Frantic search for survivors in Texas

PLUS: London remembers 7/7, 20 years on | Norrie the last Briton standing at Wimbledon | Rooney scores a lucrative punditry deal on the BBC

In your briefing today:

  • Frantic search continues in Texas after those weekend floods

  • London remembers 7/7, 20 years on

  • Norrie is the last Briton standing at Wimbledon

  • Rooney scores a £400k-a-year pundit deal on the BBC

TODAY’S WEATHER

☁️ Dry and bright in Glasgow and Aberdeen, with the breeze slightly stronger in Edinburgh. London similarly dry, and a little warmer. (Here’s the UK forecast).

THE BIG STORIES
Frantic search continues in Texas, as death toll rises | Scottish ambulance wait grows | Murder trial verdict

📣 A frantic search for survivors continues in Texas after floods which have killed 82, including 28 children at a holiday camp that was inundated by waters after heavy rainfall. Authorities say the death toll is certain to increase, and further rain is expected, increasing the risk for rescue workers. (AP)

  • Officials in Texas are facing scrutiny about the lack of warnings given to people living along the Guadalupe river. (BBC) (AP)

  • Did DOGE cuts reduce the ability of the US National Weather Service to predict the floods? (Independent)

  • Video shows the huge, fast-flowing flood waters of the Guadalupe. (🎥 AP)

📣 Ambulance waiting times for the critically ill have increased across Scotland over the last five years, according to new figures obtained by The Herald.

A freedom of information request shows that waiting times have increased steeply in some areas: the most seriously-ill people in Aberdeenshire, for instance, face an average near 14-minute wait now, compared with nine minutes in 2019.

Response times in Glasgow and Edinburgh are faster - but still up over the five-year period. (The Herald has the exclusive)

📣 Erin Patterson has been found guilty of murdering three people - all her in-laws - with a meal laced with death cap mushrooms. She was found guilty of attempting to murder another person. The 11-week trial had gripped Australia and the wider world as details of the deadly beef wellington lunch Patterson prepared were set out. (BBC live coverage) (Guardian)

  • “The victims of Erin Patterson's deadly death cap lunch died in agony after doctors treated them with a 'virtually useless' drug” (Mail)

IDEAS
Five things we learned over the weekend

🗣️ It’s 20 years to the day since the 7/7 attacks in London. I was working that day, at the Guardian’s offices in Farringdon: it’s a day I’ll never be able to forget. Like everyone in the centre of London that day, the memory of watching the horror unfold around us will live with us for the rest of our lives: the disbelief at the scale of the attacks, the horror and anger as the scenes emerged, and the deep sadness at the huge loss of life. We remember the 52 who died today.

There’s much being written on this anniversary, of course: the most powerful I’ve seen is this account of one survivor: Dan Biddle, who’s near miraculous tale has to be read to be believed. He looked a bomber in the eye as he detonated his backpack, yet survived - just - to tell the tale, thanks to a quick-witted fellow passenger who happened to have served as a combat medic in Kosovo.

Dan’s life has been a struggle since, as you might imagine, but is also an uplifting one: his determination is remarkable. (BBC)

🗣️ A famous book may have painted… an incomplete picture. You might have been one of the millions who discovered The Salt Path as a book, or among the audiences enraptured by the hit film, based on the book, starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs.

Either way, The Observer’s revelations about the veracity of the story - and its claims about the truth behind it - may spoil your perceptions of the work.

For the uninitiated, the story everyone fell in love with was of Raynor and Moth Winn embarking on a 630-mile walk along England’s sea-swept South West Coast Path, the two 50-somethings forced out of their “forever home” in Wales by debts run up when a friend’s business failed. Worse yet, Moth is diagnosed with a terminal illness. The book, when published, was hailed as an epic tale of determination in the face of heartbrerak.

Except… the Observer has now found several people who claim key aspects of the story are untrue, that the protagonist is not called Raynor Winn… and that she’s a thief. Winn is really called Sally Walker and, claims the story, faced criminal allegations which began the cascade of events that ended in that long, homeless walk. Specifically, the money they owed had been used to settle criminal allegations.

