‘US to offer Ukraine air support and intelligence’

The Kremlin will not accept any presence of NATO troops on Ukrainian territory as part of European proposals for security guarantees.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: It was the advancement of NATO military infrastructure and the infiltration of this military infrastructure into Ukraine that could probably be named among the root causes of the conflict situation that arose.

“So we have a negative attitude towards these discussions.”

Peskov praised US president Donald Trump efforts to end the war as “very important”, following US-Russian summit in Alaska earlier this month.

This comes as the US is reportedly prepared to offer intelligence assets and battlefield oversight and take part in a European-led air defence shield for Ukraine as part of post-war security guarantees, according to the Financial Times.

Last week, Trump suggested the US might provide air support as part of a deal to end the war. He told Fox News: “We’re willing to help them with things, especially, probably… by air,” though he didn’t elaborate.

Children among the injured after ‘active shooter’ opens fire at Minneapolis school

The Minneapolis Police Department confirmed that an active shooter reportedly opened fire at a church on the south side of the city Wednesday morning.

Details are limited, but police and paramedics responded to Annunciation Church, located at 509 W. 54th Street. The shooter is said to be “contained” and was described as a man dressed all in black and armed with a rifle.

Initial reports suggest a significant number of injured — possibly as many as 20 — many of them are children. A witness from inside the church said two children were killed when the shooter “pepper-sprayed through the stained-glass windows into the building, 50 to 100 shots.”

A Justice Department official told Reuters that three people were dead, including the shooter, and a source confirmed to the Star Tribune that two children had been killed.

Governor Tim Walz posted on social media that he has been briefed about a shooting at Annunciation Catholic School, and that agents from the BCA and troopers from the State Patrol are on scene alongside Minneapolis police.

“I’m praying for our kids and teachers whose first week of school was marred by this horrific act of violence,” Walz wrote.

Ryanair crackdown on oversized cabin bags to intensify in November

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has vowed to intensify the crackdown on the “one in 1,000” passengers who break the airline’s strict cabin baggage limits – claiming that the policy will lead to lower fares.

From the start of the aviation winter season in November, incentives for ground staff to identify passengers who breach the limit for a free bag on Ryanair will rise.

The airline has a limit of 40 x 30 x 20cm for a “personal item”. The volume has recently increased from 40 x 20 x 25cm, as a result of an agreement among European airlines to adopt a new minimum size for cabin luggage.

Passengers whose bags are too big are liable to pay a penalty of up to £60, with the offending luggage placed in the hold.

“You will be required to leave your bags at the aircraft steps, in the gate bag trolley, or as directed by Ryanair agents, for stowage in the hold,” the airline says.

Ground staff at busy airports are currently rewarded with a payment of €1.50 (£1.30) for each bag that is too large, up to a maximum of €80 (£69) per month.

Mr O’Leary told The Independent the payment will rise to €2.50 (£2.25), with the earning cap lifted.

He said: “99.9 per cent of Ryanair passengers comply with the bag rules, no issues

“That 0.1 per cent, we need to get rid of them. We need to get rid of those big bags. Everybody has to play by the rules, and then there’ll be no issues, but we are going to continue to catch more people.

“Our staff at the gates – we’re incentivising them now. They get paid €1.50 for any oversized bag they find.

“We’re going to increase that to €2.50 from probably November, mainly because they’re finding less and less oversized bags because more and more people are complying with the rules.

“The more we can do that and eliminate that, the faster the boarding will be, the quicker the turnarounds will be and the more efficient overall Ryanair will be – and we’ll keep passing on those efficiencies in the form of low fares.”

Many passengers have complained that ground staff are heavy handed.

But the Ryanair chief executive said: “I make absolutely no apology for it whatsoever. I want our ground handlers to be catching the people who are scamming the system.”

Ryanair says it will add four new or restored routes from London Stansted from the start of the winter season, connecting the Essex airport with Lübeck and Münster in Germany, Murcia in Spain and Trapani in Sicily.

The airline says it now connects Stansted with more European destinations than are served from Heathrow.

