For three months, a group of Nebraska lawmakers have ground nearly all legislative business in the state to a halt, grabbing the nation’s attention with a remarkable filibuster to stifle a bill that would end gender-affirming care for young transgender people. Late Tuesday 16 May, Republican lawmakers broke through, advancing a bill that not only bans gender-affirming care for trans people under 19 years old but also tacks on an amendment to outlaw abortion at 10 weeks of pregnancy and hands the state’s GOP-appointed medical officer the authority to set the rules for affirming care for trans youth. Lawmakers approved the amended version of legislative bill 574 by a vote of 33-14. The measure will go to a final round of votes before it heads to the desk of Republican Governor Jim Pillen, who intends to sign it into law. Hundreds of protesters filled the capital in Lincoln, standing outside the doors and in the gallery above lawmakers while chanting “one more vote to save our lives”; only one senator would have had to defect from supporters of the bill to kill the legislation. The vote – on the 78th day of a 90-day session – followed a series of maneuvers that opponents argued were bending and breaking the rules of the state legislature to hammer through the legislation and avert the filibuster, which would allow opponents to occupy their allotted time to speak the bill to death. “What you are attempting to do today is the lowest of the absolute lows,” state Senator Machaela Cavanaugh, who spearheaded the filibuster, told Republican lawmakers. “You literally have to cheat at every moment of this debate in every possible way. … You are allowing it to happen,” she added. “You do literally have blood on your hands, and if you vote for it, you will have buckets.” State Senator Megan Hunt, the first openly LGBT+ member of the state legislature and the mother of a trans child, lambasted lawmakers for their “escape routes” from the capitol to avoid facing protesters. “If you can’t go out and face them, you are not worthy,” she said. “Your legacy is filth.” In a statement following the vote, Governor Jim Pillen called the bill “an important step” to “protect” the future of the state’s children. Opponents of the bill forcefully opposed the inclusion of an abortion ban in a bill targeting gender-affirming care, two wholly separate issues combined into one, “but you all don’t care,” Ms Cavanaugh told Republican lawmakers. “You don’t care about due process, you don’t care about the people of Nebraska,” she added. “All you care about is the governor.” Abortion rights advocates and transgender rights advocates have frequently underscored the fact that anti-abortion measures and legislation targeting LGBT+ people are driven by the same lawmakers and activist groups, relying on similar arguments to restrict access to healthcare, with measures that have dominated state capitals across the country over the last few years. Lawmakers initially were set to only debate the gender-affirming care bill, which already went through two of three rounds of debate and votes. But legislative rules prohibit amendments on a final round, and opponents of the bill planned to filibuster through all two hours of debate to continue to block it. Last month, the filibuster blocked a measure from anti-abortion lawmakers to ban abortion at roughly six weeks of pregnancy. Attaching another anti-abortion measure, this time at roughly 10 weeks, gave proponents of the bill a second chance of both advancing an anti-abortion law and the gender-affirming care ban, marrying two controversial measures to get to the necessary 33-vote threshold to advance. In February, Ms Cavanaugh vowed to “burn the session to the ground” if the ban on gender-affirming care advanced, launching an epic filibuster that blocked every bill until the measure was withdrawn or defeated. State Senator Kathleen Kauth, an Omaha Republican who proposed the bill targeting gender-affirming care, said the amended version would protect children from what she called a “social contagion.” “Kids deserve the right to grow up and not deal with this until they are adults and can make informed decisions,” said Ms Kauth, who did not mention the fact that such decisions are made with families and their doctors. The anti-abortion measure provides no exceptions for pregnancies with fatal fetal anomalies and does not explicitly protect doctors who perform abortions from criminal prosecution. “What is wrong with you?” said Ms Hunt, calling the combined bill a “desperate attempt to institute an abortion ban that is unpopular, unnecessary, and unsafe.” More than a dozen states, mostly in the US South, have severely restricted or effectively outlawed abortion in the year after the US Supreme Court struck down Roe v Wade, which affirmed a constitutional right to abortion access. Nebraska’s legislation also joins a nationwide campaign that has seen hundreds of bills aimed at LGBT+ people, particularly at young trans people, filed in nearly every state within the last two years. At least 15 states have enacted laws or policies banning gender-affirming care for young trans people, and more than a dozen others are considering similar measures. Court injunctions have blocked