By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON Leaders of the U.S. Senate said on Wednesday they expected a sweeping defense policy

By Stella Qiu SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia's top central banker said on Wednesday he is confident higher interest rates are working

State and local health departments across the U.S. recently lost the final two years of a $1 billion federal investment to treat and prevent sexually transmitted diseases

As drone strikes continue to rain down on Russian soil, Vladimir Putin’s bloody war has reached his own doorstep. The strikes are now daily and on Tuesday the Russian defence ministry said its air defence systems destroyed two drones over the Kaluga and Tver regions, which border the Moscow region, as well as one closer to the capital, over the Istra district. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that the drones “were trying to carry out an attack on Moscow“ and that a consumer services facility was damaged in the Istra district, which is located some 65 km (40 miles) northwest of the Kremlin. Attacks on Russia have increased sharply, with the largest such strikes hitting six regions on one night last week. That assault included two Russian military transport planes being destroyed – and two more damaged – at an airbase in the city of Pskov. Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said that the drones were launched from inside Russia. However, in speaking to the War Zone website, Mr Budanov did not say whether the attack – about 400 miles (700km) from the Ukraine border – was carried out by Ukrainian or Russian operatives. “We are working from the territory of Russia,” he said. Officials confirmed attacks on six targets in the Pskov, Bryansk, Kaluga, Orlov, Ryazan and Moscow regions. Meanwhile, Moscow has continued to carry out drone attacks on Ukrainian targets including port infrastructure. On Monday, 32 Russian kamikaze drones struck the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, damaging civilian and industrial buildings. The assault on the military airfield in Pskov that damaged aircraft has been deemed the most significant attack, situated more than 600km (400 miles) from Ukraine, it was where a number of elite paratroopers are stationed. The state-run Tass news agency reported at least four giant Il-76 transport planes were damaged in the four-hour wave of drones, two of which had “burst into flames”. Moscow retaliated on Wednesday by launching a “massive combined attack” on the Ukrainian capital using drones and missiles, that killed two people and injured another. Kyiv officials normally neither claim nor deny responsibility for attacks on Russian soil, though they sometimes refer obliquely to them. The apparent Ukrainian drones reaching deep into Russia and cross-border sabotage missions are part of Kyiv’s efforts to heap domestic pressure on the Kremlin, militarily and politically. Meantime, a Ukrainian counteroffensive launched in June is chipping away at some parts of the front line, Kyiv officials claim. Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary Ukraine war – live: Putin accused of trafficking Cubans to fight for Russia in his invasion The three reasons Putin will be terrified of Ukraine’s counteroffensive win Kim Jong-un to hold weapons talks with Putin after ‘travelling to Russia in armoured train’

Melanie Hamrick recently had to wrest a copy of her steamy new novel out of the hands of the curious 6-year-old son she shares with Mick Jagger, replacing it with the more appropriate “The Cat in the Hat.”

Donald Trump has been filmed taking one of the worst golf shots of his life, in a clip which has been doing the rounds on social media. The golf-obsessed former president is well known for talking up his abilities in the game and spent an awful lot of time playing during his time in the White House. In fact, according to trumpgolfcount.com, there was evidence of Trump playing golf on “at least 150 visits” during his four years in power. He also happens to own 17 courses himself. However, the latest footage of him playing shows him hitting a truly awful shank. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The clip sees the former president addressing the ball in his MAGA hat, a short distance from the green at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles. The unnamed person behind the camera waits in anticipation, only for Trump to completely shank it way to the right. "Holy s***, dude," one of the people behind the camera says, before the one holding the camera says: "Oh my God, I got that on video." Trump claims to have a handicap of 2.8, but a lot of people dispute the fact that Trump is that good. Sportswriter Rick Reilly, for one, doesn’t believe it. The journalist wrote an entire book about Trump cheating at golf called Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump, in which he states: “If Trump is a 2.8, Queen Elizabeth is a pole vaulter.” Reilly previously told CNN in an interview: “He cheats like a mafia accountant. He cheats crazy. He cheats whether you're watching or not. He cheats whether you like it or not." He does, however, clearly have an eye for predicting the golf landscape. Shockwaves were previously sent through the world of professional sport after Saudi-backed breakaway league LIV Golf, the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour announced an unprecedented merger. The bitter feud between the PGA and LIV has dominated headlines in the professional game for the last 18 months and the new deal is something not even players on both sides knew was happening. The only person who saw it coming? Donald Trump. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The girl portraying Zayn Malik's love interest in his latest music video has shared the tale of how she went from 'fangirl' to manifesting her dream. Grace Dumdaw took to TikTok to share tweets of hers from 2014, where she joked she would 'kill her family to touch Zayn Malik', and has now been getting up-close-and-personal with the star in 'Love Like This'. Dumdaw has since appeared across Malik's social media channels, and can even be seen hugging the singer while riding on a motorbike with him in the video. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

