First Thing: Kamala Harris wins enough delegate support to become Democratic nominee

Nancy Pelosi threw her weight behind Harris as she scooped up hundreds of delegates from California. Plus, the family that was shipwrecked for 38 days – and ‘pledged not to eat each other’

Good morning.

Kamala Harris has earned enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination for president, including hundreds from her native California, as senior Democrats rallied behind her in their fight to defeat Donald Trump.

Harris said she was looking forward to “formally accepting the [presidential] nomination” of the Democratic party. Nancy Pelosi, who had initially backed holding a primary to bolster the eventual nominee, said she was offering her “enthusiastic support” to Harris’s campaign.

Harris on Tuesday traveled to the key state of Wisconsin for her first major campaign event since announcing her candidacy. In a speech to campaign staff in Wilmington, Delaware, on Monday, she gave some insight into how she aims to oppose Trump, speaking about her history of pursuing “predators” and “fraudsters” as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general.

How many delegates does she have? According to an Associated Press tally – an unofficial survey, as delegates could still change their minds – Harris had 2,668 delegates, far more than the majority of 1,976 needed to win the nomination on the first ballot.

Body-cam video shows Illinois officer fatally shooting Black woman in face

A white police officer in Illinois fatally shot a Black woman in the face after she called police in fear of a home invasion, a shocking video released by authorities shows.

Deputy Sean Grayson of the Sangamon county sheriff’s office killed Sonya Massey, 36, in the early hours of 6 July in her home in Springfield, Illinois. Massey, whom her daughter confirmed was paranoid schizophrenic, called the police because she thought someone was attempting to enter her home. Grayson shot Massey in the face three times after he asked her to remove a pot of boiling water, and she said she would “rebuke” him.

Grayson has been arrested and charged with three counts of first-degree murder and is being held without bond until his trial starts.

How often do police officers get charged with murder? Very rarely – and it has not occurred in such a high-profile case since George Floyd’s killing in 2020.

Scores killed in Israeli attacks, medics say, after IDF orders evacuation of Gaza humanitarian zone

Israel’s military has killed at least 70 people in another attack on the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, according to medics, after ordering the evacuation of several neighborhoods including areas that had been previously designated part of a humanitarian zone.

Palestinian civil defence estimated the order to leave the area affected about 400,000 people sheltering in the city. The Israel Defense Forces claimed Hamas militants were using Khan Younis and part of Al-Mawasi, an area lacking infrastructure where Palestinians have been seeking shelter, to launch rockets at Israel.

Palestinians have been repeatedly displaced, and the Associated Press spoke to a woman who collapsed after saying it was her seventh or eighth time. “Every day we are displaced,” Kholoud al-Dadas said, clutching her children. “Where are the countries? Where is the world, where are the presidents, where are they? Come and see how we are, our children, and what is happening to us.”

What did the IDF say? That it was adapting the boundaries of the designated humanitarian zone in Al-Mawasi to keep civilians away from combat areas.

What about Gaza health officials? That there were likely to be more casualties buried under rubble or by the roadside, as ambulances were unable to reach them.

In other news …

Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has called on Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, to observe the result of next Sunday’s election after the leader warned of a “bloodbath” if he loses.

A drug labeled the “the closest we have ever been to an HIV vaccine” could cost just $40 per patient annually, as its manufacturer is being urged to slash the price.

There have been numerous intense wildfires in the northern hemisphere during the first half of summer, research shows, with blazes in Canada, Alaska and eastern Russia resulting in increased emissions.

Stat of the day: toxic PFAS make up more than 30% of all ingredients in US pesticides approved during the last decade

Toxic PFAS have increasingly been used in US pesticides in the last decade, according to research, despite claims by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that the “forever chemicals” are not included. PFAS are linked to serious health problems, including cancer and birth defects.

Don’t miss this: ‘We pledged not to eat each other’: the family that was shipwrecked for 38 days

While traveling the world in a wooden schooner in 1972, the Robertson family’s boat was attacked by orcas. Floating on a tiny raft for weeks, the family promised not to eat each other – and managed to survive by drinking turtle blood and killing sharks. Douglas Robertson tells the extraordinary story of their survival.

Climate check: is there a future for climate activism in the UK?

Last week, five activists with the climate group Just Stop Oil were handed long jail terms by a judge who told them they had “crossed the line from concerned campaigner to fanatic” after conspiring to cause gridlock on a highway. The columnist and campaigner George Monbiot talks about what harsh sentencing could mean for the future of climate activism in this podcast episode.

Last Thing: if Hello Kitty isn’t a cat, then what is she?

You may well think Hello Kitty, who turns 50 this year, is a cat. But you would be mistaken, it turns out. “She’s actually a little girl, born and raised in the suburbs of London,” according to a director at Sanrio, the entertainment company behind the character. Something to give you paws for thought this morning.

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