First Thing: Biden lifts ban on Ukraine firing US weapons deeper into Russia

Ukraine will be permitted to fire US missiles in Kursk region. Plus, attorneys would be unable to stop Trump’s potential Capitol rioters pardon

Good morning.

Joe Biden has lifted the ban on Ukraine using long-range missiles to fire into Russian territory by permitting them to be used against Russian and North Korean forces in the Kursk region.

The president will allow Ukraine to use Atacms rockets, which have a range of 190 miles (305km) – a decision being justified by the presence of North Korean troops fighting alongside Russia against Ukraine.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said: “Today, there’s a lot of talk in the media about us receiving permission for respective actions. But strikes are not carried out with words. Such things are not announced. Missiles will speak for themselves.”

• How did Russia react? So far, Vladimir Putin has not said anything. But Vladimir Dzhabarov, the first deputy head of the Russian upper house’s international affairs committee, said: “This is a very big step towards the start of world war three.”

• How could this change the war? Ukraine has recently been losing ground on the frontline, and the deployment of thousands of North Korean troops threatened to tilt the war further in Russia’s favor. As Trump signals his desire to wind up the war with ceasefire negotiations – which critics say will mean, in effect, a Russian land grab – the use of long-range missiles gives Ukraine an opportunity to hang on to its territorial gains in Russia’s Kursk region. It could become a key bargaining chip. But it’s also likely to escalate the conflict.

RFK Jr’s cousin Caroline Kennedy attacks his ‘dangerous’ vaccine views

The outgoing US ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, said her cousin Robert F Kennedy Jr’s views on vaccines were “dangerous”. Trump has nominated Kennedy to oversee US health agencies despite his propagation of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories.

“I think Bobby Kennedy’s views on vaccines are dangerous … but I don’t think that most Americans share them. So we’ll just have to wait and see what happens,” she told reporters in Canberra.

The daughter of the late president John F Kennedy also criticized Trump’s pick of Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence. The choice of Gabbard, a supporter of Russia, would “obviously … be of great concern”, she said.

• What could be the impact of RFK Jr’s nomination? Dr Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said even if public policies remained unchanged, authorities from the federal government speaking out against vaccines “discourages people who might otherwise be vaccinated, and at that point that’s as bad as not having a vaccine at all”.

Israel intensifies bombing as Beirut airstrike kills Hezbollah media chief

Hezbollah’s chief spokesperson has been killed by an Israeli airstrike on Beirut, as Israel intensifies its air offensive in Lebanon despite ongoing indirect negotiations for a ceasefire.

Mohammed Afif, who has been the public face of Hezbollah for months, was killed in a strike on the offices of the Ba’ath party in Ras al-Nabaa, central Beirut. The attack in the busy residential area came without warning, and appeared to damage neighbouring buildings.

Witnesses said they saw four bodies at the scene of the strike, which took place a day before Lebanon was expected to deliver its response to a US-delivered ceasefire proposal.

• What is the humanitarian fallout from the conflict? In Lebanon, 3,481 people have been killed since Israel invaded on 1 October, including 29 in the past 24 hours, health officials said Sunday.

• What about Gaza? After the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people and during which 250 were taken hostage, Israel has bombarded the territory with airstrikes and a ground invasion. Infrastructure has been decimated, the population displaced multiple times and brought close to starvation, and 43,799 people have been killed, according to Gaza health officials, with a UN Human Rights Office verifying nearly 70% were women and children. The death toll is understood to be an underestimate, with the UN estimating in May 2024 that more than 10,000 people’s bodies are under the rubble.

In other news …

• Donald Trump is considering pardons for 6 January 2021 Capitol rioters. Legal analysts have said attorneys and lawmakers who oppose the pardons would be unable to stop them.

• A California-based farm is recalling its carrots after an E coli outbreak infected scores of people.

• Rightwing settlers and extremist nationalist Zionists in Israel have described top officials in Trump’s administration as a “dream team”, hoping to expand Israel’s occupied Palestinian territory.

• Spain’s economy minister urged the G20 to “be brave”over a global minimum tax for the world’s 3,000 billionaires.

Stat of the day: X rival Bluesky hits 16m users

Bluesky, emerging as X’s newest rival, has amassed 16m users, including 1m in 24 hours. Hundreds of thousands of users have quit X, including the Guardian, since Donald Trump’s election victory, amid X-owner Elon Musk’s rightwing cheerleading and the platform’s hate speech and bots. Meta’s Threads has reported reaching 275m monthly active users, and X has about 317m.

Don’t miss this: Is the era of celebrity endorsements over?

Focus on A-list talent, such as Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, may have reinforced an out-of-touch vision, or maybe celebrity support holds no political power. Edward Helmore asks if the age of celebrity endorsements is over.

Climate check: Crisis to blame for dozens of ‘impossible’ heatwaves, studies reveal

At least 24 previously impossible heatwaves have struck communities across the planet, Carbon Brief has found. Scientific analyses showed virtually zero chance of their occurrence without global warming.

Last Thing: New Orleans dog, Scrim, makes second daring escape

Scrim, a terrier, escaped his adopted home and spent about six months on the run. Eventually he was found. But on Friday morning, he busted through a second-floor window and made a second dash for freedom. Scrim is “for the streets”, wrote one social media user.

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