Trump approves U.S.-Saudi civil nuclear energy agreement, officials say
U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of Iraq Ali al-Zaidi, in the Oval Office of the White House on July 14, 2026 in Washington, DC. . (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Trump has approved an agreement with Saudi Arabia to partner on developing the Kingdom’s civil nuclear energy program, according to two U.S. officials.
The deal leaves open the possibility that Saudi Arabia will enrich uranium domestically in the future, the officials said, a prospect that could raise concerns about nuclear weapons proliferation.
In the deal, the United States and Saudi Arabia have agreed to safeguards to inhibit any weaponization effort, the sources said. But that framework would be governed by the two countries themselves, instead of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which conventionally oversees nuclear pacts.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked about the agreement on Wednesday. He declined to comment on the contours of the plan but said that the Trump administration would work with Congress to formalize the deal.
“Suffice it to say, the U.S. is not going to reach any agreement with any country in the world that leads to the risk of proliferation,” Rubio said.
The agreement, under which U.S. industry would help develop Iranian nuclear infrastructure, spans 30 years and is valued at tens of billions of dollars, the officials said.
The U.S. and Saudi Arabia discussed details of the proposal during a visit to Washington, D.C. by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last fall. The administration is expected to submit the deal to Congress, which is required by federal law.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that the president had approved the deal.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the press at an informal meeting of European Union leaders on April 23, 2026 in Ayia Napa, Cyprus. (Photo by Byron Smith/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Three people were killed overnight as Russia continued its aerial barrage of Ukraine, firing at least 166 drones, Ukrainian officials said, as Russian officials also claimed a Ukrainian attack targeting Moscow and other regions.
“At least three people were killed, including a pregnant 22-year-old woman, in Chuhuiv, as a result of Russia’s overnight terrorist attacks on Kharkiv and its region,” Andrii Sybiha, the Ukrainian foreign minister, said on social media.
The Ukrainian air force said at least 146 Russian drones had been destroyed.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a series of posts on Telegram on Tuesday morning that at least 11 drones had been destroyed by Russian air defenses near the capital. Emergency services were working at the sites where each crashed, he said.
Russia’s defenses intercepted and destroyed overnight at least 140 Ukrainian drones in several regions, Russia’s Defense Ministry said, according to the state-affiliated Tass news service.
The overnight attacks came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again said Kyiv was seeking to open a diplomatic path to end Russia’s war.
Zelenskyy told The Guardian in an interview published on Tuesday that Roman Abramovich, a prominent Russian businessman with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, had visited Kyiv in May.
“I told this businessman, who came to deliver the message about a potential framework of diplomatic negotiations, that we were ready to speak from the very beginning,” Zelenskyy said on social media on Tuesday, recounting what he had told The Guardian. “We didn’t want this war, and we want to stop it.”
Zelenskyy’s office last week published an open letter to Putin in which he asked for a meeting, saying, “The front line today is the line from which diplomacy must begin.”
The Ukrainian president said many Russians were “becoming less comfortable” with the effects of the war on daily life, the economy and international relations.
“You will not have enough money or political capital to keep buying the loyalty of Russians the way you have for the past 26 years,” Zelenskyy told Putin in the letter. “And we will do everything we can to ensure that the world helps bring that moment closer.”
Putin last week again said he believed there was “a desire to end this military conflict peacefully” but stopped short of saying he would meet with his Ukrainian counterpart, according to a transcript released by the Russian president’s office.
The overnight strike targeting Ukraine’s Kharkiv region injured at least 15 people and damaged residential buildings, along with a church and other civilian infrastructure, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
Russia also targeted emergency responders in the Dnipro region, the ministry said.
“After firefighters had extinguished a blaze caused by an earlier strike, their vehicle came under another Russian attack while returning to base,” the ministry said. “Fortunately, no one was injured.”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands at a joint press conference in the East Room at the White House on February 27, 2025 in Washington, DC (Photo by Carl Court – Pool/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — As Britain prepares for yet another prime ministerial change, a former holder of the office — Theresa May, who led the country from 2016 to 2019 — urged the country’s next leader to focus on shared U.S.-U.K. interests, rather than falling prey to potential personal or political clashes with President Donald Trump.
The U.K. Parliament is expected to anoint the Labour Party’s Andy Burnham as prime minister later this month. Burnham will become the seventh leader to take the reins of the country in 10 years, a reflection of the political and economic turbulence that has beset the country since the Brexit vote in 2016.
Burnham will replace current Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who last month said he would vacate his post following a collapse in support among Labour members of parliament, exacerbated by disastrous local election results in May. Starmer delivered Labour a historic majority in parliament in the 2024 general election, but saw his authority and approval rapidly deteriorate.
Like his predecessors, Burnham will need to juggle domestic discord while navigating a raft of foreign policy demands — among them the cultivation of the so-called “special relationship” between the U.K. and the U.S., which during President Donald Trump’s two terms in the White House has been subject to strategic, ideological and economic headwinds.
