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Biden, Zelenskiy inch toward NATO with 10-year defense agreement

Under the agreement, the United States restates its support for Ukraine’s defense of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, amid a renewed push by Russia on Ukraine’s eastern front.

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U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed a 10-year bilateral security agreement on Thursday aimed at bolstering Ukraine’s defense against Russian invaders and getting Ukraine closer to NATO membership, Reuters reported.

The deal, signed on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy, aims to commit future U.S. administrations to support Ukraine, even if former President Donald Trump wins November’s election, officials said.

“Our goal is to strengthen Ukraine’s credible defense and deterrence capabilities for the long term,” Biden said at a joint news conference with Zelenskiy.

He said the G7’s message to Russian President Vladimir Putin is “You cannot wait us out. You cannot divide us.” The group of rich nations also agreed to a $50 billion loan for Ukraine backed by profits from frozen Russian assets.

The U.S.-Ukraine security deal is a framework for a long-term effort to help develop Ukraine’s outdated armed forces and serve as a step towards Ukraine’s eventual NATO membership, according to the text.

The Ukraine president called the agreement historic, saying it is a bridge toward his country’s eventual NATO membership. “This is an agreement on security and thus on the protection of human life,” he said.

Zelenskiy has long sought NATO membership but the allies have stopped short of taking that step. The Western alliance regards any attack launched on one of its 32 members as an attack on all under its Article Five clause, read the report.

In the event of an armed attack or threat of such against Ukraine, top U.S. and Ukrainian officials will meet within 24 hours to consult on a response and determine what additional defense needs are required for Ukraine, the agreement says.

Under the agreement, the United States restates its support for Ukraine’s defense of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, amid a renewed push by Russia on Ukraine’s eastern front.

It also outlines plans to develop Ukraine’s own defense industry and expand its military.

Ukraine needs a “significant” military force and sustained investments in its defense industrial base consistent with NATO standards, the text says.

It will allow the two countries to share intelligence, hold training and military education programs and combined military and exercises.

With Trump leading Biden in many election polls, the future of the agreement remains unclear.

Trump has expressed skepticism of Ukraine’s continued fight, saying at one point that he would end the conflict in his first day in office. Trump has also pushed for Europe to take on more of the burden of supporting Kyiv, Reuters reported.

Zelenskiy, asked about what could happen for his country if there is a change in leadership in the United States and in other allied nations, said people stood with Ukraine because they have shared values and empathize with the Ukrainian people.

He said he does not think that popular support will change.

“If the people are with us, any leader will be with us in this struggle for freedom,” he said.

Biden recently shifted his policy against allowing Ukraine to use American weapons for attacks inside Russia, permitting Kyiv to fire long-range U.S. missiles against Russian targets near the embattled Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

At the news conference, Biden made clear he would not permit Ukraine to expand its use of U.S. missiles inside Russia.

“It makes a lot of sense for Ukraine to be able to take out or combat what is going across that border. In terms of long range weapons … we have not changed our position on that,” Biden said.

 

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World

US Senate passes Russia sanctions championed by Graham; US House next

In a statement, the Ukrainian embassy in Washington welcomed passage, ​calling it “a timely and significant step that strengthens pressure on Russia.”

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The U.S. Senate easily passed sweeping Russia sanctions legislation on Friday, advancing a long-delayed measure backed by late ​Senator Lindsey Graham and setting the stage for consideration by the House of Representatives within weeks, Reuters reported.

Graham, a South Carolina Republican who died ‌last month, was among Kyiv’s most outspoken allies in Congress in its four-year-long war with Russia, and the bill aims to increase economic pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

It also includes expanded sanctions on Iran sought by President Donald Trump as lawmakers pushed for a vote on the measure well over a year since it was introduced in 2025.

The Senate’s Republican leaders had not ​brought the bill up because of resistance from Trump, who had kept decisions on sanctions at the White House, not Congress, since starting his second ​term in January 2025.

The Senate voted 86-11 to pass the “Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026,” to sanction ⁠Russian officials and authorize stiff tariffs on China, India and other countries to reduce their dependence on Russian oil and gas.

In a statement, the Ukrainian embassy in Washington welcomed passage, ​calling it “a timely and significant step that strengthens pressure on Russia.”

However, broad support may not be enough to secure House passage, with some lawmakers and industries wary that new tariff ​powers for Trump could raise costs for U.S. importers and consumers while exposing Republicans to political blowback.

Representatives Gregory Meeks of New York and Don Beyer of Virginia said in a statement they still had “fundamental concerns” about the tariff powers for Trump, who has made them a central piece of his “America First” approach to foreign policy, read the report.

“What the bill does grant … are ​sweeping new tariff authorities that the president could weaponize with abandon, as he has repeatedly done in the past,” said Meeks, the top Democrat on the House ​Foreign Affairs Committee, and Beyer, the senior Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee.

Trump’s fellow Republicans control only slim majorities in both the House and Senate.

Only one Senate Republican, Rand Paul of ‌Kentucky, voted ⁠against the bill, likening tariffs to taxes on American consumers.

The chamber erupted into applause after Graham’s sister, Darline Graham, who was appointed to fill his seat, read out the final tally.

The Senate rejected an amendment sponsored by Paul and Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon that would have removed the tariff powers.

Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who also sought to change the tariff language, said he had received a written commitment from Trump’s U.S. trade representative, Jamieson Greer, to put guardrails on the tariff authorities, Reuters reported.