Read more: How a bizarre summer air fare decision led to the UK’s inflation surge

Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops is authoritarian theatre

Violent crime has existed forever. It is urban and rural; its victims are of all races and classes, but they are disproportionately Black and poor. Rates of violent crime ebb and flow and it is far greater in some places than others. While one violent crime is one too many, eliminating it is as impossible as eliminating death or taxes.

As global crime statistics illustrate, fewer guns lead to fewer homicides, but in the United States, effective gun control becomes ever more hopeless. Indeed, the new US attorney for Washington DC has announced that she will no longer prosecute the carrying of guns and rifles. Other techniques have proven effective, though not in eliminating crime, but in reducing it substantially. As a general rule, increasing the number of better-trained cops familiar with communities where violent crime is more prevalent has made a difference in controlling crime.

But Trump’s flooding of Washington DC with thousands of untrained, largely out-of-town soldiers and federal agents is authoritarian political theatre masquerading as crime control, with a heavy dose of racial intimidation.

It is a core part of his strategy to divide the country and demonise groups to solidify his coalition, numb the country to what is occurring through false promises of safety, and normalise the ostracising of those who do not sign on to his authoritarian vision.

Political leaders have used crime to create moral panics for centuries. They focus on communicating that some great evil is threatening society and must be stopped, effectively at any cost. That is not to say that crime is not a significant problem; indeed, the Trump playbook is a familiar one, inducing Democrats to fall into the trap of saying that people’s fears about crime are overblown and that the statistics tell a different story.

George HW Bush ran his campaign against Michael Dukakis with endless invocations of Willie Horton, a Black man who left prison on a furlough and committed a violent crime. As Bill Keller wrote for The Marshall Project, all 50 states then had a furlough programme, including many for murderers. Bush ran his presidential campaign as if he were running for local district attorney and Dukakis walked into the trap.

Keller observed: “The Willie Horton ad has inspired campaigns across the country and still does. You’ll see these Willie Horton-style ads that will flash a portrait of the candidate who’s being reviled next to some inmate who looks like the devil incarnate in his mugshot.” Often, the “devil incarnate” is a person of colour.

Trump’s programme is to use crime as a wedge issue for his political agenda. Washington DC is the pilot programme. Trump has started there because he can; it is not a state, and the president has certain powers there that he does not elsewhere with respect to policing functions. But it is no coincidence that Washington DC is both more than 90 per cent Democratic and that the largest single ethnic group is Black.

Fox News reports that more than 2,300 National Guard members have been deployed on the streets of Washington. Of those, the majority are not part of the DC National Guard; they are from deep red states that are mainly rural – Louisiana, West Virginia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee. Ironically, cities in three of these states – Louisiana, Ohio and Tennessee – have among the highest murder rates in the country, higher than Washington and many others.

The National Guard have now been authorised to carry weapons. They are not deployed in high crime areas; they are mainly there for show, around monuments and tourist attractions and “checkpoints”. Trump’s deployment of armed guards has been supplemented by approximately 900 more federal officers, including FBI and ICE.

None of these people deployed are trained in local law enforcement, which is wholly different to the training of National Guards or federal agents. It is estimated that the DC Police force deploys about 1,300 officers per day on the streets, so the federal presence is more than two and a half times the local police force, which is the sixth-largest police force in the country, policing a city that is the 22nd-largest in the country.

Trained police can help prevent crime, in Washington and elsewhere. But soldiers in armoured Humvees carrying machine guns in front of the train station or the Washington Monument will not reduce crime. Nor will FBI agents give out tickets to drivers on their cellphones. And surely, if they are not reducing violent crime (which is meaningful, but at a 30-year low), there must be far better uses for their skill sets.

Trump daily previews his plans to replicate what he is doing and flood the streets of cities in other blue states with National Guardsmen; one day it is New York; the next Baltimore, then Chicago, or Los Angeles. Do these cities have crime problems? To be sure, but certainly not as bad as Memphis or Saint Louis or Little Rock or other places shipping their National Guard to the capital. What is the difference? One group are governed by Maga friends and the other by enemies and rivals.

