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Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.
Most mail orders for abortion pills came from states with bans
As access to safe abortions from local medical services becomes increasingly limited in states across the US, women have been turning to the online alternative. Data shared with the Guardian shows that 21,000 women requested mail order abortion medication from the charity Aid Access in the six months from October 2018 to March 2019. Approximately three-quarters of those requests came from states with hostile abortion policies.
Louisiana bill. The Louisiana senate on Tuesday approved a constitutional amendment declaring citizens have no constitutional right to abortions, even as abortion rights activists held rallies nationwide in protest at such new state restrictions.
Climate crisis. Global heating has overtaken abortion in a ranking of the most divisive issues in US public life, with conservative Republicans placing the climate last out of 29 issues in a poll by Yale University.
US investigates alleged Assad chemical attack in Syria
The US state department has said Syrian government forces may have used chlorine gas in an attack on Sunday during its assault on the Idlib area, the country’s last major rebel stronghold. In a statement, a state department spokeswoman warned: “If the Assad regime uses chemical weapons, the United States and our allies will respond quickly and appropriately.” The Trump administration has already bombed Syria twice in response to the regime’s use of chemical weapons, in April 2017 and April 2018.
Iran ‘threat’. The acting defence secretary, Patrick Shanahan, says the US’s show of force in the Middle East – including its deployment of an aircraft carrier group to the Persian Gulf – has succeeded in diminishing the threat of attacks by Iran.
McGahn defies subpoena as Trump wages war on Congress
The House judiciary committee left a seat empty for Don McGahn at a brief hearing on Tuesday, after the former White House counsel defied a subpoena to answer questions arising from the Mueller report. McGahn had been directed not to appear by the White House, with Donald Trump setting up a battle royal with Democrats by defying any and all attempts at congressional oversight by the House of Representatives, all but daring them to initiate impeachment proceedings.
Impeachment calls. Calls to impeach Trump are now technically bipartisan, after Justin Amash, the Michigan GOP congressman, joined some Democrats in embracing the idea. But polls suggest the public is broadly against it.
Toxic America: are we being poisoned by modern life?
From pesticides in produce to carcinogens in couches, Americans are exposed daily to thousands of potentially harmful chemicals. That’s why the Guardian is launching Toxic America, a reader-funded project to investigate the health risks posed by modern life. Today, Oliver Milman asks why the US allows cosmetics that contain 1,300 chemicals banned in Europe, while Emily Holden is tested for more than 1,500 chemicals to find out whether her products are poisoning her. Find out how to contribute to the series here.
Chemical lobby. Internal documents and emails examined by the Guardian show how the chemical lobby fights regulation from the EPA by casting doubt on the science behind environmental rules.
Crib sheet
Six people have been killed during violence in Indonesia after rioters clashed with security forces following the presidential election defeat of former special forces commander Prabowo Subianto, who has refused to accept the result.
British MPs from across the political spectrum have rejected Theresa May’s 10-point “new deal” for Brexit, seen as the prime minister’s final attempt to forge a consensus on the country’s withdrawal from the EU.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said she would be “hard-pressed” to see herself endorsing the frontrunner, Joe Biden, in the Democratic presidential primary. The congresswoman was an organiser for Biden’s rival, Bernie Sanders, in 2016.
Washington has become the first state to legalise human composting as an eco-friendly alternative to cremation or burial. “Natural organic reduction” will turn human bodies into approximately two wheelbarrows’ worth of soil.
Must-reads
Tarantino’s LA redemption song
Quentin Tarantino’s star-filled ninth movie, the hotly anticipated Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood, premiered in Cannes on Tuesday. Peter Bradshaw praises a “shocking, gripping, dazzlingly shot” alternative history of late-1960s Los Angeles.
The no-plane pioneers who gave up flying
The no-fly movement are a small but growing community who have drastically reduced the number of flights they take, or given up air travel altogether. Emine Saner talks to the people prepared to spend weeks on a train to reduce their carbon footprint.
Seeking justice for Claudia Patricia Gómez González
Claudia Patricia Gómez González was shot dead by a US border patrol agent, minutes after crossing the Rio Grande into Texas. A year later, the 20-year-old’s family in Guatemala are still waiting for answers, they tell Nina Lakhani. Who killed her? And why?
How Stockholm became the city of work-life balance
Sweden was ranked top in the world for work-life balance in a recent survey, and its capital’s workers are happy and efficient thanks in large part to lengthy parental leave and flexible hours. Richard Orange asks what other cities can learn from Stockholm.
Opinion
At the start of the second world war, the purpose of journalism was to alert the public to the looming calamity, says TV newsman Bill Moyers. Reporters ought to be taking the same approach to the climate crisis.
So much destructive behavior has been caused by climate disruption that more Americans today than ever seem hungry to know what’s causing it, what’s coming and what can be done about it. We journalists have perhaps our last chance to help people grasp the magnitude of the threat.
Sport
Team USA poster boy Christian Pulisic could be the only new recruit at Chelsea next season, thanks to the club’s Fifa transfer ban. The attacking midfielder tells Dominic Fifield he intends to make an impact regardless: “There’s a champion mentality at this club.”
It’s a high-stakes summer for the US women’s soccer team: first they must defend their World Cup title on the field in France. Then they face the challenge of their gender discrimination lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation over players’ pay. Caitlin Murray asks whether winning the cup could help them win the case.
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