Biden decries gun violence as shootings across US mar Fourth of July festivities

At least 15 people shot dead across the country in mass shootings so far on the holiday weekend celebrating the US’s independence

A long holiday weekend of bloodshed has intensified after a heavily armed gunman in a bulletproof vest opened fire on the streets of Philadelphia on the eve of Fourth of July celebrations, in yet another mass shooting in the US, killing five people and wounding two boys before surrendering to the police.

Across the country, Texas was entering the holiday to news that another shooting had killed three people, in Fort Worth, occurring just before midnight amid a gathering in a parking lot that also wounded eight.

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South Carolina woman dies after being attacked by alligator

The 69-year-old was found dead on Hilton Head Island with the reptile appearing to guard her body and hampering rescue efforts

A South Carolina woman died on Tuesday after she was attacked by an alligator while walking her dog near a golf course, authorities said.

The 69-year-old woman, who has not been named, was found dead in the Spanish Wells community of Hilton Head Island, the Beaufort county sheriff’s office said in a news release.

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US Secret Service investigating as cocaine reportedly found in White House

It wouldn’t be the first time illegal drugs were brought into the president’s residence

A preliminary field test on a white substance found in the White House has reportedly come up positive for cocaine, law enforcement authorities said, and the US Secret Service was investigating on Tuesday how it came to be at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The presence of the substance – which has been sent out for further testing – came to light late on Monday when a firefighter with the Washington DC fire department’s hazardous materials team radioed: “We have a yellow bar saying cocaine hydrochloride,” the Washington Post first reported.

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Fears for Libyan oil production amid military threats

Gen Khalifa Haftar warned of military action unless oil revenues are divided fairly

Fears have been raised of a damaging oil shutdown in Libya with implications for global energy markets after Libya’s strongman in the east, Gen Khalifa Haftar, warned of military action unless oil revenues are divided fairly within the next two months.

With the country long divided between two governments in the east and west and little prospect of presidential elections designed to reunify the country at least until next year, politicians in the east have threatened to put oil revenues under judicial control preventing the revenue reaching the Central Bank from the National Oil Corporation (NOC), the state-run oil firm.

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Daniel Kaluuya’s Barney the Dinosaur film to be ‘adult’ and ‘lean into millennial angst’

Mattel says the Barney movie will be inspired by Charlie Kaufman, while Barbie director Greta Gerwig is planning two Narnia movies for Netflix

The Daniel Kaluuya-produced movie featuring Barney the Dinosaur will be an “adult”, “surrealistic” and “A24-type” film inspired by Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze, it has been revealed.

In a wide-ranging report on the film-making plans of toymaker Mattel in the New Yorker, Mattel Films executive Kevin McKeon said of the project: “We’re leaning into the millennial angst of the property rather than fine-tuning this for kids. It’s really a play for adults. Not that it’s R-rated, but it’ll focus on some of the trials and tribulations of being thirtysomething, growing up with Barney – just the level of disenchantment within the generation.”

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Millions under US heat warnings as record temperatures to continue | First Thing

Further extreme conditions expected during 4 July holiday, as thunderstorms and intense heat continue across the country

Good morning.

Millions across the US have been caught up in dangerous weather conditions over the weekend and are braced for further extreme conditions ahead of today’s 4 July holiday, as thunderstorms and intense heat continue to affect much of the country.

What else is happening? Many midwest cities are also dealing with the aftermath of severe rain and flooding. Weekend thunderstorms in Chicago flooded streets and highways as nearly nine inches of rain fell in some areas of the city in just a few hours, affecting trains as well as motorists. Many in the midwest are without power after the weekend storms.

What’s happening in North Carolina? PFAS pollution from a Chemours plant in North Carolina has widely contaminated the soil, water and air for hundreds of square miles around the company’s Fayetteville Works plant, and residents have said their exposure to the chemicals is behind elevated cancer levels and other serious health problems. Residents have also said they suspect their pets have gotten sick from exposure to the chemicals.

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Emerging details on Titan sub reveal allegedly cavalier attitude toward safety

Experts had flagged safety problems with OceanGate’s vessels much before the doomed journey that killed five people

As additional details emerge about the Titan submersible’s deadly implosion in June, raising still more unknowns, concerns surrounding exploration company OceanGate Expeditions’ allegedly cavalier attitude toward safety have come into sharper relief.

The doomed vessel reportedly dropped weights at some point during its descent; however, it is not known whether this was due to a routine part of descent or in an effort to abandon the doomed mission. All five Titan occupants died in the implosion.

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Houston teen who went missing in 2015 is found alive in city

Rudy Farias was found lying on the ground in front of a church, with his whereabouts for the past eight years still unknown

A Texas man who went missing as a teenager in 2015 after last being seen walking his dogs in Houston has been found alive, his family and police said on Monday.

Police and firefighters found Rudolph “Rudy” Farias IV around 10pm on Thursday after getting a call about a person lying on the ground in front of a church in south-east Houston, a police spokesman, John Cannon, said.

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US investigators zone in on Trump election-plot lawyer John Eastman

Experts say Eastman, faces possible disbarment in California, under increasing scrutiny in federal and state inquiries

John Eastman, who was in the vanguard of lawyers plotting schemes involving “fake electors” and other ploys to help Donald Trump thwart Joe Biden’s win in 2020, is now under close scrutiny in federal and state investigations of Trump’s drives to stay in power, and faces possible disbarment in California, say former prosecutors.

The former California law professor is one of several lawyers whose legal stratagems have been heavily examined by Special Counsel Jack Smith’s accelerating investigation into Trump and his allies’ efforts to block Biden from taking office.

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Fourth of July is a US celebration. Why is it the riskiest day for mass shootings?