The Observer’s work is detailed, and a fascinating read in itself. But fans may decide the book’s heart - a long walk through a spectacular landscape, a spiritual as well as physical journey - remains the point, and intact.

Others might say the omissions rather spoil the whole. (The Observer)

🗣️It’s hard to launch a political party. The attempts by former Labour MP Zarah Sultana to get a new movement off the ground this weekend provided her fellow politicians with some rare moments of mirth - although presumably Jeremy Corbyn, who she announced was “co-leader” of the nameless and unregistered party, was less amused. Those around him certainly weren’t, as a very well-briefed Sunday Times report set out: it claims Sultana went wildly early with her announcement, perhaps intending to secure her leadership role by proclamation, and certainly without the support of many in the loose hard-left coalition around Corbyn. While some MPs may be making jokes about splitters and quoting The Life of Brian, there are real stakes on the table: it’s thought up to 10% of a general election vote could go to a hard left party. Although, one imagines, it would have to be properly organised. (Sunday Times £)

🗣️ Donald Trump is using the madman theory to change the world. And it’s working. A fascinating long read from Allan Little shows how the US President “has made his own unpredictability a key strategic and political asset. He has elevated unpredictability to the status of a doctrine. And now the personality trait he brought to the White House is driving foreign and security policy.” (BBC)

🗣️ The next time you get told your bag is too big for the airplane cabin you may now know why the gate staff were so insistent: they were on a bonus. The Sunday Times reported staff working on easyJet flights at a number of UK airports, including Glasgow, were on a £1-a-bag bounty. The airline charges the flyer £48 if a bag is put into the hold at that late stage. None of this will help you stay calm should the tap on the shoulder come. (Sunday Times £) (Mail)

AROUND SCOTLAND

📣 A man has been charged after a scientist was found seriously injured on a Dundee street on Saturday afternoon. Dr Fortune Gomo, 39, originally from Zimbabwe, was pronounced dead at the scene. (BBC)

📣 Nearly £2 billion has been spent by NHS Scotland on agency and bank nurses and midwives over the past five years. (Scotsman)

📣 Four people taking part in an Orange Order walk in Glasgow City Centre were hit with what was thought to be air weapon pellets. (BBC)

AROUND THE UK & WORLD

📣 Today marks the 20th anniversary of the 7/7 attacks of 2005: Keir Starmer, King Charles and the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, have issued statements remembering the 52 people killed, and more than 770 people injured. (Guardian)

  • Martin Brunt: I was reporting on 7/7. Here’s what happened. (Sky News)

  • How London’s darkest day unfolded, minute by minute (Independent)

📣 Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets US President Donald Trump in Washington today, with tentative hopes of a ceasefire in Gaza growing after 21 months of war. (BBC)

  • An Israeli reservist has told of apparently arbitrary commands to fire on anyone entering areas defined as no-go zones, regardless of whether they posed a threat, a practice he says led to the death of civilians. (Sky News)

📣 The drugs crisis in prisons is the worst it has ever been, say experts, with jails now “almost impossible to run positively”. (The Independent has the exclusive)

📣 A baby elephant has killed two tourists from the UK and New Zealand in Zambia. (Guardian)

SPORT

🎾 Cameron Norrie is the last Briton standing at Wimbledon, with a quarter-final clash with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz to look forward to after beating Nicolás Jarry “in an epic four-hour 27-minute battle”. (Guardian)

🏁 Lando Norris won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone for the first time, finishing a thrilling race ahead of Oscar Piastri who had been handed a ten-second penalty for a controversial move during a safety car period. Nico Hulkenberg came third after starting in 19th, his remarkable drive ending a long wait for an appearance on the podium. (Sky Sports)

⚽️ Wayne Rooney is going to be paid £800,000 over two years to be one of the Match of the Day pundits. (Sun)

👍 That’s your Early Line for the day

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