Anger as grinning Trump gives thumbs-up while Melania holds El Paso orphan

  • Backlash over picture posted on first lady’s Twitter account
  • Two-month-old’s parents shot dead in attack that killed 22

A backlash is building over a picture posted by Melania Trump on Twitter that showed her and Donald Trump smiling broadly while holding a baby who was orphaned in the mass shooting in El Paso.

Related: Ice raids stir fear as Kamala Harris says they demonstrate 'insensitivity' – live

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‘Scarecrow’ statue of Melania Trump unveiled in Slovenia to mixed reviews

Life-size image on the outskirts of Sevnica, the US first lady’s home town, was carved into a tree using a chainsaw

After Melania cake, Melania honey and even Melania slippers, the Slovenian home town of the US first lady will now boast a statue of its most famous daughter – albeit one that has faced decidedly mixed reviews.

The life-size statue on the outskirts of Sevnica was inaugurated on Friday and is the brainchild of the 39-year-old American conceptual artist Brad Downey, who says it’s the first monument anywhere dedicated to the wife of Donald Trump.

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Donald Trump’s July 4th jamboree: symbolic, jingoistic and untraditional

Some welcomed the rare plea for unity but others said the show of military might was the moment Trump went full Roman emperor

All men are created equal. But one is created more equal than others. And his name is Donald Trump.

The US president’s unique interpretation of the declaration of independence was on full display on Thursday when he staged a militaristic, jingoistic and untraditional jamboree at the Lincoln memorial in Washington to celebrate the Fourth of July.

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Digging their heels in: women wage war on footwear dress codes

A campaign in Japan for a ban on women being forced to wear high heels at work is gaining global support

It’s hard to imagine men enduring decades of pain and long-term physical injury just to “look the part” in the workplace – after all, many bemoan the necktie as too restrictive for the daily grind.

Now consider this: millions of women around the world, at all levels of the workplace hierarchy, have consistently spent their working hours tortured by blisters, bloodied flesh, foot pain, knee pain, back pain and worse, as a result of the pressure to conform to an aesthetic code – sometimes explicitly written into contracts or policy, more often subliminally expected as a societal and cultural standard – that deems it appropriate to wear high heels.

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Federal judge blocks strict abortion law in Mississippi – as it happened

That’s all from me! Here’s a rundown on the day’s major events:

Abortion providers reported an “alarming escalation” in incidents of disruption and intimidation in 2018, according to a new report by their professional association, the National Abortion Federation (NAF).

Trespassing reached the highest level since the NAF began recording such incidents in 1999, while incidents of obstruction grew 78% from 2017 to 2018. Providers also reported record levels of picketing (99,409 incidents) since recording began in 1977, and the highest number of incidents of vandalism (125) since 1990.

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Trump is visiting Britain – at least we can enjoy Melania’s contempt

From the Queen to the First Lady, leave it to the women around the president to send messages about their true feelings towards the giant man-baby

So, Donald Trump is coming back to the UK. What should we expect, style-wise?
Caroline, by email

Re-inflate the orange blimp, the human orange blimp is coming back. This June, to be precise, for his first official UK state visit, as opposed to his last visit which was – amusingly, adorably – described as “a working visit”, which is like when I tell my toddlers how helpful they are when they unload the dishwasher by putting all the cutlery in the bin. Last summer, if you remember – and who could forget – Trump spent his four days in Britain alternately hiding from and grumping about the British people who seemed less than enthusiastic about his visit. He managed to be a dick even to the Queen, barging ahead of the 93-year-old woman as she valiantly attempted to humour the giant man-baby on walkabouts around Windsor. But the Queen might, or might not, have had her revenge, possibly-allegedly-maybe sending coded messages through the medium of her brooches to communicate her distaste for this man even other Americans refer to as “that vulgar American”. It was a headily exciting time for us all, and cost the UK tax payer a mere £18m for the joy. Ma’am, we are keenly awaiting your brooch messages. Red for emergency, orange for double emergency.

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Michael Cohen accuses ‘racist, conman’ Trump of criminal conspiracy

In dramatic testimony, Cohen claims Trump committed crimes to cover up affair and had prior knowledge of Wikileaks release

Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen accused the president in explosive public testimony before Congress of knowing in advance about key events under investigation in the Russia inquiry and of committing criminal conspiracy in the coverup of an extramarital affair.

In a day of high drama before the House oversight committee, Cohen delivered a string of bombshells that could spawn fresh investigations by Congress and the FBI. Testifying on Wednesday, he labelled the US president a “racist” and “conman”, produced signed checks that he said were proof of a fraudulently disguised conspiracy to silence a former adult film actor, and gave what he claimed were eyewitness accounts that implied Trump had prior knowledge of crucial Russia links.

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Telegraph apologises and pays damages to Melania Trump

British newspaper pulls article peppered with false claims about US first lady from its site

The Daily Telegraph has paid “substantial damages” to Melania Trump and apologised “unreservedly” to the US first lady after making a number of false claims about her life in an article.

The claims were made in a story entitled The mystery of Melania, which ran on the cover of last Saturday’s Telegraph magazine, but the newspaper has now said it included a number of errors about Donald Trump’s wife which should not have been published.

The piece promised to tell the truth on what it described as the “most private and enigmatic” of presidential wives after interviews with “White House insiders, Slovenian school friends and photographers”.

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