Andy Burnham has pledged to continue the UK’s “unwavering” support for Ukraine ahead of a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday.

Zelensky will become the prime minister’s first international visitor since he took office a week ago, which No 10 said “illustrates the strength of the relationship between the two nations”.

They will visit a naval base, where Burnham will announce the sharing of the intellectual property behind the UK’s new “Stone Cloak” electronic warfare system, enabling Ukraine to produce the technology at scale.

The prime minister said: “Britain stands with Ukrain, shoulder to shoulder, and our support remains unwavering. Russia should be in no doubt of our resolve, and we will not back down until we achieve long lasting and just peace for Ukraine.”

He added: “Stone Cloak is the best of homegrown British innovation and proven on the frontline, and it will be vital to protecting our security in both our countries.”

The electronic jammers are the size of a tablet computer, and are designed to block the detection of any drones it is fitted to.

The Ministry of Defence has already given thousands of the devices to Ukrainian forces to bolster their drone operations.

Downing Street said that following its deployment in Ukraine, the technology will be built into the UK’s next generation of long-range weapons.

It said this would include Project Brakestop, a government programme to develop low-cost cruise missiles – self-propelled guided weapons which fly like normal aircraft for much of their flight.

During Monday’s visit, the two leaders will also meet more than 200 Ukrainian military personnel who have spent the last three weeks taking part in a maritime exercise in the UK.

Exercise Sea Breeze is aimed at strengthening warfighting capabilities and counter-mine measures in the Black Sea.

Here is what we can expect for the last week of July

After a wetter weekend than we’ve been used to this summer, the weather forecast for the week ahead shows the rain isn’t going away just yet.

According to the Met Office, we are in for some changeable weather as we head into the final week of July.

The forecaster has said that despite a dry start to the day on Monday, some light rain could creep in as we move into the afternoon.

The Met office said: “Toward the end of July and into early August, Southern areas are likely to remain relatively settled and very warm, while northern parts of the UK could still see some periods of rain or showers.

“Early August could see a change to more widely unsettled conditions, but details of this are very uncertain at this stage.”

This is what the Met Office has forecast for Northern Ireland:

Monday:

A mostly dry start with variable cloud and some bright spells. Clouding over from the west with some patchy light rain in the afternoon. Maximum temperature 21C.

Outlook for Tuesday to Thursday:

A changeable and often cloudy period with occasional showers or longer spells of rain, the rain possibly heavy at times.

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

Arsenal, meanwhile, need to strengthen on the left flank. Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli split the burden of that position last season, but neither quite hit the level desired by Arteta. Trossard has since left the club to join Besiktas, while Martinelli remains in situ. Tzolis can play across the front three, and it remains unclear where he will be utilised this season.

Ruinous rises for a spendthrift Ministry of Defence are a bullet Andy Burnham and John Healey either dodge or Labour’s fresh commanders will shoot a revitalised UK government in the foot.

Because the blunt choice is between prioritising higher living standards, social care and council houses or throwing away good money after bad without any proof Britain would be better protected militarily. The new Prime Minister signalled he’s spotted the trap in refusing to commit to predecessor Keir Starmer’s £80billion annual target of 3% GDP by 2030, up £10bn a year, in his BBC interview.

For Healey, now charged with finding money after quitting as Starmer’s Defence Secretary with an incendiary claim the country wasn’t safe, the dilemma is deeply personal as well as highly political. Stick to Starmer’s destructive Nato 3.5% guns and that would soar to £140bn by 2035, requiring a £40bn increase in today’s prices. The respected Institute for Government think-tank warned that is the equivalent to two-thirds of the schools budget or the combined budgets of the Home Office and Ministry of Justice.

Welfare vs warfare may over-simplify options but unless the PM and Chancellor find a giant pot of gold there would be trade-offs. And unless a political-industrial-military consensus (all major national parties save the Greens are locked in a ludicrous game of Play Your Cards Right shouting “higher”) is challenged an MoD damned for “unbelievable” waste by decorated Colonel Al Carns who resigned alongside Healey will be a disastrous drain.