Yes, while crime is down, there is still too much crime. That is a truism. There are ways to reduce crime further. But that is not what Trump intends to do or cares about doing. He does not want safe streets; he wants a show of force, where his enemies are intimidated and his supporters revel in that intimidation.

Eric Lewis is a human rights lawyer who sits on the board of The Independent

Liam and Noel Gallagher’s brother appears in court charged with rape

The older brother of Liam and Noel Gallagher has appeared in court charged with rape.

Paul Gallagher, 59, is also accused of three counts of sexual assault, three counts of intentional strangulation, to counts of making a threat to kill, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and coercive and controlling behaviour.

The Metropolitan Police said the alleged offences reportedly occurred between 2022 and 2024.

Appearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday wearing a black shirt and suit, he only spoke to confirm his name, age and address.

Gallagher is a year older than Noel and seven years older than Liam. He entered no pleas during the five-minute hearing.

District judge Louisa Cierciora granted him conditional bail, and he will next appear at Harrow Crown Court on 24 September.

While he has never been involved with Oasis, he was dropped from performing a DJ set at The Grand Social for an afterparty to coincide with the band’s reunion tour’s Dublin performances.

Liam and Noel Gallagher announced last August that they would reunite for the first time since dramatically parting ways in 2009.

The Oasis Live ’25 tour kicked off in Cardiff’s Principality Stadium in July, before moving on to Manchester, London and Edinburgh.

They are scheduled to perform concerts around the world including in major cities across the US, Canada, Mexico, Australia and Japan, before ending in Brazil in November.

Summer escapes made easy: find your perfect sunbreak fuss-free

When it comes to booking your summer getaway, finding the perfect break can sometimes feel like a bit of a challenge. Whether it’s a fun-packed family holiday, a romantic couples trip, an activity-filled solo break or a group trip where you need to tick everyone’s travel boxes, there’s a lot to consider, and a vast range of options to choose from. So it can be tricky knowing where to start.

To make it easier to plan your perfect break, holiday experts Travel Republic have you covered, whether you’re researching dream destinations or making last-minute plans. With over 20 years of travel know-how, plus big-name airlines, top hotels and exciting attractions – they make booking your next great value getaway easy, affordable and totally stress free.

From trending destinations to incredible money-saving deals and travel ideas tailored to you, Travel Republic has everything you need to find and book your perfect trip. On top of all that, they offer flexible payment plans, super low deposits, are ATOL protected and offer all the holiday extras you need such as car hire, airport parking, transfers and travel insurance.

Ready for some travel inspo? Here’s our guide to four diverse, versatile destinations that offer it all: dreamy beaches, family entertainment, culinary delights, active adventure, and history and culture by the spadeful.

With over 6000 islands and islets, 200 of which are inhabited, not to mention a culture-rich mainland, Greece definitely has something for every type of traveller. For couples, friends and singles looking to party, head to the clubs and beach parties of Ios, Zante (Zakynthos) or Mykonos – enjoy the growing foodie scene in the pretty white-washed, streets of Mykonos Town, while adrenaline junkies will feel at home on the water, with kitesurfing, windsurfing, scuba diving and jet skiing on offer. For sandy beaches and calm waters, book into the islands of Rhodes or the family friendly Kos. If chilling on the beach is your priority, some of the world’s best can be found in Crete or Halkidiki – sporty types take note of the 13km scenic coastal cycling route. Or head to Faliraki with the kids for banana boat rides, snorkelling and splashing about at Faliraki Waterpark.

History lovers won’t want to leave Greece: explore the archeological wonder that is the Athens Acropolis, walk the capital’s charming old Plaka neighbourhood and stop at one of the many local cafes to enjoy souvlaki, moussaka and gyros. For another UNESCO World Heritage Site, visit the island of Corfu’s Old Town and submerge yourself in a world of Venetian cobbled streets, fortresses and tunnels.

Whether you want the perfect package holiday with breathtaking beaches, buzzing bazaars and cafes on your city break or a boutique stay to explore a multitude of ancient ruins, Turkey has a dream holiday for everyone.

