First Thing: Harris says Trump ‘looking for excuse’ to avoid second debate

Democratic nominee says she accepted a debate invitation from CNN but her Republican rival said it was ‘too late’. Plus, the hidden life of Elizabeth Taylor – as seen by her son

Good morning.

Kamala Harris has challenged Donald Trump to debate her again before November’s election, telling supporters in New York that her rival “seems to be looking for an excuse” to dodge a second round.

The vice-president and Democratic nominee said she had accepted an invitation from CNN to debate the Republican candidate, but Trump said it was already “too late”. Speaking at a New York fundraiser, Harris called on him to meet her once more, saying: “I feel very strongly that we owe it to the American people, to the voters, to meet once more before election day.”

The Democratic candidate was widely considered to have won the first, and only, debate between her and Trump earlier this month – but it did not affect the polls as much as her campaign had hoped.

• Where are the polls now? Harris appears to have a narrow lead over Trump – but in the swing states that decide the vote, the picture is mixed.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls ending war at Ukraine’s expense ‘unacceptable’

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that ending the war at his country’s expense is “unacceptable” as he criticized the Republican ticket’s vision for peace in Ukraine.

In an interview with the New York Times, Zelenskyy described Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, as “too radical” in his view of how to end the conflict. His comments come as he visits the US to present his own plan to end the war, while he continues to push partners to allow Kyiv to use long-range weapons to hit targets deep inside Russia.

Vance, who opposes US aid to Kyiv, said earlier this month that Trump’s plan could include the creation of a special demilitarized zone between Ukraine and Russia, while Kyiv would have to commit to not joining Nato or other allied institutions.

It was a vision strongly rejected by Zelenskyy, who argued that under this scheme, “America is headed for global conflict”. “That approach would broadcast to the world the following implicit rule: I came, I conquered, now this is mine,” he said.

• Who does Zelenskyy think this ‘global conflict’ could involve? He listed “Israel, Lebanon, Iran, Taiwan, China, as well as many African countries”.

Israel tells residents of southern Lebanese villages to evacuate before imminent airstrikes

Israel is carrying out airstrikes on southern Lebanon shortly after warning residents living in or near houses where Hezbollah was “hiding” weapons to evacuate – a day after Hezbollah announced it had entered an “open-ended battle of reckoning” with the state.

The IDF’s Arabic-language military spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, posted a message on Monday saying people should flee buildings in or near where weapons are hidden, saying Hezbollah “is lying to you and sacrificing you” and that “missiles and drones are more valuable and important to [Hezbollah] than you”.

World powers called on both sides to retreat from the precipice of full-scale war as fighting escalated to its most intense since the start of the Gaza war, with Israel hitting southern Lebanon with its most intense bombardment and Hezbollah firing back with its deepest rocket attacks into Israel in almost a year.

• What has Israel said about a ground incursion into Lebanon? IDF R Adm Daniel Hagari said “we will do whatever is needed” to return evacuated northern Israeli residents to their homes safely.

In other news …

• A man who was kidnapped from a California park aged six has been found more than seven decades on, aided by his niece taking an online ancestry test.

• Young people who are unhappy with the Biden administration’s record should still vote to block Donald Trump’s return to office, Jane Fonda has said, as she called on people to also take to the streets.

• New Zealand’s government is putting the Māori language at risk through its policies to curb its use in the public service, the Māori language commissioner has warned.

Stat of the day: More than 270,000 Peruvian women were sterilized between 1996 and 2001

Between 1996 and 2001, medical teams targeted Peru’s poorest communities in a coercive sterlization program. The official purpose of the policy – originally funded by USAid and the UN – was to fight poverty, but many women suffered mishandled operations in unsanitary conditions as well as years of trauma. One unforeseen consequence was on ancestral traditions: 57% of women stopped weaving, which requires abdominal strength, after being sterilized. Now, a workshop series is giving survivors a space to begin to practice the craft again.

Don’t miss this: The hidden life of Elizabeth Taylor – as seen by her son

Elizabeth Taylor may have been seen by society as a woman of superlatives: the world’s most famous actress, its most beautiful woman, and commanding the highest salaries. But to her son, she was just Mom. Simon Hattenstone speaks to Chris Wilding about her force-of-nature personality, her activism – and her doomed relationship with Richard Burton.

Climate check: ‘In Malawi, we’re paying for the climate crisis with our lives’

In the space of the last three years alone, Malawi has gone from facing the worst flooding in recent history to the most extreme drought in a decade, the country’s health minister, Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda, writes in the Guardian today. The consequences included malnutrition and the spread of disease worsening – and those who are paying the price of the climate emergency have played the least part in global heating.

Last Thing: Melbourne aquarium’s huge 22.5kg penguin chick Pesto set to slim down after becoming viral star

He has become a hit on social media, with one Instagram creator even making a penguin-inspired makeup tutorial. But fans of Pesto, Sea Life Aquarium Melbourne’s nine-month-old king penguin, have only a few weeks left to see him at his plumpest, as the bird is expected to shed his pounds as he grows his adult feathers. “He’s just a big baby … he’s eating quite a bit, but he’s not at all considered to be an unhealthy weight,” an education coordinator at the zoo said.

Sign up

First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you’re not already signed up, subscribe now.

Get in touch

If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com