Hello. An hours-long US Senate hearing scrutinised the security failures that led to the 13 July assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. Bernd Debusmann Jr sums up what we've learnt in today's session. From Jerusalem, Barbara Plett Usher reports on the largest group of Palestinians to leave Gaza since the start of the war to receive long-awaited medical treatment. Elsewhere in your newsletter, there are stories about a basketball promise, must-watch new films and a show-stopping seagull.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED

US Senate dissects Secret Service failures 

Mr Rowe mentioned the mental toll that the Butler shooting security failures have taken on him and his agents. Credit: Reuters

The acting head of the US Secret Service, Ronald Rowe, has made his first - and occasionally tense - appearance in front of a Senate committee hearing investigating the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. His predecessor Kimberly Cheatle was forced to resign shortly after a frosty appearance at the hearings.

What have we learnt about the deployment of drones at the rally?

Mr Rowe publicly acknowledged for the first time that the Secret Service failed to deploy a counter-drone system in time, potentially with fatal results. According to Mr Rowe, the Secret Service was unable to deploy the "counter unmanned aerial system" until later on in the day - several hours after Thomas Matthew Crooks flew his drone over the site - because of cellular connectivity issues.

What went wrong with law enforcement communications that day?

Officials have said that much of the communications chatter at the Butler rally took place via text messages, potentially contributing to confusion over reports of a suspicious person. Mr Rowe said that suspicions about Crooks were "stuck or siloed" in a communications channel used mostly by state and local officers. "It was great [that] there was a text chain," Mr Rowe said. "But that communication needs to go over the net. It needs to go over a radio channel."

What else will be different at future events?

Ahead of the shooting, officers noticed that Crooks had a rangefinder - a device that allows one to gauge distances to a fixed location. According to Rowe, however, those suspicions "had not risen to the level of threat, or imminent harm". Mr Rowe added that the service will move to ban rangefinders at future events.

• FBI investigation: Donald Trump has agreed to be interviewed by the authorities investigating the assassination attempt.

• US Secret Service: The 13 July shooting put a spotlight on the agency’s history, which includes a sometimes spotty record of mishaps and scandals.

• White House race: Zoom fundraisers have provided a further boost to presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.

THE BIG PICTURE

Promising new chapter for young nation

Khaman Maluach's family fled conflict-hit South Sudan when he was a child, and he grew up in Uganda. Credit: BBC

Dubbed the Bright Stars, South Sudan's basketball team qualified for the first time at the 2024 Paris Olympics as the top-ranked African side at the World Cup. The team have shown their mettle in an exhibition match against Team USA earlier in July, narrowly losing 101-100. One of their promising players is 17-year-old Khaman Maluach, who is already a top NBA Draft prospect.

And finally... in Ireland

Anyone who knows Gaelic sports will tell you that Dublin's historic Croke Park stadium can be a cauldron of emotion. And for a seagull that strayed on to the famous pitch during Sunday's All-Ireland Gaelic Football final it all proved a little too much. The bird remained on the pitch for about 25 minutes amid increasing fans' concern for its safety, before finally being removed by an intrepid match official. It had an injured wing but wildlife rescuers hope to release it into the wild in the coming days. Meanwhile, Armagh beat Galway.