Over the past few months, Melania has been power-dressing to the max, styling menswear designs with feminine touches. It’s been a far cry from the wardrobe we saw in her first stint as FLOTUS when she wore a powder blue wrap coat dress to the 2016 inauguration, tucked skinny-leg khakis into knee-high boots at the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Campaign, and teamed hot pink pumps with a banana yellow cape for the NATO Leaders Summit in 2019.

“Our country is on the verge of a comeback, the likes of which the world has never witnessed, and perhaps will never witness again.”

In the eight years since he was first elected and then re-elected, Trump was impeached twice, determined to be the “central cause” of the January 6 Capitol attack, convicted of 34 crimes in New York and held civilly liable for sexual abuse. Not to mention that he also faced criminal charges at state and federal levels, was accused repeatedly of past sexual misconduct and promoted baseless claims about Covid-19 treatments as thousands of Americans died on his watch.

They call it Bullion Boulevard for good reason, for there are very few roads in the world where you can drive past £330bn worth of gold. The boulevard is of course next to Fort Knox in Kentucky, a base of the United States Army that also happens to double up as the home of America’s central bullion depository, holding well over half of the country’s gold reserves. So well protected is the facility that the expression “as safe as Fort Knox” has long been an epithet for security in the United States and beyond.

The only person who has come close to stealing the bullion was a certain Latvian called Auric Goldfinger in 1959, but then he was the figment of the imagination of one Ian Fleming, whose novel Goldfinger would be turned into the third James Bond film.

Little wonder then, that during the Second World War, Fort Knox was used to store the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, as well as a Gutenberg Bible, a copy of the Magna Carta, and the crown jewels of Hungary.

During the speech, Mace, a congresswoman from South Carolina, accused her former fiancé Patrick Bryant of rape and claimed that he and three other men, including Musgrave, recorded sex acts without her consent.

She displayed their names, hometowns and photos on a placard alongside the words ‘predators’ and ‘stay away from.’

Shortly before the speech, Musgrave said he got a text from an unknown person stating that he was about to be mentioned in the House by Mace.

Nate Vance is reported to have spent three years fighting in Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Now, in an interview with French outlet Le Figaro, he accused his cousin and President Donald Trump of ambushing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during the now infamous Oval Office blow-up.

The president answered a question about the recent spate of air accidents while returning to Washington, DC on Sunday evening just hours after a small aircraft went down near a retirement village in Manheim Township in Pennslyvania, resulting in five people on board being hospitalized.

Asked by one reporter whether his Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had “legitimate concern” after his department had been “gutted” – including 400 Federal Aviation Administration workers being laid off last month – the president claimed the recent crashes have “nothing to do with the department.”

“It’s my favorite thing,” she said. “They email: ‘Caroline, ethical experts, yes…’ We write back ‘which experts?’ And then they send the names, and we Google them, and they’re like Democrat donors funded by George Soros.

“So you’re like, we copy and paste their Wikipedia like ‘these experts, a**hole?’ This is not a real story. These are not real stories.”

The impact goes well beyond job losses, writes Jamie Rowen.

Trump took to Truth Social on Monday to take credit for the arrest of a student at Columbia University.

“Following my previously signed Executive Orders, ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student on the campus of Columbia University,” said Trump. “This is the first arrest of many to come.”

“We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it,” he added. “Many are not students, they are paid agitators. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again.”

“If you support terrorism, including the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children, your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here. We expect every one of America’s Colleges and Universities to comply,” the president concluded.

New York Attorney General Letitia James responded on X, writing: “I am extremely concerned about the arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil, an advocate and legal permanent resident of Palestinian descent. My office is monitoring the situation, and we are in contact with his attorney.”

US and Ukrainian officials are meeting in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday in a bid to end the years-long war between Russia and Ukraine.

It is believed that Ukraine will propose a partial ceasefire across air and sea with Russia – including long-range drone and missile strikes and combat operations in the Black Sea.

The US, in turn, wants Ukraine to be prepared to give greater concessions, including giving up territory to Russia.

Sir Keir Starmer told Donald Trump he hopes for a “positive outcome” following tomorrow’s peace talks, including the resumption of intelligence sharing and military aid for Ukraine.

After the relationship between the US and Ukraine plunged to new lows following a fiery argument at the White House, the US president paused the supply of weapons and intelligence that Kyiv said have been crucial in their fight against Russia.

Ahead of the talks, Trump said the ban on intelligence sharing had “just about” ended, and in a conversation with the US president on Monday Sir Keir said he hoped the US would restore its support to Ukraine following the peace talks in Saudi Arabia.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “The Prime Minister said he hoped there would be a positive outcome to the talks that would enable US aid and intelligence-sharing to be restarted.”

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and US secretary of state Marco Rubio have arrived in Saudi Arabia in preparation for crunch peace talks on Tuesday.

Mr Zelensky has said a team including his chief of staff Andriy Yermak, foreign minister Andriy Sybiha and defence minister Rustem Umerov will take part in the talks on Tuesday and Mr Rubio will lead the American team.

