Trump’s swollen ankles, bruised hand caused by chronic vein condition, says White House

The White House acknowledged President Donald Trump’s bizarre hand bruising and swollen legs — sharing that the commander in chief received a diagnosis of chronic venous insufficiency.

On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed speculation over the 79-year-old’s mysterious hand bruise that was photographed earlier this week, caked in makeup. Around the same time, photos of Trump’s legs as he watched the FIFA Club World Cup appeared swollen and enlarged, also sparking questions over his health.

During a press briefing, Leavitt said that Trump noticed “mild swelling” in his lower legs and received a check-up from the White House medical unit. An examination that included diagnostic vascular studies, bilateral lower extremities and venous doppler ultrasounds revealed a diagnosis of “chronic venous insufficiency.”

The condition occurs when leg veins become damaged and struggle to send blood back up to the heart, causing blood to pool in your legs and swelling. The fairly common condition usually affects people over the age of 50, but the risk grows as one ages, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

There was no evidence of deep vein thrombosis or arterial disease and a blood count test and echocardiogram both yielded normal results, Leavitt added.

The press secretary then addressed the much-speculated bruise on the back of Trump’s hand, telling reporters it was a result of “frequent handshaking.”

Despite images of Trump’s hand very clearly showing what appears to be an incision or scar, possibly from receiving an IV, the letter from Trump’s medical team shared by the White House noted “President Trump remains in excellent health.”

“This is consistent with minor soft tissue irritation from frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin, which is taken as part of a standard cardiovascular prevention regimen. This is a well-known and benign side effect of aspirin therapy, and the President remains in excellent health,” she said.

Zoomed-in shots of Trump’s hand appeared to be flaking with a layer of makeup – a shade that did not match his skin, plastered over the top – took off online earlier this week.

On part of his hand, buried beneath the concealer, there appeared to be an incision or scar of some kind.

It wasn’t the first time the mark on Trump’s hand was a cause of concern. In February, it appeared yellow and bruised, and also covered in makeup, during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Leavitt provided a similar response to The Independent on Wednesday over concerns about the bruise, saying, “President Trump is a man of the people and he meets more Americans and shakes their hands on a daily basis than any other President in history.

“His commitment is unwavering, and he proves that every single day.”

Zelensky and Trump consider drone ‘mega-deal’ as Putin’s troops advance on frontline

Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky are considering a deal that involves Washington buying battlefield-tested Ukrainian drones in exchange for Kyiv purchasing weapons from the US.

The Ukrainian president said his latest talks with Mr Trump focused on a deal that would help each country bolster its aerial technology.

Ukrainian drones have been able to strike targets as deep as 800miles (1,300km) into Russian territory. “The people of America need this technology, and you need to have it in your arsenal,” Mr Zelensky told the New York Post.

The Ukrainian leader said drones were the key tools that have allowed his country to fight off Russia‘s invasion for more than three years.

“We will be ready to share this experience with America and other European partners,” he said. Ukraine was also in talks with Denmark, Norway and Germany, Mr Zelensky said.

On the battlefront, Russia said its troops have taken control of three villages in three different parts of the frontline running through Ukraine, a claim Kyiv denies.

I deplore Brexit, says German chancellor, as he signs treaty with Starmer

German chancellor Friedrich Merz has said he “deplores” Brexit as he signed a major cooperation deal between his country and Britain.

At a press conference on Thursday alongside Sir Keir Starmer, Mr Merz said that countries should respond to the major challenges of our time “together”.

Speaking through a translator, Mr Merz, on his first official visit to the UK since he became chancellor in May, told the press conference that he “deplores deeply” the UK’s decision to leave the EU.

The UK-German treaty, the biggest between the two countries since the end of the Second World War, sees them both agree to collaborate on migration, trade and security.

Sir Keir and the German leader also agreed to “work ever more closely” on a range of issues.

The deal marks what has been a turnaround in Anglo-German relations.

Six years ago the then German chancellor Angela Merkel warned that post-Brexit Britain would be a potential competitor to the EU, as France and Germany appeared to close ranks.

Under the new agreement, Germany will close a loophole to allow police to seize small boats being used by migrants to cross the Channel.

As part of moves designed to cut post-Brexit red tape, German school trips to the UK will also become visa-free by the end of the year, while British visitors to Germany will be able to use its passport e-gates by the end of August.

