
Ukraine calls for greater pressure on Russia ahead of Witkoff visit
Date: 2025-08-05T07:39:24.000Z
Title: Diageo warns of costly impact of US tariffs
Content: Diageo, maker of Guinness, Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker whiskey, has said Donald Trump's tariffs on wine and spirits will reduce its profits by €173m (£150m).
The world's biggest spirits maker is the latest company in the EU to reveal the high cost of the US president's new tariff trade wars.
On Tuesday it forecast flat 2026 sales, raised its estimate of the impact from tariffs, and hiked its cost-savings target by about €108m.
The EU had hoped wines and spirits would remain duty free after Trump and European Commission president sealed the tariff deal at Trump's Scottish golf course eight days ago but negotiations are ongoing.
Sources say talks on spirits are more advanced than for wine.
Update:
Date: 2025-08-05T07:33:48.000Z
Title: Morning opening: Increase the pressure on Russia, says Ukraine
Content: At least one person died, and 12 were injured after another round of Russian attacks on Ukraine overnight, with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy accusing Russia of trying to 'intimidate frontline cities and communities' by attacking civilian targets.
Zelenskyy's most senior aide, Andriy Yermak, was more blunt:
'Their war is with the civilian railway, trains, residential buildings. Ukraine strikes at military targets, Russia – whatever it can reach.'
But responding to the attacks, Zelenskyy once again called on the US and the EU to turn up the pressure on Russia by fast-tracking much-promised sanctions and secondary sanctions on countries supporting its war.
'The world is now seeing that sanctions against Russia and secondary sanctions against all those who help it profit from oil can work if they are strong enough. So the pressure must be increased, and it will certainly work for peace,' he said.
His comments come a day before US special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected in Moscow for another round of high-level talks with Russia, possibly with President Vladimir Putin.
Elsewhere, I will be looking at the latest from the European Commission on the EU-US tariff deal, and will bring you all other key updates from across Europe here.
It's Tuesday, 5 August 2025, it's Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
27 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump attempting new Israel deal as Netanyahu considers full Gaza takeover
Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are reportedly pursuing an 'all or nothing' agreement to end the conflict in Gaza, demanding hostage release and Hamas disarmament. Netanyahu is said to be considering a full military takeover of Gaza, despite warnings from former Israeli security officials about the risks to hostages and the humanitarian situation. Growing domestic and international pressure is mounting for a ceasefire deal, intensified by reports of widespread starvation in Gaza and videos of emaciated Israeli hostages. Israel's far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has indicated plans to rebuild Jewish settlements in Gaza, viewing the conflict as an opportunity for expansion. A UN-backed food security agency has warned of a 'worst-case scenario of famine' in Gaza, with a UN special rapporteur accusing Israel of creating an 'efficient starvation machine'.
.jpg%3Ftrim%3D0%2C0%2C0%2C0%26width%3D1200%26height%3D800%26crop%3D1200%3A800&w=3840&q=100)

The Independent
27 minutes ago
- The Independent
94-year-old Rupert Murdoch to provide Trump regular health updates in deal to delay deposition
Right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch has agreed to give Donald Trump regular health updates in a deal to postpone Murdoch's deposition in the president's $10 billion lawsuit over a Wall Street Journal article about a 'bawdy' birthday letter Trump allegedly wrote to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The deal comes a week after the president's lawyers called on the 94-year-old Murdoch to be deposed within the next 15 days due to his advanced age and health problems over the years, implying that the Fox News founder could die before the case went to trial. 'Murdoch is 94 years old, has suffered from multiple health issues throughout his life, is believed to have suffered recent significant health scares, and is presumed to live in New York,' the Trump team's motion stated last week. 'Taken together, these factors weigh heavily in determining that Murdoch would be unavailable for in-person testimony at trial.' With the president's attorneys adding that it was 'presumable' that Murdoch would be 'unavailable for trial' due to his age and health, along with the fact that the lawsuit was filed in Florida, the judge in the case ordered Murdoch to respond to the request by August 4. Per court filings, a joint deal was reached on Monday night to postpone the expedited deposition of Murdoch, whose massive media conglomerate News Corp. owns the Wall Street Journal. According to the order adopting the stipulation, the deposition will be postponed and the parties agree not to engage in discovery until the WSJ's motion to dismiss has been decided. 'If Defendants' Motion to Dismiss the Complaint is denied, then Defendant Murdoch's deposition shall occur in person, at a mutually agreed upon location in the United States, within thirty (30) calendar days of the order denying the Motion to Dismiss,' the order further notes. Additionally, Murdoch must provide 'a sworn declaration describing his current health condition' within three days of the order of stipulation being filed and give 'regularly scheduled updates' about his health to the president. The order was signed Tuesday by Judge Darrin Gayles. 