The Ukraine president’s officials will try to repair the damage done during visit to Washington descended into an Oval Office argument with US president Donald Trump and vice president JD Vance.

Ukraine is expected to propose an air and sea ceasefire during a meeting with American officials tomorrow to curry favour with an administration that has suggested Kyiv is not serious about peace. The US held meetings with a Russian delegation last month.

Speaking to reporters aboard his plane, Mr Rubio said he and national security adviser Mike Waltz would take stock of Ukraine’s responses.

“What we want to know is, are they interested entering some sort of peace conversation and general outlines of the kinds of things they could consider, recognising that it has been a costly and bloody war for the Ukrainians. They have suffered greatly and their people have suffered greatly,” Mr Rubio said.

There are 13 European countries, including the UK, who have purchased US F-35 fighter jets.

Though there is no evidence of a so-called ‘kill switch’, Joachim Schranzhofer, head of communications at the German arms company Hensoldt, said there were other ways for aircraft to be grounded.

The Dutch prime minister says Europe must take more responsibility for the continent’s security and strengthen its defence.

Dick Schoof said he discussed the war in Ukraine with European Council President António Costa today.

“As Europe, we must take more responsibility for our own security,” he said in a post on X.

“To do this, we need to significantly strengthen our European defence, while keeping an eye on financial stability and manageable debts. We also talked about migration and the importance of strengthening European competitiveness.”

His comments come ahead of a virtual world leaders’ meeting on Saturday, hosted by Sir Keir Starmer, to progress plans on getting peacekeeping troops on the ground in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff met with a UK advisor ahead of peace talks with the US on Tuesday.

While US President Donald Trump was optimistic ahead of the talks, saying he believed the countries were “going to make a lot of progress”, relations have been strained between the US and Ukraine.

The talks come less than two weeks after an explosive and public argument in the White House between Trump, JD Vance and Zelensky.

UK national security advisor Jonathan Powell met with Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak ahead of the meeting, and on social media Yermak said the pair “exchanged views” on a path to peace.

The number of Britons who believe the US is an ally or friendly rival has collapsed under Donald Trump, a YouGov poll has found.

Since December, the portion who said they considered the US either a friend and ally or a friendly rival has fallen from two thirds (67 per cent) to just over a half (53 per cent).

By contrast, the number who said the US has an unfriendly relationship with the UK or is a “hostile threat” jumped from 12 per cent to 30 per cent. It comes amid the president’s aggressive stance on global trade, threatening tariff wars and even a US takeover of Canada and Greenland. And the drop also follows Mr Trump’s Oval Office clash with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

The group most likely to still see America under Mr Trump as a friendly country or an ally of the UK are Reform UK voters, with two-thirds still considering the US positively.

Labour voters were least likely to take a positive view of the relationship, at just 51 per cent.

Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin is meeting with counterparts in Paris tomorrow to discuss a “coalition of the willing” agreement on defending Ukraine.

Earlier on Monday, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer reiterated Britain’s commitment to supporting Ukraine.

“We’re fully committed to working with Ukraine, supporting Ukraine, working with the United States and our informal partners to drive progress towards a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, and that is our focus,” the spokesperson said.

Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte said the group’s support for Ukraine is “unwavering” following a meeting in Sarajevo on Monday.

“Important to be in Sarajevo today. #NATO remains firmly committed to the sovereignty & territorial integrity of [Ukraine]. Political leadership is key to further progress & stability. NATO’s support is unwavering,” he said on X.

Volodymyr Zelensky has begun meeting with Saudi officials after touching down in Jeddah this afternoon.

Zelensky met with the Deputy Governor of Makkah Region Prince Saud bin Mishal bin Abdulaziz, ahead of his meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Sulman later today.

The Ukrainian president’s visit comes ahead of US-Ukraine peace talks, but he won’t be part of those meetings – they will be led by his chief of staff, and ht US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Russia’s air defence units destroyed 88 Ukrainian drones overnight with no injuries or damage reported, Russian authorities said on Sunday.

The Russian defence ministry said that 52 of the drones were destroyed over the border Belgorod region, while 13 were over the Lipetsk region and nine were over the Rostov region, both in Russia’s southwest.

The rest of the Ukrainian drones were downed over Russia’s Voronezh, Astrakhan, Krasnodar, Ryazan and Kursk regions.

Governors of the Lipetsk and Ryazan regions said overnight that their regions were under air raid alerts but they did not report any damage or injuries.

Russia’s aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said on Telegram that the airports of Astrakhan, Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan were closed for traffic for several hours overnight to ensure air safety.

Unofficial Russian news Telegram channels reported that the Ukrainian attack on Ryazan and Lipetsk targeted local oil refineries.

Ukrainian Lieutenant Andriy Kovalenko, who heads the Center for Countering Disinformation, part of the National Security and Defense Council, said, without providing evidence or saying directly that Ukrainian drones were involved, that the Novolipetsk Metallurgical Plant in Lipetsk was under attack.