Homicides spike in the summer, and large gatherings with a lot of people – and alcohol thrown in – can see gun violence

Gun violence is a daily reality across the US, but an emerging body of research indicates the most risky day for mass shootings in the nation is the Fourth of July, when Americans celebrate their independence from Britain.

Using data from the Gun Violence Archive, James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University, found that there have been 52 mass shootings on the Fourth of July over the past decade, averaging just over five a year, and more than on any other given day.

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Man accused of attacking Capitol officer as January 6 arrests pile up

Jeremy Rodgers, 28, arrested in Florida a day after armed man wanted over riot detained near Barack Obama’s Washington home

Americans continue to be arrested on suspicion of taking part in the Capitol attack, two and half years after the January 6 insurrection by supporters of Donald Trump.

Court documents on Monday showed that a Michigan man accused of attacking a police officer with a flagpole during the insurrection was arrested in Florida last Friday, a day after an armed man also wanted for the rioting was arrested near Barack Obama’s Washington home. Another man suspected of violence at the Capitol was arrested in Maryland last month.

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High levels of toxic chemicals in pets living near US manufacturing plant

Researchers alarmed by results of study of dogs and horses living close to Chemours factory in North Carolina

Pets living near a PFAS manufacturing plant in Fayetteville, North Carolina have concerning levels of the toxic chemicals in their blood, and show evidence of health effects linked to exposure, new research finds.

PFAS were present in all 32 dog and 31 horse blood samples checked, and the findings provide evidence that human and animal exposures to the chemicals impacts their bodies, said Scott Belcher, a North Carolina State University researcher and co-author.

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China accuses UK of protecting ‘fugitives’ after bounty put on Hong Kong democracy activists

Chinese embassy in London tells UK to ‘stop interfering’ in China’s affairs, as Hong Kong leader says overseas activists will be ‘pursued for life’

China has accused the UK of protecting fugitives after the British foreign secretary criticised Hong Kong’s decision to offer HK$1m bounties for the arrest of eight democracy activists based overseas, as the territory’s leader said the group would be “pursued for life”.

In a statement late on Monday, China’s embassy in London said: “British politicians have openly offered protection for fugitives. This is crude interference in Hong Kong’s rule of law and China’s internal affairs.”

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US ambassador to Russia says jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in ‘good health’

Ambassador Lynne Tracey was allowed to meet the journalist in a Moscow jail in her second such visit since his arrest in March

Russia has granted the US consular access to jailed Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich after a more than two-month gap, with the US ambassador reporting him in good health.

The state department said ambassador Lynne Tracey met Gershkovich at the Lefortovo prison in Moscow on Monday, only her second such meeting with him since he was arrested on 29 March during a reporting trip in the Urals.

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Millions swelter under extreme heat as climate crisis tightens grip on US – live

Heat dome of high pressure hovers over Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma as thousands remain without power in Chicago with heavy rains knocking down trees and power lines

The heating of the earth’s atmosphere and oceans by the burning of fossil fuels made the current extreme heatwave across the us at least five times more likely, according to a recent analysis by Climate Central, a climate science non-profit.

The rolling heatwave marks the latest in a series of recent extreme “heat dome” events that have scorched various parts of the world.

If you have this sort of high-pressure system sitting stationary over a region, you can have these really impressive heatwaves.

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California man hid mother’s death for more than 30 years to collect benefits

Donald Felix Zampach collected over $830,000 in his mother’s social security and military retirement payments

A California man has pleaded guilty to hiding his mother’s death for more than three decades while he collected her social security and military retirement payments, a scheme the US attorney said is believed to be the longest-running and largest fraud of its kind in the district.

Donald Felix Zampach of Poway, about 20 miles north of San Diego, collected over $830,000 of public funds and nearly $30,000 in fraudulently opened credit cards over the course of three decades, US attorney Randy Grossman said last week.

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Trump said president under indictment would create ‘constitutional crisis’

Former president made comments in 2016 days before election he won, and predicted Hillary Clinton would face criminal trial

The election of a president under indictment and facing criminal trial would “create an unprecedented constitutional crisis” and “cripple the operations of government”, Donald Trump said.

But the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, who faces 71 criminal counts in state and federal cases and is expected to face more, was not speaking about himself – or speaking this year.

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Meta’s new parental tools will not protect vulnerable children, experts say

Tech firm gives parents greater control over their children’s online activities, but not all kids have consistent supervision

Social media giant Meta this week introduced new parental supervision tools, but child protection and anti-sex trafficking organizations say the new measures offer little protection to the children most vulnerable to exploitation, and divert the responsibility from the company to keep its users safe.

On Tuesday, Meta launched new features aimed at increasing parents’ awareness of their children’s activities on its platforms. For Messenger, its private message service, parents can now view and receive updates on their child’s contacts list and monitor who views any stories their child posts. On Instagram, the company has introduced a new notice to alert parents if their child has blocked somebody.

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Robert De Niro’s grandson Leandro De Niro Rodriguez dies aged 19

Actor’s eldest daughter, Drena, makes announcement on Instagram but family has not released details about cause of death

Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, the grandson of actor Robert De Niro, has died at the age of 19, family members announced on Monday.

De Niro’s eldest daughter, Drena, posted on Instagram to say her son had died. She said the family had lost a “sweet angel”.

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US passport application delays ground summer travelers

Applicants are facing the brunt of pandemic-related staffing issues and the agency flooded with a record 500,000 applications a week

Seeking a valid US passport for that 2023 trip? Buckle up, wishful traveler, for a very different journey before you venture to the airport.

A much-feared backup of US passport applications has hit a wall of government bureaucracy as worldwide post-pandemic travel rebounds – with too few humans to handle the load.

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