TWENTY SECOND DAY

Alabama: pregnant woman shot in stomach is charged in fetus's death

Marshae Jones was charged with manslaughter, while the woman accused of shooting her walks
free, report says
A woman from Alabama who was shot in the stomach while pregnant – with the bullets killing the fetus –
has been charged with manslaughter.
Marshae Jones was reportedly five months pregnant when she was shot by another woman in December
outside a shop in Pleasant Grove, near Birmingham.
On Wednesday, Jones, 27, was indicted by a Jefferson county grand jury on a manslaughter charge and is
expected to be held in Jefferson county jail on a $50,000 bond, while the woman accused of shooting her
walked free, reported AL.com.
The case has raised alarm among pro-choice groups who say it is shocking evidence of how the state’s
restrictive abortion laws are now being used against pregnant women.
“The investigation showed that the only true victim in this was the unborn baby,’’ said Lt Danny Reid of
Pleasant Grove police following the shooting, reported AL.com in December. “It was the mother of the child
who initiated and continued the fight which resulted in the death of her own unborn baby.”
The Guardian has contacted Jefferson county district attorney’s office for comment.
It comes after the Alabama governor, Kay Ivey ,signed a bill in May banning abortion in almost every
circumstance – including rape and incest – posing a challenge to Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 supreme
court judgment that guaranteed abortion rights across the nation.
Alabama is one of 38 states with fetal homicide laws that recognize a fetus as a potential victim.
It is also a “stand-your-ground” state, which means people are allowed to use physical force to defend
themselves if their reason is considered “justifiable”.
The ruling has prompted outcry on Twitter – including from abortion groups, who spoke out in Jones’s
support.
“Marshae Jones was indicted for manslaughter for losing a pregnancy after being shot in the abdomen
FIVE times. Her shooter remains free,” wrote Alabama-based abortion group the Yellowhammer Fund on
Twitter. “We’re going to get Marshae out of jail and assist with her legal representation.”
Ilyse Hogue, president of Naral Pro-Choice America, tweeted: “Marshae Jones was indicted for homicide
when someone shot her in the stomach while she was pregnant, ending her pregnancy. They said she
‘started it.’ The shooter went free. This what 2019 looks like for a pregnant woman of colour without means
in a red state. This is now.”

Jony Ive, Apple designer behind iPhone and iMac, to exit company after 30 years
Ive to remain ‘very involved’ with Apple as he launches new creative company
Jony Ive, the chief architect of groundbreaking and distinctive designs from the iMac to the iPhone,
announced on Thursday that he is leaving Apple after nearly 30 years.
Ive’s departure, which was announced in an exclusive interview with the Financial Times, is sure to set off
shock waves in the tech and design worlds, but the 52-year-old Brit will remain involved with Apple. He
plans to launch a new creative company called LoveFrom – and said Apple will be his first client.
“While I will not be an employee, I will still be very involved – I hope for many, many years to come,” Ive
told the FT. “This just seems like a natural and gentle time to make this change.”
“Jony is a singular figure in the design world and his role in Apple’s revival cannot be overstated,” chief
executive Tim Cook said in a statement. “Apple will continue to benefit from Jony’s talents by working
directly with him on exclusive projects, and through the ongoing work of the brilliant and passionate design
team he has built.”
Cook further paid tribute to Ive in an interview with the FT, highlighting his role in rescuing the company
from its early-90s doldrums: “The work on the original iMac was sort of the point at which people began to
pay attention to Apple again on something other than how badly economically the company was doing.
“We get to continue with the same team that we’ve had for a long time and have the pleasure of continuing
to work with Jony,” he added. “I can’t imagine a better result.”
Ive’s departure comes at a tricky moment for Apple, which became the world’s first trillion-dollar
company in August 2018, but has faltered amid increased competition, slowing demand for smartphones,
and the escalating trade war between the US and China. The company shocked investors in January when
it was forced to downgrade sales forecasts , the first such warning the company had issued since 2002.