bans from going into effect in three states. More than half of all trans youth in the US between the ages of 13 and 17 are at risk of losing access to age-appropriate, medically necessary and potentially life-saving gender-affirming healthcare in their home state, according to the Human Rights Campaign. The onslaught of legislation and volatile political debate surrounding the bills have also negatively impacted the mental health of an overwhelming majority of young trans and nonbinary people, according to polling from The Trevor Project and Morning Consult. A separate survey from The Trevor Project found that 41 per cent of trans and nonbinary youth have seriously considered attempting suicide over the last year. Read More Inside the ‘mentally exhausting’ protest shutting down Nebraska’s anti-trans legislation Inside Montana’s ‘disturbing’ attack on trans kids and the campaign to silence lawmaker Zooey Zephyr Exclusive: Zooey Zephyr responds to her political silencing and Montana’s attacks on trans children: ‘I show up with my head held high’ Anti-abortion laws harm patients facing dangerous and life-threatening complications, report finds

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Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernández made it official Tuesday that she will not be running for president again, putting the brakes on an effort by members of her party to push her to become a candidate in the October election. Fernández, who was president 2007-2015, made her decision public through a statement published on her website in which she slammed the judiciary, accusing the courts of trying to forbid her from running for office again as part of an alliance with the opposition. With her decision, the center-left Fernández throws the ruling Peronist party into disarray amid uncertainty over who could be its candidate in this year’s presidential elections. President Alberto Fernández, whose tenure has been marked by an ongoing economic crisis that has included a sharp devaluation of the local currency and annual inflation of more than 100%, already said last month he would not be seeking reelection. “I will not be a puppet of those in power for the sake of any candidacy. I have demonstrated, like no one else, that I prioritize the collective project over personal ambitions,” Cristina Fernández said. The 70-year-old vice president said she’s prevented from running for office by a prison sentence of six years and a lifelong ban from holding public office she received late last year as part of a case involving corruption through public works during her presidency. She has denied all charges and the ruling still has to be confirmed by higher courts before it becomes effective. “I will not engage in the perverse game they impose on us under the guise of democracy,” she wrote. Allies of the vice president have been pushing for her to run for the presidency and regularly chant “President Cristina” during her public appearances. Although Fernández, who is not related to current president Alberto Fernández, had already said she wouldn’t run for president, she often played coy in public speeches. The vice president published her statement days before allies had announced a big rally in downtown Buenos Aires on May 25, which is a national holiday in Argentina, to push her to run. With both the president and vice president out of the running, all eyes are now likely to set on Economy Minister Sergio Massa, a center-right Peronist who has long had presidential ambitions although his tenure in the office he took on last year has not gone as he hoped. Massa had said his goal was for monthly inflation to decelerate to 3% by April. Instead, it accelerated to 8.4%. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

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Authorities in New Mexico have identified a gunman who killed three and wounded six others in Farmington on Monday as 18-year-old high school student Beau Wilson. The teenager was armed with three weapons including an AR-15-style rifle when he began firing randomly at passing cars in the suburb where he lived, said Deputy Police Chief Baric Crum said at a news conference on Tuesday. He was killed by police after wounding two officers. Police said the three victims included 97-year-old Gwendolyn Schofield, and her daughter Melody Ivie, 73, who died at the scene after their car was fired upon. A third women, 79-yearold Shirley Voita, died in hospital. Mr Crum said the shooter had also struck several homes while firing indiscriminately. Police said they had no knowledge of any link between Wilson and there three victims, and were “pretty confident it was completely random”. One of the weapons used in the shooting had been legally purchased by Wilson in November, Deputy Police Chief Kyle Dowdy said. Wilson obtained one of the other weapons from a family member. Mr Dowdy said that family members had told them that Wilson may have been suffering from mental health issues. “The amount of violence and brutality that these people faced is unconscionable to me,” Mr Dowdy said. “I don’t care what age you are, I don’t care what else is going on in your life, to kill three innocent elderly women that were just