| Support independent journalism |
| |
|
|
| | | | | First Thing: FBI investigating second ‘attempted assassination’ of Trump | | | The suspect, arrested after pointing a firearm through a fence at Trump’s golf club, is alleged to have had ‘delusional ideas’ about supporting Ukraine’s war effort. Plus, JD Vance admits to ‘creating stories’ on the campaign trail | | | | Photograph of a rifle and other items found near where the suspect was discovered, and (right) officers outside Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach. Photograph: AP and Reuters | | Clea Skopeliti | | | Good morning. The FBI is investigating what “appears to be an attempted assassination” of Donald Trump after a suspect was arrested and an assault rifle and scope recovered at one of his golf courses in Florida. Secret Service agents patroling the course ahead of where Trump was playing saw the muzzle of a firearm sticking out through a fence at the Trump International club in West Palm Beach, officials said. Agents opened fire and the suspect fled but was later apprehended, the Palm Beach county sheriff, Ric Bradshaw, said. Trump was unharmed in the incident on Sunday, which came two months after he was injured in a shooting at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, on 13 July. In response to the incident, Joe Biden said he was “relieved” Trump was unharmed and that he would ensure that the Secret Service “has every resource” to protect the former president. What do we know about the suspect? While motivations remain unclear, the son of the suspect – 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh – said his father was passionate about defending Ukraine from Russia, and had traveled to the country to volunteer. Has Ukraine commented? Oleksandr Shaguri, a representative from Ukraine’s foreign legion, told CNN Routh had “delusional ideas” about supporting the war effort. New generations being recruited as conflict continues, senior Hamas official says | | | | | A view of destroyed buildings in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday. Photograph: Mohammed Saber/EPA | | | | New generations of fighters have been recruited since the 7 October attacks, a senior Hamas official has told Agence France-Presse – an assertion that contradicts Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant’s recent claim that Hamas “no longer exists” as a military force in Gaza. Osama Hamdan claimed that Hamas “has a high ability to continue”: “There were martyrs and there were sacrifices … but in return there was an accumulation of experiences and the recruitment of new generations into the resistance.” Last week Gallant said 11 months of war, which Gaza’s health ministry says has killed at least 41,206 Palestinians and injured 95,337 more, had seriously weakened Hamas’s military capabilities. What are the most recent developments in the conflict? Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Yemen’s Houthi rebels will pay a “heavy price” after they claimed their first ballistic missile strike on Israel and warned that bigger attacks would follow. ‘Looks like karma to me’: Hillary Clinton on Trump’s hush-money conviction | | | | | Hillary Clinton speaks as Donald Trump listens during a presidential debate in St Louis in 2016. Photograph: Rick T Wilking/AP | | | | Hillary Clinton admitted on Sunday that tears filled her eyes when Donald Trump was convicted of criminally falsifying business records to keep quiet an alleged extramarital affair ahead of the 2016 election that she lost to him. In a lengthy interview on CBS News Sunday Morning, Clinton said that it looked “like karma to me” – a reference to how Trump encouraged chants of “lock her up” and called her “crooked Hillary” during the campaign, only to later become a convicted felon himself. She described the case as appearing to her as one of “election interference”. “The case, which was mistakenly called a ‘hush-money’ case, was an election interference case. Why did he do what he did? He did it to try to keep the information from the American public so that they wouldn’t turn away from him and vote for me. So it’s a pretty clear case of election interference.” Are Trump’s legal woes over? Hardly. He is awaiting sentencing on 34 felony counts in the hush-money case, while there are also criminal charges over his retention of classified government documents and efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 election. In other news … | | | | | JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, speaking to reporters in Greenville, North Carolina, on Saturday. Photograph: Steve Helber/AP | | | | Republican vice-presidential candidate, JD Vance, has admitted to being happy “to create stories” while campaigning, including the baseless claim about Haitian migrants in a town in Ohio abducting and eating pets. Shōgun has become the first ever non-English language series to win an Emmy for best drama, whileThe Bear took most of the comedy awards and the controversial hit Baby Reindeer won four. A man in Hong Kong who wore a T-shirt with a protest slogan has become the first person to be convicted