The fast track will initially be for frequent travellers but will eventually be extended to all British visitors, as part of Sir Keir’s wider Brexit “reset” with the EU.

Sir Keir described the document, known as the Kensington Treaty, as “very special”.

The Labour leader said it was “evidence of the closeness of our relationship as it stands today” as well as a “statement of intent, a statement of our ambition to work ever more closely together”.

Mr Merz, a committed supporter of the European Union, once described himself as “truly European”.

And a recent poll showed that most people in Germany, as well as in three other large EU countries, would welcome the UK back into the bloc.

At the same time most Britons are in favour of rejoining, the YouGov survey of six western European nations found, but only if they can keep the opt-outs the UK previously had, such as remaining outside the Schengen zone and keeping their own currency.

The poll found that at least half of people asked in France, Germany, Italy and Spain, supported the UK being allowed to rejoin, a range that spanned from 51 per cent support in Italy to 63 per cent in Germany.

Those figures fell to less than half, however, if Britain wanted to rejoin on the same terms as before, with its opt-outs intact.

The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that the size of the UK economy will be 4 per cent smaller over the long term because of Brexit.

Ministers must accept reality: Brexit is a disaster for UK travellers

Great barrier grief: that is what the UK government promises to end, at least for British travellers to Germany.

“Millions of UK travellers to Germany will be able to use e-gates in the future thanks to a new agreement made between prime minister Keir Starmer and German chancellor Friedrich Merz today,” the Cabinet Office says.

“Germany will roll out the first phase of e-gates access for UK travellers by the end of August, starting with frequent travellers such as Brits with family in Germany or who travel regularly for business.”

I have asked the government how exactly this will work: how do the e-gates (or the staff in charge) know whether I have family in Germany? In the absence of a a cousin in Cologne or a daughter in Dresden, might I squeak in as a regular business traveller? I have also asked how frequently must I visit to qualify.

In any event, once through the e-gates a smiling German official will need to stamp my passport– in accordance with what the UK demanded when leaving the European Union.

Boris Johnson’s fearless negotiators insisted that we must become “third-country nationals” not required to obtain a visa.

Brussels capitulated to our wish to spend hours waiting in queues; to discover that rules on passports validity meant thousands would be turned away from planes; and to have our documents minutely examined to ensure we have not spent more than 90 days in the past 180 days within the Schengen area.

Our illustrious status is shared with many other citizens, from East Timor to El Salvador. But unlike them, the British traditionally make tens of millions of journeys to the EU each year.

We would love to make more of those trips by rail, but the tangle of red tape we negotiated means there isn’t enough space for processing passengers at London St Pancras International, the Eurostar hub. Yet here’s the the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, promising “a direct connection linking London and Berlin” could be in place “in just a matter of years”.

The press was briefed that trains from the UK to Germany could be running by 2030. Allow me to present an equally plausible transport goal for the next five years: “Personal jet packs for all.”

Even with more plausible, if desperate, claims such as “Estonia has confirmed they will open up access at Tallinn airport in 2026”, the UK government surely knows it is clutching at bureaucratic straws.

A courageous ministers should yell from the rooftops something that the most ardent Leave voter must accept: “Brexit has proved deeply damaging for British travellers to Europe, and we need to fix it.”

Tourists, students and business travellers have all suffered from the route of self-harm after the democratic vote to leave the European Union.

Your ease of access to Continental Europe this summer depends on your ancestry. UK citizens wise enough to have close relatives in Ireland, north or south, can obtain an EU passport and regain the travel freedom we chose to surrender. But it’s nothing more than a lottery where the right DNA and/or birthplace can win you the right to roam across Europe.

For everyone else: we need to negotiate a special status that reflects our passion for Europe – and the UK’s value as one of the biggest exporters of tourists in the world.

When my friends were facing cancer, a community of people stepped up

When I was younger, I used to worry incessantly about my parents getting cancer. I’d lay awake at night, ruminating on what would happen to my brother and I if they did. Who would support us? Thankfully, both are still cancer-free, well into their seventies.

However, now that I’m a parent myself, I worry about my children. Many people believe that cancer only really happens to people in old age, but that’s just not true. One beloved friend’s daughter died of leukaemia in 2020, aged just five; an unthinkable horror that changed the lives of everyone who knew her and her family.

