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First Thing: Obama backs compromise to voting rights bill before Senate vote

<span>Photograph: Elijah Nouvelage/AFP/Getty Images</span>
Photograph: Elijah Nouvelage/AFP/Getty Images

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.

Big Sur fire: hundreds of firefighters battle California blaze

Smoke rises from the Willow Fire near Big Sur, California, on Sunday 20 June.
Smoke rises from the Willow Fire near Big Sur, California, on Sunday 20 June. Photograph: AP

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

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on 21 July, 2020 in Washington, DC.
Donald Trump speaks to reporters during a news conference at the White House in Washington DC on 21 July 2020. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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.

Carl Nassib becomes first active NFL player to come out

Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib leaves the field after an NFL football game against the Atlanta Falcons in Atlanta on 29 November, 2020.
Carl Nassib of the Las Vegas Raiders leaves the field after an NFL football game against the Atlanta Falcons in Atlanta on 29 November 2020. Photograph: John Bazemore/AP

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.

In other news …

A gondolier rows on the Grand Canal in Venice on 7 June, 2021.
A gondolier rows on the Grand Canal in Venice on 7 June 2021. Photograph: Yara Nardi/Reuters
  • Venice may be put on the Unesco’s endangered list if the lagoon city does not issue a permanent ban on cruise ships docking there, the UN heritage agency has said, after stars including Mick Jagger and Tilda Swinton recently signed a letter urging Rome to take urgent action to protect the historic city and its famous canals.

  • Households with recent birthdays were about 30% more likely to test positive with Covid in areas with high infection rates, a study involving nearly 3m homes in the US has found.

  • The president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has threatened to jail people who refuse to take the Covid vaccine, as the Philippines battles one of Asia’s worst coronavirus outbreaks.

  • Colombia is also being battered by a third coronavirus wave amid continuing social unrest, although protest leaders have agreed to pause mass marches as intensive care units struggle to cope with a surging influx of patients, Joe Parkin Daniels writes.

Stat of the day: Coffee drinkers have a 49% lower chance of dying from chronic liver disease

A UK analysis has found that drinking coffee cuts the risk of dying fromchronic liver disease by a staggering 49%, making our daily oat latte treat markedly less naughty than perhaps assumed. Liver disease is the third leading cause of premature death in the UK, with deaths up 400% since 1970, but also a major health concern elsewhere in the world.

Don’t miss this: Musicians describe what Joni Mitchell’s Blue album means to them, as it turns 50

Half a century after the release of the legendary album, 16 musicians that were inspired by it – and those who inspired it – have told the Guardian which track means the most to them and why. “It was a calm, peaceful, amazing, creative time,” James Taylor reminisces. “She quit smoking and her voice was excellent. She was at the height of her powers.”

Last Thing: A new Norwegian sex guide is dividing the internet

Done a “clamping koala” yet? If not, nil desperandum, Norway’s public broadcaster NRK has got you. It has kindly collated advice on the best positions to try during a bit of hanky-panky, whether you’re in the mood for a “spaghetti”, a “silkworm”, a “wheel of fortune” or “the flamingo” – to the dismay of some and the delight of about 850,000 people who have checked the naughty guide out since it went live on 11 June.

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