Leaders meeting in Ankara have been urged to show US president concrete steps towards increasing their budget contribution. Plus why Madonna’s new album is a triumph and Helen Hunt on her new stage role
Good morning. Nato leaders will gather in Ankara today for their latest summit after a turbulent six months, hoping to mollify an unpredictable Donald Trump, as Washington continues to pressure its allies to increase defence spending.
On Friday, Trump posted a graphic on his Truth Social platform showing Nato members’ defence budgets, comparing a vast US spend of $999m (£747m) with smaller figures from European states saying the situation was “ridiculous” and “one-sided”. The US is planning to cut the number of troops and materiel it assigns to Europe in the event of a war with Russia.
Nato members will announce tens of billions in new arms contracts at an industry forum on the sidelines of the summit. Mark Rutte, Nato’s secretary general, called for the allies to present “clear, concrete and credible plans” to reach the organisation’s spending targets. “President Trump fully expects that all allies will step up immediately and get on the path to 5% and do it with urgency,” he said.
What is causing tension between the US and the rest of Nato? Since threatening to take control of Greenland from ally Denmark, Trump has failed to consult European leaders before the US and Israel launched their economically disastrous attack on Iran, and complained countries including the UK did not allow US jets to bomb Iran from their territory. He has bizarrely accused Italy’s Giorgia Meloni of being obsessed with him, and relations with Canada’s Mark Carney are strained after Trump voiced an interest in a takeover of the US’s northern neighbor.
Calls grow for Graham Platner to drop out after sexual assault allegation
Calls for Graham Platner, the Democratic candidate for US Senate in Maine, to withdraw his candidacy intensified after a woman accused him of sexual assault. While Platner denied the claims, many top Democratic figures quickly called on the beleaguered nominee to step down.
Maine’s Democratic party leadership said Platner should withdraw from the race, and in a joint statement, the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, and the Democratic senatorial campaign committee chair, Kirsten Gillibrand, said Platner should “immediately withdraw”. “The DSCC will not invest in the Maine Senate race if Platner remains on the ballot,” they said.
What are the allegations against Platner? In an exclusive Politico report, Jenny Racicot, 41, who previously dated Platner, said he forced her to have sex despite repeated objections. The report cited accounts from a man Racicot later confided in, as well as recent therapist emails, and messages where she warned an acquaintance about Platner in 2023.
How has Platner responded? Platner denied the claims in a statement to Politico. “These allegations are troubling, serious, and false. Any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically untrue,” he said.
US airman accused of exposing himself to 16-year-old girl avoided British trial
A US airman who allegedly exposed himself to a 16-year-old girl and four young women in England was able to avoid the English justice system after the US military took control of the case. Cambridgeshire police received complaints that the airman, Hannes Marschalek, had indecently exposed himself to the women as they walked past his home in a small town in Cambridgeshire in 2022.
The case has echoes of that of Capt Jacob Wulfson, a US fighter pilot who strangled a British woman in his apartment in Cambridge city centre. Marschalek was eventually taken to a court martial held at his airbase in 2023, where he and prosecutors negotiated a plea bargain. He later won an appeal in a US military court that quashed his conviction on technical grounds.
Why is the handling of these cases causing an issue in the UK? In both cases, Cambridgeshire police opted to cede responsibility for investigations of the sexual crimes to the US military, even though the crimes occurred on English soil while the perpetrators were off duty. Wulfson’s victim has spoken of the “degrading” ordeal when her case was tried in a US military tribunal rather than at an English court.
In other news …
The USMNT crashed out of the World Cup in Seattle after a 4-1 loss to Belgium, following controversy after Trump’s intervention over a key player’s suspension.
Utah prosecutors began presenting their case in the killing of Charlie Kirk, as part of a five-day preliminary hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to proceed to trial.
An Idaho woman who said her infant twins died from vaccines has been charged with murder. Andrea Shaw and her husband had appeared on a RFK Jr-linked podcast after the deaths.
Staff for Mitch McConnell said the Kentucky senator was “continuing his recovery” in a hospital, but exact details of his condition remain scarce.
Stat of the day: Microsoft cuts 4,800 jobs as it revamps Xbox in latest wave of mass layoffs
Microsoft is to eliminate about 4,800 jobs – roughly 2% of its global workforce – in a cost-cutting move. The cuts include the deepest overhaul in Xbox’s history, with approximately 3,200 gaming jobs to be shed and four game studios being spun off or sold.
Culture pick: Why The Pitt is the most hopeful show on TV
At a time of wars, natural disasters and cynically stoked political divisions, The Pitt offers a rare dose of optimism. That is the view of Michael Hogan in this piece looking at the gritty US hospital drama which interweaves life-or-death medical cases with the personal crises of staff in a propulsive real-time format.
Don’t miss this: Oscar winner Helen Hunt on great roles, unruly audiences and her RSC debut
Helen Hunt has come a long way since I was obsessed with her sitcom Mad About You in the 1990s. The formidable actor talks to Arifa Akbar about the challenge of finding meaty characters, tough times in the US – and co-starring with her dad’s hero Kenneth Branagh in The Cherry Orchard.
… or this: Meet the tribute artists onboard the celebrity impersonators’ cruise
“I can sense Sinatra enter my body and exit my lungs” is one of the less likely sentences you could encounter today, courtesy of this long read from Mina Tavakoli who was onboard with the improbable sounding Sunburst Convention of Celebrity Impersonators.
Climate check: Why oil companies are profiting as the world gets dangerously hot
The scientific consensus is that burning fossil fuels drives the climate crisis, yet, as Jonathan Watts reports, the world’s biggest oil companies are planning to increase production. The result? An increasing risk of severe climate events, as this striking gallery of images from the wildfires raging across southern Europe illustrates.
Last Thing: Madonna was always anti-nostalgia – looking back on Confessions II has revitalised her music
Madonna biographer Lucy O’Brien says her new album – a direct follow-up to 2005’s Confessions on a Dance Floor – wrestles with nostalgia, grief and loss which makes Madonna’s music deeper than it’s been in the intervening two decades … but also makes it more alive.
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