Good morning.
Russia attacked Ukraine with kamikaze drones and S-300 surface-to-air missiles overnight, Ukrainian authorities said, hours after Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump he would sign up to a partial and temporary ceasefire.
The US and Russian presidents spoke for more than two hours on Tuesday evening, and while Putin rejected Trump’s request for a full 30-day ceasefire – to which Ukraine had agreed last week in Saudi Arabia – the pair agreed on a moratorium on strikes on energy and infrastructure targets.
However, shortly after the call ended, air raid sirens sounded in Kyiv. About 45 drones attacked the region around the capital, and anti-aircraft fire was audible across the capital overnight.
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What has Volodymyr Zelenskyy said? The Ukrainian president said he would contact Trump today to discuss the call with Putin, adding that the “next steps cannot be done without us”.
EPA aims to cut pollution rules projected to save nearly 200,000 lives: ‘Real people will be hurt’
A push by the Trump administration to repeal a barrage of clean air and water regulations may deal a severe blow to US public health, with a Guardian analysis finding that the targeted rules were set to save the lives of nearly 200,000 people in the years ahead.
Last week, Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provoked uproar by unveiling a list of 31 regulations it will scale back or eliminate, including rules limiting harmful air pollution from cars and power plants; restrictions on the emission of mercury, a neurotoxin; and clean water protections for rivers and streams.
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What could be repealed? One of the most consequential actions will see the EPA reconsider a landmark 2009 finding that greenhouse gases harm human health, which has been used to underpin laws aimed at addressing the climate crisis.
New York City paying $500,000 a month to indicted developer who could testify against mayor
The administration of the New York City mayor, Eric Adams, is continuing to pay more than $500,000 a month to a hotel developer who could provide valuable testimony to prosecutors against the mayor and several of his top allies.
The developer, Weihong Hu, was indicted last month for allegedly bribing a New York City non-profit CEO. The indictment charges that she gave the executive stacks of cash and helped him purchase a $1.3m townhouse in exchange for more than $20m in city-funded contracts for her two Queens hotels and a catering company. Hu has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
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What is the money for? Despite these allegations brought by the US attorney for the eastern district of New York, Adams’s administration has continued to pay one of Hu’s companies more than $542,000 a month to host another nonprofit program at one of her Queens hotels, according to two city officials with knowledge of the matter.
In other news …
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The Trump administration yesterday released thousands of pages of files relating to the assassination of John F Kennedy, the 35th president who was shot dead in Dallas, Texas, in November 1963.
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Heavily redacted court documents related to Prince Harry’s US visa have been released in the US, with his “exact status” remaining confidential over fears he could be subjected to harassment. A rightwing group has argued that he might have concealed past illegal drug use.
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Google has agreed to pay $28m (£22m) to settle a class action lawsuit claiming that it favoured white and Asian employees by paying them more and putting them on higher career tracks than other workers.
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The Australian bestselling children’s author Aaron Blabey has signed an eight-figure deal with the UK, US and Australian arms of Macmillan. Blabey, whose books have sold about 55m copies, is a New York Times-bestselling author.
Stat of the day: Value of Elon Musk’s X ‘rebounds to $44bn purchase price’
The value of Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, has reportedly risen back to the $44bn he paid for it, in a reversal of fortunes since the billionaire became a key ally of Donald Trump. Investors valued the site formerly known as Twitter at $44bn (£33.9bn) earlier this month, according to a Financial Times report.
Don’t miss this: Romantasy, Bridgerton, audio porn apps – it’s a great time for horny ladies
Highly sexual fantasy stories are nothing new. But “romantasy” is part of a recent wave of entertainment that has exploded in popularity in recent years. Part of the appeal for fans is that it makes sex look not just enjoyable, but fun for women. Romantasy isn’t the only kind of horny escapism consumers are flocking to, with the audio erotica app Quinn also soaring in popularity.
Climate check: More than 150 ‘unprecedented’ climate disasters struck world in 2024, says UN
The devastating impacts of the climate crisis reached new heights in 2024, with scores of unprecedented heatwaves, floods and storms across the globe, according to the UN’s World Meteorological Organization. The WMO’s report on 2024, the hottest year on record, sets out a trail of destruction from extreme weather.
Last Thing: Dolphins welcome Nasa astronauts stuck in space back to Earth
A pod of dolphins were seen swimming near a SpaceX capsule after it splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico carrying the US astronauts Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams and Nick Hague and the Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. Wilmore and Williams had been stuck onboard the International Space Station for nine months due to an issue with a Boeing capsule
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