Good morning.
Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money case in New York inched towards its conclusion on Wednesday as jury deliberations started just before 11.30am.
Trump railed against the proceedings and compared himself to a saint on Wednesday, saying “Mother Teresa could not beat these charges” and accusing the court of being “rigged”.
Meanwhile, jurors deliberated for about four and a half hours before stopping for the day. They will continue today. “You are the judges of the facts,” the judge told them.
Trump also faces three other criminal cases: one for trying to influence the 2020 election in Georgia, another for his conduct around the January 6 Capitol attack, and a third involving his treatment of sensitive documents after he left the White House.
Which Trump case is this one again? Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records over an alleged hush-money scheme involving the adult film star Stormy Daniels. He denies all allegations.
Could he face jail time? Yes in theory, but it is unlikely, experts say. He is a first-time offender, and the crime he is charged with is a non-violent “paper” crime.
IDF in effective control of entire Gaza land border after taking Philadelphi corridor
Israel is in effective control of Gaza’s entire land border after taking control of a buffer zone along the border with Egypt, Israel’s military has said.
The chief military spokesperson, Daniel Hagari, said Israeli forces had gained “operational” control over the Philadelphi corridor.
In other news, the fallout of the Israeli airstrike that hit tents for displaced Palestinians is laid bare in this Guardian report. “I saw bodies everywhere. Children burning. I saw heads without bodies, the injured running around in pain, some alive but trapped inside burning tents,” one person says.
Meanwhile, the US state department said it opposed “threats or intimidation” against members of the international criminal court after the Guardian’s reporting on Israel’s secret “war” of surveillance, hacking and threats.
How does the advance complicate Israel’s relations with Egypt? Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera News reported a “high-level Egyptian source” as saying that Israel was using claims of “tunnels” under Egypt’s border with Gaza as cover for its Rafah offensive.
Atlanta police surveil people opposing ‘Cop City’: ‘There’s this constant stalking feeling’
Atlanta police have been carrying out around-the-clock surveillance in several neighborhoods for months, on people and houses linked to opposition against the police training center colloquially known as “Cop City”.
The surveillance in Georgia has included following people in cars, blasting sirens outside bedroom windows and shining headlights into houses at night, the Guardian has learned.
While no arrests have been made, residents said they are at a loss as to what legal protections of privacy and freedom from harassment are available to them.
What is ‘Cop City’ and who opposes it? The Atlanta Public Safety Training Center is being built on a 171-acre footprint in a forest south-east of Atlanta. Opposition has come from a wide range of local and national supporters and is centered on concerns such as unchecked police militarization and clearing forests in an era of climate crisis.
How are experts interpreting the surveillance? Social movement historian Dan Berger said that low-tech snooping and related behavior – “naked intimidation with plausible deniability attached” – had precedence dating from at least the civil rights era.
In other news …
A real estate tycoon from Ohio wants to visit the Titanic wreckage to prove the personal submersible industry is safe. It comes less than a year after a similar trip killed five people.
A volcanic eruption has begun on the Reykjanes peninsula in Iceland, according to the country’s meteorological office. Beforehand, authorities evacuated the nearby town of Grindavík.
Researchers in Catalonia have identified 522 members of the International Brigades who died or disappeared during the Spanish civil war. It raises hopes their remains could be found and buried with dignity.
The singer Dua Lipa has condemned the military operations in Gaza. “The whole world is mobilising to stop the Israeli genocide,” she wrote on Instagram.
Security services around Europe are on alert to a potential new weapon of Russia’s war – arson and sabotage – after a spate of mystery fires in the Baltics, Germany and the UK.
Stat of the day: Nearly 5,000 Russian under-24s have died in Ukraine war
Thousands of young Russians, often referred to as “generation P” for having lived only under Putin’s presidency, have died fighting in Ukraine. Mediazona, a Russian outlet that tracks war casualties using open sources, has identified nearly 5,000 soldiers under 24 who have died, including 1,400 under-20s. The real toll is likely to be much higher.
Don’t miss this: The radical rebirth of artist Tracey Emin
In the last four years, the British artist Tracey Emin has survived cancer, opened her own art school – and produced stunning work. She discusses sobriety, suffering and second chances with Simon Hattenstone.
Climate check: Delhi breaks 50C for first time
The India Meteorological Department recorded a temperature of 122.9F in Delhi on Wednesday, reporting “severe heatwave conditions” as the 50C measurement was broken for the first time in the city. Years of scientific research have found the climate crisis is causing heatwaves to become longer, more frequent and more intense.
Last Thing: ‘My first burlesque class’
The comedian Jennifer Wong overcomes her apprehension of “whorish vagina dancing” and goes burlesque dancing for her fortnightly review of fitness and wellbeing activities. “I want you to thrust with the force that you could kill a man with your pelvis,” the instructor tells her. “Bump like you mean it.”
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