‘We need to talk about how difficult it is’: why one couple are pinning surrogacy hopes on Mexico

• The United States and Iran are locked in a persistent "grey zone" conflict characterized by a cycle of military pressure and diplomatic overtures. • Despite Donald Trump's previous promises to avoid "forever wars," the current strategy suggests that diplomacy is being used to manage the conflict rather than resolve it.

• Russia launched a deadly attack near Odesa, Ukraine, contributing to ongoing conflict and regional instability. • In legal news, Mexican drug kingpin Ismael Zambada has been sentenced in the United States, marking a significant blow to organized crime networks.

• Former top officials from the Biden Administration are expressing regret over their failure to effectively restrain Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. • The officials claim that the administration's policies emboldened Israel's military aggression within the Gaza Strip and toward Iran.

New report denounces Havana and claims ‘campaign of subversion’ has infiltrated highest levels of US governmentAs part of the Trump administration’s continuing attack on left-leaning groups, the US state department has listed several activists and organizations as “front groups and fellow travelers” for Cuba, including Hasan Piker and Amazon Labor Union founder Chris Smalls.In a 100-page report released on Monday, the state department denounces Cuba as the “capital of 21st-century communism”, accusing the Cuban government of carrying out a “campaign of subversion” that has “infiltrated the highest reaches of the US government, recruited and cultivated generations of American activists [and] backed an unprecedented wave of leftwing terrorism on American soil”. Continue reading...

Rescue crews find two women, pronounced dead at hospital, and the bodies of three men after motorist calls 911Five people have died in a river in Ohio after several of them went into the water to help another person who was struggling to swim, authorities said Monday.A motorist called 911 after spotting a frightened child who had been with the group and was running on a nearby road, Delaware county sheriff Jeffrey Balzer said at a news conference on Monday. Continue reading...

United staffer told customer ‘you don’t act like at a citizen’ during incident over wait time at San Francisco airportUnited Airlines is “looking into” a viral video showing a United Airlines employee threatening to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Mexican American man at San Francisco international Airport last week.The scene erupted after Julio Varela of San Ramon grew upset at United Airlines staff for taking a long time to correct an error his family made when entering his daughter’s name to buy a ticket for flight to Canada, according to NBC News. Continue reading...

President accused of having ‘lost control of this war’ as deaths of trio in Iranian military strikes fuel rising concernDemocrats have seized on the deaths of three US troops killed in Iranian strikes to urge Donald Trump to urgently reverse his resumption of the war with Iran amid widespread anxiety over climbing casualties.Even as US forces launched a 10th consecutive wave of attacks against Iranian targets, concern over the deaths of American service personnel threatened to complicate moves to escalate the conflict, which has reignited after he last week walked away from a memorandum of understanding agreed with Iran in June. Continue reading...

Turmoil likely as Trump officials say Canada unfairly discriminated against US autos, alcohol and dairy productsDonald Trump is imposing 50% tariffs on most Canadian goods, White House officials said on Monday, declaring Canada has unfairly discriminated against American autos, alcohol and dairy products.The move could unleash a new wave of economic chaos, with risks of higher inflation and further fraying of relations between two nations that had been closely woven together before Trump’s return to the White House. Continue reading...

Daniel Ortega, the 80-year-old authoritarian leader, says move will ‘build a wall’ against the oppositionNicaragua’s long-serving president, Daniel Ortega, has said the country will hold no further elections to prevent the opposition from coming to power.The 80-year-old authoritarian leader, who has been in office since 2007, also said he would work with the congress he controls to pass new laws that would “build a wall” against the opposition. Continue reading...

Interim senator appointed after Lindsey Graham’s death endorsed by Trump ‘for the Good of our Nation’Darline Graham, the South Carolina interim senator and sister of the late Lindsey Graham, said she plans to run for a full Senate term after Donald Trump endorsed her last week.In an interview with Sean Hannity that will air in full on Monday, Graham – who was appointed by Governor Henry McMaster to finish the remainder of her brother’s term – said she had “made a decision”. Continue reading...

One Nation MP grilled in 7.30 interview about Pauline Hanson’s podcast interview by far-right activist. Follow today’s news liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastGood morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Steph Convery with the main action.We start with Barnaby Joyce’s rather unusual interview with the ABC’s 7.30 last night, in which he attempted to defend some of the more controversial aspects of his leader’s trip to Europe, in particular Pauline Hanson’s podcast with Tommy Robinson, while simultaneously trying to fend off an apparently misbehaving dog. Continue reading...

Israeli prime minister is subject of an arrest warrant issued by international criminal court over alleged war crimes in GazaDonald Trump has said Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, “will not be arrested” if he visits the US.His comments came days after Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor, said he was exploring whether his administration could arrest Netanyahu if he visits the city during the UN general assembly in September. Continue reading...