'Failure to provide updates in the agreed-upon manner, as set forth in the Abatement Agreement, shall result in an expedited deposition of Defendant Murdoch,' the order adds. The president sued the WSJ and Murdoch on July 18, a day after the paper ran its bombshell report that Trump had given Epstein a raunchy card for Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003. The letter, which the president has called a 'fake thing,' reportedly contains a drawing of a naked woman with Trump's signature mimicking pubic hair. Trump has publicly fumed that Murdoch, with whom he's had a complicated on-again/off-again mutually beneficial friendship, had promised him 'he would take care of' killing the WSJ story, but apparently 'did not have the power to do so.' Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal has stood by its story and followed it with another blockbuster the following week by revealing that Attorney General Pam Bondi told Trump in May that his name appeared several times in the Epstein files. That story only increased the amount of scrutiny the administration has faced for reversing course last month and refusing to release additional documents in the disgraced financier's case. A name appearing in the files is not an indication of wrongdoing. Behind the scenes, Murdoch has also indicated that he isn't all that willing to back down in the face of the president's l egally specious defamation suit. 'I'm 94 years old and I will not be intimidated,' he reportedly told associates. Despite the WSJ looking to dismiss the complaint and Murdoch suggesting that he's in the fight for the long haul, Trump has claimed that the conservative media titan wants to reach a settlement. 'I have been treated very unfairly by The Wall Street Journal on everything,' the president said last week. 'I would assume Rupert Murdoch controls it, but maybe he does, maybe he doesn't. And they are talking to us about doing something, but we'll see what happens. They would like us to drop that. So we'll see… They want to settle it.'


The Independent
27 minutes ago
- The Independent
Democrats have early edge over Republicans in 2026 midterm election poll
A new poll shows finds that Democrats have an early edge heading into the 2026 midterm elections in the minority party's bid to wrest control of the House of Representatives back from Republicans. A YouGov/The Economist survey took place between August 1-4 and polled 1702 US adult citizens. The generic ballot is a barometer that shows just whether voters would prefer voting for a Democrat or Republican. As of this week, 43.7 percent of voters intend to vote for Democrats in the midterms and 38.4 percent prefer to vote for Republicans. The differences are even more pronounced when it comes to independent voters, as 38.2 percent said they intend to vote for Democrats while only 26 percent of them plan to vote for Republicans. Historically, the president's party loses at least one chamber in Congress during a midterm election, and flips some governorships or state legislatures. With the president off the ballot, voters register their satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the president's job performance at the midterms. The Economist/YouGov poll showed a majority of 55 percent of voters disapprove of President Donald Trump's job performance while 41 percent approve of it, with 12 percent of people who voted for Trump in 2024 disapproving of his job performance. Around the same time in 2017, 39.6 percent of voters planned to vote for the Democrats and 33.3 percent planned to vote for the Republicans. In 2018, Democrats would win back the the House of Representatives as they made a net gain of 40 seats. Democrats also have a significant advantage with young people. After young people, driven largely by young men, swung significantly to the right in 2024, 50.8 percent of voters younger than 30 said they intend to vote for Democrats, compared to only 21.8 percent who said they intend to vote for Republicans. Voters between 18 and 29 range disapprove of Trump's performance on the economy, with only 29 percent approving and 60 percent disapproving. They also do not approve of how he's handling inflation and prices, with 68 percent disapproving. Republicans also seem to be losing their grip on Hispanics voters, as 42.8 percent of Hispanic voters said that they intend to vote for Democrats. That's slightly lower than the 47.3 percent of Hispanic voters who said the same thing during the first week of August in 2017, which preceded huge Hispanic turnout in the 2018 midterm election, but still significant. Hispanic voters largely disapprove of Trump's performance on the economy, with 55 percent disapproving and only 38 percent approving. They are also not fans of his immigration policies, with 60 percent of Hispanic voters disapproving and only 35 percent approving. Trump has ramped up his attacks on Hispanics, particularly after he sent the US National Guard into Los Angeles without the consent of the state's Democratic Gov Gavin Newsom to quell protests against against Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Across the board, voters oppose his handling of health care, with 57 percent of voters disapproving of it. This comes a momth after Trump signed his signature 'One, Big, Beautiful Bill,' that included steep cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. Democrats hope to retake the House of Representatives next year. But Republicans hope to shore up their majorities. In Texas, Republicans elected to call a special session to redraw congressional lines in the middle of the decade, which prompted Democrats to decamp to blue states.