The secretary-general of NATO, Mark Rutte, will visit Washington this week to meet with President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and members of Congress, NATO said in a statement Sunday.

The statement did not give a reason for the trip. But the announcement of the two-day visit, which begins Monday, comes days after Trump indicated he would likely go along with a plan devised by officials in NATO countries that would see them buy weapons for Ukraine from the United States, rather than the United States continuing to give Ukraine weapons directly.

“We’re sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, 100%,” Trump told NBC News on Thursday. “So what we’re doing is, the weapons that are going out are going to NATO, and then NATO is going to be giving those weapons” to Ukraine, he said.

The plan was developed after Trump won the presidential election in November to help ensure that Ukraine could continue to fight Russian bombardment even if Trump were to pull U.S. support, according to a European defense official familiar with the discussions.

The details of the agreement were still being worked out, defense officials in Europe and Washington said last week.

“Earlier today I urged leaders to go further so Ukraine has more ammunition & air defences,” Rutte said on social media Thursday. “I’ve just spoken with President Trump & am now working closely with Allies to get Ukraine the help they need.”

Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., are among the senators who will have dinner with Rutte in Washington on Monday, Graham told “Face the Nation” on Sunday. He and Blumenthal are the cosponsors of a bill, which Trump has said he was “very strongly” considering supporting, that would impose severe sanctions on countries that purchase Russian oil as Russia’s bombardment of Ukraine continues to escalate.

Two women killed in church shooting

Two women died Sunday at a church in Lexington, Kentucky, in a shooting rampage that began when a state trooper was wounded after making a traffic stop, police said. The suspect in both shootings was also killed.

The suspect carjacked a vehicle after the traffic stop near Lexington’s airport and fled to Richmond Road Baptist Church, where he opened fire, city Police Chief Lawrence Weathers said. Killed in the shootings at the church were a 72-year-old woman and a 32-year-old woman, the local coroner said.

Two other people were wounded at the church and taken to a local hospital, the police chief said. One victim sustained critical injuries and the other was in stable condition, Weathers said.

The suspect was shot by police and died at the scene, he said. The suspect was not immediately identified pending notification of family, he said.

Wildfire destroys Grand Canyon lodge

A fast-moving wildfire destroyed a historic lodge and dozens of other structures on the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, forcing officials to close access to that area for the season, the park said Sunday.

The Grand Canyon Lodge, the only lodging inside the park at the North Rim, was consumed by the flames, park Superintendent Ed Keable told park residents, staff and others in a meeting Sunday morning. He said the visitor center, the gas station, a waste water treatment plant, an administrative building and some employee housing were among the 50 to 80 structures lost. “Numerous” historic cabins in the area also were destroyed, the park said.

Two wildfires are burning at or near the North Rim, known as the White Sage Fire and the Dragon Bravo Fire. The latter is the one that impacted the lodge and other structures.

Started by lightning on July 4, the Dragon Bravo Fire was initially managed by authorities with a “confine and contain” strategy to clear fuel sources. They shifted to aggressive suppression a week later as it rapidly grew to 7.8 square miles (20 square kilometers) because of hot temperatures, low humidity and strong wind gusts, fire officials said.

Former Netanyahu aide could face charges

Israel’s attorney general said Sunday a close adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been advised that he could face criminal prosecution on allegations of providing secret information with the intent of harming the country’s security.

The development involving a central figure in what is popularly known in Israel as Qatargate comes after police earlier this year arrested the adviser, Jonatan Urich, and former spokesman Eli Feldstein on suspicion of accepting money from Qatar to promote a positive image of the Gulf Arab state in Israel.

Feldstein also has been indicted in a separate case involving the leak of classified information to a German tabloid — and Sunday’s statement says Urich could face criminal prosecution in that case.

The attorney general’s statement said Urich is accused of working with Feldstein to share “highly classified” Israeli military information and said the release “was intended, among other things, to influence public awareness regarding the prime minister and to shift the discourse” following the killing of six hostages in Gaza in August of last year.

Biggest piece of Mars on Earth up for auction

For sale: A 54-pound rock. Estimated auction price: $2 million to $4 million. Why so expensive? It’s the largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth.

Sotheby’s in New York will be auctioning what’s known as NWA 16788 on Wednesday as part of a natural history-themed sale that also includes a juvenile Ceratosaurus dinosaur skeleton that’s more than 6 feet tall and nearly 11 feet long.

According to the auction house, the meteorite is believed to have been blown off the surface of Mars by a massive asteroid strike before traveling 140 million miles to Earth, where it crashed into the Sahara. A meteorite hunter found it in Niger in November 2023, Sotheby’s says.

The red, brown and gray hunk is about 70% larger than the next largest piece of Mars found on Earth and represents nearly 7% of all the Martian material currently on this planet, Sotheby’s says. It measures nearly 15 inches by 11 inches by 6 inches.

South African president launches probe

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday suspended the country’s police minister and announced an investigation into allegations he has been colluding with criminal syndicates.

Ramaphosa’s actions follow allegations made by a top police official in the KwaZulu-Natal province, Gen. Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, that Senzo Mchunu and deputy police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya had interfered with sensitive investigations.

Ramaphosa said the probe will be headed by a judge, and announced Firoz Cachalia as the acting minister of police.

“The commission will investigate the role of current or former senior officials in certain institutions who may have aided or abetted the alleged criminal activity, failed to act on credible intelligence or internal warnings, or benefited financially or politically from a syndicate’s operations,” Ramaphosa said during a televised address Sunday.

During a press briefing last Sunday, Mkhwanazi also alleged that Mchunu and Sibiya disbanded a crucial crime unit tasked with investigating repeated politically motivated killings in the province after it was revealed that crime syndicates were behind the killings.

He alleged that an investigation by the unit showed that some “politicians, law enforcement, SAPS (South African Police Service), metro police and correctional services, prosecutors, judiciary” were being “controlled by drug cartels and as well as businesspeople.”

‘Superman’ flies to a $122 million opening

In a bid to kickoff a new era for DC Studios, James Gunn’s “Superman” opened with $122 million in U.S. and Canada ticket sales over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.

DC and Warner Bros. had a lot riding on “Superman.” While the Walt Disney Co.’s Marvel Studios has had its own share of struggles, the superheroes of DC have recently found mostly kryptonite in theaters.

But “Superman,” written and directed by Gunn, is intended as a new start. It’s the first release fully steered by Gunn and Peter Safran, since they were handed the keys to DC’s superhero cinematic universe.

— From news services