Vigils honor Orlando victims
Vigils calling for love and resilience were held in Orlando and around the country on Monday for the victims of the Pulse nightclub attack as the terrible toll of the massacre became clear. A picture also began to emerge of Omar Mateen, the 29-year-old gunman whose actions and motivations are now the focus of intense law enforcement investigation and a political debate on how the mix of guns, terrorism and LGBT rights involved raises the stakes for the next president. Early examination of Mateen’s life reveals a hatred of gay people, yet there are also reports he regularly visited gay clubs, where he would sometimes become belligerent, and reports he used a gay dating app. In a detailed interview with the Guardian, Mateen’s father speaks out about his son’s “horrible act”.
Barack Obama, who will travel to Orlando on Thursday, confirmed Mateen was “self-radicalized”. According to his ex-wife, he was violently abusive at home, while the FBI said he professed kinship to the conflicting ideologies of al-Qaida, Hezbollah and the Boston Marathon bombers. Yet despite being investigated by the FBI in 2013 and 2014, Mateen was free to make gun purchases.
The killings have reopened the debate over assault weapons. In contrasting speeches on the campaign trail, Hillary Clinton called for stricter gun controls and on tech companies to be more vigilant about online hate and more cooperative with government investigators, while Donald Trump expanded his call for a ban on Muslims entering the US.
Trump also banned the Washington Post from officially covering his campaign after the paper posted the headline: “Donald Trump suggests President Obama was involved with Orlando shooting”.
Orlando shooter Omar Mateen ‘was a regular at Pulse nightclub’
Paris police officer and wife killed in terrorist act
A convicted terrorist claiming allegiance to Islamic State stabbed a French police commander to death in front of his house outside Paris on Monday night, then killed his partner, who also worked for the police. The French president, François Hollande, called this “incontestably a terrorist act” and said France was facing a terror threat “of a very large scale”.
French police officer and wife murdered in ‘odious terrorist attack’
Records reveal logic of Stanford judge
Aaron Persky, the judge who sentenced Brock Turner, the former Stanford swimmer convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman, has revealed an aspect of the thinking behind his lenient sentencing in the case. In court transcripts, Persky drew attention to a letter from a classmate of Turner’s. “If I had to choose one kid I graduated with to be in the position Brock is, it would never have been him,” the classmate wrote.
Stanford sexual assault: records show judge’s logic behind light sentence
Rodent lost to climate change
The world has lost the Bramble Cay melomys, a small rodent that was the only mammal endemic to the Great Barrier Reef. It is the first mammal species wiped out by human-induced climate change, say scientists. Meanwhile, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are forecast to shatter the 400 parts per million milestone next year, 20 years ahead of earlier predictions.
Revealed: first mammal species wiped out by human-induced climate change
Pistorius sentencing continues
In the second day of hearings, a court in Pretoria was told of Oscar Pistorius’s “tantrums” in prison over his medication. The court earlier heard from the father of Reeva Steenkamp, the girlfriend Pistorius killed. Barry Steenkamp said the former paralympian had to pay for her murder. State prosecutors are demanding the minimum 15-year prison sentence for Pistorius, after his original manslaughter conviction was changed to murder.
Live coverage: ‘Oscar Pistorius has to pay for what he did,’ Barry Steenkamp tells hearing
Goldman Sachs in prostitution claims
A court in London has heard how Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs allegedly hired prostitutes, along with private jets, to win Libyan business under the Gaddafi regime. The allegations are part of a $1.2bn legal claim against Goldman brought by the Libyan Investment Authority.
Goldman Sachs hired prostitutes to win Libyan business, court told
Stayin’ alive: NBA Finals edition
The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Golden State Warriors 112-97 in Game 5 in Oakland. Dave Schilling called it a substandard performance by the Warriors. “We’re just happy we got another day. That’s all we can ask for,” LeBron James said. “We got another day to survive. We’re going to start preparing tonight, start preparing tomorrow and whenever Game 6 is, we’ll be ready.”
James and Irving sizzle as Cavaliers beat Warriors to keep NBA finals alive
A Chinese Bordeaux?
Tom Phillips visits the Ningxia region, more than 600 miles west of Beijing, where international winemakers are investing in vineyards in the hope that the desert region can be turned into vineyards. “This,” says Emma Gao, proprietor of Silver Heights, an award-winning boutique winery, “is la Route des Chateaux.”
China’s Bordeaux: winemakers in ‘gold rush’ to turn desert into vineyards
And in case you missed it …
The Smithsonian has abandoned a plan for a London outpost and will instead stage joint exhibitions on the site of the 2012 Olympics. The US institution, which had been courted by the former London mayor Boris Johnson to be a major presence in an “Olympicopolis” project, will instead partner with two other UK museums, including the Victoria & Albert, to display items from its vast collection of 138m objects.
