A Russian missile strike on Sunday in the city centre of Ukraine’s city of Sumy killed at least 34 people, Kyiv said, with European and US officials condemning the attack — one of the deadliest in months. Kyiv said Moscow hit the northeastern city, close to the Russian border, with two ballistic missiles on Sunday morning and that the attack also wounded nearly 120 people. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, stressing that the attack occurred on Palm Sunday, said: “Only bastards do this.”US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, retired lieutenant general Keith Kellogg, said on X that the attack by Russian forces on civilian targets “crosses any line of decency”.The strike came two days after US envoy Steve Witkoff travelled to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin and push Trump’s efforts to end the war. The local emergency service in its latest bulletin that 34 people died, including two children, and 117 were wounded, including 15 children.  That revised upwards a previous toll of 32 dead and 99 wounded.Bodies were seen covered in silver sheets at the scene of the strike in the centre of the city, with a destroyed trolleybus. Rescuers worked through the rubble of a building. The head of Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said on Telegram that Russia used two Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles on Sumy.- ‘A lot of corpses’ -One woman told AFP she heard two explosions. “A lot of people were very badly injured. A lot of corpses,” she said, struggling to speak.  It was the second Russian attack this month to cause a large civilian death toll. Trump has previously voiced anger at Moscow for “bombing like crazy” in Ukraine. Zelensky called on the United States and Europe to give a “strong response” to Russia, adding: “Talking has never stopped ballistic missiles and bombs.”French leader Emmanuel Macron said the strike showed Russia’s “blatant disregard for human lives, international law and the diplomatic efforts of President Trump”.British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “appalled” by the attack, which Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni described as a “cowardly” act by Russia.The fact the bloodshed fell on Palm Sunday outraged several leaders.It was “a barbaric attack, made even more vile as people gathered peacefully to celebrate Palm Sunday,” European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said on X.”The Russian version of a ceasefire. Bloody Palm Sunday,” said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, while Danish leader Mette Frederiksen said the “missile attack on civilians gathered on Palm Sunday… shows Russia’s true face”.German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the killing “as many people made their way to prayer on Palm Sunday” demonstrated that “Putin underscores with blood that he seeks not peace but destruction”.Dutch premier Dick Schoof urged more air defences “so that Ukraine can defend itself against this violence”.- Relentless Russian offensive -Russia did not immediately comment on the strike. Moscow has refused a US-proposed unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine. Local authorities in Sumy published footage of bodies strewn on the street and people running for safety, with cars on fire and wounded civilians on the ground. Russia has relentlessly attacked Ukraine in recent weeks, extending the violence wrought by its all-out invasion that has gone on for more than three years.In early April, a Russian attack on the central city of Kryvyi Rig killed 18 people, including nine children. Sumy has been under increasing pressure since Moscow pushed back many of Ukraine’s troops from its Kursk region inside Russia, across the border.  Kyiv for weeks has warned that Moscow could mount an offensive on Sumy.   Russia launched its invasion partially through the Sumy region and briefly occupied parts of it before being pushed back by Ukrainian forces. On Sunday, Russia said it captured another village in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region. 

Recent exemptions to sweeping US import tariffs may be short-lived, top officials warned Sunday, as China urged the Trump administration to simply abandon its aggressive trade tax policy altogether.The world’s two largest economies have been locked in a fast-moving, high-stakes game of brinkmanship since US President Donald Trump launched a global tariff assault that particularly targeted Chinese imports.Tit-for-tat exchanges have seen US levies imposed on China rise to 145 percent, and Beijing setting a retaliatory 125 percent band on American imports.The US side appeared to dial down the pressure slightly on Friday, listing tariff exemptions for smartphones, laptops, semiconductors and other electronic products for which China is a major source.But Beijing’s Commerce Ministry said the move only “represents a small step” and insisted that the Trump administration should “completely cancel” the whole tariff strategy.The new exemptions will benefit US tech companies like Nvidia and Dell as well as Apple, which makes iPhones and other premium products in China.- Short-lived relief? -The relief could, however, be short-lived with some of the exempted consumer electronics targeted for upcoming sector-specific tariffs on goods deemed key to US national defense networks.Trump has said he will give “very specific” details on Monday, and his commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, said semiconductor tariffs would likely be in place “in a month or two.”The US president sent financial markets into a tailspin earlier this month by announcing sweeping import taxes on dozens of trade partners, only to abruptly announce a 90-day pause for most of them.China was excluded from the reprieve.The White House says Trump remains optimistic about securing a deal with China, although administration officials have made it clear they expect Beijing to reach out first.Trump’s trade representative Jamieson Greer told CBS “Face the Nation” on Sunday that “we don’t have any plans” for a talk between the president and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.- China looks elsewhere -China has sought to present itself as a stable alternative to an erratic Washington, courting countries spooked by the global economic storm.Xi on Monday kicks off a five-day Southeast Asia tour for talks with the leaders of Vietnam, a manufacturing powerhouse, as well as Malaysia and Cambodia.The fallout from Trump’s tariffs — and subsequent whiplash policy reversals — has sent particular shockwaves through the US economy, with investors dumping government bonds, the dollar tumbling and consumer confidence plunging.Adding to the pressure on Trump, Wall Street billionaires — including a number of his own supporters — have openly criticized the whole tariff strategy as damaging and counterproductive.The White House insists the aggressive policy is bearing fruit, saying dozens of countries have already opened trade negotiations to secure a deal before the 90-day pause ends.”We’re working around the clock, day and night, sharing paper, receiving offers and giving feedback to these countries,” Greer told CBS.

