First Thing: Student charged after Georgia high school shooting

FBI says it investigated suspect and his father a year ago. Plus, con artist Anna Sorokin to don ankle monitor on Dancing With the Stars

Good morning.

Two students and two teachers were killed at a Georgia high school on Wednesday after a 14-year-old boy opened fire, authorities said.

Officials told reporters that the suspect, a student, was in custody after the mass shooting at Apalachee high school in Winder that resulted in at least nine others being taken to hospital.

Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia bureau of investigation, made the uncommon decision to name the boy, Colt Gray, saying he would be charged as an adult with four counts of murder.

The FBI later revealed in a statement that it had probed online threats regarding a school shooting last year and local police had interviewed a 13-year-old and his father in Jackson county. Georgia officials linked the statement, which did not name the teenager, to the suspect.

• What did the investigation find? The father said he kept hunting guns at home, but his child did not have unsupervised access to them. The suspect denied making the threats online.

US conservative influencers say they are ‘victims’ of Russian disinformation campaign

Several prominent conservative influencers have claimed to be “victims” of an alleged Russian disinformation drive, after the Biden administration accused Moscow of executing a campaign to influence the US presidential election.

Tim Pool, Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson published statements on Wednesday evening responding to allegations that a US content creation company they were linked to had received nearly $10m from Russian state media employees to release pro-Kremlin videos.

While the justice department indictment did not name the company, its description of the firm exactly matches Tenet Media. The company did not respond to requests for comment.

“The company never disclosed to the influencers – or to their millions of followers – its ties to [Russian state media company] RT and the Russian government,” US attorney general Merrick Garland said – a sentiment echoed by the influencers.

• How significant is the indictment? The justice department described it as the strongest effort so far to challenge what it views as a concerted Russian disinformation campaign.

US arms advantage over Russia and China ‘threatens stability’

A “quiet revolution in military affairs” has bolstered the military advantages held by the US and its allies, which now boast the ability to destroy all of Russia and China’s nuclear launch sites with conventional weapons, leading two experts to warn of a potentially unstable geopolitical situation.

Prof Dan Plesch and Manuel Galileo, from Soas University of London, said increased US military power, relative to China and Russia, could set the scene for a new arms race as China and Russia try to catch up. The experts said it could even create a risk of miscalculation in a major crisis as either power may resort to launching nuclear weapons to pre-empt the US.

In a paper published on Thursday, Plesch and Galileo argue that the US has “a plausible present-day capacity with non-nuclear forces to pre-empt Russian and Chinese nuclear forces” – granting it military superiority.

• How likely is a direct confrontation between the US and either country? Few believe it’s possible – but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has severely raised global unpredictability.

In other news …

• The Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei, 33, has died at a Kenyan hospital after being set on fire in an attack by her partner on Sunday.

• Liz Cheney, the Republican former representative of Wyoming, has endorsed Kamala Harris for president, becoming the latest Republican to state their opposition to Donald Trump.

• Donald Trump attacked Kamala Harris and Tim Walz with his usual insults during a town hall aired on Fox News before falsely claiming that millions of migrants from around the world are flooding the US.

Stat of the day: Exposure to raised air pollution levels are associated with a 24% increased risk of infertility in men aged 30 to 45

Men aged between 30 and 45 who were exposed to levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) that were 2.9 micrograms per cubic metre higher than average, over a five-year period, had a 24% higher risk of infertility, a study has found. The research also showed that exposure to levels of road traffic noise that were 10.2 decibels above average over the same period was associated with a 14% higher risk of infertility in women over 35.

Don’t miss this: Racism, misogyny, lies: how did X become so full of hatred?

X, formerly Twitter, has become darker since Elon Musk bought the platform, writes Zoe Williams. It’s incentivized: we know that controversial and extreme content drives engagement, Ed Saperia, dean of the London College of Political Technology, explains, while the “black box algorithm [is] designed to keep you scrolling”, says Rose Wang, COO of rival platform, Bluesky. With a user experience that boosts topics designed to irritate you and keep you refreshing, Williams asks whether it’s time to log off.

Climate check: ‘Dangerously hot’ weather roasts US west as brutal summer continues

A punishing heatwave in the US west could drive some of the highest temperatures of the summer so far, with Los Angeles expected to see temperatures nearing 100F while locations further inland hit 110F, according to a forecast from the National Weather Service (NWS). It said the “dangerously hot” conditions are expected to last into the weekend.

Last Thing: Con artist Anna Sorokin to join Dancing With the Stars – with ankle monitor

She cheated banks, hotels and friends as a con artist pretending to be a wealthy German heiress named Anna Delvey. Now, replete with an ankle monitor following her 2019 conviction, Anna Sorokin is back, soon to appear on the small screen on Dancing With the Stars. The show appears to be making the most of it, with a promo pic of Sorokin sporting a glittering dress and her ankle bracelet.

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