Trump has already described Burnham — who until recently was serving as the mayor of Greater Manchester — as “extremely liberal.” During Starmer’s time in office, the president has been scathing toward the prime minister’s policies in areas including energy, immigration, crime and foreign policy. May, whose time in office overlapped with Trump’s first term, told ABC News last week that institutional transatlantic relationships and shared interests can help Starmer’s successors ease possible interpersonal tensions.
“Keir Starmer, actually, on the foreign policy field, by and large, played a good hand,” May told ABC News on the sidelines of the Chatham House think tank’s conference in London. The outgoing prime minister has been broadly praised for his deft handling of the transatlantic relationship, which included hosting a state visit for Trump to the U.K. in 2025.
Of the special relationship, May said, “We talk about it perhaps slightly more than the U.S. does. But that relationship is built on a whole set of different levels of relationships. So, it’s not just about the prime minister and the president. It’s also about our security relationships, our defense relationships … It’s not just about the two people at the top.”
The same is true of the U.K.’s own political issues, May said, as the nation prepares for the coronation of its next prime minister. “It’s not about individuals. Politics today generally across the globe has become more about individuals and personalities and I think that’s problematic,” she said.
“What matters to people is not the personality at the top. What matters to the people is what they’re doing, what their policies are,” May said.
The recent joint U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has again prompted Trump to strike out at America’s European allies, who refused to join the campaign in support of Washington though expressed willingness to aid security and minesweeping missions in the Strait of Hormuz once the conflict is over.
The U.K. was among the American allies who refusal to assist the U.S. against Iran “greatly disappointed me,” Trump said in March. Starmer’s response in particular, the president said, was “very disappointing.”
Asked whether the Iran war would prove to be a long-lasting blot on U.K.-U.S. relations, May said she was hesitant to comment as the conflict “is not finished.”
Still, she — like many other current and former European leaders — noted that European nations have previously shown their “commitment to the United States,” not least in rallying to the U.S. side after the 9/11 attacks; the only time in NATO history that an ally invoked the Article 5 collective defense clause.
When asked about Trump’s repeated suggestions that the U.S. should be less involved in European security, May replied, “There have been other times when there’s been more of that sense of isolationism,” specifically noting the later American entry into the Second World War in support of the U.K. and its allies.
“But I think, again, the interests that we have together are what combines us,” May said.
An aerial view of the Pyramid of the Moon following a shooting that left at least one person dead, at the Teotihuacan archaeological site, in Teotihuacan, Mexico on April 20, 2026. (Daniel Cardenas/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The man who opened fire at one of Mexico’s busiest tourist sites was allegedly influenced by violent acts in the United States, Mexican officials said Tuesday.
The deadly mass shooting occurred during the late morning Monday at the Teotihuacan pyramids, an archaeological site outside of Mexico City. The shooter fired upon tourists from atop one of the pyramids while armed with a revolver that he reloaded at least twice before dying by suicide, according to José Luis Cervantes Martínez, the attorney general of the state of Mexico.
One person was killed and seven others wounded by gunfire, officials said. Several people also suffered injuries in the ensuing panic.
“We all know that we had not seen anything like this in Mexico before,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters at a press briefing on Tuesday. “Based on information from the authorities, the individual showed signs of psychological issues and was influenced by incidents that occurred abroad.”
The gunman held a plastic bag containing 52 rounds of ammunition during the attack, according to Cervantes Martínez. The shooter also had a bladed weapon on him and handwritten materials reportedly related to violent incidents believed to have occurred in the U.S. in April 1999, the attorney general said.
The shooting occurred on the same day as the 1999 Columbine High School massacre.
“Evidence collected so far suggests a psychopathic profile of the attacker, characterized by a tendency to imitate violent acts that occurred in other places and at other times,” Cervantes Martínez said at Tuesday’s press briefing. “This phenomenon, known as a ‘copycat’ effect, is one of the lines of investigation in this case, as materials referencing violent acts and figures associated with such behavior were found.”
The gunman, identified as Julio César Jaso Ramírez, is not linked to organized crime and appears to have acted alone in a premeditated act, officials said.
“Investigative findings indicate that the attack was not spontaneous. The attacker had previously visited the archaeological site on several occasions, stayed in nearby hotels, and from there planned and carried out his actions,” Cervantes Martinez said.
The first report of an armed individual at the tourist site came at 11:20 a.m., officials said. State police and the Mexican National Guard responded and were also attacked. While returning fire, the gunman was shot in the leg by the National Guard, officials said. He shot himself while being subdued and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.
One person — a Canadian woman — was fatally shot and seven others suffered gunshot wounds during the attack, authorities said. Six others were also injured, such as from falls, in the incident, authorities said. Those injured were from Brazil, Canada, Colombia, the Netherlands, Russia and the U.S., officials said.
Sheinbaum said authorities are investigating how the attacker was able to enter the site with a weapon.
In the wake of the deadly shooting, Mexico will be increasing security at archaeological sites and other public locations across the country by increasing the presence of the Mexican National Guard and installing screening equipment, the president said.
“In light of this event, it is necessary to strengthen inspections to prevent anyone from entering an archaeological site or public space with a firearm,” Sheinbaum said.
