The Guardian World

Becky Drury says she was hit by gunfire before she could intervene in attack that killed four, including three children

A teacher wounded in last week’s shooting at a Bend, Oregon, elementary school shared her account of the incident, and how she was shot before she could intervene and “[pretended] to be dead”.

Becky Drury was seriously wounded at Silver Rail elementary when Griffin J John II, a 16-year-old former student at the school armed with a shotgun, broke in and headed toward a special education classroom. He shot six people, killing Megan Lambert, a 25-year-old teacher, and three children, including five-year-old Rhoam Summer.

Republican Mike DeWine said ad featuring estranged mother of Democrat Amy Acton was ‘wrong’

Donald Trump issued a swift rebuke against Mike DeWine, Ohio’s Republican governor, who on Thursday said gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was “wrong” to release an ad critical of his Democratic rival Amy Acton that featured her estranged mother.

DeWine had implored Ramaswamy to take the ad down, but hours later, Trump urged Ramaswamy to keep airing it and accused the Republican governor of disloyalty.

Regulators say removing ‘unnecessary burdens’ will save businesses about £2bn over 10 years

The UK is watering down rules introduced in the aftermath of the financial crisis that were designed to hold City bosses accountable for wrongdoing.

The plans, put forward by the financial industry’s two top regulators, the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), include a reduction in reporting for “lower-level misconduct” and would also free 140,000 managers from extra checks.

Political candidates’ once reflexive support for Israel has increasingly become a liability

When the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the most prominent pro-Israel lobby group in the US, announced on Wednesday that it would stop endorsing candidates or make direct contributions to them, its many critics were quick to hail the development as Aipac’s admission of how toxic its brand had become.

The announcement marked a significant reversal that underscored just how profoundly US public opinion of Israel has shifted over the latest war in Gaza, and how political candidates’ once reflexive support for Israel has increasingly become a liability.

New account from Pike’s lawyer suggests team was racked by doubts even before pentobarbital began to flow

The Tennessee execution team tasked with setting an intravenous line in the arms of the death row prisoner Christa Pike through which she could be injected with a lethal dose of pentobarbital repeatedly warned that her vein might be “blowing”, before they went ahead with the procedure, her lawyer has revealed.

Members of the intravenous (IV) team used up to 10 needles as they sought to establish a line through which Pike could be killed with a massive dose of the sedative. About 20 minutes into the attempt, they began discussing among themselves whether the prisoner’s vein “might be blowing”.

California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii health officials ask CDC ‘prioritizing emerging technologies’ to reconsider

California and Washington asked the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in May to validate a new way to test for measles – but after waiting two months, the CDC denied the request, citing “other competing priorities”, according to a letter from the West Coast Health Alliance to the CDC director, Erica Schwartz.

The letter, signed by health officials in California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington, asks Schwartz to reconsider and validate a rapid, high-volume measles test in preparation for major outbreaks. The alliance also asked the CDC to create protocols to test for other high-priority pathogens to prepare for future outbreaks.

‘The word ‘justified’ has haunted me since Monday,’’ the child’s maternal grandmother says

Since the Mississippi attorney general, Lynn Fitch, announced on Monday that the police shooting of Kohen Wiley, a one-year-old baby, “was justified”, footage of the shooting has been made public. It was first reported by Darkhorse Press, a Mississippi outlet.

On Thursday, attorneys Ben Crump and Van Turner, who are representing the Wiley family, held a press conference at the Senatobia Church of Christ, in Senatobia, Mississippi. The press conference came shortly after members of the family were able to view footage of the shooting.

Be Ready campaign aims to prepare UK for impact of climate crisis, technological dependency and threats by hostile state

Every Briton is being urged to stock up to nine litres of bottled water and three days’ worth of food in new government guidance designed to ensure that households can survive a weather, cyber or other serious emergency.

The Be Ready campaign is aimed at persuading people to stock up with supplies to last 72 hours, amid growing official concern about the impact of the climate crisis, technological dependency and hostile state threats.

Miatta Fahnbulleh says reference to ‘awkward’ interview was meant to be lighthearted and self-deprecating

The energy secretary has been forced to clarify that she backs Shabana Mahmood’s migration policy, after earlier joking that she had not been able to “lie” about supporting a key element of the changes.

Miatta Fahnbulleh made the original remarks to a journalists’ event in Westminster, referring to an “awkward” Sky News interview in which she repeatedly refused to say she was in favour of plans to make foreign workers wait 15 years to get permanent residency.

Stage show based on late singer reportedly set to feature her best-loved songs with involvement from her father Mitch

A musical based on Amy Winehouse is in development for London’s West End.

