First Thing: Thousands rally for Harris and Walz in Wisconsin and Michigan

Detroit rally draws 15,000 people and high energy. Plus, Israel minister condemned over starvation remarks

Good morning.

Kamala Harris and her running mate, the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, continued their swing-state tour yesterday with rallies in rural Wisconsin and Detroit, Michigan, that the campaign said brought out more than 10,000 people each.

In Eau Claire, a north-western Wisconsin city less than two hours from Minneapolis and St Paul, Minnesota, the rally drew attenders from both states,and 12,000 people in total, the campaign said. The Detroit rally on Wednesday night attracted 15,000 supporters in another crucial swing state, the Harris campaign told reporters. Walz called it “the largest rally of the campaign” so far.

The big Detroit crowd repeatedly chanted: “We’re not going back,” Democrats’ counter to Trump’s anti-abortion politics and “make America great again” slogan.

Gaza protesters draw Harris rebuke. Protesters in the Detroit crowd briefly attempted to disrupt Harris’s speech. Reporters on the scene said the interruption came from pro-Palestinian protesters chanting: “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide. We won’t vote for genocide.”

Israel minister condemned for saying starvation of millions in Gaza might be ‘justified and moral’

A senior Israeli minister has been condemned for suggesting it might be “justified and moral” to starve people in Gaza. The comments from Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, in which he said “no one in the world will allow us to starve 2 million people, even though it might be justified and moral in order to free the hostages”, caused international outrage led by the EU, France and the UK.

He went on to say that Israel was “bringing in humanitarian aid because we have no choice. We are in a situation that requires international legitimacy to conduct this war.” Separately, yesterday, the US state department said Israel must fully investigate allegations of sexual abuse against Palestinian detainees by its troops.

“I’m coming to tear your kingdom down”. The representative Cori Bush has warned the pro-Israel lobby “to be afraid” after it poured millions of dollars into defeating the prominent member of the “Squad” of progressive Democrats in Tuesday’s primary election in St Louis.

ISS astronauts on eight-day mission may be stuck until 2025, Nasa says

Two US astronauts who blasted into space for an eight-day mission in June may be stuck on the International Space Station until next year if their Boeing Starliner cannot be repaired for them to return home, Nasa has said. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who became the first crew to fly Boeing’s Starliner capsule, could return on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon in February 2025 if Starliner is still deemed unsafe to return to Earth.

The astronauts’ test mission on 5 June, initially expected to last about eight days on the station, has been drawn out by issues on Starliner’s propulsion system that have called into question the spacecraft’s ability to return them to Earth safely.

The business of getting them home. Using a SpaceX craft to transport astronauts that Boeing had planned to bring back on Starliner would be a big blow to an aerospace giant that has struggled for years to compete with SpaceX and its more experienced Crew Dragon.

In other news …

Coca-Cola is under fire from French environmental groups over the double use of plastic at certain Olympic venue drinks stands where servers fill plastic reusable “eco-cups” from 50cl plastic bottles, amassing sacks of empty bottles for recycling.

The Vienna leg of Taylor Swift’s blockbuster Eras tour been cancelled after two people were arrested over an apparent plot to launch an attack on a public event in the Austrian capital.Authorities suggested Swift’s shows had been the “focus” of the plot.

A new study suggests that 1.7 million patients with chronic non-cancer pain in the US could be dependent on opioid painkillers. One in three people taking prescribed opioid analgesics show symptoms of being dependent on them, while one in 10 become fully dependent, according to the research.

A US judge has dismissed much of Mexico’s unprecedented $10bn lawsuit seeking to hold US gun manufacturers responsible for facilitating the trafficking of firearms to violent drug cartels across the US-Mexico border. The judge cited jurisdictional problems in his dismissal of the claims against six of the eight companies.

Stat of the day: ‘Cruisezilla’ passenger ships have doubled in size since 2000, campaigners warn

The huge passenger vessels sometimes known as “cruisezillas” are getting bigger than ever, according to new research which has found that the world’s biggest cruise ships have doubled in size since 2000. The biggest ships in 2050 could be eight times larger, in terms of tonnage, than the Titanic – the largest ship on the seas before it sank a century ago.

Don’t miss this: The pitfalls of AI worship

The rise of artificial intelligence has caused a panic about computers gaining power over humankind. But, writes Navneet Alang, the real threat comes from falling for the hype. Back in the 1990s, the arrival of the world wide web came with profound assertions of a new utopia, a connected world in which borders, difference and privation would end. The fanciful did come true: we can carry the whole world’s knowledge in our pockets. This just had the strange effect of driving people a bit mad.

… or this: Utah outlaws books in first statewide ban

Books by Margaret Atwood, Judy Blume, Rupi Kaur and Sarah J Maas are among 13 titles that the state of Utah has ordered to be removed from all public school classrooms and libraries. This marks the first time a state has outlawed a list of books statewide, according one expert. The 13 books could be banned because they were considered to contain “pornographic or indecent” material.

Climate check: How smoke can affect mental health

Wildfire smoke, a major source of air pollution, is linked to severe health issues including heart attacks, strokes and lung diseases such as asthma. Skies darkening with smoke, and communities facing evacuation and destruction, can also profoundly affect people’s mental state. Research is beginning to reveal connections that can help us better understand how this affects our wellbeing.

Last Thing: Italians tussle over their right to lie on the beach

Italy’s coastline is lined with long stretches of private beaches crowded with people tanning on loungers, playing sports and eating ice-cream. But criticism is growing of the country’s beach concession renewal system, in which state-owned licences are automatically handed down through families of beach operators who use them to run members-only beach clubs or charge for sun loungers and umbrellas.

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