Good morning.
A high-profile federal criminal investigation into Rudy Giuliani has zeroed in on evidence that in spring 2019 three Ukrainian government prosecutors agreed to award contracts valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to the former New York mayor and two other US attorneys as a way to gain political and personal influence with the Trump administration.
Investigators believe Giuliani, Victoria Toensing and Joe DiGenova probably violated federal transparency laws that require Americans working for foreign governments to register as foreign agents with the US justice department.
What evidence do the prosecutors have? They have compiled a list of more than two dozen specific acts by Giuliani, Toesning and DiGenova as to how to advance the personal and political interests of a group of Ukrainian prosecutors.
How does this relate to the campaign against Joe Biden’s son Hunter? They have also uncovered extensive, detailed plans devised by one Ukrainian prosecutor, Yuriy Lutsenko, and approved by Giuliani, to promote an investigation into Hunter in Ukraine in order to help boost Donald Trump’s chances of re-election.
Body blow for Biden as voters in Virginia and New Jersey desert Democrats
Less than a year after taking control of the White House and Congress, Democrats were reeling on Wednesday from a shocking defeat in Virginia and a tight race for governor in New Jersey as Joe Biden’s popularity sinks and his domestic agenda hangs in the balance.
In Virginia, a state that had shifted sharply left over the past decade and that Biden won by 10 points in 2020, the Republican Glenn Youngkin, a political newcomer, defeated the Democrat Terry McAuliffe, a former governor of the state. And in New Jersey the Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, managed only a narrow victory over the Republican Jack Ciattarelli, an unexpected turn of events in a state that is even more reliably Democratic.
Tuesday’s elections were the first major test of the national mood since Biden took office in January, and the results were deeply disappointing for the president and his party as they try to keep control of wafer-thin majorities in Congress.
How unpopular is Biden at the moment? Biden’s poll numbers have slumped to near-historic lows. In mid-August, voters approved of the president by a margin of 50 to 43.8%. Today they disapprove of him by a margin of 51.1 to 43.2%.
Why is this? Months of infighting among Democrats over his nearly $3tn legislative agenda on Capitol Hill, a devastating evacuation from Afghanistan and the ever-present threat of coronavirus are all thought to have contributed to his lack of popularity.
US strike that killed 10 Afghan civilians was legal, says Pentagon
A US drone strike in Kabul in August that killed 10 Afghan civilians was a tragic mistake but did not violate any laws, a Pentagon inspector general has said after an investigation.
Three adults, including a man who worked for a US aid group, and seven children were killed in the 29 August operation. The target is believed to have been a home and a vehicle occupied by Islamic State militants.
“The investigation found no violation of law, including the law of war. Execution errors combined with confirmation bias and communication breakdowns led to regrettable civilian casualties,” Lt Gen Sami Said, the inspector general for the US air force, said in a report.
What else did Said say? He told reporters the attack was “an honest mistake” and not criminal conduct, random conduct or negligence.
Why did those responsible carry out the strike? The people directly involved in the strike genuinely believed “that they were targeting an imminent strike”, Said said.
Climate misinformation on Facebook ‘increasing substantially’, study says
The scale of climate misinformation on Facebook is “staggering” and “increasing quite substantially”, an analysis of hundreds of thousands of posts has found.
A report released on Thursday by the Real Facebook Oversight Board, an independent watchdog group, and the environmental nonprofit Stop Funding Heat, analyzed a dataset of more than 195 Facebook pages and groups. Researchers found an estimated 818,000 posts downplaying or denying the climate crisis, which received a combined 1.36m views a day.
The study’s release coincides with the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow. The report urges governments to seriously consider the role of climate misinformation on social media in derailing the battle to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers said: “Facebook is among the world’s biggest purveyors of climate disinformation.”
What did Facebook say about the findings? Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It has previously said it continues to counteract the spread of misinformation by flagging climate information and referring users to its Climate Change Science Center.
In other news …
Californians are rushing to see a rare “corpse plant” that blooms for just 48 hours. The bloom of the Sumatran flower – nicknamed for its smell like a dead body – is drawing huge crowds to a southern California botanical garden.
A lawyer for the armorer who oversaw weapons used on the Rust movie set has suggested sabotage. The attorney for Hannah Gutierrez said someone could have deliberately put a live round into the gun used by Alec Baldwin when he accidentally shot dead a cinematographer.
A Georgia judge has acknowledged there appeared to be “intentional discrimination” after a nearly all-white jury was selected for the trial of three white men accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, but has seated the jury nonetheless.
The Biden administration has placed NSO Group on a US blacklist after it determined that the Israeli spyware maker had acted contrary national security interests of the US. The decision against the company at heart of the Pegasus project reflects deep concern about the impact of spyware on US national security interests.
Stat of the day: proposed student dormitory would be eighth-densest neighborhood in the world
A “giant windowless prison”, “Dormzilla”, a “torture experiment”: the internet has been weighing in on the construction plan for a student dormitory at the University of California, Santa Barbara, since an architect’s resignation letter went viral. The project has sparked fierce debate about what people should, or can, endure in the name of efficiency. The proposed dormitory would be the world’s densest, a feat achieved by packing 4,500 students into a 11-story building whose bedrooms are mostly devoid of windows.
Don’t miss this: Sopranos star Michael Imperioli remembers the time he almost killed the leading man
There have been reams written about The Sopranos, often rated as the greatest TV series of all time. It won Michael Imperioli an Emmy in 2004, one of 21 the show picked up. After the late James Gandolfini – who played Tony Soprano – Imperioli is probably the show’s most recognisable star. Even though the show ended nearly 15 years ago, it’s more popular now than ever. HBO reported a 200% surge in viewers last year in the US. And on the back of that, Imperioli and his fellow cast member Steve Schirripa have written a book, which they are billing as the definitive oral history of The Sopranos.
Climate check: The dark secrets behind big oil’s climate pledges
JPMorgan Chase won glowing headlines last year when it announced a commitment to counter the climate crisis. The bank waited months to detail its plans, and in May it said it would not press oil companies to lower their emissions. Instead, it would encourage them to become more efficient, focusing on their “carbon intensity”. That metric has become a favorite of banks, oil companies and other big businesses. But “carbon intensity” pledges have given companies a framework to keep investing in dirty fuels.
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Last Thing: female California condors can reproduce without males
The California condor is the largest flying bird in North America, with a 10ft wingspan that enables it to soar up to 15,000ft – nearly half the height of a commercial airplane. Now the birds can claim another superlative feat: scientists have discovered that females can reproduce without a male partner, in a rare phenomenon known as parthenogenesis. Oliver Ryder, the director of conservation genetics for the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, has called the recent findings a “eureka moment”. “Many scientists have experiences like this when they see the world in a way they haven’t seen before,” said Ryder, who co-wrote a paper detailing the discovery.
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