First Thing: Bipartisan bill clears way for bolstering US gun laws

Good morning.

The US Senate has handed a bipartisan gun violence invoice by 65 votes to 33 after the mass shootings in Texas and New York, in a improvement that might have been inconceivable only a month in the past.

The invoice, which was backed by 15 Republicans together with the minority chief, Mitch McConnell, follows years of the GOP thwarting makes an attempt at gun reform. It goals to make it more durable for harmful individuals to acquire weapons, although it falls wanting Democrats’ calls to ban probably the most harmful weapons.

However tempering this measure of progress, the invoice got here because the right-leaning supreme courtroom issued a ruling increasing the best of Individuals to hold arms in public. The justices invalidated a New York legislation that has required people to show a necessity for carrying a weapon earlier than they get a licene to take action.

The Senate’s laws – which, considerably, is available in an election yr – doesn't embody bans on the assault-type weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines used within the latest massacres. Whereas Democrats have lengthy sought to outlaw these weapons, the laws is a compromise, permitting all sides to attraction to its core base.

“This isn't a cure-all for all of the methods gun violence impacts our nation,” stated the bulk chief, Chuck Schumer. “However it's a lengthy overdue step in the best course.”

What would the $13bn package deal do?

  • Toughen background checks for the youngest gun patrons.

  • Forestall extra home violence offenders from accessing firearms.

  • Assist states put in place red-flag legal guidelines that make it simpler for authorities to take weapons from individuals deemed harmful.

  • Fund native packages for varsity security, psychological well being and violence prevention.

Barr feared Trump may not have left workplace if DoJ had not debunked fraud claims

William Barr (top centre) giving testimony at a hearing of the House select committee.
William Barr (high centre) giving testimony at a listening to of the Home choose committee. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA

Donald Trump could not have left workplace had the Division of Justice not instantly investigated and disproved his lies about electoral fraud in his defeat by Joe Biden, the ex-president’s lawyer normal William Barr has stated.

The stunning assertion, performed by the January 6 committee on Thursday, got here as a part of a listening to that targeted on Trump’s efforts to place stress on senior justice officers to facilitate his try and overturn the election consequence. “I'm not positive we'd’ve had a transition in any respect,” stated Barr, who resigned in December 2021 after publicly rejecting Trump’s false claims about fraud.

The Home choose committee additionally revealed that the Republicans Matt Gaetz and Mo Brooks sought presidential pardons for different members of Congress concerned in aiding the tried coup.

  • Who did they search pardons for? For “each congressman and senator who voted to reject the electoral school vote submissions of Arizona and Pennsylvania” – a complete of 147 Republicans.

Ukrainian forces must go away Sievierodonetsk, says governor

Serhiy Gaidai said troops in the city had already received the order to move to new positions
Serhiy Gaidai stated troops within the metropolis had already obtained the order to maneuver to new positions. Photograph: Reuters

Ukraine must pull out its troops from the largely Russian-occupied metropolis of Sievierodonetsk, the regional governor has stated, after a month of brutal combating within the battleground japanese metropolis.

“Remaining in positions smashed to items over many months only for the sake of staying there doesn't make sense,” Serhiy Haidai stated on tv. He didn't say the place the troopers would go.

If Sievierodonetsk falls to Russia, Lysychansk would be the solely metropolis within the Luhansk area left in Ukrainian management. Underlining Sievierodonetsk’s strategic significance, Volodymyr Zelenskiy lately stated: “In lots of respects the destiny of the Donbas is being determined there.”

In different information …

The Croix-des-Bouquets prison in Port-au-Prince.
The Croix-des-Bouquets jail in Port-au-Prince. Photograph: Dieu Nalio Chery/AP

  • Dozens inmates died of malnutrition in Haiti’s overcrowded prisons between January and April, in accordance with a UN report. An extra eight have been reported this week to have starved to loss of life at a jail that ran out of meals two months in the past.

  • The UK’s Conservative celebration has suffered two bruising byelection defeats, with one seat going to Labour and one other to the Liberal Democrats. The outcomes – a blow to Boris Johnson’s authority – led a celebration co-chair to resign.

  • Scores of protesters have gathered exterior the workplaces of Brazil’s Indigenous safety company Funai in Atalaia do Nortedemanding justice for the murders of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira. There are fears that the investigation is slowing.

  • Netflix has reduce 300 jobs in a second spherical of layoffs after shedding subscribers for the primary time in greater than a decade. The job losses are on high of 150 jobs reduce final month.

Stat of the day: 135 out of 148 nations within the international south are classed as ‘critically indebted’

Signs for oil and gas companies stand by a road in Añelo, Neuquen province, Argentina
Indicators for oil and gasoline corporations stand by a street in Añelo, Neuquen province, Argentina. Photograph: Emiliano Lasalvia/AFP/Getty Photos

Exterior debt in nations within the international south has been rising within the final three many years: between 1990 and 2019 it rose on common from roughly 90% of their GDP to 170%. The pandemic has exacerbated this development: 135 out of 148 poorer nations at the moment are categorized as “critically indebted”.

Don’t miss this: Herbie Hancock: ‘Miles Davis informed me: I don’t pay you to get applause’

Herbie Hancock performs at the Bonnaroo music and arts festival on 19 June in Manchester, Tennessee.
Herbie Hancock performs on the Bonnaroo music and humanities pageant on 19 June in Manchester, Tennessee. Photograph: Amy Harris/Invision/AP

At 82, the jazz legend Herbie Hancock can be one of many oldest musicians to carry out on Glastonbury pageant’s Pyramid stage. Hancock tells the Guardian about musical experimentation, the way forward for jazz, and dealing with Miles Davis, who, encouraging his band to improvise on stage, as soon as informed him: “I don’t pay you to simply play to get applause.”

Local weather verify: extreme warmth provides to Arizona opioid epidemic’s toll

A homeless encampment in Phoenix.
A homeless encampment in Phoenix. Photograph: Caitlin O’Hara/Guardian

Opioid deaths in Arizona have been up 80% final yr in contrast with 2018, and hovering temperatures are making situations much more harmful. Practically two-thirds of Arizona’s drug fatalities happen in Maricopa county, the place excessive warmth is enjoying an enormous position, with the homeless inhabitants notably in danger.

Final Factor: Doop Snogg – how a faux Snoop Dogg fooled an NFT convention

Left: Doop Snogg, center with white hat, a Snoop Dogg impersonator in Times Square. Right: The real Snoop Dogg wearing an NFT shirt.
Left: Doop Snogg, heart with white hat, a Snoop Dogg impersonator in Instances Sq.. Proper: The actual Snoop Dogg carrying an NFT shirt. Composite: Truthful.xyz, ImageSpace/Rex/Shutterstock

He was strolling round with a name-tag studying “Doop Snogg”, a element that the crypto followers who rushed as much as the impersonator for a selfie failed to note. In a surreal, extraordinarily 2022 story, a crypto startup employed a doppelganger of the rapper to seize consideration at an NFT convention in New York (and finally succeeded).

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