UK rejects E1 settlement plan

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has warned that the United Kingdom could face shortages of certain food products as prolonged drought conditions and heatwaves continue across England. Following severe winter flooding that disrupted planting, many agricultural businesses are now facing water abstraction restrictions during the third drought in five years. NFU President Tom Bradshaw called on the UK government to prioritise domestic food production and offer tax relief to enable farmers to invest in water storage systems. Record-breaking heat and dry soil have pushed cereal crops, including wheat, to half their normal height, driving the earliest harvest recorded since data collection began in 2006. According to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), cereal yields across southern and eastern England are below the 10-year average, exacerbating financial strains on farming businesses following years of rising costs and diminished EU-derived subsidies. In response to sustained temperatures above 30°C, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issued amber and yellow heat health alerts across several regions, advising social care providers and the public to take precautions for vulnerable populations. Meanwhile, industry representatives from the Country, Land and Business Association urged the government to fund long-term infrastructure and wildfire prevention to protect the future of British agriculture.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced that Kyiv has delivered fresh peace proposals to American negotiators aimed at ending the conflict with Moscow. He simultaneously warned that Russia intends to use its upcoming parliamentary elections to launch a new, large-scale military mobilisation. Speaking in his nightly address, Zelenskiy stated that the proposals handed to the United States focus on bolstering Ukraine’s defence capabilities, particularly air defence, while urging Washington to exert diplomatic and economic pressure on the Kremlin to halt the war. The movement in negotiations comes as U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner prepare for potential visits to both capitals, following a period where diplomatic efforts had largely stalled. Kyiv continues to press for an immediate ceasefire after nearly four and a half years of fighting, whereas Moscow insists any agreement require Ukraine to permanently cede four claimed regions. Zelenskiy also cited Ukrainian intelligence reports indicating that Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to exploit September’s parliamentary polls to orchestrate a rapid autumn draft. “They are preparing for mobilisation in the autumn, immediately after the imitation of parliamentary elections,” Zelenskiy said, estimating that Moscow aims to draft several hundred thousand additional personnel by the end of the year, alongside ongoing voluntary contract recruitment. The electoral warning follows a decision by Russia’s Supreme Court on Monday to bar the liberal Yabloko party, the country’s sole registered anti-war political group, from contesting the upcoming election. Kremlin officials have denied plans for a mandatory draft, pointing to 200,000 voluntary sign-ups recorded in the first half of the year.

A Mexican judge has ruled that prosecutors presented sufficient evidence to formally charge Ángel Aguirre, the former governor of Guerrero state, with forced disappearance and obstruction of justice in connection with the 2014 vanishing of 43 students. Aguirre, who was arrested following new testimony gathered by a federal investigative unit, is accused of ordering the destruction of surveillance camera recordings that could have clarified the events surrounding the abduction of students from the Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Teachers’ College in Iguala. Defence counsel denied all allegations, asserting that Aguirre was attending a high-level meeting at the time the recordings were allegedly transferred to him. The judge ordered that Aguirre remain held in a maximum-security prison pending trial. The indictment represents one of the most prominent legal developments in the case since the 2022 arrest of former federal Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam. Of the 43 trainees abducted on 26 September 2014 after commandeering buses for a protest, the remains of only three have been positively identified.