Istanbul will keep every generation entertained: visit the impressive Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosques, go haggling in the Grand Bazaar, then grab a traditional pide (folded pizza) and a Turkish tea before making a trip to the array of castles and fortresses. There’s also a zoo, aquarium and entertainment parks.

Turkey has an abundance of historical sites, with many accessible from top beach resorts such as Side and Izmir. Head to the Dalaman region, often referred to as the Turquoise Coast in reference to the picture-perfect Blue Lagoon beach. Make the short journey from Daylan town to the magnificent ancient port city of Kaunos, which dates back to the 9th century BC and be sure to go turtle spotting at the neighbouring İztuzu Beach. Thrill seekers should head to the nearby resort of Fethiye, to spy its rugged scenery and historic sites from a paraglider. While Marmaris offers everything from parties and waterparks to romance. Head inland to Anatolia to experience the ‘fairy chimney’ rock formations of Cappadocia from the skies in a hot air balloon — a true bucket list experience.For resorts that offer a bit of everything, choose Bodrum and Antalya for everything from Roman ruins, bazaars and nightclubs to yacht-filled marinas, waterparks and pristine beaches. Lots to keep little ones entertained, and party goers busy while couples can enjoy luxe adult-only hotels.

From the Costas to the Canaries and Barcelona to the Balearics, Spain really does have it all. If it’s a city break you’re after, choose the cosmopolitan capital of Madrid: take in art at the impressive Prado Museum, stroll through the peaceful Royal Botanic Gardens and tour the famous Bernabeu Stadium, home to the mighty Real Madrid. Or if you like beach vibes with your culture, opt for the city of Barcelona. Visit the Gothic Quarter for breathtaking architecture, marvel at the iconic Sagrada Família and enjoy tapas and cava in the narrow streets of the El Born district – home to the Moco and Picasso museums.

For full-on beach action, stay on the mainland and choose between Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol, Costa Brava or the ‘Golden Coast’ of Costa Dorada. Here,Salou is a good option for those looking for buzzing restaurants and bars, active types keen on coastal walks, kayaking and snorkelling and kids keen to mix rollercoasters and waterparks at PortAventura theme park.

If you’re more about ‘island life’ there’s no shortage of options: head to Ibiza or Majorca for parties galore and secluded beaches with crystalline waters or opt for one of the equally idyllic Canaries. For a break that feels out of this world, choose volcanic island Lanzarote, which offers pristine white sand beaches across the island, including the main holiday resorts of Puerto del Carmen, Playa de los Pocillos, Costa Teguise and Playa Blanca. The latter offers a wealth of bars and restaurants, waterparks, 5km promenade and lively marina with a daily market.

Dramatic coastlines with crystal clear waters, buzzing city life with pop-up restaurants and dolphin and whale watching for wildlife lovers are just some of what is on offer in Portugal, making it a must-visit for group and solo travellers alike. Head to the south coast for the holiday haven of the Algarve, home to some of Europe’s top beaches. There’s 30km of coastline to enjoy at Albufeira alone, peppered with beachfront family friendly and adult-only hotels. Be sure to explore the cobbled streets and palm tree-lined squares of the Old Town before settling down for local seafood specialities including the Cataplana stew. Want to get active? Hike the coastal Seven Hanging Valleys Trail for views of rock formations against the backdrop of turquoise waters. While nightlife lovers should head to the Algarve cities of Lagos and Faro for rooftop cocktails and tunes that play until the sun comes up.

For culture fans, head to capital city Lisbon for countless museums, galleries and beautiful historic buildings including the huge, Gothic Jerónimos Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Lose yourself in the cobbled alleyways of the Old Town of Alfama and soak up the smells and tastes of Portuguese baking including the delicious Pastéis de Belém. Beach lovers worry not, you can have sand between your toes after a quick bus ride, while surf lovers can train it to Estoril or Cascais to catch some waves.

For more travel ideas, inspiration and great value getaways, visit Travel Republic

Royal Mail rolls out major change to postboxes across UK

Royal Mail is set to revolutionise its iconic postbox design with the rollout of 3,500 solar-powered “postboxes of the future” across the UK.

