Good morning.
Donald Trump has threatened legal action against the BBC and welcomed the resignations of two of its most senior figures after a campaign against the UK’s public broadcaster peaked over the criticism that a 2024 documentary used a misleading edit of a Trump speech on the day of the January 6 insurrection.
Lawyers for the US president said the BBC must retract the documentary by Panorama, the BBC’s flagship documentary program, by Friday or face a lawsuit for “no less” than $1bn, according to US media outlets who cited the letter. The BBC has confirmed it received a letter and said it will respond in due course.
Why did the BBC’s director general and News CEO resign? They did so after the rightwing Telegraph newspaper published a leaked internal report by a former BBC standards adviser alleging failings in the broadcaster’s coverage.
What did the documentary show? Trump’s speech was edited to put together two sentences that were actually 54 minutes apart, splicing him telling supporters to walk to the US capitol and then to “fight like hell”.
So Trump didn’t tell people to “fight”? No, he absolutely did, many times. According to the January 6 select committee report, “he spent the next 50-or-so minutes amping up his crowd with lies about the election, attacking his own vice-president and Republican members of Congress, and exhorting the crowd to fight”.
Why is Trump doing this? The development “is only the latest chapter in a campaign meant to keep media institutions that cover Trump on their toes,” writes the Guardian US media correspondent, Jeremy Barr.
Tech giants vow to defend users in US as spyware companies make inroads with Trump administration
Apple and WhatsApp have vowed to keep warning consumers if their mobile phones are targeted by governments using hacking software against them, including in the US, as two spyware manufacturers seek to cut deals with the Trump administration.
The two technology giants made their statements in response to queries from the Guardian as the two cyberweapons makers – both founded in Israel and now owned by American investors – are aggressively pursuing access to the US market.
What are the spyware companies? Paragon Solutions, which makes a spyware called Graphite; and NSO Group, which the Biden administration had in 2021 accused of engaging in business “contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the US”. Paragon made a deal the Trump administration in September to provide services to immigration agents.
Protests as rightwing Charlie Kirk activist group makes final campus tour stop
Hundreds of demonstrators turned out on Monday evening to protest against Turning Point USA, the influential rightwing college group founded by Charlie Kirk, as it held an event at the University of California, Berkeley.
The event was the final stop of the American Comeback tour, which Kirk had just kicked off at the time of his death at Utah Valley University. Following his fatal shooting two months ago, the events have come to act as memorials, and have featured prominent conservative speakers, including JD Vance.
Who was at Monday’s event? Among the attendees was Rob Schneider, the comedian and actor who has become a conservative activist, and Christian author Frank Turek.
In other news …
Whistleblowers exposing illegal profiteering from protected land in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have faced violence, an investigation has found.
The Japanese prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, said an attack on Taiwan could trigger Japanese military deployment, drawing the ire of Beijing.
Donald Trump asked the US supreme court to throw out a jury’s 2023 finding in a civil lawsuit that he sexually abused writer E Jean Carroll and later defamed her.
Willing states must stop the international legal order falling apart, a leading international academic has warned, as the international court of justice (ICJ) risks becoming delegitimized.
Stat of the day: Canada has logged 5,138 measles cases this year – 27 years after it eliminated the disease
Almost 30 years after it was eliminated in Canada in 1998, Canada has logged 5,138 measles cases this year and two deaths – both babies born prematurely after being exposed to the virus in the womb. The country has lost its elimination status more than a year after measles started spreading, as childhood vaccination rates fall.
Don’t miss this: ‘When I met Craig he was 13 and homeless. I still thought his life might turn around. I was tragically wrong’
Pamela Gordon met Craig when he was 13 and homeless; she was making a documentary about children living on the streets, at a time when the UK was in the midst of a crisis over runaways. The pair kept in touch for many years, and he’d call her while he served time in prison – but it was only later that she would find out what was happening in the care home he ran away from.
Climate check: China’s CO2 emissions have been flat or falling for past 18 months
China’s carbon dioxide emissions have been flat or falling for 18 months, according to an analysis – even as demand for electricity has increased through stepping up solar and wind power generation, which grew by 46% and 11% respectively in the third quarter of this year. The development adds to the evidence that the world’s biggest polluter has reached its target of peak CO2 emissions ahead of schedule.
Last Thing: The perplexing rise of protein shakes: how a ‘meaty sludge’ became a billion-dollar industry
Protein powders and shakes are everywhere – but while they seem like a 21st century invention, a primary iteration dates back to the 19th century: in 1865, a German scientist created a protein product called Extract of Meat, which consisted of jars of “melted-down beef hides and carcasses”. Sammy Gecsoyler looks at how we got from that to the dessert-type varieties today.
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