We need Burnham to state Britain is already the world’s sixth biggest defence spender and towards the head of the Nato pack in share of national wealth. The basic idea of Nato is Britain never stands alone which is a double relief given the MoD’s record of paying more for late and worse armoured vehicles and warships.

My hunch is the PM will duck and dive rather than disown Starmer’s legacy of unrealistic, unnecessary international targets as he tries to fill a £5bn black hole. For Healey, it’s much tricker, though he could drop into conversations the 500,000 men GCHQ spy centre’s chiefs believes Russia has lost in Ukraine means Putin’s bled his country dry.

One of Burnham’s new ministers told me the percentage targets were madness. The PM might agree.

The future of his mission to transform Britain for everybody rests on missing them.

Farage’s pop-up prison hypocrisy

Had to laugh when flailing Farage proposed pop-up “Nightingale” prisons on MoD land to ease overcrowding when kneejerk Nigel and Reform routinely back locals campaigning against holding asylum seekers in redundant army camps.

I don’t imagine villagers and townies would welcome thousands of criminals plopped on their doorsteps in makeshift, insecure huts and I bet hypocritical Farage would join the outrage.

Burnham, who is reviewing who might be let out early to free cells for fresh convicts, inherited a poisonous Sophie’s Choice from the Con-servatives which bedevilled Starmer but this is an issue exposing Reform’s vacuous gimmickry.

Running away from debating a bin in his Clacton farce, Farage wants to talk about everything except his £5million secret bung, aristo “Posh George” Cottrell paying his bills and now London private bank Arbuthnot Latham freezing Reform’s account for two weeks during the general election over potentially illegal donations.

Fleet is the real deal

Burnham enjoyed a sure-footed first week but one misstep was not finding a new job for Natalie Fleet, the Bolsover MP whose own rape traumas prevented her from continuing as Safeguarding Minister.

Groomed, raped and made pregnant aged 15 by an older man and revealing she was raped in her sleep by another, the strength she finds to speak publicly is heroic.

That Fleet doesn’t consider herself brave or courageous is another reason this working class marvel who speaks for and inspires millions of other women feeling ignored should’ve been shuffled into another post. Be it making welfare work, sorting social care or building houses, the point is we need people not robots in power – and fighter Fleet is the real deal.

Inciting the dross

No great surprise most thugs arrested during last month’s mindless violence after the jailing of student Henry Nowak’s cynical murderer had previously been reported to police for domestic abuse.

I say no great surprise because two in five arrested after summer 2024 disturbances in parts of the country following the Southport murders had similarly been reported for domestic abuse.

Hard Right and Far Right politicians incite the dross to riot. Entirely separately, have you heard their deafening silence since the arrest of influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate on 59 charges of rape, violent assault, trafficking girls and the indecent images of a child? Bet it would be a different story if they were Muslims.

Going Up

Brickie turned Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram is the most important building block in Andy Burnham’s team.

As long as these Scousers stay friends the new PM’s feet are on the ground. Fall out and it’ll be like the ravens leaving the Tower of London.

Going Down

Blocked standing again for the Cons by Kemi Badenoch because she doesn’t think him extreme enough, ex-party chair Grant Shapps should reapply under his get-rich-quick pseudonym Michael Green. The Tories always love a scammer.

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Quarterback Jacoby Brissett and the Arizona Cardinals agreed to a reworked one-year deal Sunday and first-year coach Mike LaFleur confirmed that the veteran is the team’s likely starter for Week 1.

Brissett, 33, was unhappy with his previous contract, which included just $1.5 million of guaranteed money for the upcoming season. His new deal is worth a reported $15.5 million.

