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First Thing: the US morning briefing

First Thing: Israel launches invasion into southern Lebanon

Israel says ‘heavy fighting’ is under way as it targets Hezbollah. Plus, the Picasso in the cellar
People look at a tank as it emerges from smoke plumes on a hilltop
Israeli army tanks in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, on Tuesday. Photograph: Baz Ratner/AP

Jem Bartholomew

Good morning.

Israeli forces crossed the border into southern Lebanon early on Tuesday morning, the first Israeli ground invasion into the country since 2006.

Israel claimed it was launching a “limited, localised and targeted” operation against Hezbollah. Meanwhile, it continued to bombard the rest of the country and also reportedly carried out deadly strikes on Syria.

At least 95 people were killed in Israeli strikes across Lebanon on Monday, according to the country’s health ministry. An airstrike early on Monday struck an apartment building in central Beirut – the first to hit in the heart of the Lebanese capital since 2006.

Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Naim Qassem, said on Monday night that “resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement”.

  • Why is Israel launching the offensive now? It comes after two weeks of airstrikes, which killed the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday, and a series of deadly explosions to pagers and walkie-talkies that Israel hopes has weakened the agility and organization of Hezbollah. There is also little political incentive for Benjamin Netanyahu to let up, as targeting Hezbollah has given the embattled Israeli prime minister a political boost.

  • What does the invasion mean for the stability of the region? Fears of a wider regional conflict, sparked by the Hamas attacks on 7 October, are closer than ever. The US has called for de-escalation. But, as Joe Biden prepares to leave the White House, Israel’s strongest ally appears to have little leverage. Meanwhile, the reformist-led government of Hezbollah’s backer Iran said it had no plans to send troops to Lebanon, but it was coming under domestic pressure from hardliners.

  • Follow our live blog here.

About 45,000 workers begin strike at US ports after breakdown in union talks
People hold banners on a picket line at Philadelphia’s port
A picket line at Philadelphia’s port in the early hours of Tuesday. Workers chanted: ‘No work without a fair contract.’ Photograph: Ryan Collerd/AP

Some of the busiest ports in the US have gone quiet, as about 45,000 workers represented by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) began walking off the job after their contracts expired at midnight.

Talks over a new union contract between the ILA and the United States Maritime Alliance broke down on Monday. Workers began striking at 12.01am ET on Tuesday, affecting 36 ports along the east and Gulf coasts. The strike is the first by port workers on the east coast since 1977.

  • What are the workers pushing for? Hourly pay under the contract that expired on Monday range from $20 to the top wage of $39. The union seeks raises of 77% over the six-year contract to a top rate of $69 an hour by 2030.

Georgia judge strikes down state’s abortion ban, allowing care to resume
Abortion rights protesters. One is holding aloft a sign that reads: ‘Abortion is healthcare’
Abortion rights protesters near the Georgia state Capitol in Atlanta on 14 May. Photograph: Ben Gray/AP

A Georgia judge on Monday struck down the state’s six-week abortion ban, ruling that it is unconstitutional and blocking it from being enforced. Abortions are now legal in Georgia until about 22 weeks of pregnancy.

Judge Robert McBurney’s ruling came weeks after ProPublica reported that two Georgia women, Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller, died after being unable to access legal abortions in the months after the Roe v Wade ruling was overturned, which had guaranteed the right to an abortion until the point of fetal viability.

  • What are the details? McBurney, Fulton county’s superior judge, ruled that the state’s abortion laws must revert to what they were before the six-week ban – known as the Life Act – was passed in 2019. The ban was blocked as long as Roe v Wade was the law of the land, but went into effect after the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022.

In other news …
The periodical reading room in Doe library, University of California, Berkeley
The periodical reading room in Doe library, University of California, Berkeley. Photograph: San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers/Getty Images

  • California banned legacy college admissions, becoming the fifth state to block universities from admitting students on family connections.

  • Pete Rose, the all-time Major League Baseball hits leader whose legacy was shredded after it was revealed he gambled on games, has died.

  • A devastating fire tore through a bus carrying 44 students and teachers on a school trip outside Bangkok, with up to 25 feared dead.

  • A South Korean court gave three police officers prison sentences over their handling of a 2022 Halloween crush in Seoul that killed 159 people.

  • Vice-presidential hopefuls will debate tonight, as JD Vance and Tim Walz go head-to-head on CBS at 9pm ET.

  • Jimmy Carter, the US president from 1977-81, turns 100 today. He is the country’s oldest-ever living president.

Stat of the day: Mount Everest has grown 15-50 meters in 89,000 years

Climbers on Mount Everest
Mount Everest, as seen from Gokyo Valley. Photograph: Daniel Prudek/Alamy

Researchers say Mount Everest is having a growth spurt. The Himalayan peak, formed about 50m years ago when the Indian subcontinent smashed into the Eurasian tectonic plate, has ascended even further in the past 89,000 years. It has gained 15-50 meters as a result of erosion by neighboring rivers.

Don’t miss this: What AI images reveal about our world
An AI image, some of it pixellated, of a bird in flight
From here on out, it’s safest to assume that any image you encounter might be AI generated. Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images

As generative AI advances, it is easy to see it as yet another area where machines are taking over. But humans remain at the center of AI art, just in ways we might not expect, writes Rachel Ossip for the long read.

Climate check: More than 120 dead and a million without power after ‘historic’ Hurricane Helene

A woman kayaks past a ‘stop’ sign on a flooded street
Halle Brooks kayaks down a street flooded by Hurricane Helene in the Shore Acres neighborhood of St Petersburg, Florida. Photograph: Mike Carlson/AP

As the south-east US continues recovery efforts after Hurricane Helene’s devastation, the death toll keeps climbing, with more than 120 killed across several states. More than a million Americans were without power in the Carolinas and Georgia on Monday morning. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said the hurricane was made worse by global heating.

Last Thing: Experts confirm painting found by junk dealer in cellar is original Picasso
Picasso painting
This painting of Pablo Picasso’s mistress and muse was found in a villa in Capri and recently verified. Photograph: Utente/Supplied

It spent years in a cellar in Capri. Then it hung on a cheap frame on a living room wall for decades. Now Italian experts have confirmed the painting is by Pablo Picasso, and appears to be a distorted portrait of French photographer and painter Dora Maar. But not everyone likes it. “My mother didn’t want to keep it – she kept saying it was horrible,” the owner said.

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