LONDON (AP) — Arsenal has signed former Barcelona defender Ona Batlle as another of Spain's Women's World Cup-winning team makes a big move to London.
Batlle was Barcelona's starting right back in a 4-0 win over OL Lyonnes in the Champions League final in May before leaving the club at the end of the season as part of an exodus of key players.
She's the second star from the 2023 World Cup-winning Spanish team to move to England this week after two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas joined London City Lionesses on Wednesday.
“I want to win trophies and I feel this is the right place to achieve that,” Batlle said in a statement as Arsenal announced her arrival Friday.
Batlle is another statement signing for Arsenal after the arrival of England midfielder Georgia Stanway from Bayern Munich last week. It's Batlle's second stint in the English league after playing for Manchester United from 2020 through 2023.
Besides Batlle and Putellas, two more players from Barcelona's Champions League final lineup after set for new clubs after defender Mapi Leon and striker Salma Paralluelo also departed at the end of the season.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - Barcelona's Ona Batlle eyes the ball during the Women's Champions League final soccer match between FC Barcelona and OL Lyonnes, in Oslo, on May 23, 2026. Arsenal has signed former Barcelona defender Ona Batlle as another of Spain’s Women’s World Cup-winning team makes a big move to London. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will let the bipartisan housing bill approved by Congress become law without his signature, saying Friday that he was refusing to put his name on it because of the little progress made in passing a strict voter ID bill that he has been pushing.
“I will not sign the Housing Bill, which has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House, in PROTEST over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,” Trump posted on social media.
Trump had 10 days until the Friday deadline to sign the bill, issue a veto, or allow the measure to take effect without his signature. He has chosen to let the measure become law without his express approval, undercutting his administration's claims that he considers it a priority to combat inflation.
Trump’s rejection of the bipartisan housing legislation exacerbates tensions with his own party in a midterm election year and cuts short their efforts to address a key voter concern about rising costs. His post comes more than a week after he canceled plans to sign the bipartisan legislation, announcing he was using it as leverage in his push for a strict voter ID bill.
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act aims to lower the cost of housing and spur more home construction. It’s the broadest federal effort in decades to address America’s housing affordability problems, as state and local regulations have made it difficult to build in many of the communities that are also sources of job growth and economic opportunity. White House economists estimated earlier this year a national shortage of 10 million homes and the bill could help to close a portion of that gap.
But Trump called the bill “a yawn” and “so unimportant” compared to legislation that would require proof of citizenship for all voters.
He surprised Republican lawmakers on June 24, when, shortly before a planned signing ceremony at the Capitol, he announced he would not approve the bill until lawmakers first passed the voting legislation.
That bill, the SAVE America Act, doesn’t have enough Republican support to pass.
The housing bill passed the Senate on an 85-5 vote and the House approved it with an 358-32 vote.
That legislation seeks to cut federal housing rules, slim-down environmental reviews, make it faster to build homes and limit the ability of corporations to buy single-family homes.
The bill does not address all of the causes of the country’s housing woes, including a shortage of construction workers, climbing insurance costs and wages that have not risen fast enough for renters and buyers.
But the bill has drawn support from the real estate industry and housing advocates.
The U.S. housing market has been a driver of recent affordability challenges as skyrocketing prices have kept aspiring buyers out of the market. The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that the median sales price increased 1.8% in June from a year earlier to $440,600, an all-time high on data going back to 1999.
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in flight on Air Force One after landing at U.S. Air Force Base at RAF Mildenhall, in Suffolk, Eastern England, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