“It hasn’t been a distraction by any means — I think we’ve got some very mature and professional players,” LaFleur said. “But it’s just one more thing that we don’t have to talk about.”

Brissett was the team’s starter for the final 12 games last year after Kyler Murray suffered a season-ending foot injury. He did well individually with 3,366 yards passing, 23 touchdowns and eight interceptions, but the Cardinals had a 1-11 record in those games.

LaFleur confirmed that Brissett’s deal was done before Sunday’s practice and said that the veteran would begin working with the starters soon. The team’s other main options at quarterback are veteran Gardner Minshew and rookie Carson Beck.

Brissett is a popular presence in the Cardinals’ locker room and some players — most notably eight-time Pro Bowl safety Budda Baker — were publicly supportive of a new deal for the quarterback.

LaFleur said he wasn’t worried about Brissett’s lost practice time.

“He’s got a level head about himself,” LaFleur said. “He’s been in a lot of different systems and heard a lot of different things and seen a lot of different things. He’s had the ups and downs with teams. He’s in a good spot and I’m excited to really start working with him.”

The Cardinals open the preseason Aug. 6 against the Carolina Panthers in the Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio.

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

The Return (2024)

The Odyssey (1997)

Ulysses (1954)

The Return Of Ringo (1965)

Cold Mountain (2003)

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Keyhole (2011)

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

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2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s border czar said Sunday that the vetting of an immigration officer involved in the deadly shooting of a Colombian native in Maine is under internal review after relatives revealed to The Associated Press that he had a history of serious mental health struggles and violent behavior.

Tom Homan said if the allegations against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer are true, “I don’t think he should ever have cleared vetting.”

“There’s several things under review,” Homan said on CNN about the officer, Army veteran David Brouillette. “The training is under review. I know this specific case, as far as the vetting, is under review by the internal affairs section.”

Questions about the Department of Homeland Security’s rush to hire, train and deploy thousands of new ICE officers to carry out Trump’s immigration crackdown have come into stark focus after back-to-back fatal shootings of immigrants in Maine and Houston.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin ordered a pause in vehicle stops after the fatal Maine shooting, but Trump almost immediately reversed course and insisted the stops resume as a necessary tool in his campaign to round up and deport immigrants who are in the U.S. without current legal status.

Homeland Security did not immediately respond Sunday to a request for comment about the internal review.

ICE issues new requirement for body-worn cameras during vehicle stops

Homan said that “changes have been made” and that acting ICE director David Venturella has issued a new directive that body-worn cameras must be in use if officers make a vehicle stop.

“Right now, on all vehicle stops, there’s at least one body camera on site to record the entire event,” he said.

He said Venturella “sent an instruction out that he wants at least one body camera on those vehicle stops, so we have everything on video.”

It’s unclear if the steps that the department is taking will be enough to quell the concerns coming from certain lawmakers in Congress over Homeland Security’s training and tactics as tries to reach Trump’s mass deportation goals.

Lawmakers push for answers but have more questions

Lawmakers from both parties have raised concerns.

Democrats pressed ICE officials during a closed-door briefing for the House Homeland Security Committee last week, leaving some with more questions than answers.

Lawmakers were told during the briefing that there have been 56 complaints of excessive force against ICE officers — 32 were cleared, and one was referred for disciplinary action.

No discipline had yet been handed out, the lawmakers said they were told. The rest of the incidents are still under investigation.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, has pushed for the use of body-worn cameras and ensured funding for the effort. She had said it was “extremely unfortunate” that the officer involved in the shooting in her home state was not using a camera.

Homeland Security is under scrutiny but also faces pressure to increase deportations

The Trump administration has failed to meet its goal of deporting 1 million people a year, despite an intense immigration enforcement crackdown that has resulted in violent scenes in cities nationwide.

At least 10 people have died in encounters with immigration officers since the start of Trump’s mass deportation campaign.

While the Trump administration insists it is targeting the “worst of the worst” criminals, that has not always been the result and American citizens also have been among the deaths.