absolutely in no position to defend themselves is always going to be a tragedy.” Wilson, who wrestled competitively at high school, had minor brushes with the law as a juvenile, Mr Dowdy said. Wilson, a Farmington High School senior, roamed across a quarter mile area of the city near downtown just before 11am targeting “whatever entered his head to shoot at”, Police Chief Steve Hebbe said in a taped statement on Monday night. Police received the first 911 calls at about 10.57am. Officers arrived at the scene at 11.02am, and four officers fired 16 rounds at the gunmen, San Juan County Sheriff Shane Ferrari said. Wilson was killed at about 11.05am. Farmington Mayor Nate Duckett praised three officers who had been at lunch and responded to the shooting without body armour during the press conference. He said that many examples of bravery by law enforcement officers had saved “countless lives”. He said he hoped the city could come together to heal, adding that the “community was shaken to the core.” Two officers wounded in the shooting, a Farmington officer and state police officer, had been released from hospital, Mr Duckett added. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 225 mass shootings in the United States in 2023. Read More New Mexico shooter, 18, roamed community armed with three guns firing randomly at cars and homes, police say A pregnant woman reported her boyfriend’s abuse. He wasn’t arrested until after her murder over an abortion Texas boy, 12, accused of fatally shooting Sonic employee with assault rifle after he asked friend to stop urinating in parking lot

A 12-year-old boy has been charged with murder after he allegedly shot and killed a Sonic employee in northern Texas, police said. The boy and a 20-year-old, Angel Gomez, visited a Sonic restaurant in Keene, Texas on Sunday night. Mr Gomez allegedly began acting unruly in the parking lot and began urinating near the restaurant, prompting an employee, Matthew Davis, 32, to confront him, according to CBS News. The confrontation between Mr Davis and Mr Gomez escalated into violence, at which point the 12-year-old allegedly grabbed an assault rifle the two had been traveling with and shot the Sonic employee several times, according to police. The boy fired at least six shots from the rifle, according to KTVT's reporting. Mr Gomez and the 12-year-old then fled the scene. Police were called in response to the shooting, where they found Mr Davis lying in the parking lot around 9:40pm. Mr Davis was reportedly struggling to breathe when they found him. He was rushed to a hospital for surgery but ultimately died from his injuries. Mr Gomez reportedly returned to the Sonic after the shooting and was arrested on murder charges. Police then tracked down the juvenile in Rio Vista, approximately 15 miles away, and took him into custody on murder charges. Law enforcement searched the home and located several firearms. A cross was erected and flowers have been left at the Sonic in memory of Mr Davis, who was the father to a 10-year-old son, according to NBC5. Jane Baggett, a local resident who stopped by the Sonic to contribute to the memorial, said she was regretful there was nothing more the community could do for Mr Davis. “I wish there was more that we could do, but right now if they could just see that support and love, and maybe, even if we didn’t know him, [know] his life mattered to many of us,” she told NBC5. A spokesperson for Sonic also released a statement acknowledging the attack. “We are saddened to learn about the tragedy involving a franchised team member in Keene, TX. The franchisee is cooperating fully with local authorities as they conduct their investigation.” A GoFundMe has been established to help pay for Mr Davis' funeral costs. Read More New Mexico shooter, 18, roamed community armed with three guns firing randomly at cars and homes, police say A pregnant woman reported her boyfriend’s abuse. He wasn’t arrested until after her murder over an abortion New Mexico gunman who killed 3 and injured 6 shot randomly at cars, houses, police say

A Pennsylvania man who has been accused of hiding in an OnlyFans model's attic told a judge that she wanted his attention, according to court documents. Mauricio Guerrero, 19, appeared for a hearing on Friday in Stafford County Superior Court in Dover, Pennsylvania, according to WMUR. Mr Guerrero was charged with four counts of burglary for allegedly breaking into a woman's house, photographing her while she slept and hiding in her attic. Mr Guerrero met the woman on the website OnlyFans in 2021. The defendant told the judge that the woman wanted him to be "obsessed" with her, and to act like "a stalker." He said that "she liked it," ascribing his actions to their dynamic. During testimony on Thursday, the victim said she was often drunk when she chatted with Mr Guerrero on the website, and said she does not remember many of their conversations. Mr Guerrero recounted his version of their conversations. “We talked about meeting up, about me coming up. Between that we talked about having intercourse,” he said. Prosecutors claim that Mr Guerrero traveled to her home in New Hampshire six times, and noted the victim refused to see him several times. She