‘This is right, this is the future of the church’: gay black evangelist on coming out

The declaration by a highly influential black Christian gospel star that he is gay has exposed a generational divide in attitudes towards sexuality that could signal a transformation within evangelical churches.

The Guardian

Wisconsin Republicans ask voters to take away governor’s power to spend federal money

Wisconsin Republicans are asking voters to take away the governor’s power to unilaterally spend federal money, a reaction to the billions of dollars that flowed into the state during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers was free to spend most of that money as he pleased, directing most of it toward small businesses and economic development, angering Republicans who argued the Legislature should have oversight.

AP News

What Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order to clear homeless encampments means for the people who live in them

“The sad thing is most people on the street I came across don’t even understand,” the governor’s directive, said Janosko, 55, a chef and caterer before losing his apartment and ending up on the street for a decade. “It’s just somebody saying they’re going to make their lives even harder. It’s a hammer on the head day in and day out.”

CNN

Kamala Harris: A Baptist with a Jewish husband and a faith that traces back to MLK and Gandhi

A Baptist married to a Jewish man, she’s inspired by the work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and influenced by the religious traditions of her mother’s native India as well as the Black Church.

The Grio

Trump Says He Wants to Deport Millions. He’ll Have a Hard Time Removing More People Than Biden Has.

Even as Trump slams the president for open borders, the Biden-Harris administration has kicked out far more immigrants than Trump ever managed to.

Politico

“A volcano you’d be setting off”: Legal experts say Kim Davis could help chip away at LGBTQ+ rights

A broad swath of legal experts told Salon that they doubt that former Kentucky clerk Kim Davis’ longshot strategy to get the Supreme Court to overturn its pivotal 2015 same-sex marriage ruling will work in one fell swoop – but they say Davis’ argument could fuel future attacks on LGBTQ+ rights down the road.

Salon

Trump told nephew to let his disabled son die, then move to Florida, book says

“Wait!” Fred C Trump III writes. “What did he just say? That my son doesn’t recognise me? That I should just let him die?

“Did he really just say that?”

The Guardian

Senate candidate Bernie Moreno campaigns as an outsider. His wealthy family is politically connected

Moreno built his fortune as a luxury car dealer and blockchain entrepreneur. If elected, he would be among the top eight wealthiest senators, based on the most recent data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, with an estimated net worth between $25.5 million and $105.7 million.

AP News

Alabama GOP Re-files Bill that Could Expose Librarians to Criminal Penalties

The bill would apply certain criminal obscenity laws to public libraries and public school libraries.

The 74

Gallup: LGBTQ+ adults coming out younger as society becomes more accepting

Young LGBTQ+ people are coming out nearly a decade earlier than their elder counterparts, coinciding with greater societal acceptance, according to a recent Gallup poll.

UPI

Boomer on SAVE student-loan plan who voted for Trump might vote Dem

Rebecca Hill, 61, isn’t planning to vote for Trump after courts blocked the SAVE student-loan repayment plan.

Business Insider

GOP-led House fails to pass appropriations bills before August recess, breaking promises to voters

Last October, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sent a letter to his colleagues that stated that the House would not break for recess in August “unless all 12 appropriations bills have passed the House,” according to Fox 40.

Instead, House Republicans canceled votes for next week and are expected to return for work in early September. They were supposed to be in session until August 1.

Just The News

A revived Trump plan to gut federal civil service would be dangerous for America

In 2017, then-President Donald Trump almost let a key nuclear safety agency go leaderless. His “Schedule F,” which would replace career government workers with political appointees, aligns with Project 2025 and should alarm all Americans.

Chicago Sun-Times

Palestinian athletes honour Majed Abu Maraheel’s Olympic legacy

Majed died on June 12, 2024, in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp in Gaza, due to medical shortages and power outages that prevented him from accessing adequate treatment for kidney failure.

The New Arabs

Iran’s new president rekindles faint hopes of rapprochement with west

Masoud Pezeshkian says the Iranian people voted for change and promises constructive engagement with west

The Guardian

Golan Heights strike: ‘The whole town is mourning’

The scene around the football pitch here in Majdal Shams, where 12 children and young people died on Saturday, is quiet and deeply sombre.

BBC

The Israel-Hezbollah war that no one wants could finally blow up

A rocket, which Israel says was launched by Hezbollah from Shebaa in southern Lebanon, slammed into a soccer pitch in the Druze town of Majdal Shams. Twelve children, ranging in age from 10 to 16, were killed while taking part in a training session. Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the strike. Will Hochstein’s fear of a fuller-scale war now also come to pass?

CNN

Venezuela’s presidential election could have ripple effects throughout the Americas

Venezuelans are voting Sunday in a presidential election whose outcome will either lead to a seismic shift in politics or extend by six more years the policies that caused the world’s worst peacetime economic collapse.

CBS News

Germany talking with Taliban to send back criminal migrants

Germany is in “confidential” negotiations with the Taliban and the Assad regime over the deportation of “violent” migrants.

The Telegraph

China calls on Asean to resist US, Nato moves in ‘zone of peace, freedom, neutrality’

Top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi hammers home message at foreign ministers’ forum in Laos, as bloc gets caught up in deepening US-China rivalry

South China Morning Post

Iran-backed groups attack US coalition base in Syria with rockets

After the base in Deir Az-Zour province was targeted with the seven rockets, the US responded by attacking the sites from which the rockets were launched.

The New Arab

Olympics Opening Ceremony director says ‘Last Supper’ wasn’t inspiration, amid anti-LGBTQ backlash

Thomas Jolly, who is himself LGBTQ, says he intended to depict a “pagan celebration”. Paris 2024 organizers have said sorry to anyone offended.

Outsports

Wong announces new digital cable centre to limit China’s influence in Indo-Pacific

The new centre, staffed by Australians, will enable sharing of information and help Pacific island governments regulate important undersea cables

The Guardian

Who was behind the sabotage of France’s railway network? Here’s what we know

France is still facing travel disruption a day after saboteurs targeted high-speed railway lines in an attack coinciding with the start of the Olympics. As operators try to get service back to normal, a key question remains – who was responsible?

CNN

Labour accuse Tories of ‘cover up’ over public services

Labour have accused the Conservatives of “covering up” the scale of problems in the public sector, creating a multi-billion pound gap in department budgets.

BBC