The ICE officer shot 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian national who was killed in his car near his home in the coastal city of Biddeford.

In Houston, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was killed July 7 when ICE officers chased his white work van through the streets, then shot him through the window in front of his work crew, including his brother.

Earlier this year, two Americans protesting ICE actions in Minneapolis, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse, were killed, sparking a backlash nationwide.

Democrats launched the longest agency shutdown in history earlier this year when they refused to fund Homeland Security in a largely failed attempt to force the administration to impose various restraints on the officers.

The event will take place next  Sunday, August 2, and promises to transform the city into a hub of activity, fundraising, and celebration.

Starting at 9.30am on Knavesmire Road, near York Racecourse, participants will take on a scenic tour of the city, passing notable landmarks such as Clifford’s Tower, York Minster, and the medieval walls.

The race will conclude back at the Knavesmire finish line.

Thousands of runners are preparing for the return of the Arla Protein York 10K which takes place in the city on Sunday, August 2. (Image: Simon Dewhurst)

The 10K is organised by Jane Tomlinson’s Run For All in collaboration with Arla Protein.

The event has become a firm fixture in the city’s calendar and will be celebrating its 17th year when it takes place this weekend.

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The event is known for bringing together participants of all ages and abilities, along with hundreds of volunteers and supporters who line the route to cheer them on.

Arla Protein continues as title sponsor in 2026, maintaining a partnership focused on promoting active lifestyles and fostering community spirit through sport.

The York 10K also serves as a vital fundraising opportunity for various charities, both within the region and beyond.

Participants can choose to support a cause close to their heart or one of the event’s partner charities. Some of these include the Jane Tomlinson Appeal, Family Fund, RSPCA, St Leonard’s Hospice, York Against Cancer, The Hut York,  York Carers Centre, York City Foundation, York Down Syndrome Support Group, and Mind York.

In addition to the main event, the York Mini and Junior Runs will start at noon, offering something for younger participants.

The 1.5km Mini Run, designed for children between the ages of three and eight, allows them to take part alongside a parent or guardian.

The 2.5km Junior Run is open to children aged nine to 14.

Every young participant will receive a commemorative medal and a selection of post-run treats to celebrate their accomplishment.

Tristan Batley-Kyle, operations director at Run For All, said: “Excitement is already building for the return of the Arla Protein York 10K this August.

“With thousands of participants set to take to the streets of York, it’s shaping up to be another memorable day of achievement, fundraising and celebration.

“We can’t wait to welcome runners, volunteers, supporters and families to what promises to be a fantastic day.

“The event is about much more than crossing the finish line. It’s an opportunity to bring communities together, support incredible charities and inspire people of all ages to get active.

“We can’t wait to welcome runners, volunteers, supporters and families to what promises to be a fantastic day.”

Stuart Ibberson, Arla brand director, added: “We’re proud to be returning as title sponsor of the Arla Protein York 10K for 2026.

“The event perfectly reflects what Arla Protein stands for – encouraging people of all ages and abilities to challenge themselves, stay active and celebrate what they can achieve.

“It’s fantastic to see thousands of runners, volunteers, families and supporters coming together in the heart of York, while also raising vital funds for charities making a real difference in local communities.

“We can’t wait to cheer everyone on this August and help make it another memorable day.”

The Arla Protein York 10K is a part of Jane Tomlinson CBE’s enduring legacy.

Jane Tomlinson raised £1.85m for children’s and cancer charities before she passed away in 2007 at the age of 43 due to cancer.

She was recognised globally for undertaking a series of remarkable endurance challenges, including the London Marathon, Ironman and triathlon competitions, and a 4,200-mile cycle ride across the USA, all while battling incurable cancer.

Event entry: Places for the Arla Protein York 10K remain available. Entries can be purchased via: Arla Protein York 10K | Run For All | Run For All