Good morning.
Barack Obama has thrown his weight behind the voting rights proposal of the conservative West Virginia Democratic senator, Joe Manchin, calling it a “product of compromise” as the landmark legislation faces a crucial vote in the US Senate on Tuesday.
The former president said the future of the country was at stake, and urged Congress to pass federal legislation “before it’s too late”.
- The White House called the changes Manchin proposed to Biden’s ambitious For the People Act a “step forward”, although the sweeping legislation is expected to be blocked by Republicans.
- Obama said Democrats and Republicans had abused the redistricting process, but shared concerns about efforts in Republican-controlled states to limit access to voting.
About 450 firefighters are battling to contain a wildfire that erupted near Big Sur last week, in an attempt to prevent flames from spreading to historical sites, cabins, and ranches in the dry California landscape.
The fire is one of dozens of wildfires burning across the US west, including in Arizona and New Mexico.
- Endangered species and cultural sites, including a historic Zen Buddhist monastery, could be at risk if the fire continues to spread.
- Officials predict another record-breaking fire season, as the American west is gripped by a historic drought.
Church leader behind bleach ‘miracle cure’ for Covid claims Trump consumed his product
The leader of a bogus church who peddled industrial bleach as a “miracle cure” for Covid-19 is claiming that he gave the potion to Donald Trump in the White House, shortly before the former president made his notorious remarks about using “disinfectant” to treat the disease, Ed Pilkington writes.
Mark Grenon, the self-styled “archbishop” of the Genesis II “church”, claimed in an astonishing 90-minute interview from his prison cell in Colombia – where he awaits extradition to the US to face criminal charges that he fraudulently sold bleach as a Covid cure – that he personally convinced Trump that disinfectant has healing powers.
- Grenon said he was able to pass a bottle of his bleach product to Trump “through a family member” of the former president, who consumed it, he claimed.
- Trump had claimed that disinfectant “knocks [Covid] out in a minute, one minute”, at a press conference in April 2020 that stunned the world.
Carl Nassib becomes first active NFL player to come out
The defensive end for the Las Vegas Raiders has become the first active NFL player to come out as gay, making the announcement in an Instagram video on Monday.
“I just wanted to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay,” Nassib said. “I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now but finally feel comfortable enough to get it off my chest. I really have the best life. I’ve got the best family, friends and job a guy can ask for.”
- Nassib stressed that he made the announcement “really not [..] for attention” but because he feels “that representation and visibility are so important”.
- The 28-year-old also announced a $100,000 donation to the Trevor Project, which works to prevent suicides among LGBTQ+ youth in America.
- Obama said Democrats and Republicans had abused the redistricting process, but shared concerns about efforts in Republican-controlled states to limit access to voting.