US police said Sunday they were investigating an alleged arson attack at the official residence of Democratic heavyweight and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. Shapiro, who was tipped as a vice presidential candidate last year, was inside with his family when the fire broke out in a different part of the Georgian-style mansion in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, state police said.”While the fire was successfully extinguished, it caused a significant amount of damage to a portion of the residence,” the force said in a statement. It offered a reward of up to $10,000 for the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for the blaze, which fire officials responded to at around 2:00 am local time (0600 GMT) Sunday morning.Shapiro wrote on X that he and his family awoke to “bangs on the door” from state police and were evacuated from the building. “Thank God no one was injured and the fire was extinguished,” he said. The 51-year-old was a favorite to be Democrat Kamala Harris’s running mate in her ultimately unsuccessful US presidential bid — a position that instead went to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.Shapiro, an assertive political centrist, was elected governor of Pennsylvania in 2022 when he faced off against a far-right candidate backed by President Donald Trump. 

Donald Trump is in “excellent health,” a White House doctor’s assessment said Sunday, after he underwent his first annual medical checkup since returning to the US presidency.Republican Trump, 78, has repeatedly boasted about his own vigor since starting a second term, while mocking his 82-year-old Democratic predecessor Joe Biden as decrepit and mentally unfit for office.”President Trump exhibits excellent cognitive and physical health and is fully fit to execute the duties of the Commander-in-Chief and Head of State,” read a physician’s letter shared by the White House.It noted a few abnormalities that included minor sun damage to Trump’s skin, as well as scarring on his right ear from a gunshot wound suffered in an assassination attempt last July.A colonoscopy revealed last year that Trump had diverticulosis — small pouches in the colon — and a benign polyp, the report said, adding that a follow-up exam was recommended in three years.It said Trump is taking four medications: two for cholesterol control, aspirin for cardiac prevention, and a steroid skin cream.The report overall was complimentary of Trump’s health, praising his “active lifestyle” and citing his “frequent victories in golf events” — a common boast of the billionaire who also abstains from alcohol and cigarettes.He is known, however, to indulge in fast food and famously enjoys well-done steaks — although he appears noticeably thinner than during his first term.The latest report put his current weight at 224 pounds (101.6 kilograms), down from 243 in 2019.Trump had said Friday he felt “in very good shape” after his exam earlier that day at the Walter Reed military hospital in the Washington suburbs.”I took a cognitive test. I don’t know what to tell you other than I got every answer right,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One.- Outlandish health claims -Trump has been accused of a lack of openness about his health despite huge interest in the well-being of America’s commander-in-chief.The White House said previously that presidential physician Sean Barbabella would give a readout of the physical and that “of course” it would provide the full report.But Trump’s personal and White House doctors have at times made outlandish claims about his health.In 2015, during Trump’s first presidential run, his doctor Harold Bornstein released a letter saying the tycoon “unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”Bornstein later told CNN that Trump himself “dictated that whole letter. I didn’t write that letter.”The White House doctor in his first term, Ronny Jackson, said in 2018 that with a healthier diet Trump could “live to be 200 years old.”Jackson’s report then suggested Trump should aim to lose 10 to 15 pounds but said he was generally in “excellent health,” adding that there were no signs of “any cognitive issues.”A year later, an exam found the 6-foot-3 (1.9 meter) Trump weighed 243 pounds, up seven pounds since shortly before taking office, making him technically obese.Age became a major issue in the 2024 election, when Trump and Biden faced off as the oldest major party candidates in US history.Biden was forced to drop out of the race after a stumbling performance in a TV debate against Trump in June that put concerns over his cognitive health to the top of the agenda.