admitted that on one visit they did spend time together and had sex. She told the court she continued communicating with him because she liked the way their conversations made him feel. Mr Guerrero's defence team claim he believed the two were in a relationship based on the pair's conversations. When they asked him how he got into the house, he said he entered through the house's back door, and admitted he "tried to use the crowbar." Mr Guerrero was arrested on 9 February after the victim called police to report that she heard someone in her home. "Officers on scene located a male suspect on the roof of the residence. After an on-scene investigation, the male was taken into custody for the charge of Burglary. The investigation was furthered, and information was obtained that the suspect was known to the victim from online social media," the Somersworth Police Department said in a statement posted to its Facebook page. Police said at the time that Mr Guerrero had been staying at an Airbnb in Portsmouth, and that he was in the home "with the intent to commit theft and invasion of privacy." Investigators found a video on his phone of the victim sleeping naked in her bed. Mr Guerrero admitted to recording the video, and the victim said she never gave him permission to film her, according to a detective's affidavit. Police said the victim initially agreed to meet with Mr Guerrero because he had offered to buy her a TV and a fireplace for her apartment. “She said he seemed nice at first and she gave him her address because he wanted to buy her a TV and fireplace for her apartment in Dover,” a police affidavit explains. “She never really wanted to meet him, but he was very pushy.” Read More Pennsylvania man charged with hiding in OnlyFans model’s attic and secretly filming her OnlyFans star Christina Ashten Gourkani dies of heart attack after ‘medical procedure’, aged 34 OnlyFans model files $6.3bn revenge porn lawsuit against ex-boyfriend after he posted graphic images following split

Ukraine claims to have shot down a volley of Russian hypersonic missiles – one of Moscow's most potent weapons – during an attack on the capital Kyiv described as "exceptional in density". It is the first time Ukraine has claimed to have struck down multiple Kinzhal – which means "dagger" in Russian – missiles in one go. If confirmed it would be a demonstration of the effectiveness of Kyiv's newly-deployed Western air defences in helping thwart some of Russia's most advanced weaponry. President Vladimir Putin has previously claimed that the Kinzhal would be able to "overcome all existing and, I think, prospective anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense systems". Officials claimed to have intercepted all six of the Kinzhal fired at it, as part of a volley of 18 missiles launched by Moscow's forces in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Video footage showed air defences destroying targets over the capital, with the barrage also including cruise missiles and kamikaze drones. The overnight attack on Kyiv was "exceptional in its density – the maximum number of attacking missiles in the shortest period of time", said Serhii Popko, the head of the Kyiv military administration. Kyiv authorities said three people were wounded by falling debris. “Another unbelievable success for the Ukrainian air forces!” Oleksii Reznikov, the defence minister, said on Twitter. If the Kinzhal claims are confirmed as accurate, it highlights the role that modern Western weaponry – such as the US-made Patriot surface-to-air missiles defence system – can have in Ukraine repelling missile assaults in what would be a blow to the Kremlin. Russia, always keen not to lose face in the propaganda war that surrounds the battlefield action, itself claimed to have destroyed a Patriot missile battery in Kyiv using a Kinzhal, but the Defence Ministry spokesman – Igor Konashenkov – did not provide evidence. Reports last week suggested that Russia has previously tried to destroy Patriot systems, that arrived in Ukraine a few weeks ago. Russia also said that Tuesday's attack had hit all its targets, which it claimed had been aimed at Ukrainian fighting units and ammunition storage sites. Kinzhal missiles, which travel on a ballistic trajectory and have a potential maximum speed of more than 7,000mph (11,000km/h), can carry conventional or nuclear warheads up to 1,200 miles (2,000km). Russia used the weapon in warfare for the first time in Ukraine last year and has only acknowledged firing the missiles on a few occasions. Mr Putin has frequently touted it as proof of world-beating Russian military hardware, capable of taking on Nato. Acknowledging the use of the weapon last March, US President Joe Biden called the Kinzhal a "consequential weapon" and that it is "almost impossible to stop it". With Ukrainian forces preparing to go on the offensive against Russia's invasion for the first time in six months, Moscow is now launching long-range air strikes at the highest frequency months. It has launched eight drone and missile volleys so far this month, compared to weekly during the winter and a lull in March and April. Kyiv says it has been shooting most down. This latest assault followed President