First Thing: Harris says death of Yahya Sinwar is chance to finally end Israel-Gaza war

Other leaders joined calls for ceasefire and humanitarian aid. Plus, half of young Americans ‘hesitant’ to have kids due to climate crisis

Good morning.

Kamala Harris has said that the death of the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, provides an opportunity for Israel to finally end its war in Gaza, as Joe Biden joined international calls for a ceasefire.

The US vice-president said “justice has been served”, adding that the US, Israel and the wider world were “better off as a result” of his death. It was a statement mirrored by the president, who congratulated Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, but urged him to now “move on”. Biden added he felt “more hopeful” about the prospects of a truce.

The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, have also called on Israel to make progress towards a ceasefire in a war that has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, many of them civilians. The war was triggered by Hamas’s attacks on 7 October 2023 that killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took 251 hostage.

• How have Israel and Hamas responded to Sinwar’s death? Netanyahu claimed it was the “beginning of the end” while simultaneously declaring Israel must “continue to fight”. Hamas has not yet commented.

• Will it end the war soon? Most analysts believe Israel remains set on continuing the war for the foreseeable future.

Trump’s insults draw laughs at Catholic charity dinner that Harris skips

Donald Trump insulted Kamala Harris at the annual Al Smith charity dinner in New York on Thursday, after his presidential rival skipped the event in the safe state to campaign in the swing state of Wisconsin.

In his speech, Trump queried the mental fitness of both Harris and Joe Biden; sneered about Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, having an extramarital affair in his previous marriage; and mocked transgender people. Harris sent a video of the comedian Molly Shannon, who reprised her Saturday Night Live character Mary Katherine Gallagher, an awkward Catholic school pupil, to mock Trump for his “sin” of lying about the results of the 2020 election.

• What are the latest polls saying? One showed Harris continuing to lead among Black voters in battleground states: 84% of respondents in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin said they planned to vote for her.

• Where is the Democratic campaign’s focus now? Harris is spending most of her remaining three weeks in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin – “blue wall” states Hillary Clinton lost eight years ago.

Musk steers X disputes to conservative Texas courts in service terms update

Social media users wishing to sue X will be forced to do so in a federal court in Texas, whose judges are known for ruling favorably to conservative litigants, after Elon Musk made the change in an example of what critics call “judge-shopping”.

While it’s not unusual for terms of service to specify where lawsuits can be brought, Musk’s move stands out because X is not headquartered there. Following its exit from San Francisco, X is now in Bastrop, Texas, near Austin, whose federal court is in Texas’s western district – but the northern district has more Republican-appointed judges, and has become a favored destination for conservative activists taking legal action to block Democratic policies.

In other news …

• Ukrainians are facing a new threat as adapted drones fly through Kherson’s streets and hunt people down, killing 24 civilians and injuring hundreds more since July.

• AI-generated child sexual abuse images are becoming increasingly widespread beyond the dark net, a safety watchdog has warned.

• The Texas supreme court has stayed the execution of a man who was convicted for the now-discredited “shaken baby” syndrome two decades ago, in an eleventh- hour decision on the day of his scheduled execution.

• China reported its slowest growth in a year and a half on Friday, with the world’s second largest economy expanding 4.6% year-on-year in the third quarter.

Stat of the day: ChatGPT grows to 200 million weekly active users

ChatGPT now has 200 million weekly active users. But even if you’re not one of them, the rapid spread of AI means you will undoubtedly have interacted with one of its systems (though perhaps without knowing). ChatGPT is expected to run out of training data by 2026, Chris Stokel-Walker explains – which is why AI companies are so desperate for yours.

Don’t miss this: ‘Madonna, please. It’s only a film. Be happy!’ – the star of Emilia Pérez

Karla Sofía Gascón is the first openly trans actor to win best actress at Cannes. The Spanish actor talks about how her film made Madonna cry, suing the French far-right MEP Marion Maréchal, and what she thinks about the differences between the demands placed on women and men.

Climate check: Half of young Americans ‘hesitant’ to have kids due to climate crisis

More than half of 16- to 25-year-olds in the US (52%) said they feel “hesitant to have children” due to the climate crisis, according to a study. A overwhelming majority – 85% – reported feeling at least moderately worried, while almost six in 10 (57%) said they were “very or extremely” worried.

Last Thing: The couple who have visited more than 1,000 crazy golf courses

Emily and Richard Gottfried’s crazy golf obsession started innocuously enough, after a hole-in-one won them a free game. Back in 2006, the couple had recently bought their first car and thought visiting all 600 of the UK’s courses would be a fun way to see more of the country. Twenty years on, they’ve visited 1,064 crazy golf courses all over the world. “Richard is a sore loser,” Emily says, “but an even worse winner.He’ll gloat the whole way home, and insist I buy him a congratulatory ice-cream.”

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