First Thing: Late Jesuit global leader allegedly let known child molester become a priest

The Guardian

24-07-2025

Good morning.
The former worldwide leader of the Jesuit religious order Pedro Arrupe acknowledged he was warned that one of his aspiring priests had been accused of sexually molesting two children and had admitted making sexual advances on a third, court documents reveal.
Donald J Dickerson, who died in 2016, was ordained, and there is no evidence in the Louisiana state court case that Arrupe, a candidate for Catholic sainthood who died in 1991, took any action to stop this.
After Dickerson's death, the Jesuits confirmed he was among hundreds of their members with substantial claims against them for child molestation.
What is the claim in the Louisiana case? The lawsuit claims Dickerson raped a 17-year-old student at a Jesuit-run university in New Orleans.
Donald Trump's name is reported to appear 'multiples times' in US justice department files about Jeffrey Epstein, in a development that threatens to increase outrage among his base, which suspects a coverup of the Epstein's sexual crimes and elite connections.
Trump's spokesperson denied an account in the Wall Street Journal newspaper that the attorney general, Pam Bondi, told the president in May that he was named in the notorious Epstein files, as he sought to downplay the report as 'fake news'.
The report, which cites senior administration officials, said Trump was told that many other high-profile figures were also named. It comes after the president faced a fierce – and rare – backlash from his base earlier this month, after the justice department announced it would not be publishing more information related to the Epstein case.
Should we expect further developments? Yes. On Wednesday, the House oversight committee voted 8-2 to subpoena the justice department to release files related to Epstein, and subpoenaed Ghislaine Maxwell for a deposition.
Deadly fighting has erupted between Thai and Cambodian troops along a disputed stretch of their border as both states accused the other of provocation.
The clashes came after weeks of rising tensions between the south-east-Asian countries. At least 12 Thai people, including an eight-year-old boy, were killed across three provinces, the Thai army said. They included 11 civilians and a soldier.
It added that it had closed all border checkpoints as violence continued at six different locations. There was no immediate information on casualties in Cambodia.
How did it start? Clashes broke out near the Khmer Hindu temple Ta Muen Thom on Thursday morning.
Skeletal children are filling Gaza's hospital wards as Israel chokes off food shipments to the territory, which the World Health Organization chief warned is now facing 'man-made … mass starvation'.
Seoul has remained silent as North Korea has become increasingly active in its military support for Russia against Ukraine, with experts pointing to strategic, domestic political and economic factors for its lack of response.
A passenger plane has crashed in Russia's far east with 49 people onboard. Officials fear there are no survivors.
Columbia University has announced a deal to pay the Trump administration more than $220m as the institution aims to quash the threat of huge funding cuts.
Good news for those who don't quite hit their 10,000 daily step target: 7,000 may just be enough. Achieving the more manageable target comes with a host of benefits, including links to a 37% reduction in the risk of dying from cancer, compared with just doing 2,000 steps. It is also connected to lowering the risk of dementia by 38%, the risk of depression by 22%, and a 25% lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
A handy way of making sure your partner is safe – or a massive privacy violation? The jury is out on (consensual) location tracking, but there are signs that younger generations may have more relaxed views about it, with a recent Australian survey finding that nearly one in five 18- to 24-year-olds think it is fine to track their partner at all times. The Guardian's Leah Harper tried it out with her partner for a week, while hearing from experts about the risks to privacy – as well as romance.
Boston is on the frontline of the climate crisis, with the emergency increasingly visible in a city known to flood. Rising sea levels, more severe storms and higher rainfall are all expected to intensify the problem, while the Trump administration remains in denial about the climate crisis despite the flash floods that killed more than 130 people in Texas this month. The Massachusetts city is leading the way in climate resilience, from accounting for sea level rises in building codes to prioritizing nature-based defenses.
The Elvis Evolution bills itself as a 'walk-through experience' with 'cutting-edge digital technology, live actors and musicians, mind-blowing multimedia and heart-pounding music'. While people might have expected holograms in the style of the virtual reality smash hit Abba Voyage, many were disappointed, with one attender describing it as 'just a video of him that you could watch on YouTube' while a review noted that there was 'a noticeable amount of booing' from the audience. Is it this summer's version of last year's viral Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow?
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