First Thing: Oklahoma tornadoes kill at least four and leave dozens injured

Forecasters predict more extreme weather on US horizon, including one of the most active hurricane seasons on record. Plus, have open marriages gone mainstream?

Good morning.

At least four people, including a baby, have been killed after a series of tornadoes hit Oklahoma on Saturday in a weekend of extreme weather that ripped roofs off buildings and injured dozens.

The victims have not yet been named. By Sunday, the tornadoes had left around 25,000 Oklahoma customers – residential and commercial – without electricity, according to poweroutage.us, while this figure approached 30,000 in Texas.

Governor Kevin Stitt issued a state of emergency for 12 Oklahoma counties as rescue efforts continued on Sunday. Flood and storm alerts remain in place across parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas.

Forecasters have warned of more extreme weather on the horizon, as they predicted this year would be one of the most active hurricane seasons on record. The US National Hurricane Center issued its its first advisory of 2024 last week, over a month before the official beginning of the Atlantic hurricane season.

How many tornadoes strike the US each year? About 1,200 – but changes in recording make it challenging to track changes in trends, while the climate crisis may be impacting their location.

Ceasefire ‘most effective’ to address humanitarian suffering, says Blinken

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said the “most effective” way to reduce humanitarian suffering in Gaza is through a truce between Israel and Hamas.

Speaking at a meeting of regional leaders in Riyadh Saudi Arabia, Blinken said that there had been “measurable progress” in transporting aid to Gaza, which Israel has besieged for six months, but more was needed.

As negotiations continue, a senior Hamas official told Agence France-Presse that Hamas has no “major issues” with Israel’s latest ceasefire proposal. Ahead of a delegation from the Islamist group’s visit to Cairo on Monday to deliver the group’s response, the Hamas official said that “the atmosphere is positive unless there are new Israeli obstacles.”

The developments come as Joe Biden once more stressed his opposition to a ground invasion of Rafah on Sunday. Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu also reviewed the state of hostage negotiations, in which Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari has said both sides are making decisions based on political interests rather than civilians’ welfare.

What’s happening in Rafah? Al Jazeera reports that Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 20 Palestinians, including five children.

What message did the former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal have for pro-Palestinian student protesters? From prison, he praised them and said: “Do not bow to those who want you to be silent.”

Russian pressure forces Ukrainian retreat from three villages

Ukraine’s troops have tactically retreated from three villages on the war’s eastern front, the country’s military commander in chief has said.

Following the retreat from Berdychi, Semenivka and Novomykhailivka, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi said: “The most difficult situation is in the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove directions, where fierce battles continue,” referencing two Ukrainian-held cities in the Donetsk region.

Syrskyi said the retreat’s aim was “preserving the lives and health” of Ukraine’s soldiers and that the army’s position on the battlefield had deteriorated.

It came as Russia consolidates recent military gains and tries to push through Ukrainian defensive lines before fresh US military aid arrives.

When will aid arrive? A Ukrainian senior security official said it would take “one to two months” before $61bn of US military aid reached frontline troops.

In other news …

Three women have been diagnosed with HIV after getting “vampire facials” in New Mexico, withthe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) saying this is the first time a probable infection involving cosmetic services has been recorded.

The international community has abandoned the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nobel laureate Denis Mukwege has said. Médecins Sans Frontières says it treats 48 new survivors of sexual violence there each day.

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has said he will remain in his role after he suddenly announced he was considering resigning when a Madrid court opened a corruption probe into his wife.

Stat of the day: a woman ‘dies every four days, on average, at the hand of a partner’ in Australia

Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has described violence against women as a “national crisis”, saying “a woman dies every four days, on average, at the hand of a partner”. Albanese made the statement ahead of an upcoming national cabinet that will work to prevent gendered violence online and better information sharing about high-risk perpetrators and serial offenders.

Don’t miss this: have open marriages gone mainstream?

When Molly Roden Winter stormed out of the house in frustration with her husband one evening, she met a younger man in a bar. But instead of having an affair, it prompted her to discuss opening up their marriage, she tells listeners in this Guardian podcast. While open marriages are hardly new, Winter says we seldom hear stories about mothers in non-monogamous relationships. With studies showing one-fifth of people surveyed in the US and Canada have tried non-monogamy, are open marriages becoming mainstream?

Climate check: taxing big fossil fuel firms ‘could raise $900bn in climate finance by 2030’

Levying a new tax on fossil fuel companies in the wealthiest countries could raise $900bn to aid the most vulnerable nations in dealing with the escalating climate crisis, a report has found. The levy could be imposed within existing tax systems, and $720bn could go to the loss and damage fund, the Climate Damages Tax report’s authors say.

Last Thing: ‘Stormy weather’ – Biden skewers Trump at White House correspondents’ dinner

Among other topics, Donald Trump’s legal woes became the butt of a joke at the White House correspondents’ dinner on Saturday night. Joe Biden said of Trump’s criminal trial concerning a hush money payment to adult film performer Stormy Daniels: “Donald has had a few tough days lately. You might call it Stormy weather.”

Sign up

First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you’re not already signed up, subscribe now.

Get in touch

If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com