under a new national security law passed in March. Eight people have drowned in Austria, Poland and Romania and four more are missing in the Czech Republic as Storm Boris batters central and eastern Europe, with floods forcing thousands to evacuate their homes. Stat of the day: About a third of Myanmar’s population need humanitarian aid following typhoon | | | | | A man drives a motorbike along a flooded road in Naypyidaw, Myanmar. Photograph: Aung Shine Oo/AP | | | | Myanmar’s death toll from floods rose to at least 113, the country’s military government said, following Typhoon Yagi, which has also wreaked havoc across Vietnam and Thailand. In Malaysia, the strongest storm to hit Asia this year, has displaced 320,000 people while 64 were still missing, while about a third of Myanmar’s 55 million people require humanitarian aid. Don’t miss this: How the west’s wellness industry is driving Ethiopia’s frankincense trees towards extinction | | | | | Demstu Gebremichael says thieves target his trees most nights. Photograph: Fred Harter/The Observer | | | | You might associate frankincense with churches and the story of Christmas, but recently the ancient resin has soared in demand as its alleged health benefits attract the interest of the wellness industry. But while it has had a 21st-century makeover, with 15ml bottles selling for $115, the supply chains remain murky and linked to exploitation. Fred Harter speaks to farmers, thieves and experts in northern Ethiopia about how this disconnect is driving the trees toward extinction. Last Thing: Rare smelly penguin wins New Zealand bird of the year contest | | | | | The hoiho, or yellow-eyed penguin, has won New Zealand’s annual bird of the year vote Photograph: Hayden Parsons/AP | | | | New Zealand’s bird of the year contest has been no stranger to scandal: in 2021 it crowned a bat the winner, an incident that followed accusations of Russian interference in 2019 and of Australian interference the year before. Last year the British-American talkshow host John Oliver ran a global campaign for the threatened pūteketeke – a grunting, puking bird – that was rewarded when it was crowned the 2023 winner. This year was noticeably calmer, with the endangered yellow-eyed penguin coming out on top: the largest of New Zealand’s mainland penguin species, it is known as hoiho, meaning “noise shouter” in Māori due to its shrill call, and smells distinctively of fish. Sign up | | | | | | First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you’re not already signed up, subscribe now. Get in touch If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email [email protected] | |
| | | Betsy Reed | | Editor, Guardian US |
| |
| | I hope you appreciated this newsletter. Before you move on, I wanted to ask if you would consider supporting the Guardian’s journalism during one of the most consequential news cycles of our lifetimes.
We have never been more passionate about exposing the multiplying threats to our democracy and holding power to account in America. In the heat of a tumultuous presidential race, with the threat of a more extreme second Trump presidency looming, there is an urgent need for free, trustworthy journalism that foregrounds the stakes of November’s election for our country and planet.
Yet from Elon Musk to the Murdochs, a small number of billionaire owners have a powerful hold on so much of the information that reaches the public about what’s happening in the world. The Guardian is different. We have no billionaire owner or shareholders to consider. Our journalism is produced to serve the public interest – not profit motives.
And we avoid the trap that befalls much US media: the tendency, born of a desire to please all sides, to engage in false equivalence in the name of neutrality. We always strive to be fair. But sometimes that means calling out the lies of powerful people and institutions – and making clear how misinformation and demagoguery can damage democracy.
From threats to election integrity, to the spiraling climate crisis, to complex foreign conflicts, our journalists contextualize, investigate and illuminate the critical stories of our time. As a global news organization with a robust US reporting staff, we’re able to provide a fresh, outsider perspective – one so often missing in the American media bubble.
Around the world, readers can access the Guardian’s paywall-free journalism because of our unique reader-supported model. That’s because of people like you. Our readers keep us independent, beholden to no outside influence and accessible to everyone – whether they can afford to pay for news, or not. | | If you can, please consider supporting us just once from $1, or better yet, support us every month with a little more. Thank you. | | Support us |
|
|
| | |
|
| Manage your emails | Unsubscribe | Trouble viewing? | | You are receiving this email because you are a subscriber to First Thing: the US morning briefing. Guardian News & Media Limited - a member of Guardian Media Group PLC. Registered Office: Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9GU. Registered in England No. 908396 |
|
|
|
|
|
