First Thing: Kamala Harris says US not going back to ‘chaos’ of Trump years

Vice-president makes fiery speech in the battleground state of Wisconsin. Plus, Zosia Mamet on Girls and nepo babies

Good morning.

Kamala Harris said on Tuesday that Americans were not going back to the “chaos” of the Donald Trump years, as she made her campaign trail debut in battleground Wisconsin.

In an fiery speech a day after securing enough Democratic delegates to win the party’s nomination, the vice-president sought to frame the contest against Trump as a choice between his regressive and backward-looking vision and hers as optimistic and forward-looking.

“Do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion and rule of law or a country of chaos, fear and hate?” she said. Harris’s campaign – which she inherited from Joe Biden – was renamed, and raised an astonishing $100m in 36 hours.

Here’s the position of Democratic leaders on Harris’s candidacy: On Tuesday the two most powerful Democrats in Congress, the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, and the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, threw their support behind Harris. They followed former speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Biden in endorsing her.

Here’s what the Trump campaign is doing: Trump’s campaign on Tuesday filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Harris, accusing her 2024 campaign of violating federal campaign finance laws by replacing Biden’s name to take control of his $91m campaign funds.

Doctors in Khan Younis overwhelmed as casualties of new Israeli invasion mount

Doctors in the largest hospital in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis pleaded for supplies from a facility overwhelmed by wounded people, as Israeli airstrikes, artillery fire and fighting on the streets continued for a second day.

“There’s no space for more patients. There’s no space in the operating theatres. There is a lack of medical supplies, so we cannot save our patients,” Mohammed Zaqout, Nasser hospital director, told AFP.

The UN’s office for humanitarian affairs said the hospital was facing “a new mass casualty influx, amid a dire lack of blood units, medical supplies and hospital beds”.

Meanwhile, Jewish pro-Palestine demonstrators occupied the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, calling for an end to arms sales and a ceasefire.

How many have been killed in the Israeli bombardment in recent days? Palestinian health officials said more than 70 people have been killed and more than 200 injured since Israeli forces launched a new ground invasion of Khan Younis, Gaza’s second largest city.

Why is Israel launching the offensive? The mass casualties came after Israel ordered an estimated 400,000 people in Khan Younis to evacuate, citing a need to target militants, but causing aid organizations alarm that civilians are being forced to return to unsafe areas repeatedly hit with airstrikes and artillery.

Sonya Massey killing: family accuse police of attempted cover-up

The family of Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old black woman who was shot in the face and killed by a white sheriff’s deputy in Illinois, have said police initially tried to cover up her killing.

Police audio obtained by the Guardian features someone on scene the night of Massey’s killing – presumably a deputy – saying Massey’s wound was “self-inflicted”. A dispatcher asks to confirm, and the person on scene repeats “self-inflicted”.

At a press conference on Tuesday, the family said police initially told Massey’s loved ones she had either killed herself or was killed by an intruder. “They tried to make me believe that a neighbor had did it,” said Jimmie Crawford Jr, Massey’s former partner and the father of one of her children.

How does the killing fit into a pattern of police violence? Police have killed 722 people in the US so far in 2024, according to the Mapping Police Violence project, with black people 2.9 times more likely to be killed by police than white people.

What have political leaders said about the killing? Massey’s killing has drawn condemnation from Democratic politicians across Illinois and throughout the country, including from Biden and Harris.

In other news …

Nashville, Tennessee has seen a sudden upsurge in neo-Nazi and white supremacist activity, as small groups of extremists have descended on the community carrying swastika flags.

At least 229 people have died in mudslides after heavy rain in south-western Ethiopia, in the deadliest such disaster recorded in the country.

Scores of demonstrators have been arrested in Uganda, for taking part in a rally inspired by Kenya’s youth-led anti-government protests.

Emmanuel Macron has said he will maintain France’s centrist caretaker government until the end of the Olympics, dismissing an effort by a leftwing alliance to name a prime minister.

Stat of the day: Sunday was world’s hottest ever day – with average temperature of 62.76F

Inflamed by the carbon pollution spewed from burning fossils and farming livestock, the average surface air temperature hit 62.76F (17.09C) on Sunday 21 July, according to preliminary data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service, which holds data from 1940. The reading inched above the previous record of 62.74F set on 6 July 2023, but the scientists said the difference was not statistically distinguishable.

Don’t miss this: Zosia Mamet on Girls, acclaim and nepo babies

She got her big break on Lena Dunham’s hit show – and has since established a great and growing career. The actor and writer discusses Madame Web, introversion and her surprisingly personal essays with Sirin Kale. “It’s not like you’re born to a famous family and the red carpet rolls out for you,” she says.

Climate check: Rich countries lead in new oil and gas push, threatening 12bn tons of emissions

A surge in new oil and gas production in 2024 threatens to unleash nearly 12bn tons of planet-heating emissions, with the world’s wealthiest countries – such as the US and UK – leading a stampede of fossil fuel expansion in spite of their climate commitments, new data reveals.

Last Thing: Celebrity hotspot – fire ants invade town loved by celebs

Montecito, an upmarket town in California’s central coast, where celebrities from Oprah Winfrey to Prince Harry have bought properties, has become a hot spot for an active infestation of red imported fire ants. They are characterized by “aggressive behavior”, local officials said.

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