The bill, as amended by the Senate, passed in the House on Thursday with a vote of 218 to 214.
President Donald Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful” bill into law on Independence Day, marking a large legislative victory for his first year back in office.
The signing ceremony was held at the White House, where the president called the bill “the greatest victory yet” and the “single most popular bill ever signed.” He commended lawmakers who got the bill done, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson, who gifted Trump the gavel used to enact the Big Beautiful Bill.
US President Donald Trump on Friday signed into law a major spending and tax bill, which includes key parts of his second-term agenda. The legislation, dubbed the “big, beautiful bill” by Trump, was passed by the US House of Representatives on Thursday just before the July 4 deadline.The House passed the bill on Thursday with a narrow 218-214 vote, following its approval in the Senate on Tuesday, where it passed by a 51-50 margin. Vice President JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote.“Our Country is going to explode with Massive Growth, even more than it already has since I was Re-Elected,” Trump posted on Truth Social shortly after Vice President JD Vance cast the tiebreaking vote to send the bill back to the House.
Camp Mystic, a Christian girls’ camp perched on the banks of the Guadalupe River in Texas, was a place of laughter, prayer and adventure just days ago.
But just before daybreak on Friday, the Fourth of July public holiday, the river rose 26ft (8m) in about 45 minutes amid a torrential downpour.
Many of the girls were sleeping in low-lying cabins less than 500ft (150m) from the riverbank.
Many of those bunk beds are now mud-caked and toppled, the detritus of a summer camp cut tragically short.
Destroyed personal belongings are scattered across soaked interiors where children once gathered for Bible study and campfire songs.
So far 78 fatalities have been confirmed from the floods in central Texas. At least 68, including 28 children, were in Kerr County, where Camp Mystic was located.
Among the dead is the camp’s longtime director, Richard “Dick” Eastland, and several young campers. Ten girls and a counsellor from the camp are still missing.
Russia’s former transport minister Roman Starovoit has been found dead with a gunshot wound in his car just hours after it was revealed he had been sacked from his role.
Mr Starovoit, the ex-governor of the Kursk region, is reported to have taken his own life.
The report of his death comes after he was dismissed from his transport role by President Vladimir Putin.
In a statement on Monday, the Investigative Committee of Russia said: “The body of the former minister of transport of the Russian Federation, Roman Vladimirovich Starovoit, was discovered in his personal vehicle with a gunshot wound today in the Odintsovo city district.”
The circumstances surrounding Mr Starovoit’s death are being investigated, with the statement adding: “The main version is suicide.”
Earlier on Monday, it was revealed Mr Putin had fired Mr Starovoit after just over a year in the job.
Mr Starovoit was appointed transport minister in May 2024 after spending almost five years as governor of the Kursk region bordering Ukraine.
A few months after he left his role as governor, Ukrainian troops crossed over the border into Kursk as Kyiv launched the biggest foreign incursion into Russian territory since the Second World War.
The U.K. Royal Family’s X account posted a clip of the Coldstream Guards playing Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan – widely recognized as an LGBT anthem – with the hashtag #Pride2025 along with emojis of a rainbow, sparkles, and a disco ball to mark London Pride. This is the first time the Royal Family has publicly acknowledged the annual event of the LGBT movement.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex – the widely loathed Prince Harry and Meghan Markle – have previously celebrated “pride” month, posting to their Instagram account: “This month we pay tribute to the accounts supporting the LGBTQ+ community – those young and old, their families and friends, accounts that reflect on the past and are hopeful for a deservedly more inclusive future. We stand with you and support you. Because it’s very simple: love is love.”
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil will play host to a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies Sunday and Monday during which pressing topics like Israel’s attack on Iran, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and trade tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump are expected to be handled with caution.
Analysts and diplomats said the lack of cohesion in an enlarged BRICS, which doubled in size last year, may affect its ability to become another pole in world affairs. They also see the summit’s moderate agenda as an attempt by member countries to stay off Trump’s radar.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will have some of his priorities, such as debates on artificial intelligence and climate change, front and center for the talks with key leaders not in attendance.