In recent months, Apple has moved to diversify its revenues away from hardware sales and toward
subscription services, including a bid to take on Netflix with original entertainment content.
Apple’s stock fell approximately 1% in after-hours trading on news of Ive’s departure.
Ive’s influence at Apple pre-dates his employment there. He worked on the company’s original Apple
PowerBook 140, released in 1991, while still employed by the British design firm Tangerine.
His first truly iconic hit after joining Apple was the 1998 iMac with its translucent “Bondi blue” casing. Next
came the iPod, the iPhone and the Apple Watch.
But Ive’s influence extended beyond hardware design. Starting in 2012, he took over design of Apple’s
software, which resulted in a total overhaul of the iPhone’s operating system, iOS. Ive jettisoned the cutesy
faux leather and paper icons and pseudo-3D textures, opting for flat and abstract iconography.
He was also involved in designing Apple’s new headquarters, Apple Park, the $5bn futuristic “spaceship”
that opened in 2017.
The designer also had his share of misses – and critics. As stunning as Apple Park’s four-story glass walls
may be, the minimalist design failed to include the usual markings that can prevent birds – and humans –
from walking into them, resulting in multiple 911-call-inducing accidents. In March, Apple debuted a
beautifully absurd “laser-etched” titanium credit card that drew instant ridicule.
No immediate successor has been named to fill Ive’s role as chief design officer. The heads of the
company’s user interface team and industrial design teams, Alan Dye and Evans Hankey, will both report
to the chief operating officer, Jeff Williams, Apple said.
“I certainly have an ambition and feel almost a moral obligation to be useful,” Ive told the paper. “I feel I’ve
been fortunate enough to work with remarkable people over the last 30-plus years and have worked on
some very interesting projects and solved some very difficult problems. I feel keenly aware of a
responsibility to do something significant with that learning.”

Build more nuclear reactors to reach net zero carbon target – CBI
Business group says nuclear programme will be key for low carbon economy in UK
The UK should keep building large-scale nuclear plants and “mini-nuke” reactors to help reach a net zero
carbon target by 2050, according to Britain’s biggest business group.
In a letter to the business secretary, Greg Clark, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said the UK’s
struggling new nuclear programme has “an important role” in a low carbon economy “at the right price”.
It said a funding model for large-scale nuclear and small modular reactors would help provide economic
benefits by encouraging foreign investment into the UK.
The government is struggling to agree a funding framework for a follow up to EDF Energy’s Hinkley Point C
new nuclear project which has been widely criticised for being too expensive at an expected £20bn.
EDF will begin construction of the nuclear buildings above ground from Friday, and is on track to powering
7% of the UK’s electricity system by the end of 2025.
Rain Newton-Smith, the CBI’s chief economist, said it is “mission critical” that business, politicians and the
public work together to create a net zero carbon economy by 2050.
The CBI letter was released after the climate goal officially became law on Thursday.
It also follows a flurry of government funding for nine new carbon capture pilot projects, which will trap and
store emissions before they enter the atmosphere.
The CBI has also called on the government to “unblock” the pipeline of new onshore wind farms if it hopes
to reduce the cost of moving to a zero carbon economy.
Sign up to the daily Business Today email or follow Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk
The business group warned that “hindering the continued deployment of the cheapest form of renewable
electricity is hampering the goal of decarbonising at the lowest cost”.
“We must see action to unblock the substantial pipeline of onshore wind projects ready to be developed
and built in parts of the country where they receive public support, such as Scotland,” the letter said.
It also called for government to help create a route to market for low-cost solar power, including projects
that combine battery storage.
“Firms want to see a whole host of stable, long-term policies enacted – from building new nuclear power
stations to scaling-up carbon capture and storage technology and infrastructure – that send markets a
robust signal: the UK is open for green business, and is a world leader in tackling climate change,” Newton-
Smith said.
