First Thing: Donald Trump indicted in Georgia over plan to overturn 2020 election

Former president is accused of planning a criminal enterprise in his attempt to reverse his defeat

Good morning.

Georgia prosecutors have indicted Donald Trump and some of his closest allies on state racketeering and conspiracy charges over efforts to reverse his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.

The sprawling 41-count indictment charges Trump himself with 13 counts and accuses him of orchestrating a criminal enterprise. This indictment marks the former president’s fourth criminal case as he campaigns to recapture the presidency.

What is this case about? Some details into Trump and his allies’ aggressive push to invalidate the election results in Georgia.

Prosecutors charged 18 people in addition to Trump, including lawyers Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, and Mark Meadows, Trump’s former White House chief of staff.

Who is the Georgia district attorney preparing to face off with Trump? The office of Fani Willis, the first Black woman to serve as district attorney in Fulton county, spent more than two years investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results.

“The events that have unfolded today have been shocking and absurd, starting with the leak of a presumed and premature indictment before the witnesses had testified or the grand jurors had deliberated and ending with the district attorney being unable to offer any explanation,” Trump’s legal team said in a statement after the indictment was issued.

Death toll in Hawaii wildfires rises to at least 99

Nearly a week after a ferocious wildfire raged through parts of Maui, the death toll has reached 99, making it the US’s deadliest wildfire in the past 100 years.

With hundreds still missing, Hawaii’s governor has warned that many more people could be found dead.

Residents and historians are still processing the full scope of destruction in historic Lahaina, an 18th-century coastal town that once served as the capital of the Hawaiian kingdom and was designated a national historic landmark in 1962.

In other news …

Videos of robotaxi malfunctions have begun spreading on social media shortly after the California Public Utilities Commission approved an expansion that allows vehicles on the streets at all hours of the day.

Vice has repeatedly blocked news stories that could offend the Saudi government after signing a lucrative partnership deal with the MBC Group, a media company controlled by the Saudi government.

Daily usage of Threads, Meta’s answer to Twitter, has continued to plummet despite a strong start in its first week.

An eruption of Mount Etna in Sicily led to flight cancellations in Catania, bringing fresh travel troubles to the crisis-hit Italian airport.

The director of child-trafficking film Sound of Freedom is distancing himself from QAnon conspiracy believers who see the film as a champion of their cause, saying comments made by the film’s star Jim Caviezel “hurt my work”.

Don’t miss this: Sri Lanka’s malnourished children

In Sri Lanka, 42.9% of under fives have some form of undernutrition. The Medical Research Institute found in March that 19.8% of children between six and 59 months suffer from wasting, the most acute form of malnutrition that occurs when children don’t have enough quality food or have prolonged illnesses.

“It’s a very alarming situation,” says Abner Daniel, a nutrition expert at Unicef Sri Lanka. “We are seeing an overall worsening of all nutrition levels. The nine months of pregnancy and the first two years after birth are the most critical window. It impacts children, even much later in life.”

Climate check: criticism of Biden’s landmark climate legislation

The head of the US’s leading autoworkers union, which has pointedly withheld its endorsement of the president for next year’s election, is calling Joe Biden’s landmark climate legislation “disappointing” in its failure to deliver protections to car industry workers confronted by the transition to electric vehicles.

Last Thing: how the Taliban’s fear of art is killing Afghan culture

Since seizing power in Afghanistan, the Taliban have imposed a rigid interpretation of Islam, restricting and even criminalising music and arts, some of the most integral aspects of Afghan culture.

“I knew from past experience what they would do with people like us [musicians], and our instruments. They have a dislike for our art and culture,” said Farhan, a 49-year-old singer from the north of Afghanistan.

“I knew they would not spare me, so I had to say farewell to my instruments and leave the country,” he said. “I buried my instruments in the fields.”

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