Good morning.
Parties on the populist right made stunning gains in the European parliament elections last night, with voters in France, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands pushing for far-right leaders to represent their interests in the EU. While the centrist pro-European parties appeared to have held the majority, the results are likely to complicate EU lawmaking.
In the wake of his allies’ crushing defeat to Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, announced that he would dissolve parliament and call snap legislative elections.
“This will be the most consequential parliamentary election for France and for the French in the history of the fifth republic,” the finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, told RTL radio. “We have three weeks to campaign and convince the French.”
What do these far-right gains mean? Voters often use European elections as a low-cost way of delivering a kick to their incumbent governments. While the far right’s gains are causing warranted concern, support for the center-right establishment held, and leftwing parties made some surprising gains, too.
Why is Macron calling snap legislative elections? In dissolving parliament, Macron is being accused of gambling with the future of France – but some also view it as an attempt to make the best of his weak position by reclaiming the initiative and forcing the National Rally into election mode faster than it would have liked.
How has France’s far-right party responded? At a National Rally celebration held east of Paris, Macron’s announcement was met with loud cheers and applause. “We’re ready for power if French people put their trust in us,” said Le Pen.
US-made Gaza pier to resume aid shipments after storm damage
Humanitarian assistance has begun to come ashore in Gaza from a US-made pier, two weeks after the short-lived sea corridor was suspended due to storm damage. However, security concerns after one of the bloodiest days of the war meant the aid was not distributed.
On Saturday, an Israeli military operation freed four hostages but killed 274 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and left one Israeli commando dead. Two World Food Programme warehouses in Gaza had also been hit with rockets, and a staffer injured, it said.
In other news …
At a rally in Las Vegas, Donald Trump vowed to end taxation of tips, revealing one more point to his vague tax plan that has so far included pledges of tax relief to middle-income workers and small businesses.
An appellate court has ruled that Texas cannot ban books from libraries simply because they mention the words “butt and fart” or other content that some state officials may dislike.
A large chunk of a twisting mountain pass road collapsed in a landslide in Wyoming at the weekend, severing a well-traveled commuter link between small towns in eastern Idaho and the tourist destination of Jackson.
Stat of the day: 13% of the US landmass is now deemed protected
The administration of Joe Biden has a goal to conserve 30% of US land and water by 2030. Since he took office in 2020, about 41m acres, an area slightly larger than Florida, has been deemed protected – a 1% increase. While the White House insists that the US is on track to meet its goal, the potential return of Donald Trump looms ominously over hopes to preserve further land and seascapes.
Don’t miss this: The angst at the heart of the US election
The Guardian is launching a new series, American Psyche, looking at the angst that US voters are facing before the presidential election. In its first piece, Sam Levine explores the saga of Crystal Mason, a Texas woman who was convicted of voter fraud after the 2016 election when she cast a ballot without realizing she was ineligible to vote. As Donald Trump claimed massive voter fraud in the 2016 election, Mason’s case was seen as part of a broader Republican effort to intimidate people from voting.
… or this: How even the Taliban couldn’t stop her from falling in love with football
The influence and ideology of the Taliban continued to run deep in Afghanistan even after its leaders were removed from power in 2001. For girls such as Khalida Popal, coming of age during that period meant harassment, violence and learning to never fight back. But that didn’t stop her from discovering football, and eventually forming the Afghanistan women’s team.
“These girls had spent their lives being taught that women were to exist in the shadows, on the periphery,” Popal writes in her autobiography, excerpted in the Guardian. “Together our voices became louder. We embraced being vocal, brash and playful, and our eyes were opened to new emotional heights we didn’t realise were possible. On the football pitch we were in charge for the first time.”
Climate check: The middle schoolers who are shrinking their school’s carbon footprint
Last year, as temperatures crept past 90F (32C) in Oakland, California, the mini air-conditioning units in the classrooms of Melrose Leadership Academy kept causing the power to go out. The school’s Youth vs Apocalypse chapter took action, putting forth a proposal to use a portion of a $735m school-district bond to invest in a heat pump – clean-energy technology that can both heat and cool using electricity, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. They succeeded. “I learned that no matter our age, we can make a difference through what we do,” said Juliette Sanchez, 13.
Last Thing: LA’s raw-milk, powdered-meat smoothie
Erewhon, a trendy Los Angeles grocer famed for its high prices and $20 smoothies, has launched a new smoothie made with powdered beef organs and unpasteurized milk – the latest in the male-dominated “meatfluencer” craze celebrating the “carnivore diet”. As avian influenza spreads among US dairy cows, scientists are warning against drinking “raw” milk, and, in turn, the Raw Animal Smoothie. “People consuming that are playing Russian roulette with their health,” said one researcher. In the interest of journalism, Lois Beckett took that gamble – for the very reasonable price of $22.80, including tip.
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