First Thing: Israeli strikes hit Beirut as key route out of Lebanon cut off

Israel has ordered people in 20 more towns in southern Lebanon to evacuate immediately. Plus: the future of the death penalty in Japan

Good morning.

As Hezbollah continued to attack northern Israel, the Israeli military launched a series of strikes on southern Beirut in one of the most intense bombardments on the city since the campaign began last week. The New York Times and Axios have reported that Hashem Safieddine, the most likely candidate to replace Hassan Nasrallah as leader of Hezbollah and the head of its executive council, was the target of the strikes.

The attacks came as Israel cut off a key route out of the country, with the World Food Programme’s country director for Lebanon, Matthew Hollingworth, reporting that the Masnaa border crossing between Syria and Lebanon had been “very significantly bombed”, limiting people’s ability to flee. Israel has accused Hezbollah of using border crossings with Syria to bring in weapons.

The first airstrike by an Israeli jet in the West Bank since the second intifada: In addition to the attacks in Lebanon, an Israeli airstrike on a refugee camp in Tulkarm in the West Bank killed at least 18 people, including two children. The Israeli military claimed the airstrike killed a local Hamas leader.

One year after the 7 October attacks: After one year of war, Israel is facing mounting diplomatic isolation. Pew Research found in May that although most Americans still sympathised with Israel, those under 30 did not, and seven in 10 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents had little or no confidence in the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

How will Israel respond to Iran? The former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak has predicted Israel is likely to mount a large-scale airstrike against Iran’s oil industry and possibly a symbolic attack on a military target related to its nuclear program.

Barack Obama to campaign for Harris next week

Barack Obama is set to crisscross the battleground states for Kamala Harris next week, according to a senior Harris campaign official. The former president will hold his first event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania next Thursday, the beginning of a blitz across the handful of rust belt and sun belt states that will likely decide the 2024 election.

Who else is campaigning for Harris? Liz Cheney, one of Donald Trump’s most prominent conservative critics, spoke to undecided voters in Ripon, Wisconsin, on Thursday, asking them to “reject the depraved cruelty” of Trump. Meanwhile, Bruce Springsteen has endorsed Harris, calling Trump “the most dangerous candidate for president in my lifetime”.

What is Tim Walz up to? In a final push to engage Muslim voters ahead of the election, Walz joined a virtual summit hosted by a Muslim advocacy group and called for an end to the war in Gaza. He pledged that if elected, the Harris administration would work “side by side” with Muslim Americans.

Hurricane Helene: More than 200 dead, including twin babies who died alongside mother

Search-and-rescue teams continue to look for missing people in parts of the south-east that were devastated by Hurricane Helene. Officials have reported at least 215 deaths across six states, and are warning that the toll is expected to rise as recovery efforts continue. Nearlya million people in the region remainwithout power.

Tragedy in Georgia: Twin newborns who died alongside their mother in Georgia have become the youngest known victims of Hurricane Helene. Kobe Williams, 27, and her sons Khazmir and Khyzier died after a large tree crashed through the roof.

A hero in Florida: A man living in a Florida island city reportedly used his surfboard to rescue about a dozen of his neighbors – as well as pets – from flooded homes.

In other news …

US dock workers have struck a tentative deal with port operators, bringing an end to a ports strike that shut down shipping on the east and Gulf coasts for three days.

Three former Memphis police officers were convicted of witness tampering in the 2023 beating death of Tyre Nichols but were acquitted of the most serious charges of violating Nichols’ civil rights.

The Los Angeles district attorney will review new evidence in the case of Erik and Lyle Menéndez, who were convicted of killing their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion more than 35 years ago.

Stat of the day: Exported gas emits 33% more greenhouse gas emissions than coal

Oil and gas producers for years have promoted liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a cleaner climate solution to coal, the dirtiest of fossil fuels when combusted for energy. But new research has found that the act of drilling, moving, cooling and shipping gas from one country to another creates more greenhouse gas emissions than burning coal. In fact, the actual final burning of gas in people’s homes and businesses only accounts for about a third of the total emissions from this process.

“LNG has a larger greenhouse gas footprint than any other fuel,” said Robert Howarth, an environmental scientist at Cornell University and author of the new paper. “To think we should be shipping around this gas as a climate solution is just plain wrong. It’s greenwashing from oil and gas companies that has severely underestimated the emissions from this type of energy.”

Don’t miss this: The future of the death penalty in Japan

Along with the US, Japan is the only other major industrialised country to retain the death penalty. But after Iwao Hakamada, the world’s longest-serving death row prisoner, was acquitted last month in a retrial after spending more than 45 years on death row, campaigners are raising questions about the future of capital punishment in Japan.

“It is time for the government to recognise the human rights violations associated with the use of the death penalty and embark on a journey towards its full abolition,” said Chiara Sangiorgio of Amnesty International.

… or this: Paul Simon reflects on his epic career

Paul Simon spoke to the Guardian ahead of the release of a documentary film about his career, touching on everything from the inspiration behind The Sound of Silence to losing more of the hearing in his left ear while making his latest album, Seven Psalms, to the rumors about his retirement. “I never said I was going to retire,” he said. “I said I was going to stop, which I did …but I wanted to find out what happens when you stop.”

Climate check: The greening of the Antarctic

Plant cover on the Antarctic peninsula has soared more than tenfold in the last few decades, an unprecedented vegetation growth that scientists believe has been caused by the climate crisis. Analysis of satellite data found that the spread of plants, mostly mosses had accelerated since 2016 on this continent dominated by ice and bare rock. In 1986 there was less than 1 sq km of vegetation but by 2021 there was almost 12 times that.

Last Thing: The music of an underworld far, far away

Cody Matthew Johnson had a unique task before him working on the video game Star Wars Outlaws – to compose music to go with the seedy criminal underworld of the Star Wars universe.

“The galaxy is far-reaching, there are canonically thousands – some say millions – of planets, and the in-world music over the last 40 years only scratches the surface of possibilities,” the composer said. “The music for Outlaws wasn’t only about protagonist Kay Vess, and what she listens to, but more about the underworld she is existing in during the story – it’s not only the music enjoyed by the underworld subculture of Toshara, Akiva, Tatooine and Kijimi, but also the music created by that subculture.”

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