Trump denounces Justice Department decision to drop Reflecting Pool charges

The US president pushes back after a federal prosecutor says the damage to the pool was caused by ‘botched’ installation, not vandalism.

United States President Donald Trump has criticised his own Department of Justice after it decided to drop criminal charges against a former Olympic athlete for the alleged vandalism of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC.

Puberty blockers trial can start recruiting children after judge rejects legal challenge

A high-profile clinical trial of drugs that can delay puberty in children questioning their gender can go ahead after the High Court rejected a legal challenge by campaigners.

The Pathways trial, run by researchers at King's College London (KCL), will start recruiting more than 220 children aged between 11 and 16 years old from 1 August.

Police chief resigns days after deadly shooting in US city of Seattle

Shon Barnes steps down amid questions over authorities’ handling of the shooting at a popular food festival.

Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes has resigned less than a week after a deadly shooting at one of the US city’s largest summer festivals as questions have mounted over the authorities’ handling of its aftermath.

Hundreds escape Greek wildfire by sea as blazes continue across Europe

Hundreds of people in central Greece are being evacuated by sea after the coastal town they were in became hemmed in by one of the many wildfires raging across the country.

Turkiye’s Davutoglu steps back from politics: A timeline of his career

Ahmet Davutoglu, a former Prime Minister of Turkiye, has announced he is stepping down from politics and dissolving his party this week.

Once one of the leading figures in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Davutoglu later became a critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Russia appears to infiltrate first ‘fortress city’ as Ukraine changes guard

Russia claimed this week to be advancing into Ukraine’s regions of Sumy, Kharkiv and Donetsk, as Ukraine installed new political leadership in its defence ministry and a new military leadership in its armed forces.

The waiting game: Gaza’s CT scan shortage causing worries and worse

Gaza is suffering from a health crisis caused by a shortage in CT scans and leading to worsening medical issues.

Dalia Al-Hawari stood behind the glass partition in the hospital imaging room, watching in silence as her 10-year-old son prepared to have a CT scan to determine the extent of his injuries.

Colin Gray, the father of teen school shooter, sentenced to 15 years in prison

The father of a teenage boy who shot and killed four people at a high school in the US state of Georgia has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for murder, manslaughter and other charges.

From Toronto to Damascus: Syrians return home aiming to rebuild country

Damascus, Syria – When the al-Assad regime fell in December 2024, Yasseen Tasabehji and his family did not originally plan on returning to Syria.

Tasabehji, now 33, his four siblings and his parents had moved to Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto in Canada, in 2010, a year before the start of the Syrian uprising and subsequent war. They’d built what Tasabehji describes as a “quite good” life and didn’t plan on ever returning.

Apartheid wealth cannot buy silence on Gaza

The University of Cape Town (UCT) has lost 250 million rand ($15.2m) in donor funding after adopting two resolutions on Israel’s war on Gaza. Vice-Chancellor Mosa Moshabela disclosed the losses to Parliament in June, explaining that the Donald Gordon Foundation had withdrawn the remaining funding under a 200 million rand ($12.1m), 10-year commitment to a neuroscience institute. Other benefactors withheld another 50 million rand ($3m), including 15 million rand ($910,000) annually for bursaries.