China’s President Xi Jinping won’t attend a BRICS summit for the first time since he became his country’s leader in 2012. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will make an appearance via videoconference, continues to mostly avoid traveling abroad due to an international arrest warrant issued after Russia invaded Ukraine.
The restraint expected in Rio de Janeiro marks a departure from last year’s summit hosted by Russia in Kazan, when the Kremlin sought to develop alternatives to U.S.-dominated payment systems which would allow it to dodge Western sanctions imposed after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are set to meet at the White House on Monday. One of the most difficult questions on the table is what Gaza might look like without Hamas.
Experts tell Fox News Digital that while the need for an alternative is clear, almost every proposed solution comes with serious structural, political and security limitations.
John Hannah, a senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) and veteran of both Republican and Democratic administrations, said building an alternative to Hamas must happen in parallel with dismantling it.
Hamas terrorists emerge from the shadows as they surround Red Cross vehicles. (TPS-IL)
“Part of how you win is by showing there’s a viable alternative,” Hannah said. “People need to see there’s a future beyond Hamas”
That future, experts believe, lies in a non-Hamas technocratic government – comprised of Palestinians unaffiliated with either Hamas or the PLO – backed by a coalition of key Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the UAE.
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia fired more than 100 drones at civilian areas of Ukraine overnight, authorities said Monday, as the Kremlin dismissed the country’s transport chief after a weekend of travel chaos when Russian airports grounded hundreds of flights due to the threat of Ukrainian drone attacks.
At least 10 civilians were killed and 38 injured, including three children, in Russian attacks over the previous 24 hours, Ukrainian officials said.
Russia’s bigger army is also trying hard to break through at some points along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620 miles) front line, where Ukrainian forces are severely stretched.
The European Union is considering a temporary trade agreement with the United States that would maintain a 10 percent tariff on most exports, according to a briefing by the European Commission to EU ambassadors on Friday, reported news portal Politico.The update came after a key round of negotiations in Washington on Thursday, where EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič aimed to defuse US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose a sweeping 50 percent tariff on all European imports starting July 9, if a deal is not reached.Talks will continue on potential exemptions for certain sectors, including the automotive industry, two national officials familiar with the discussions said, according to the news portal..However, the outcome was seen as underwhelming in several European capitals, especially after earlier signals from the Commission’s negotiating team that some industries could receive immediate tariff relief. The US currently imposes tariffs of 25 percent on cars and 50 percent on steel and aluminum imports.
EU remains divided
Despite intensive negotiations, reaching a consensus on a trade agreement with the United States remains challenging for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, amid ongoing divisions among EU member states over how to proceed. According to three diplomats, all possibilities, including a failure to reach any deal, are still being considered.In a fresh twist, US officials have reportedly threatened to impose a 17 percent tariff on European food imports, two national officials confirmed, backing a report by the Financial Times.Von der Leyen is expected to hold one-on-one consultations with EU leaders over the weekend before deciding on the bloc’s next steps, one official said. Meanwhile, Trump is likely to meet with his advisers on Monday, meaning any official announcement would be delayed until after those discussions.
Israel has decided to send a delegation to Qatar on Sunday for proximity talks with Hamas on the latest proposal for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had accepted the invitation despite what he described as the “unacceptable” changes that Hamas wanted to make to a plan presented by mediators from Qatar, the US and Egypt.
On Friday night, Hamas said it had delivered a “positive response” to the proposal for a 60-day ceasefire and that it was ready for negotiations.
However, a Palestinian official said the group had sought amendments including a guarantee that hostilities would not resume if talks on a permanent truce failed.
In Gaza itself, the Hamas-run health ministry said on Sunday that 80 people killed in Israeli attacks had arrived at hospitals over the past 24 hours.