The project is still in early stages with Catherine Schreiber, a Tony award-winning producer (Cabaret, Rent), attached to the project, according to Variety. Casting is reported to currently be under way.

People near south Wales river were told to keep windows and doors shut after thousands of litres of kerosene from a GE Aerospace site got into the water

Oily slicks of kerosene still appeared to be leaking into the River Taff this week, several days after a breach of thousands of litres was spotted by members of the public.

The breach into the Welsh river was identified last Friday, after people reported strong chemical odours emanating from it. Natural Resources Wales (NRW) officers arrived on site soon afterwards to identify the source of the pollution and were assisted by the south Wales fire and rescue service, which placed absorbent mats and booms to contain as much kerosene as possible.

Far-right activist says he used private investigators to track down journalists but denies trying to intimidate them

The far-right activist Tommy Robinson has told his harassment trial that he used private investigators to track down journalists who had written about his alleged role in the 2024 riots, and had photographs taken of their homes “to put pressure” on them.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, denied in court that his actions, which included sharing photos of the wife and daughter of one of the journalists, were designed to intimidate and bully.

Exclusive: Sasan Ghandehari’s partnership with religious foundation raises questions about past dealings with republic criticised by Nigel Farage

Nigel Farage’s newest billionaire donor was in business with a powerful Iranian religious foundation under the authority of the country’s supreme leader, raising questions about his past dealings with the hardline republic.

Hossein Ghandehari, also called Sasan, was little known in the UK until he pledged to give millions to Reform UK this summer and donated £50,000 to Farage to cover the cost of two passes for the Davos World Economic Forum.

French president also says he will decide on concrete ‘next steps’ for the next nationwide demonstrations

• Angry lawyers and bewildered defendants: the fallout from fast-tracking French rioting cases

Emmanuel Macron has said “illegitimate” demonstrations will be banned over the coming days as France seeks to get a grip on civil unrest after some of its worst street violence in years erupted on the fringes of cost of living protests at the weekend.

Speaking after a ​meeting with intelligence officials and senior ministers, the French president said on Thursday that demonstrations organised by recognised groups would be allowed to go ahead, although their routes could be changed.

Experts say Russia is trying to destroy energy infrastructure before winter and US ‘appeasement and flattery’ will not achieve peace

Russia has carried out a massive “demonstrative” attack on Ukraine, bombarding Kyiv with ballistic missiles just hours after Vladimir Putin said he had agreed to resume trilateral negotiations after talks with the US envoy Steve Witkoff.

Overnight, Moscow pounded the Ukrainian capital, killing at least two people and wounding 22, including four children. Targets included the southern bridge over the Dnipro River, civilian houses, energy infrastructure, an ambulance station, office buildings and a clinic.

Investigations under way to determine whether virus normally found in livestock contributed to man’s death

A man in France has become the first human known to have contracted Shamonda virus, with investigations under way to explore whether it contributed to his death.

Shamonda virus is a type of bunyavirus and is spread by bites from infected midges. According to the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, in animals such as cattle, sheep and goats it can cause diarrhoea, lack of appetite and a decline in milk yield, “as well as abortions and congenital abnormalities in newborn calves, lambs and kids”.

It’s the last day of the electoral campaign in Serbia today ahead of this Sunday’s closely contested parliamentary election

As we are waiting for Macron, first details of the planned police response to this weekend’s protests are emerging.

Junior interior minister, Jean-Didier Berger, said that the police presence will be “20% higher” than last weekend, with reinforcements from the army, elite police forces and gendarmerie.

‘Scapegoating non-permanent residents is not going to lower the cost of living,’ Vanesa Ortiz says

When Vanesa Ortiz came to Calgary from Mexico, she found herself in a city gripped by winter. Outside the airport, it was -15C (5F).

“I would come to understand that this was not an extreme cold,” she said. “But in the moment it was terrifying.”

This animated map shows the insect’s population exploding in Australia’s eastern states, with the endangered species coming back from the brink

If you live anywhere on the eastern side of Australia, you’ve probably noticed that bogong moths are back in a big way.

While we don’t yet have figures from ecologist-led surveys to compare with previous years, there is a wealth of data on the great moth revival being generated by citizen scientists across the eastern states.

Hostility from constituents is not new for the state’s politicians, including its premiers. But the alleged attack on Helen Haines has sent a chill down the collective spine

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On Monday night, Georgie Purcell shared a statement on social media in support of Helen Haines, who earlier that day had been allegedly attacked by a constituent in her regional Victorian electorate.

Purcell, a Victorian upper-house MP whose region partly overlaps with Haines’s federal electorate, wrote that the alleged attack had sent chills down her spine. Being a woman in politics, she said, had changed the way she moved through the world – where she parked her car, which route she took home, even whether she held public events at all.