Trump faces potential civil rights conspiracy charge

Good morning.

Another indictment for Donald Trump appears to be imminent after federal prosecutors sent a target letter to the former president, detailing three potential charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Prosecutors appear to have evidence to charge Trump with conspiracy to violate civil rights, obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

The target letter was sent by prosecutors from the office of special counsel Jack Smithwho also charged Trump with retaining classified documents last month.
Trump called the letter “HORRIFYING NEWS” in a post on his Truth Social platform. Then on Wednesday night, he hosted a screening of a movie promoted by QAnon followers.
The potential charges come weeks before the Fulton county district attorney is expected to charge Trump and his allies over their efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state of Georgia.

Alabama to resume executions – despite botching three last year

Alabama’s lethal injection chamber at Holman correctional facility in Atmore. Photograph: Dave Martin/AP

Alabama is due to resume executions today, despite botching three last year and after a review of capital punishment practices in the southern state was largely kept from public view.

James Barber, 54, who was convicted of the murder of 75-year-old Dorothy Epps in 2001, is scheduled to die by lethal injection by 6am on Friday.

Maya Foa, a joint executive director of Reprieve, a human rights non-profit, said: “What we have seen time and time again in Alabama, but also across the US, is prisoners repeatedly put through torturous procedures as the state seeks to end their lives. And even for supporters of capital punishment, the idea that people will be tortured should be anathema.”

In other news …

An armed police officer walks in a street between police cars in Auckland — An armed police officer patrols a cordoned downtown area of Auckland, New Zealand, on Thursday. Photograph: Lynn Grieveson/Getty Images

A gunman killed two and injured six in Auckland, New Zealand, hours before the Women’s World Cup was due to open there.
Ethiopians are dying in agony due to a lack of opioids as wealthier western countries battle addiction from a surfeit of unregulated drugs.
The head of MI6 has accused China’s government of being “absolutely complicit” in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
California authorities have been working for days to capture a five-year-old otter that gained notoriety for commandeering surfboards.

Stat of the day: Suicide remains a criminal offense in at least 17 countries

A sign on a bridge barrier says: 'Help me!' — Decriminalising suicide removes barriers to seeking help for mental health problems and rates tend to then decline, research shows. Photograph: Shotshop/Alamy

Mental health advocates are working to decriminalize suicide, which remains a criminal offense in at least 17 countries. For many, these laws are a remnant of British colonial rule. Ghana, Malaysia, Guyana and Pakistan have all decriminalized it in the past year.

“Obviously decriminalisation is not the only way to prevent suicide, but it’s a big one,” said Anita Abu Bakar, the founder and president of the Mental Illness Awareness and Support Association (Miasa).

Don’t miss this: The woman who photographed everything she owns

A montage of photos of material objects — Barbara Iweins: objects from Pieter’s room. Photograph: Barbara Iweins

Barbara Iweins spent six years photographing every item she owns. On taking on this project exploring consumerism – photographing a total of 12,795 items – Iweins came to realize that “only 1% of these objects are important: 99% I could get rid of. Most of the objects I really care for are the things I cannot replace.”

… or this: A funeral for fish and chips

People eat inside and outside the Wee Chippy fish and chip shop — The Wee Chippy, owned by Chris Lewis, a fish and chip shop in Anstruther, Fife, Scotland. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Fish and chip shops across the UK are starting to disappear as the cost of trade has risen and willing staff become scarcer. “This is the end,” one owner said, “isn’t it?”

Climate check: Extreme weather

A firefighter runs while spraying a hose at fire and smoke among trees and scrubland — A firefighter runs away from blazes as he tries to control a wildfire near Athens, Greece. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

With much of the northern hemisphere enduring a blistering heatwave, the Guardian has put together four charts detailing the extent of the climate crisis. With average global temperatures rising, so are monthly sea surface temperatures, which are affecting the daily Antarctic sea ice extent.

“This combination of this background warming from global warming, El Niño and the fact that it’s the hottest time of the year for the globe means that we’re just seeing all these records tumbling, all at once,” says Dr Kim Reid, from Monash University in Australia.

Last Thing: a 90-year-old body builder

Photos of Jim Arrington posing in swimming trunks — Jim Arrington, 90. Photograph: Guinness World Records

At the age of 90, Jim Arrington keeps winning bodybuilding competitions. “I see all these fantastic physiques, and I knew the only way I could make it is if I outlast everybody,” Arrington said. “And that’s exactly what I did.”

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