A Colorado mother-of-three was shot dead while trying to protect her elderly father during a home invasion at her farm in southern Ecuador. Francesca Williams, 44, was killed when robbers burst onto the family property in the village of Vilacamba where she lived with her father John, husband Michael and the couple’s three teenage daughters on 20 May, according to reports. Michael Williams told KDVR that the first he realised the farm was under attack was when he was struck by a hard object in the head while standing outside and collapsed to the ground. Francesca had been hanging washing when the gunmen showed up, and was fatally shot in the back while trying to protect her birth father John, her adoptive mother Marianna Bacilla told NBC San Diego. John, who suffered from emphysema and dementia, was stabbed three times during there attack but is out of hospital and expected to make a full recovery. The couple’s daughter Rachel told KDVR that she had witnessed the gunfire strike her mother. “I saw my grandpa on the floor with a strange man to the right, then I saw another man with my mom and she was scrambling after him, basically fighting him off,” the teenager said. “Then I saw two sparks of a gun and heard gunshots.” The family reported hearing the men asking in Spanish for the “large aunt”, and believe they were at the wrong address. Michael Williams told the news site he was tied up before the assailants ransacked the home taking any valuables they could find, including iPads and laptops. After they left he discovered his wife badly wounded and drove to the nearest medical facility, but she had already succumbed to her injuries. Her body has since been returned to her former hometown of Kremmling, Colorado, and a funeral is due to be held on 3 June. On a fundraising page set up to help the family, Ms Bacilla said they had moved several years ago to the farm in rural southern Ecuador where they were raising chickens, goats, horses, pigs, ducks and guinea fowl. “It was their humble Shangri-La,” she said. Francesca Williams was described as a devoted wife and mother, who graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in linguistics. She was fluent in French, Spanish and Lithuanian, worked as a translator and had recently published her first illustrated children’s book The King’s Magic. A few days after the attack, Michael Williams said the family were in a “heightened level of anxiousness and security because we aren’t in a safe place”. A GoFundme page has received nearly $30,000 in donations. Read More New Jersey attorney linked to three rapes after family submitted DNA to genealogy website Ecuador lawmakers denounce president's disbanding of National Assembly, argue it wasn't legal Lauren Boebert didn’t turn up to vote on debt ceiling deal she furiously campaigned against

Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Brentford set up a mouthwatering top-of-the-table clash against Manchester City, but manager Jurgen Klopp is less than impressed with the lunchtime scheduling. The Premier League’s resumption after the international break kicks off with City v Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium live on television in a Saturday lunchtime clash. Klopp has been a long-time opponent of broadcast scheduling, particularly the 12.30pm slot, and he has aired his complaints again. “OK, no-one can say at the moment, but how can you put a game like this on Saturday at 12.30pm?” he said. “Is it the moment where the world pays the most to see a football game? I don’t know if that is the case, I really don’t. “Honestly, the people making the decisions, they cannot feel football, it is just not possible.” The logistics involved in getting players back from South America are well-drilled now and usually involve clubs liaising to charter a jet for all their players to return home together. But a lunchtime kick-off requires extra planning to get them back as early as practically possible, which often involves extra work to get them into one airport at the same time. “You have these two teams who have, all together, about 30 international players. They all come back on the same plane from Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia,” said Klopp. “One game, one plane, they all come back.” Liverpool endured a couple of tricky moments at home to Brentford, but two goals from Mohamed Salah, taking him to 200 in English football, and one from Diogo Jota ensured Klopp’s side leapfrogged Arsenal into second place on goal difference. In becoming the first Reds player to score in each of their first six home matches at the start of a season, Salah joined Alan Shearer and Thierry Henry in having scored or assisted in 15 consecutive Premier League home games. “Exceptional, just exceptional player. Played a super game today and we all know how difficult it is against these tall centre-backs,” added Klopp. “Two players around him, all these kinds of things, how often he kept the ball for us and we could play from there. That was super important and scoring two goals. “We had so many good moments in the first half. We scored (through Darwin Nunez), but it was offside (twice), things like that, and then in that moment, the composure for the first goal is insane. “There is no doubt when the ball is in that area in the end you see it on the scoresheet. So a pretty special player.” Victory ensured the team headed off on international duty with a spring in their step after a difficult week which began with a draw at Luton and got worse with defeat in the Europa League to Toulouse. But in extending their 100 percent home league record to six matches this season, having conceded just twice at Anfield in that time, Liverpool moved into pole position as City’s nearest challengers. “Football is strange. If you would have asked me three days just about the feeling, not about what I know, I am not sure I would talk about the start (to their season),” said Klopp. “But obviously you look at the game, the numbers, the results, most of the time it was OK or better. “A point at Luton didn’t feel great, Tottenham, in the circumstances (a defeat after a controversial incorrect VAR decision) obviously didn’t feel great. “It’s absolutely all right if we just don’t really think about it. Today it was about getting through the game and we did. The boys responded sensationally well.” Brentford head coach Thomas Frank was unhappy with a second-half challenge by Wataru Endo on Christian Norgaard which, on the basis of what has gone before this season, he felt VAR got wrong. “I think this situation, back in the day, never would have been a red card, but in the football we are playing now, with the slow image you can see a clear foot on the leg, four bloody marks on Christian’s leg,” he said. “There is definitely some contact with force.” Read More Unai Emery demands consistency from Aston Villa after victory over Fulham I don’t like English referees – Roberto De Zerbi unhappy after Brighton held We’ve just thrown it away – Steve Cooper frustrated as Forest lose at West Ham Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart lead Britain to Billie Jean King Cup win over Sweden Brighton gift draw to Sheffield United after own goal and red card Aston Villa equal club-record home winning run by sweeping aside Fulham

Gen Ngeuma has raised the expectations of many people after toppling President Ali Bongo.

Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek says football coach Sam Pittman will return next season

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