Academies without parents on boards 'risk community rejection'
Health officials warn ‘the worst is still to come’, with temperatures expected to exceed 44C in some
areas
Firefighters battled wildfires at a scale not seen for 20 years in Spain and southern France was placed on
unprecedented red alert as much of western Europe sweltered in an extreme early-summer heatwave on
Thursday.
With temperatures in northern Spain and southern France set to exceed 44C, governments urged their
citizens to take the utmost precaution, warning that in some areas the worst was yet to come.
The conditions led officials to raise the French extreme heat alert to red. The alert, signifying a “dangerous
weather phenomenon”, was the first since the system was introduced in 2004 following a 2003 heatwave
that led to 15,000 premature deaths.
It was issued for the four southern départements of Hérault, Gard, Vaucluse and Bouches-du-Rhône. “All
members of the public should be concerned, even those who are in good health,” the interior ministry
warned.
In Spain, more than 500 firefighters and soldiers struggled to bring a huge forest fire under control in the
Catalan province of Tarragona that has so far burned across 5,500 hectares (12,355 acres) of land.
Fifty-three people have been evacuated from their homes, five roads remain cut off and the civil protection
authorities have advised people not to enter the area unless absolutely necessary. Hundreds of sheep
have died in the smoke and flames.
“We’re facing a serious fire on a scale not seen for 20 years,” the region’s interior minister, Miquel
Buch, said in a tweet. “It could burn through 20,000 hectares. Let’s be very aware that any carelessness
could lead to a catastrophe.”
The head of the regional fire service said it was hard to be optimistic. “The terrain is complicated, which
causes a lot of problems, and the weather conditions aren’t favourable,” David Borrell told Catalunya
Ràdio. “That’s tiring us out and meaning we have to work hard to achieve our objectives.”
The 350 local firefighters battling the blaze have been joined by 221 specialists from Spain’s military
emergency unit, as well as planes, helicopters, tractors and other heavy machinery.
As people across Europe sought out rivers, lakes, fountains and swimming pools to stay cool, authorities in
Milan, in northern Italy, said a 72-year-old homeless man had died at the city’s main train station after
falling ill due to the heatwave.
The French health minister, Agnès Buzyn, said the peak of the heatwave would not hit the south of the
country before Friday and expressed irritation that despite an increase in the number of calls to emergency
services, some people did not appear to be heeding health warnings.
“We see citizens who are quite irresponsible and continue to go jogging between midday and 2pm,” Buzyn
said, also complaining of parents leaving their children in the car while shopping.
The average high of 39.4C on Wednesday broke France’s previous June record, Météo-France said,
adding that the country’s all-time highest temperature of 44.1C – recorded on 12 August 2003 at two spots
in the Gard département – would probably be surpassed.
Germany also broke its June temperature record, which dated back to 1947, with a 38.6C reading in
Coschen near the Polish border. At least four people died in bathing accidents in different parts of the
country on Wednesday, authorities said.
Water restrictions were imposed in North Rhine Westphalia, although there was some relief in northern
Germany on Thursday as temperatures fell to levels more typical for June. In Berlin the temperature was
26C on Thursday afternoon, down from about 37C on Wednesday.
Parts of northern France were also put on drought alert, with water supplies to businesses, farmers and
ordinary residents restricted. The agriculture minister, Didier Guillaume, banned the transportation of all
animals until the heatwave has ended.
Most schools in Paris will stay open until the summer holidays start on Friday afternoon, authorities said,
but many childcare facilities were closed and 59 primary schools were shut in the Essonne département
outside the capital.

In Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Strasbourg, authorities banned older cars with higher emissions levels from
the roads in an attempt to offset a peak in air pollution, while the French hotel group Accor opened its air-
conditioned lobbies to elderly people until Saturday.
“Calls to the emergency services are on the rise nationwide. We are seeing the beginning of a clear impact
of the heatwave,” Jérôme Salomon, head of public health in France, said. “For us, the worst is still to
come.”
Parts of Britain are also expected to experience hot temperatures on Saturday, with a high of 32C forecast
in London.
