’s not just a more brutal form of Uncle Sam, he’s replacing the rules of the international game with just one: Whatever’s good for Trump is good for the world.
— LE NOUVEL OBS

🌡️ India’s heatwaves have become a public health emergency, putting workers’ health and livelihoods at risk. Without urgent reforms, the economic impact will be felt as well.
— THE WIRE

🤖 As staff shortages grow, a Munich startup is testing and training childlike AI companions designed to talk, remember and emotionally connect with the elderly — without ever losing patience.
— DIE ZEIT

📣 VERBATIM

“What do any of us say to our families now?”

— Paul Kabai, a Torres Strait elder and one of the lead plaintiffs in a landmark climate case against the Australian government, released a statement on Tuesday after Australia’s Federal Court dismissed the case. Kabai and fellow community elder Pabai Pabai have spent the past four years fighting through the courts to prove the government failed to protect Indigenous Australians living in the climate-threatened Torres Strait Islands by setting insufficient emission targets. The court ruled that climate policy was a matter for parliament, not the courts, and that the government was not required to protect the islands, which are located amid the warm waters off Australia’s northernmost tip, from climate change.