Good morning.
US officials have issued an urgent appeal for help from the public as they continue to search for the shooter of Charlie Kirk, releasing new videos and photos from the scene of the attack in Utah.
More than 24 hours after the far-right activist was shot while speaking in front of thousands at Utah Valley University, the state’s governor, Spencer Cox, appearing alongside the FBI director, Kash Patel, said: “We need as much help as we can possibly get. We cannot do our job without the public’s help.” The FBI had received more than 7,000 leads and tips so far, he added.
Who was Charlie Kirk? The Donald Trump ally and star of the US Republican right galvanized young conservatives through online antics and inflammatory views, helping to push a new generation to the right. Even those who did not agree with his values could not deny his ubiquity on the political scene.
This is a live story. Follow the latest updates here.
Bolsonaro sentenced to 27 years for plotting military coup in Brazil
Brazil’s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has been sentenced to more than 27 years in prison for plotting a military coup and seeking to “annihilate” the South American country’s democracy.
Justices Cármen Lúcia Antunes Rocha and Cristiano Zanin ruled on Thursday that Bolsonaro, a former paratrooper who was elected president in 2018, was guilty of seeking to forcibly cling to power after losing the 2022 election, meaning four of the five judges involved in the trial found Brazil’s former leader guilty.
What did the judges say? Announcing Bolsonaro’s sentence for crimes including coup d’etat and violently attempting to abolish Brazil’s democracy, the supreme court justice Alexandre de Moraes said: “[He tried to] annihilate the essential pillars of the democratic rule-of-law state … the greatest consequence [of which] … would have been the return of dictatorship to Brazil.”
Emergency UN security council meeting convened after Russian drone incursion into Poland
An emergency session of the UN security council will convene on Friday at Poland’s request, as Warsaw seeks to rally support after an incursion into the country by Russian drones on Wednesday.
European allies promised to support Poland, including a commitment by Germany to strengthen its military presence on Nato’s eastern flank. However, some disputed whether the incursion was a deliberate attack on Poland by Russia, and Trump offered little in the way of public support.
On Thursday, the US president told reporters the incursion could have been a “mistake”, adding: “I’m not happy about anything to do with the whole situation, but hopefully that’s going to come to an end.”
What did Poland say about Trump’s comments? In response, Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, wrote on X: “No, that wasn’t a mistake.”
In other news …
Prince Harry has made a surprise visit to Kyiv after an invitation from the Ukrainian government, saying he wanted to do “everything possible” to help the recovery of the thousands of military personnel who have been seriously injured in the three-year war against Russia.
None of the 11 people killed in a US military strike on a boat in the Caribbean last week were members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, the island’s interior minister has said. The attack came after the vessel had turned around and was heading back to shore, according to US media reports.
Two Democratic senators claim they have reached the “inescapable conclusion” that Israel is acting on a systematic plan to destroy and ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza, and they say the US is complicit.
The US government sued Uber yesterday, accusing the ride-sharing company of violating federal law by discriminating against passengers with disabilities.
Stat of the day: Judge allows Trump to cut more than $1bn in National Science Foundation grants
The Trump administration can purge more than 1,600 research grants issued by the National Science Foundation (NSF) worth more than $1bn, after a judge declined to grant a preliminary injunction in a case brought by a coalition of organizations representing thousands of scientists.
Don’t miss this: Peter Mandelson – UK ambassador whose panache made him a big hitter in DC
Last week, Peter Mandelson was described as durable to an audience of foreign policy top brass, writes Patrick Wintour. The diplomat, who was sacked this week over his friendship with Jeffery Epstein, had a self-confidence and style that made him a big hitter in Washington at a time when a British Labour government could easily have found itself largely shunned or, even worse, ignored as irrelevant.
Climate check: ‘A lot of fear’ – the rise of ecoanxiety on the frontline of climate breakdown
The Australian philosopher Glenn Albrecht coined the term “ecoanxiety” to describe the chronic fear of environmental doom, as studies show that many children are fearful of the future state of the climate. However, the term does not fully encapsulate the feelings of young people who endure natural disasters on the frontlines of climate breakdown. Here, people in their 20s around world share their experiences.
Last Thing: Octopuses prefer to use different limbs for different tasks, scientists discover
While some humans find they have two left feet on the dancefloor, octopuses manage to coordinate eight highly flexible limbs across a host of behaviours, from foraging to den-building, or moving around the seafloor. Now researchers say they have completed the most comprehensive study of its kind, revealing that – like primates, rodents and fish – the cephalopods prefer to use particular limbs for certain tasks.
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