If it is approved by ​the House and signed into law by ​Trump, the measure would allow the ⁠president to impose tariffs of up to 100% on countries that are major consumers of Russian energy, including India, Japan and some countries in the European Union, and leave it to his discretion to lift them.

The legislation’s backers insist that the tariffs ​are narrow enough that they would do their intended job of reducing Russian energy revenue that funds its war on Ukraine ​without negative consequences.

Supporters called the legislation ⁠the best opportunity to support Ukraine, and the strong bipartisan Senate vote provided momentum for it to pass the House after it returns from its summer recess on August 31.

Graham had announced shortly before his sudden death on July 11 that he and Trump agreed finally to move forward with the legislation.

The legislation lets the president impose targeted ⁠tariffs on ​imported goods from countries that buy the vast majority of Russian oil or gas and enable Russia’s ​evasion of sanctions.

The bill limits these tariffs to the five largest importers of Russian crude oil or gas and the top five countries that aid Russia’s energy sanctions evasion. The measure includes a provision to ​prevent a lapse in sanctions authority that restricts funding for Iranian energy and weapons.

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Two dead, including gunman, at school shooting in Thailand, officials sayd

The incident took place in the Bang Kruai district of Nonthaburi province. Police identified the perpetrator as a ​student.

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At least one teacher was ​killed and four other people injured by ‌a student who opened fire at a school in Thailand north of Bangkok on Friday before killing himself, ​authorities said,  Reuters reported.

Lt. Col. Dechrapee Kongdee Nonthaburi Provincial ​Police Commander confirmed the casualties to Reuters and ⁠said the suspected gunman had committed suicide. ​Among those injured were one teacher and three ​students, he said.

The incident took place in the Bang Kruai district of Nonthaburi province. Police identified the perpetrator as a ​student.

In photos circulated by emergency workers, students ​streamed out of the Debsirin Nonthaburi School, on the northwestern ‌outskirts ⁠of Bangkok, as ambulances operated. In one photo, one person is seen lying down on a stretcher outside an ambulance, while another is attended to ​by a ​medic, read the report.

In the ⁠2025 academic year, the school had an enrollment of around 3,100 students ​and 147 teachers, according to district authorities.

In ​February ⁠a teacher died and a student was injured in southern Thailand’s Hat Yai district after a gunman opened ⁠fire ​at a school.

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Death toll from migrant rush into Spanish enclave in North Africa rises to 72

Authorities have reinforced police and army patrols. A 500-metre (1,600-foot) floating barrier was installed off Ceuta on Saturday.

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The death toll from a mass rush of migrants from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta last week reached at least 72 ‌on Sunday, as five more bodies were found along the North African coast, officials said, Reuters reported.

The number of fatalities was considerably higher than what was announced by Moroccan authorities on Sunday.

More than 50,000 people crossed into Ceuta by land and sea in an unprecedented surge that began on Thursday at one of the European Union’s only two land borders ​with Africa, prompting alarm across the bloc. More than 48,000 returned to Morocco within 48 hours and more did so over the weekend, Spanish authorities ​said.

The Spanish government representative in Ceuta, Miguel Angel Perez, told reporters on Sunday that, in addition to the 72 fatalities, ⁠more than 1,000 people had been treated by health services. The situation in the enclave had improved markedly, he said, but more remained to be ​done to re-establish normality.

Some migrants drowned and others were crushed while trying to climb a breakwater and border fence. Many had been driven to migrate by ​economic hardship and encouraged by social media rumours.

Morocco’s Interior Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that 11 people had died, mostly by drowning while trying to cross into Spanish territory, noting that it was fact-checking reports on deaths from the other side of the border, read the report.

The ministry blamed the rush of migrants on social media misinformation, human ​trafficking networks and misinterpretation of a Spanish ruling banning immediate returns of migrants intercepted at sea. That statement is similar to the Spanish Foreign Ministry’s comments on ​the matter.

Moroccan authorities set the number of those involved in the crossing at 40,000, far lower than the figure used by Spanish officials, adding that 1,135 were ‌stopped from ⁠entering Melilla, another Spanish enclave.

The statement reiterated that Morocco was committed to countering illegal migration and called for the burden of managing migration to be shared.

“It pains me deeply that young people are dying at sea. It’s not right that, in the year 2026, women with children as young as two months old should be crossing the sea only to die,” Karima Abenaz, a French national in Ceuta with family in Morocco, said while holding back tears.

“In ​Morocco, there’s food, there’s everything we need,” she added. “If we don’t have ​a decent job, we should go ⁠on strike and demand our rights from the government. We shouldn’t be dying at sea, it’s not right.”

Ceuta leader Juan Jesus Vivas told the newspaper El Pais the city’s morgue had received 88 corpses, including some who had died in earlier, smaller ​attempts to reach the territory in hazardous night-time swims over the past two weeks. He said Moroccan authorities ​were also recovering bodies ⁠from the sea, but no official information was available.

Authorities have reinforced police and army patrols. A 500-metre (1,600-foot) floating barrier was installed off Ceuta on Saturday.

Twenty-two European Union member states wrote a letter asking for coordinated action to protect external borders and other measures after the Ceuta incident. Italy suspended passport-free Schengen travel arrangements with Spain for one month, Reuters reported.

Spain has ⁠adopted a ​more open stance on migrants than most other EU countries, introducing a programme to grant residency ​to more than half a million undocumented people.

It has rejected suggestions that the scheme encouraged the rush into Ceuta, saying that those who entered the enclave irregularly could not travel on to ​mainland Spain or elsewhere in the Schengen zone.

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