Scientists have said Europe’s 2019 heatwave, like last year’s, is closely linked to the climate emergency
and that such extreme weather events will be many times more likely over the coming decades.
Epic Chinese war film premiere cancelled in apparent censorship
Communist party figures say The Eight Hundred glorifies second world war heroism of rival
Nationalist party
The premiere of an epic Chinese war movie has been cancelled a week before its scheduled release, in
what appears to be a new round of tightening of ideological control in the country.
A terse one-sentence statement on the official microblog of the film The Eight Hundred this week
announced that the film’s 5 July premiere will be cancelled and “a new release date will be announced
later”.
The film had already been pulled the day before its opening-night premiere at the prestigious Shanghai
International Film Festival earlier this month, apparently because it glorifies the second world war heroism
of the Communists’ rival Nationalist party, according to Chinese-language media reports.
The ruling Nationalist party fought alongside the Communists against Japan during the second world war,
but retreated to Taiwan after it lost the Chinese civil war in 1949.
Chinese propaganda emphasises the Communist party’s valiant role in the war against Japan but portrays
the Nationalist party as having had a marginal and passive role.
The cancellation of The Eight Hundred came after a group of retired party cadres and conservative figures,
including high-ranking former military personnel, lashed out at the movie in a seminar on films on 9 June.
Such retired officials still exercise influence over ideological matters.
An article on a Maoist website said the 17 participants at the China Red Culture Research Association
seminar unanimously regarded the film as an “inappropriate” tribute to the 70th anniversary of the founding
of the People’s Republic of China.
The film tells the story of how hundreds of Chinese Nationalist soldiers bravely defended a warehouse
against Japanese forces for several days to cover Chinese troops retreating west during the Battle of
Shanghai in 1937.
While the act of bravery of the so-called “800 heroes” should be remembered, the article quoted the former
cadres as saying, the film’s glorification of the Nationalist party’s heroic role was unacceptable.
“The class oppression within the Nationalist army, its officers’ misdeeds and its evil oppression of the
people are nowhere to be found [in the film], as if the Nationalist army was the real people’s army,” they
said. “[The film] used fragments of history to cover up the reality and embellish the Nationalist’s war
efforts.”
They criticised the prominent display of the Nationalist party’s flag in a moving scene where the soldiers
defend the flag on the warehouse roof. The film “should not so passionately promote the ‘dignity’ and the
‘sanctity’ of the Nationalist flag ... This is an insult to the People’s Republic of China.”
The Communist party rigorously guards its version of history, which it regards as the source of its
legitimacy. In a famous speech made in 1942, Mao Zedong stressed the need for art to subordinate itself to
politics.
“Literature and art are subordinate to politics and yet in turn exert enormous influence on it,” the future
Chinese leader said. “Ideological warfare and literary and artistic warfare, especially if these wars are
revolutionary, are necessarily subservient to political warfare.”
President Xi Jinping appears to share Mao’s view of ideological control; in 2013 an internal party edict
known as Document No. 9 ordered cadres to tackle seven “subversive” influences on society, including
“historical nihilism” – a move that effectively bans any versions of history other than the official one.
“Arts and culture are part of the propaganda and ... more and more, literature is at the service of the party
especially when it tackles historical subjects,” said Jean-Philippe Beja, research emeritus professor at the
Centre for International Studies and Research at Sciences-Po in Paris. “There is no way that through
literature, TV or films you can change the historical interpretation by the party.
“The victory over Japan is part of the legitimacy of the Communist party, to talk of the heroism of the
Nationalist party is something akin to being a traitor,” he said.
Joseph Cheng, retired political science professor at the City University of Hong Kong, said the cancellation
of the film shows that ideological control is tightening in China and no independent view of history is
allowed.
“The Chinese authorities suffer from a sense of insecurity, and in order to be politically safe, new and
innovative ideas are not accepted even in the fields of the film industry and the creative arts,” he said.