Volodymyr Zelensky’s trip to various European capitals – London, Berlin, Paris and Rome – as he calls on Western allies to send Kyiv more advanced weaponry and fighter jets and speed up deliveries. Mr Zelensky met with Rishi Sunak on his mini-European tour and the prime minister said during a trip to Iceland on Tuesday that he would discuss the issue with European allies. "I'll be talking to other countries, making sure that we continue to support Ukraine, give them the support that they need to defend themselves against Russian aggression, and also start thinking about the longer term security arrangements that we will want to put in place to support Ukraine in the long term," Mr Sunak said, with him due to meet meets other leaders at the Council of Europe Summit. During the past week, Ukraine says its forces have made their biggest gains on the battlefields of eastern Ukraine in months, recapturing several square km of territory on the northern and southern outskirts of the city of Bakhmut. The city has been the scene for some of the bloodiest fighting of the war and its fate has taken on symbolic significance to both Kyiv and Moscow. Ukrainian deputy defence minister. Hanna Maliar, said on Tuesday that troops have made gains around Bakhmut in recent days but Russian forces have advanced slightly in the eastern city itself. She said the Ukrainian military had reclaimed about 20 square kilometres (7.5 square miles) or territory from the Russian forces in the past few days around Bakhmut, "For example, within a few days, our troops liberated about 20 square kilometers from the enemy in the north and south of the suburbs of Bakhmut," she wrote on the Telegram messaging app. "At the same time, the enemy is advancing somewhat in Bakhmut itself, completely destroying the city with artillery." Kyiv says those advances are localised and do not yet represent the full force of its upcoming counteroffensive to reclaim territory taken by Russia during their invasion and Ms Maliar,, said developments there "should not be taken out of context". Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary Oireachtas committee warned of ‘arms race’ with AI technologies Former MI6 boss warns Britain has ‘lost its way’ without Cold War threat Sunak’s hope to make migration focus at European gathering dampened by host

Ukraine said its forces advanced in the suburbs around the eastern city of Bakhmut in heavy fighting, even

The man suspected of attacking Virginia congressman Gerry Connolly’s staff with a baseball bat appears to have been captured on a doorbell camera chasing a woman with a baseball bat just minutes before the attack at Mr Connolly’s office. The footage, uploaded to Twitter, shows a woman screaming while running through a person’s backyard, while being chased by a man holding a bat. Just minutes later, around 10.50 am, on Monday a suspect turned up at Mr Connolly’s district office and attacked two of his staffers with a metal baseball bat, striking one on the head and the other on the side. It is unclear if the metal baseball bat used to attack the staffers was the same bat that appears in the doorbell footage video. The suspect was identified as 49-year-old Xuan-Kha Tran Pham by the City of Fairfax Police Department. According to a statement from Mr Connolly, the two staffers who were hit received “non-life threatening injures” and were transported to the hospital. One police officer also sustained minor injuries. “I have the best team in Congress. My District Office staff make themselves available to constituents and members of the public every day. The thought that someone would take advantage of my staff’s accessibility to commit an act of violence is unconscionable and devastating,” Mr Connolly said in a statement. Fairfax Police said they arrived within five minutes of the call to police and took Mr Pham into custody. He is currently being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center without bail on warrants of one count of felony aggravated malicious wounding and malicious wounding. Police are unsure of the motive behind the attack on the staffers, but said they were coordinating with the US Capitol Police and Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Washington Field Office. The attack is the latest in a string of violent threats made against members of Congress. In February, Representative Angie Craig (D-MN) was attacked outside her Washington DC apartment. Last year, a man attacked then-Representative Lee Zeldin (R-NY) who was campaigning for governor at the time. In addition, a man broke into the San Francisco home of then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and assaulted her husband Paul Pelosi. Read More A suspect looking for a Virginia congressman attacked two of his staffers with a baseball bat. What happened? Congressman’s staffers hospitalised after baseball bat attack at Virginia office An assault on congressional staff shows how all too commonplace political violence has become What we know about baseball bat attack on Virginia congressman’s staff Biden to mark Jewish American Heritage Month with Broadway stars, speak out on antisemitism Man with baseball bat attacks Virginia congressman's staffers; suspect in custody