The reports on what was targeted in the attacks could not be independently verified.

Ukraine’s air defences shot down 73 of 119 drones launched by Russia in an overnight attack on Sunday, the air force said.

It said that 37 drones were “lost”, in reference to the military’s use of electronic warfare to redirect them. The military said damage was recorded in six Ukrainian regions but provided no immediate details.

Rishi Sunak warned that Kyiv could be left without support and compensation if Russian assets are not seized.

The former prime minister reiterated his calls for ministers to seize frozen state assets to help Ukraine in the war and put more pressure on Russia.

Writing in the Sunday Times, Mr Sunak said that Moscow “will undoubtedly owe Ukraine reparations for the horrific damage it has inflicted on the country”.

He said that “Ukraine needs financial support without delay as it continues to defend itself against this brutal assault”, and warned “there is a danger that if these assets are not seized now, Ukraine may never get the support it needs and the compensation it deserves.”

“Now is a time for action,” Mr Sunak added.

“We must move to seize Russian state assets and transfer them to Ukraine so it can defend itself at its moment of maximum need.”

Defence secretary John Healey is expected to join talks with counterparts next week, as the UK and France lead efforts to get nations to commit to a “coalition of the willing” to back a peace deal in Ukraine.

The UK’s diplomatic push on securing a peace deal continued on Saturday, as Keir Starmer welcomed a commitment from Australia to “consider contributing” after a call with his counterpart Anthony Albanese.

A readout of the conversation from a Downing Street spokesperson said: “He welcomed prime minister Albanese’s commitment to consider contributing to a coalition of the willing for Ukraine and looked forward to the chiefs of defence meeting in Paris on Tuesday.”

Officials from about 20 largely European and Commonwealth countries took part in the talks about the peacekeeping coalition earlier this week.

Not all the countries interested in the plan would necessarily provide troops to a peacekeeping force but they could potentially contribute in other ways.

Russian troops have launched a large-scale offensive to retake swaths of the western Kursk region from Ukrainian forces, war bloggers and a senior Russian commander said.

Ukrainian troops stormed into Russia’s Kursk region last summer, taking chunks of territory in an unexpected lightning attack more than two years after Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.

“In all directions of the Kursk section of the front, all units have launched a large-scale offensive,” Major General Apti Alaudinov, commander of a Chechen unit fighting for Russia in Kursk, said on Telegram. “The enemy is abandoning its positions.”

Ukraine’s military did not immediately comment.

Open source maps showed this week that Ukraine’s positions in Kursk have deteriorated sharply and its troops are nearly surrounded by Russian forces.

The precarious situation for Ukraine follows a pause in US military aid and intelligence sharing with Kyiv as US President Donald Trump puts pressure on Kyiv to agree to a ceasefire with Moscow.

Pro-Russian war blogger Two Majors said on Saturday Russian troops had begun an assault on Sudzha, a town about six miles (9.5km) from the border with Ukraine, and that the situation for Ukrainian troops there was “close to critical”.

Major General Alaudinov said Russian airborne brigades, motorised rifle regiments and the Akhmat special forces were taking part in “fierce battles” and “our guys are moving forward very well”.

Russian troops recaptured three villages in Kursk – Viktorovka, Nikolaevka and Staraya Sorochina – from Ukraine on Saturday, the defence ministry said. Reuters could not independently verify its report.

At least 25 people have been killed in Ukraine following a wave of Russian strikes, officials said, with the deadliest attack hitting the Donetsk region town of Dobropillya late on Friday. Two ballistic missiles struck residential buildings and a shopping centre, killing at least 11 people.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia then launched another strike targeting emergency responders. “Such strikes show that Russia’s goals are unchanged,” he wrote on Telegram.

Elsewhere in Donetsk, nine more people were killed and 13 injured between Friday and Saturday, according to local officials. In the Kharkiv region, drones hit a company in Bohodukhiv, killing three and injuring seven, while another attack in Odesa damaged energy infrastructure. Officials said it was the seventh attack on the region’s energy system in three weeks.

David Lammy has condemned the latest Russian strikes on Ukraine as “abhorrent”, as Moscow continued its barrage.

The foreign secretary said the “barbaric aggression only strengthens our resolve” to support Kyiv, after further strikes over the weekend.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday further Russian strikes prove “they are not thinking about how to end the war” and that he is “grateful to all the leaders, diplomats from partner countries, and civil society figures who support Ukraine”.

In a post on X, Mr Lammy said: “This barbaric aggression only strengthens our resolve to stand with Ukraine.”

Mr Zelensky had earlier said that 11 people had died in a strike in the city of Dobropillya, and that there had been further attacks in Donetsk, Kharkiv and the southern regions.

He added: “Russia continues to prove with its cruelty, day after day, that nothing has changed for them in Moscow – they are not thinking about how to end the war, but how to destroy and capture more while the world allows them to continue. Of course, we are doing everything we can to protect lives.”