Iran begins long farewell to former supreme leader with calls for Trump’s death | First Thing
Millions gather in streets and officials appear in public at Tehran funeral of Ali Khamenei in show of defiance. Plus, origin of mysterious ‘space balls’ in Australia revealed
Good morning.
Iran’s week of mass funeral processions for the former supreme leader Ali Khamenei has seen public calls for the killing of Donald Trump. Khamenei was killed along with other members of his family on 28 February, the first day of the US and Israeli war against Iran.
The Guardian’s Patrick Wintour in Tehran reported the funeral was designed to show the Trump administration that Iran retained social resilience. Those in attendance included senior political, military and judicial officials, suggesting they have assurances that the tentative US-agreed ceasefire precludes attacks on the ceremony. The al-Quds force commander, Esmail Qaani, and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief, Ahmad Vahidi, were both in full view – inconceivable earlier in the war.
Who made the direct call for the killing of Trump? During part of the ceremony, the poet Mohammad Rasouli said: “I swear by your blood; Trump’s murder is our responsibility. Why is the most bastard man in the world still alive? … Why should we not kill the man who killed our imam? It would be a disgrace if we did not.”
Where is the new supreme leader? Appointed 10 days after his father’s death, Mojtaba Khamenei has not appeared in public or recorded any audio message for three months. His absence was made more conspicuous when his brothers, Mustafa, Massoud and Meysam, stood alongside one another beside their father’s coffin.
Florida Republican says deporting Haitians with TPS would be ‘huge mistake’
Carlos Giménez, a Republican congressman from Florida, broke with the Trump administration on Sunday, calling on the White House to reconsider its push to eliminate temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitian migrants.
Returning about 350,000 Haitians to their chaotic, dangerous homeland would be a grave error, Giménez said, after the US supreme court’s ruling that the Trump administration could cut off temporary legal protections.
What did Giménez say? He said: “[TPS] is meant to safeguard those who are either fleeing countries that are failed states and are at risk of going back to them or countries that really can’t handle them right now, as is the case with Venezuela that has suffered a natural disaster.”
What did the court decide? The ruling gave the green light to plans to end TPS for more than 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians. TPS allows people to live and work in the US if the Department of Homeland Security deems their home countries unsafe due to war or natural disasters.
USMNT avoids key player suspension at World Cup after Trump intervenes
The USMNT’s Fifa World Cup campaign is mired in controversy after Folarin Balogun’s red-card suspension was overturned in an unprecedented move after an apparent direct intervention from Donald Trump. The president made three calls to Fifa to ensure the striker could play Belgium tonight, later writing on Truth Social: “Thank you to Fifa for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!” Balogun had been sent off for a dangerous tackle against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the previous round.
How have Belgium reacted? While USMNT’s coach, Mauricio Pochettino, praised the decision, it has been received poorly by the Belgium team, whose coach Rudi Garcia said: “I didn’t know that 5 July was equal to April Fools’ Day at Fifa.” The Royal Belgian Football Association said it was “astonished” by the decision and was “investigating all potential options”, while Uefa said Fifa had crossed a “red line”.
What have been the security concerns at the World Cup? In another development, the FBI has revealed it has seized more than 600 drones flying over the tournament games in US cities. Drone restrictions apply to three hours before and after a scheduled game.
In other news …
Mallory McMorrow, a Michigan Democrat, has dropped out of a contentious US Senate primary campaign, setting up a straight fight between the party’s progressive and establishment wings.
Venezuela’s interim president has defended her country’s emergency response to the twin earthquakes that have killed more than 3,000 people, vowing it would not descend into social unrest.
A cruise ship carrying 2,000 LGBTQ+ passengers has been blocked from docking in Turkey after local authorities said their behaviour did not “align with the structure of our society and our moral values”.
Kelsey Pfendler has rowed solo across the mid-Pacific and completed a record-breaking journey from California to Hawaii, becoming the first US woman, as well as the youngest woman and fastest woman to do so.
Stat of the day: At least 25 people die as record heatwave scorches swaths of US
At least 25 people have died in a perilous, climate-driven heatwave scorching the US, with 140 million people under active heat alerts on Sunday. The National Weather Service has urged people to stay hydrated and remain in air-conditioned environments.
Building Power: ‘The next 250 years belong to all of us’ – seven activists on rebuilding the US
For many Americans, the weekend’s celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, which promised liberty and equality for all, is less a celebration than a reckoning. The US has arrived at this milestone amid sustained attacks on voting rights, civil rights and democratic institutions – challenges that organizers say are taking the country back generations. Fabiola Cineas presents views from seven activists on where the nation should be heading.
Don’t miss this: Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard on growing up on TV – and his new life in music
The actor tells Steve Rose in this interview that “it was pretty depressing when Stranger Things ended”, but that having a built-in fanbase from the show has been a fillip to his musical aspirations – he made music long before he was an actor. Finn Wolfhard also makes this fine observation about being cast as a different kind of character to the role of Mike Wheeler that gave him his breakthrough – “It’s fun sometimes to be the dick.”
… or this: Inside the Telegram ‘drug rape’ chat group that shocked Germany
Dr Juliane Kloess, a senior lecturer in forensic clinical psychology at the University of Glasgow, says the rise of online rape communities is a global problem. In this shocking piece, Zhaoyin Feng looks at a case in Germany, where members of an online gang of men, targeting mainly women of Chinese heritage, drugged and secretly filmed their sexual assault victims.
Climate check: Bomb the Arctic, dam the Mediterranean and build a second moon – five outlandish plans to remodel our climate
With varying degrees of practicality, author Tim Flannery, who co-wrote A Brief History of Climate Folly, examines five of the more “out there” ideas for averting a manmade climate disaster for the planet.
Last Thing: Australian Space Agency reveals likely origin of mysterious ‘space balls’ found on Queensland beaches
Perhaps slightly less exciting than the answer “aliens”, but the Australian Space Agency has said the six so-called “space balls” found in north Queensland were probably from a “foreign rocket body” that had recently re-entered the atmosphere after being in orbit.
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