And with Macmillan Cancer Support reporting that almost 3.5 million people in the UK are living with cancer, I also worry about my friends – parents themselves, their lives touched by cancer. One friend sat me down in our favourite local café, our toddlers playing at our feet, to break the news that she was about to undergo a double mastectomy. We cried together.

Another friend, Sarah, a single parent to two teenage girls, was diagnosed with breast cancer the day before we heard that King Charles had cancer, and a month before the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, announced her own diagnosis in March last year. It seemed like cancer was everywhere.

As a result, Sarah put 2024 on hold – she missed her daughter’s last sports day and last concert at primary school and had to find a whole new way of co-ordinating family life.

“I’m lucky in some ways that my children are teenagers, so they are able to look after themselves to some degree – but I’m also a single parent, so there are some things that they can’t do, or struggle with, due to their age,” she tells me.

“I have even set up multiple alarms on our Alexa reminding them to put their packed lunches in their bags or leave for school, just in case I can’t get up.”

Sarah says she thought she knew quite a lot about cancer prior to her diagnosis, but now admits she “really didn’t”. She explains: “There are so many terms and procedures to understand – stages and grades, not to mention over 100 different chemotherapy drugs.”

Sarah tells me about the exhausting cumulative effect of chemotherapy, which she endured every three weeks during her cancer treatment: “After the very first lot, I slept for a few hours and felt much better pretty quickly. For my last rounds, I slept for 48 hours solid and even days later, I needed to have a nap in the middle of the day and was in bed by 8pm.”

Sarah’s now finished chemotherapy and, a year on from her diagnosis, is turning 50. She’s throwing a huge party to celebrate not only the birthday milestone, but getting over this “annus horriblis” – a year she couldn’t have gotten through without the people around her.

“People can do so much for us when we are unwell – and I am forever grateful,” she says. “I’ve been really overwhelmed by the support that my friends have given me; from ferrying around my children to and from after-school events and sleepovers when things get bad, to my 75-year-old neighbour mowing the lawn. One friend popped round with a huge pot of pasta sauce and I even had a gift box from a recruiter at work.”

What talking to my strong, resilient friends about their cancer journeys has made me realise most, is the power of community: for when we receive the worst news imaginable, what we need is people around us to see us through. A community of other women: friends, school mums, neighbours.

They had people willing to make them food, pick up their children, go shopping for them or to just sit with them and listen. They had support when they decided to raise money for cancer support charities, when they did fundraisers such as hosting a Macmillan Coffee Morning.

It takes a village to raise a child – and that village will be with you every step of the way when you need them most.

Find out how you can help raise vital funds by hosting a Macmillan Coffee Morning. Sign up now on the Macmillan website

Macmillan Cancer Support, registered charity in England and Wales (261017), Scotland (SC039907) and the Isle of Man (604). Also operating in Northern Ireland.

Space skydiver Felix Baumgartner dies in paragliding crash aged 56

Felix Baumgartner, known for his record-breaking skydive from the edge of space, has died in a paragliding accident aged 56.

Baumgartner lost control of his motorised paraglider while flying over Porto Sant’Elpidio in Italy‘s central Marche region, and fell to the ground near the swimming pool of a hotel, local police said.

Porto Sant’Elpidio’s mayor, Massimiliano Ciarpella, said reports suggested he may have suffered a sudden medical issue mid-air, and offered the town’s condolences for the death of “a symbol of courage and passion for extreme flights”.

The Austrian made headlines around the world in October 2012 when, wearing a specially made suit, he jumped from a balloon 38km (24 miles) above Earth, becoming the first skydiver to break the sound barrier, typically measured at more than 690 mph.

He made the historic jump over Roswell, New Mexico, reaching a peak speed of over 833 mph, on the 65th anniversary of legendary American pilot Chuck Yeager’s flight shattering the sound barrier on 14 October 1947.

“When I was standing there on top of the world, you become so humble, you do not think about of breaking records anymore, you do not think of about gaining scientific data. The only thing you want is to come back alive,” he said after landing.

The altitude he jumped from also marked the highest-ever for a skydiver, shattering the previous record set in 1960 by Joe Kittinger, who served as an adviser to Baumgartner during his feat.

