Zelensky tries to shore up support in Washington
In a meeting at the White House, President Biden told Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian leader, that the U.S. would be “staying with you” during the grinding war with Russia. At the same time, a growing faction of the Republican Party has threatened to hold up aid that Zelensky said could cost his country the war.
Biden said that next week the U.S. would begin shipping over Abrams tanks, which the Ukrainians had long sought and were part of an existing pledge. He also acknowledged that he had little choice but to have faith in a bipartisan breakthrough for continued support for Ukraine.
Polls have shown a growing weariness over the war among the American public, and dozens of Republicans say they are opposed to Biden’s latest request to Congress for $24 billion more for Ukraine. Congress has already approved $113 billion in aid for Ukraine, including around $70 billion for security, intelligence and other war-fighting costs.
Tensions: The Polish authorities said they would supply Ukraine “only” with already promised weapons amid a dispute between Kyiv and Warsaw over agricultural imports.
Analysis: As Armenia and Azerbaijan clash in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, Russia, drained by the war in Ukraine, has seemed incapable of acting as an indispensable power in the region.
Separatism and a killing at a Sikh temple in Canada
A Sikh temple in Surrey, the city in British Columbia that is a major center of Canada’s Sikh diaspora, became a home for the separatist movement under the leadership of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. He was gunned down outside the temple in June, a killing that Canada has accused India of orchestrating.
Nijjar’s ascension to leadership in 2019 steered the temple in a far more strident and political direction, most likely rousing the suspicion of India, which labeled him a terrorist the following year. The temple’s changing politics reflects the evolution of Canada’s Sikhs and the political emergence of second-generation immigrants, experts said.
Murdoch steps down
The media magnate Rupert Murdoch, 92, is retiring from the Fox News and News Corporation boards, the companies said. His son Lachlan will become the sole executive in charge of the global media empire that Murdoch built from a small local newspaper in Australia 70 years ago; Murdoch will become chairman emeritus of the two companies and continue to offer counsel.
With a brand of right-wing populism, Murdoch’s companies have at times held the power to make or break presidents and prime ministers. He built that empire across three continents, helping to shift norms and tastes in journalism, politics and popular culture throughout the English-speaking world.
THE LATEST NEWS
Around the World
How should artifacts from the wreck of the Titanic be handled? Should they be left to molder at the bottom of the sea, in honor of the more than 1,500 people who lost their lives, or put in museums? And is there a middle path?
James Cameron, known for his 1997 movie “Titanic,” describes himself as a centrist between preservationists and salvors. “We shouldn’t take anything from the bow and stern sections that would disfigure them,” he said. “They should stand as monuments to the tragedy.”
SPORTS NEWS
Rugby World Cup: French fans have packed stadiums, the Place de la Concorde and other venues to show their support in a land where soccer rules.
Champions League debrief: The things you may have missed from the first round of matches.
Premier League curiosities: Eight quirks from the 2023-24 soccer season so far.
What it’s like to be 13
For a year, Jessica Bennett, a reporter for The Times, followed Anna, London and Addi, three 13-year-old American girls from three states.
“I wanted to put a face to the alarming headlines about teens and social media — in particular, girls,” Jessica writes of her story. “And to understand one tension: What happens when girls’ self-confidence, which has been shown to drop right around this age, intersects with the thing that seems to be obviously contributing to their struggle?”
Fights escalate in group messages, feelings get hurt when photos reveal who wasn’t included in a social event and an offhand comment in a group chat about “feeling bipolar” draws disapproval. “It’s not as easy as it used to be,” one girl said. “Cause you can’t escape social media unless you delete the apps.”
That’s it for today’s briefing. Thanks for joining me. — Natasha
P.S. “Firsts,” a new limited series of Times obituaries, will focus on people who broke through barriers.
You can reach Natasha and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.
