WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
Vance advances, ADHD test approval, and the ancient graves mystifying Norway

 
today's international story

Trump names former critic as running mate

What happened 
Donald Trump has named J.D. Vance, the Ohio senator who once suggested the former president was "America's Hitler", as his 2024 vice presidential running mate.

Who said what
Vance, a former marine and venture capitalist who shot to fame with his 2016 memoir turned Netflix movie "Hillbilly Elegy", once "rarely missed an opportunity to criticise" Trump, said the BBC. During the 2016 presidential campaign Vance described Trump as "cultural heroin" and a demagogue who was "leading the white working class to a very dark place".

More recently, however, his embrace of the former president has "fuelled his rapid rise", said The New York Times. In Vance, Trump has a "feisty and often aggressive ally who will appeal to the former president's base", said the Los Angeles Times. Trump's decision defied speculation that he would "choose a person of colour or a woman to broaden his political base". Instead he went for a "mini-me" offering "red meat" to his Maga supporters, said The Guardian.

Joe Biden offered a withering response to the selection, which he said simply showed again that Trump "surrounds himself with people who agree completely with him".

What next? 
Vance will bring "debating skills and the ability to articulate Trump's vision" to the Republican ticket, said the Associated Press. According to Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative activist group Turning Point USA, Vance could also help Trump in states he narrowly lost in 2020, such as Michigan and Wisconsin.

 
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today’s uk news story

Nice approves ADHD test for NHS

What happened
An online test that could help speed up the diagnosis of ADHD in children and young people has been recommended for use on the NHS.

Who said what
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has issued draft guidance approving the QbTest, a computer-based assessment that tracks patients' movement to measure the three main symptoms of ADHD, which are inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity.

Dr Jessica Eccles, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ neurodevelopmental special interest group, welcomed the technology, saying: "People who suspect they may have ADHD often have to wait months or even years for an assessment, which can prevent them from accessing timely and effective care."

According to estimates, between 1% and 9% of school-age children in the UK have ADHD, said The Guardian. But a rise in the number of people thought to have ADHD "has left NHS services overwhelmed and unable to cope".

What next?
Tests only help relieve the challenges facing ADHD services, said Eccles. More funding and staff are also needed to meet "rising demand and provide vital care".

 
 
Today’s health story

Roll-out of affordable malaria vaccine begins

What happened
Babies in the Ivory Coast and South Sudan will today receive doses of the world's first affordable malaria vaccine. R21, approved for children under three, costs less than £3 a dose and is up to 79% effective at preventing the disease.

Who said what
"A malaria-free world is finally within sight," said Adar Poonawalla, chief executive of India-based manufacturer The Serum Institute.

"It's been long awaited, but here we finally are," said Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute at Oxford University, who has been developing the vaccine for 30 years.

R21 has a "huge advantage" over the only other malaria jab, said The Times. RTS,S is more than twice as expensive and manufacturing capacity is limited to six million doses a year, compared with 100 million for R21.

What next?
Fifteen African countries will have introduced the vaccine by the end of the year, with another 15 due to follow. Trials for pregnant women will start in the coming weeks.

 
 

It's not all bad

Researchers have trained dogs to detect post-traumatic stress by sniffing sufferers' breath, achieving a 90% accuracy rate. Scientists say this breakthrough will enhance the effectiveness of PTSD support dogs, who currently respond only to behavioural cues. The study, led by academics at Dalhousie University in Canada, proved that some dogs could detect PTSD episodes via breath, allowing for earlier intervention. Researchers said the discovery could significantly improve support for individuals experiencing flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety.

 
 
under the radar

The ancient graves mystifying Norway

Dozens of stone circles discovered by chance last autumn have been identified as grave markers for the remains of children in Bronze Age and Iron Age Norway.

Experts from Norway's Museum of Cultural History were utterly "mystified" when they first came across the stone circles at a site in Fredrikstad, about 50 miles south of Oslo, said Live Science.

"They've lain here as a secret until we found them," archaeologist Guro Fossum told Science Norway, adding that the team "uncovered one after another" and ultimately found 41 of the round stone formations.

New analysis has revealed that almost all the burials contained children who died between 800 and 200 BC, during the transition from the Nordic Bronze Age to Iron Age. Many of the children were babies and others ranged from three to six years old. Experts are now trying to piece together the wider story behind the discoveries.

How the children met their deaths remains an open question, but the evidence shows the burial site was "used over a long period", said Fossum, "so they couldn't all have died in the same natural disaster or outbreak of disease or epidemic".

Infant mortality was "undoubtedly high at the time", said Indy100, but the experts have no firm explanation for how this mass grave site came to be.

Archaeologists plan to analyse the artefacts from the site, including pieces of pottery. This "can tell us a lot", Fossum said, because "it doesn't appear that all the vessels were containers for burnt bones" as some were placed between the graves. "We are very curious about what was inside them."

 
 
on this day

16 July 1945

The world's first nuclear explosion took place, signalling the beginning of the Atomic Age. Under the code name "Trinity", a plutonium implosion device was tested about 210 miles from Los Alamos in New Mexico. Local residents who have suffered the effects of radiation in the decades following the blast continue to campaign for compensation.

 
 
Today’s newspapers

The Mirror leads on news that a body has been found in the search for missing British teenager Jay Slater in Tenerife. The news is the family's "worst nightmare", it says. Reporting on Donald Trump's decision to pick Ohio senator J.D. Vance as his running mate, The Telegraph describes him as a "firebrand" and one of the Republican nominee's "fiercest supporters". The Financial Times says that Trump received a boost to his campaign after a judge dismissed a criminal case brought against him over his handling of classified documents, while the i paper says Trump and Keir Starmer have started building their new "special relationship".

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Tattoo tribute an own goal

A football fanatic who got a tattoo saying "England Euro 2024 Winners" ahead of the Three Lions' defeat on Sunday night has said he won't be getting the factually inaccurate design inked over. Dan Thomas said he had "absolutely no regrets", adding that he could always get the date on the design amended if England was to win the next tournament in 2028.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Arion McNicoll, Harriet Marsden, Julia O'Driscoll and Chas Newkey-Burden, with illustrations by Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Photographer Name / Getty Images; Photographer Name / Getty Images; Photographer Name / Alamy; Photographer Name / Shutterstock.