These innovative units feature a digitally activated drop-down drawer, specifically designed to accommodate parcels as large as a shoebox.

Heralding the biggest transformation to the postbox in its 175-year history, the new design was trialled earlier this year in Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

The rollout will now extend to major cities including Edinburgh, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield, and Sunderland.

Customers will be able to scan a barcode via the Royal Mail app to activate the drawer, which is intended for items too large for a traditional letter slot.

The redesigned boxes also retain a separate opening for standard letters and are equipped with a solar panel to power the scanner and drawer mechanism.

Proof of posting and parcel tracking will be available through the Royal Mail app, with the service primarily targeting individuals sending or returning items purchased online.

Jack Clarkson, managing director of out-of-home and commercial excellence at Royal Mail, said: “We are all sending and returning more parcels than ever before.

“This trend will only continue as online shopping shows no signs of slowing, particularly with the boom of second-hand marketplaces.

“There are 115,000 postboxes in the UK located within half a mile of 98% of addresses, making them by far the most convenient network of parcel drop-off points in the UK.

“Our message is clear, if you have a Royal Mail label on your parcel, and it fits, put it in a postbox and we’ll do the rest.”

Royal Mail said the rollout is part of its drive to make posting, collecting and returning parcels as convenient as possible.

Alongside its home delivery and collection services, the company said there are now more than 23,500 parcel points across the UK, including lockers, Collect+ stores, Post Office branches, Royal Mail customer service points and existing parcel postboxes.

So long, London boys – Taylor Swift is engaged to the all-American Travis Kelce, and it just makes sense

Taylor Swift fans the world over are celebrating her big news: that she’s engaged to her boyfriend of two years, Travis Kelce. The pop megastar made the announcement in a joint post to Instagram with her “guy on the Chiefs” on Tuesday, delighting the millions of longtime Swifties who have grown up with her and listened to her unpack her innermost feelings into chart-topping, record-breaking songs.

To many, it will seem as though Swift finally has the fairytale romance she sang about in the earliest stages of her phenomenal career, having gone through her fair share of heartbreak over the years. What they might not have predicted, though, is that she would say “so long” to her London boys of yore — the Joe Alwyns and the Harry Styleses — and end up with perhaps the most all-American of beaus. Yet it makes perfect sense… if you were paying enough attention.

Swift is a romantic. This shone through when, in her late teens, she wrote songs about ballgowns, white horses, and Romeo throwing pebbles at her balcony window. As she matured, so too did her songwriting, yet still with the perspective of someone raised on a diet of Shakespeare and John Hughes movies. The romances were epic; the heartbreaks even more so. The creation of her album 1989 was preceded by multiple viewings of Hughes’s film Sixteen Candles, while the sweeping, cinematic grandeur of a song such as “Wildest Dreams” seemed directly inspired by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor’s torrid affair.

But the biggest inspiration for Swift’s confessional style of songwriting has always been her own life. It is now par for the course that fans go scrambling for the slightest hint as to the subject of her latest single. “Dear John”, from 2010’s Speak Now, is widely believed to be about fellow musician John Mayer, whom Swift dated briefly when she was 19 and he was 32. “All Too Well”, fans think, was inspired by her time dating actor Jake Gyllenhaal. “Style”, somewhat on the nose, was said to have been written about then-One Direction star turned solo artist, Styles.

Swift’s last boyfriend before Kelce, the British actor Joe Alwyn, has also been viewed as a major influence on much of her most recent output. Their six-year relationship started with secrecy, back when she was healing from her “cancellation” over a feud with Kanye West and his then-wife, Kim Kardashian. On her 2017 album, Reputation, she sang about a paramour “high above the whole scene”, perhaps appreciating how he seemed above all the drama she’d found herself bogged down in: “Walkin’ with his head down, I’m the one he’s walkin’ to.” On “Delicate”, too, there was a quiet rejoicing in something innately private, away from the media glare: “Dive bar on the East Side, where you at?/ Phone lights up my nightstand in the black/ Come here, you can meet me in the back.”