Baumgartner’s altitude record stood for two years until Google executive Alan Eustace set new marks for the highest free-fall jump and greatest free-fall distance.

The self-styled “God of the Skies” started parachuting as a teenager before taking up the extreme sport of base jumping.

His long career of daredevil jumps included skydiving across the English Channel and parachuting off the Petronas Towers in Malaysia.

In Austria he was also known for courting controversy with views that included expressing support for dictatorship as a system of government.

Baumgartner was fined €1,500 after he punched a Greek truck driver in the face during a 2010 altercation that broke out in a traffic jam near Salzburg.

16-year-olds to be given vote at next election in landmark change

The voting age is to be lowered to 16 in time for the next election, the government has announced in a move that would allow around 1.5 million more teenagers to cast a ballot.

The change will bring UK-wide elections in line with Scotland and Wales by the time the country next goes to the polls, due by the summer of 2029 at the latest.

The “seismic” development, which is part of a raft of measures set to be introduced through a new Elections Bill, is the biggest change to the electorate since 1969 when the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18.

Keir Starmer encouraged 16 and 17 year olds to use their vote at next election.

No 10 said the PM would “absolutely encourage them to be as engaged as they can be in the future of their country”.

Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner said: “For too long public trust in our democracy has been damaged and faith in our institutions has been allowed to decline.

“We are taking action to break down barriers to participation that will ensure more people have the opportunity to engage in UK democracy… and delivering on our manifesto commitment to give 16-year-olds the right to vote.”

Sixteen-year-olds already work, pay taxes and serve in the military, ministers point out.

Rushanara Ali, the minister for democracy, said the move would take “a generational step forward in restoring public trust and boosting engagement in UK democracy”.

But politicians from other parties have accused Starmer of trying to “rig future elections” with the change.

The PM insisted last year the issue was one of fairness. He said: “If you can work, if you can pay tax, if you can serve in your armed forces, then you ought to be able to vote.”

Across the world there are only a handful of countries where the voting age is less than 18. In 2024 only Nicaragua, Scotland (for devolved Scottish Parliament and council elections), the Isle of Man, Guernsey, Ethiopia, Ecuador, Cuba, Brazil, and Austria had votes at 16.

Last year the then Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns, who has since lost her seat and defected to Nigel Farage’s Reform party, put a video out on X (formerly Twitter) claiming that Starmer wants to “rig future elections”.

But Chris Annous, from pollsters More in Common, said expanding the right to vote to 16 and 17 year olds “will have little impact on election results – outside of hyper marginal seats”.

A new poll has also found nearly half of 16 and 17-year-olds don’t think they should be allowed to vote.

The survey of 500 16 and 17-year-olds by Merlin Strategy for ITV News found that 49 per cent didn’t think the voting age should be lowered to 16, while 51 per cent said it should.

The plans will also see UK-issued bank cards as an accepted form of ID at the polling stations. A more automated voter registration system will also make it easier for people to register to vote, the government said.

New changes will also close loopholes that would allow foreign donors via ‘shell companies’ to influence UK political parties.

It follows reports earlier this year that Elon Musk was preparing to give $100m (£80m) to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, in what would have been by far the largest donation in British electoral history.

The changes will also allow the Electoral Commission to take action and enforce heavier fines of up to £500,000 on those who breach political finance rules, and enable tougher sentences for those who abuse election campaigners.

The reforms come as the official watchdog the Electoral Commission reported that spending at last summer’s general election hit a record high of £94.5 million, including £69.3 million spent by political parties.

Labour outspent its rivals, shelling out £30 million during the campaign, more than twice the amount it spent five years earlier, while the Conservatives spent £23.9 million and the Liberal Democrats £5.6 million.

Reform spent £5.5 million, the Greens £1.7 million and the SNP £799,000.

Harry Quilter-Pinner, executive director of the IPPR think tank, said the changes were “the biggest reform to our electoral system since 1969”, when the voting age was lowered to 18.

He said: “Barely half of people voted in last year’s general election. Our democracy is in crisis, and we risk reaching a tipping point where politics loses its legitimacy. The government has clearly heard these alarm bells.”

No 10 “absolutely rejected” claims that the reform was being brought in to shore up the government’s vote.