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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday submitted a new bill that would restore the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies in an effort to defuse tensions following his approval earlier this week of a controversial law that weakened their autonomy.

The previous bill was seen as undermining the agencies’ independence and sparked a public outcry and protests, the first major demonstrations since the war began, as well as sharp criticism from the European Union.

Zelenskyy said parliament would review the new bill, which “guarantees real strengthening of Ukraine’s law enforcement system, the independence of anti-corruption bodies, and reliable protection of the legal system from any Russian interference.”

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Donald Trump apparently isn’t the only president that sent a birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein. “The biggest name in the album” was Bill Clinton, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The ex-president’s letter appeared alongside nearly 50 others, including other prominent celebrities and executives.

Last week, the Journal reported that Trump had authored a “bawdy” letter to Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 after he was arrested on federal sex-trafficking charges. The letter was included in an album Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell compiled on the occasion of his 50th birthday in 2003. Trump has sued Rupert Murdoch, two Wall Street Journal newspaper reporters and the newspaper’s publisher Dow Jones for libel and slander over the reporting.

In Thursday’s article, the Wall Street Journal provided additional details on the album, including names of some of the nearly 50 people who wrote to Epstein. They reportedly include billionaire investor Leon Black, fashion designer Vera Wang, billionaire media owner Mortimer Zuckerman, billionaire former Victoria’s Secret owner Les Wexner, attorney Alan Dershowitz, model scout Jean-Luc Brunel and billionaire former Microsoft executive Nathan Myhrvold.

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US President Donald Trump has spent months attacking the head of the US central bank on social media and in remarks to reporters, calling Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell names like "numbskull".

On Thursday, the dishttps://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1ljlvg1e7eopute played out in person, with cameras rolling, as the two men clashed over the cost of building renovations.

The tense moment came as Trump has been escalating his pressure on Powell, who Trump says is moving too slowly to cut interest rates.

He has repeatedly floated the possibility of firing Powell, only to quickly disavow the idea, which analysts say would rock financial markets and spark a legal battle.

Trump's visit to the Federal Reserve is the first by a sitting president in roughly two decades.

It comes ahead of the Fed's meeting in Washington next week, where policymakers are widely expected to vote to leave interest rates unchanged.

Speaking to reporters at the start of his tour, Trump said that the administration was "taking a look at what's happening" at the Fed's $2.7bn (£1.8bn) renovation.

"It looks like it's about $3.1bn," Trump said, as Powell shook his head.

"I'm not aware of that," Powell shot back. "I haven't heard that from anybody at the Fed."

Trump then produced a document from his jacket pocket, which Powell briefly read and brusquely handed back to the president, saying that Trump was "adding a third building" to the total.

"It's a building that's been built," Trump said.

Powell responded: "It's a building that was built five years ago... it's not new."

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New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor, Alina Habba, on Thursday said she would continue on in the position despite a judicial decision declining to extend her interim status and instead opting to replace her.

She doubled down in her first remarks since the decision, declaring that she is now the state’s acting U.S. attorney.

“Donald J. Trump is the 47th President. Pam Bondi is the Attorney General. And I am now the Acting United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey,” Habba said in a statement posted to the social platform X. “I don’t cower to pressure. I don’t answer to politics. This is a fight for justice. And I’m all in.”

A Justice Department official said that Trump withdrew her nomination to be the state’s U.S. attorney and she was appointed first assistant U.S. attorney, meaning she becomes acting U.S. attorney because the position is now vacant.

The announcement comes hours after Desiree Grace, the attorney tapped by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey judges to succeed Habba, said she was prepared to assume the role, elevating the standoff to new heights.

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The Supreme Court on Thursday halted an appeals ruling that prevents private groups from challenging election maps under the Voting Rights Act in seven states.

Neither the majority nor the three public dissenters — conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch — explained their reasoning.

The case arose from a lawsuit brought by two Native American tribes, who argue that North Dakota’s state legislative map denied them an equal opportunity to elect their candidates of choice. 

The case entered the national spotlight after an 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled 2-1 that the tribes and other private parties have no legal right to enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. It mimicked an earlier 8th Circuit ruling concerning a redistricting case in Arkansas.Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. It mimicked an earlier 8th Circuit ruling concerning a redistricting case in Arkansas.

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French President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that France will recognize Palestine as a state, in a bold diplomatic move amid snowballing global anger over people starving in Gaza. Israel denounced the decision.

Macron said in a post on X that he will formalize the decision at the United Nations General Assembly in September. “The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved,” he wrote.

The mostly symbolic move puts added diplomatic pressure on Israel as the war and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip rage. France is now the biggest Western power to recognize Palestine, and the move could pave the way for other countries to do the same. More than 140 countries recognize a Palestinian state, including more than a dozen in Europe.

he Palestinians seek an independent state in the occupied West Bank, annexed east Jerusalem and Gaza, territories Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel’s government and most of its political class have long been opposed to Palestinian statehood and now say that it would reward militants after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

‘’We strongly condemn President Macron’s decision,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. ‘’Such a move rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became. A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel — not to live in peace beside it.”

The Palestinian Authority welcomed it. A letter announcing the move was presented Thursday to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Jerusalem.

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WWE icon Hulk Hogan has died at the age of 71.

The news was first reported by TMZ on Thursday, July 24. WWE confirmed the news.

"WWE is saddened to learn WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan has passed away," the company said in a statement. "One of pop culture’s most recognizable figures, Hogan helped WWE achieve global recognition in the 1980s. WWE extends its condolences to Hogan’s family, friends, and fans."

The death of Hogan, whose legal name is Terry Bollea, comes days after rumors circulated on social media about his health. Hogan's close friend Jimmy Hart said on July 22 he was "doing phenomenal."

Hogan was influential in the rise of wrestling worldwide and was WWE's first major star. After a brief stint in WWE in the late 1970s, he re-joined the company in 1983 after Vince McMahon took ownership of the business. Then, "Hulkamania" ran wild as he soon became the most popular star in the company, and arguably all of wrestling. His All-American persona along with his hero-like abilities made fans cheer for him, and he was one of the first wrestlers to have a larger-than-life feel. His entrance song "Real American" became one of the first known wrestling songs.The Clearwater Police Department in Florida said in a statement it responded to a medical call at a residence on Clearwater Beach at 9:51 a.m. for a reported cardiac arrest. Fire and police personnel responded to the scene, and he was treated at the scene before he was taken to Morton Plant Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.

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Columbia University, in hopes of restoring hundreds of millions of dollars in frozen funding, has struck another deal with the Trump administration, the university announced.

The Ivy League school in New York City will pay a $200 million fine over three years to the government to settle allegations it violated federal civil rights laws and failed to protect members of its Jewish community from discrimination.

It will also jointly appoint an independent monitor to update the federal government on its compliance with new policies, and pay an additional $21 million fine to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The agreement marks the second major concession from the university in its protracted negotiations with the government. Despite the drawn-out talks, and many compromises on Columbia's part, the Trump administration has yet to reroute hundreds of millions of dollars back to the school.

The school previously agreed, among other things, to bolster campus law enforcement, appoint a new administrator to oversee its Middle Eastern studies department and retool its protest policies in an effort to assuage the White House.

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