On Lover, Swift moved into a more colourful, celebratory pop sound but continued to write about a relationship that seemed, at its core, hidden away from her very public life. She later touched on notions of fate in “Invisible String” on her surprise 2020 record Folklore, and sang of “shining just for you” on the glimmering “Mirrorball”. But there were rumblings of trouble, too: “You were my crown/ Now I’m in exile, seeing you out/ I think I’ve seen this film before/ So, I’m leaving out the side door,” she sang on “Exile”. On the heartrending “This Is Me Trying”, we hear her call: “And it’s hard to be at a party when I feel like an open wound/ It’s hard to be anywhere these days when all I want is you/ You’re a flashback in a film reel on the one screen in my town.”

By Midnights, the cracks were showing. Swift seemed to be convincing herself as much as anyone that she wanted to stay in that “Lavender Haze” while also documenting the final throes of a relationship on “Maroon”, how: “When the silence came, we were shaking blind and hazy/ How the hell did we lose sight of us again?/ Sobbin’ with your head in your hands/ Ain’t that the way s*** always ends?” Her most recent album, 2024’s The Tortured Poets Department, alluded heavily to her waiting for a proposal that never came: “You swore that you loved me, but where were the clues?/ I died on the altar waitin’ for the proof,” she sings on “So Long, London”. And, indeed, back to the US she went, stung twice by the end of her relationship with Alwyn as well as a brief, furore-inducing fling with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy.

While we will never (and shouldn’t) know the full ins and outs of Swift’s past relationships, she’s certainly offered enough insight through her music to allow for a few theories. In the years she dated Alwyn, it was assumed that Swift was the reason why they kept their relationship so private. In hindsight, though, you wonder if it was in fact his aversion to the nature of celebrity that kept them so out of view from the world for the better part of a decade. Because you don’t have to be a diehard Swiftie or a Harvard professor to see the marked difference in how her relationship with Kelce has transpired.

For starters, he made it perfectly clear from the beginning that he admired her most ardently. On his podcast, New Heights, he shared how he tried — and failed — to give Swift his number after attending one of her Eras tour concerts, even going so far as to make her a friendship bracelet. Clearly, word got back to Swift – as she turned up to support him at one of his games just months later. In her recent guest appearance on New Heights, where she announced the forthcoming release of her next album, she remarked: “It felt [like] I was in an Eighties John Hughes movie, and he was standing outside of my window with a boombox saying, ‘I want to date you! Do you want to go on a date with me?’”

“I was like, ‘If this guy’s not crazy, this is sort of what I’ve been writing songs about wanting to happen to me since I was a teenager,’” she added. Kelce’s all-caps enthusiasm is something that Brits seem to view as uncouth (personally, I quite enjoy it), and in general the idea of the “big gesture” – from baby gender reveals to proposals and even asking out dates to the prom – is far more prevalent in the States. He also seems far more comfortable, even while admitting it’s a learning curve, with the absurd attention that comes with being with the world’s most famous woman.

If accepting his marriage proposal wasn’t proof enough, Swift has never seemed happier, but perhaps more importantly, content. We’ve seen her joyfully celebrating Kelce’s win with the Chiefs at last year’s Super Bowl, strolling hand in hand to dinner in New York, and bringing him out for a fun cameo on her Eras tour. When she announced her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, on New Heights earlier this month, Kelce noted the “upbeat” tone in comparison to Tortured Poets. “Life is more upbeat,” Swift responded.

So perhaps the relationship won’t provide the same high-octane drama of some of her biggest songs (though somehow I doubt marriage is going to affect Swift’s prodigious songwriting), but “So High School”, inspired by Kelce, speaks to those simple-but-sweet gestures that make all the difference: “Get my car door, isn’t that sweet?/ Then pull me to the back seat/ No one’s ever had me (had me), not like you.” It’s no secret that dating today is a quagmire, even years after Swift handed a list of instructions on “How You Get the Girl”. But Kelce was clearly doing his homework. “You knew what you wanted and, boy, you got her.” It’s textbook.