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US Senator Mitch McConnell says absence due to fall and pneumonia

BBC News

Image caption, McConnell released a photo of himself with his wife alongside Sunday's statement US Senator Mitch McConnell says he will not be returning to the Senate quite yet after suffering from a fall and a mild case of pneumonia. It is the first statement from the 84-year-old Kentucky Republican after weeks of speculation about his health, following his admission to hospital in mid-June. A photo was released by his office, in addition to the statement, which shows McConnell with his wife holding what appeared to be Sunday's Washington Post newspaper. He said he was briefly unconscious after his fall and taken to hospital, where he had submitted to every test they can think of to help figure out what caused this incident. My doctors have confirmed that I didn't break any bones or suffer a concussion.


New era for Gibraltar with removal of 118-year-old border controls with Spain

BBC News

It's a short journey but it means crossing an international border. A British Overseas Territory of around 40,000 inhabitants, Gibraltar has a border control for those entering and leaving. That means that during the morning and afternoon rush hours, when around 15,000 Spaniards who work in the territory cross the frontier, there can be long, time-consuming queues. The fact that there is a border between us is ridiculous, says Chotrani, who has a job in human resources in a Gibraltarian shipping and tourism company. I don't think a fence should separate people from one place and another.


Why switching to save money is easier than you might think

BBC News

Seeking out a better deal from your broadband, pay TV and energy suppliers? While you know it could save hundreds of pounds, you might be wondering if it's worth the hassle. But often it only needs one call or a couple of clicks - and banks even pay an incentive to people who switch their main current accounts. Regulators have made the switching process easier in recent years, encouraging people to shop around when cost of living pressures have intensified. Which deals are the best for you still depends on your circumstances, but here are some of the ways that switching works.


Thousands may have died in UK's exceptional May and June heatwaves

BBC News

Thousands may have died in UK's exceptional May and June heatwaves More than 2,700 people may have died from heat-related causes during the UK's exceptionally hot weather in May and June, experts' estimates suggest. The figure, from a team at Imperial College London, the Met Office and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, is based on what's known about the dangers of extreme heat. Most deaths will have occurred in the June heatwave, they say - the warmest June on record in England, when temperatures hit 37.7C (99.9F) at Lingwood, Norfolk, smashing the previous high of 35.6C (96F) set in 1957. A rare red heat alert, external was issued for parts of England and Wales at the time, warning even healthy people of the significant risk to life. May temperatures, meanwhile, hit a new UK high of 35.1C at Kew Gardens on May 26 - a significant increase on the previous high mark of 32.8C, which had been set back in 1922 and equalled in 1944.


More than 100 firefighters respond to east London fire

BBC News

Around 100 firefighters have been called to a fire affecting a house, gardens, sheds and a railway embankment in Walthamstow, east London. London Fire Brigade (LFB) said two rest centres had been set up locally for impacted residents. It said it received the first of more than 100 calls to the incident near Vallentin Road and Shernhall Street just before 18:30 BST, with 20 fire engines and around 125 firefighters in attendance. In an update at about 21:00, LFB said the cause of the fire was currently unknown but crews have been working hard to extinguish the fire as swiftly as possible. The fire brigade has advised people in the area to keep their windows and doors closed due to the significant amount of smoke produced by the fire.


Learning another language may keep your brain younger, study suggests

FOX News

Speaking multiple languages may slow brain aging by up to 13 years, a new study finds. Language learning can improve attention, working memory and executive function at any age.


Arthur Fery invites Prince George and Princess Charlotte to play tennis

BBC News

British Wimbledon semi-finalist Arthur Fery has invited Prince George and Princess Charlotte to play tennis with him, after meeting the royals at the men's single's final. The Prince and Princess of Wales, along with Charlotte and George, arrived at the All England Club shortly after 15:00 BST on Sunday, receiving a standing ovation as they entered the royal box. Fery, who turned 24 on Sunday, said: I know the whole family are all tennis fans, so I told her if her kids ever wanted to hit, I'm free. Prince William and Catherine congratulated the tennis player on his run to the semi-finals and wished him a happy birthday. Image caption, Britain's Arthur Fery lost to Alexander Zverev in the men's single's semi-finals Fery also received a birthday card from the Prince and Princess of Wales.


Uber's Autonomous Vehicle Strategy: Slow Their Adoption

WIRED

In at least two places, Uber has pushed a policy that could give it an advantage over developers of self-driving cars. The company says it's fighting monopolies. A decade ago, then-Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said he saw autonomous vehicles as an existential threat to the ride-hail company's business model. "What would happen if we weren't a part of that future? Then the future passes us by," Kalanick told Business Insider .


Nine dead as Russia and Ukraine trade drone and missile salvos

Al Jazeera

Is the war entering a new phase? Russian drones and missiles killed four people in Ukraine overnight, while Ukrainian attacks on Russia and Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine killed five. Three people were killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region overnight, including two at an "industrial enterprise" in the city of Kryvyi Rih, regional officials said on Sunday. Russia has escalated attacks in recent weeks, taking advantage of Ukraine's critical shortage of munitions for its Patriot air defence system, which has rendered it largely unable to intercept ballistic missiles flying at several times the speed of sound. NATO countries pledged at their summit in Ankara last week to provide more Patriot munitions to Ukraine, and President Donald Trump said he was willing to give Kyiv a license to manufacture the US missiles domestically.


Anthony Zurcher: From Trump critic to ally, Lindsey Graham was a political survivor of the Maga era

BBC News

Lindsey Graham, who has died aged 71, was a political survivor. His career as a Republican senator served as a telling barometer for the dramatically changing climate in his political party - and America - in the Donald Trump era. While there were certain issues central to Graham's political identity - including a hawkish foreign policy that focused on containing Russian global ambitions, support for Israel and regime change in Iran - his 23-year career in the Senate was marked by a willingness to adapt to the gale-force change of political winds that accompanied Trump's rise to power. Shortly after being elected to represent South Carolina in the Senate in 2002, Graham became a close ally of Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who, while a staunch conservative, developed a national reputation for political independence. When Graham ran for president in 2015, the idea of cooling partisan tensions and working with political opponents was one of his central messages. If I get to be president, we're going to open up a bar in the White House, Graham said.