First Thing: Hamas frees last living US citizen held in Gaza

American soldier Edan Alexander meets family at Israel border. Plus, what one woman learned by watching every single Nicolas Cage film

Good morning.

Hamas has freed the last living US citizen it held in Gaza, soldier Edan Alexander, in a unilateral move Donald Trump described as a “good faith step” towards ending the war and bringing home all remaining hostages.

The release of 20-year-old Alexander, a dual national serving in the Israel Defense Forces who spent 584 days in captivity after he was seized from his base on 7 October 2023, was agreed with little Israeli involvement beyond practical coordination on the ground.

There was no ceasefire in Gaza for his return, although Israel paused fighting from midday for the handover, which came as UN-backed experts warned that half a million Palestinians face starvation in Gaza due to Israel’s weeks-long siege.

• How serious is the situation in Gaza? Gaza is at “critical risk of famine”, food security experts have warned, 10 weeks after Israel imposed a blockade on the devastated Palestinian territory, cutting off all supplies including food, medicine, shelter and fuel.

Biden destroyed Harris bid by staying in race too long, top adviser says in book

Joe Biden hurt the Democratic party by leaving it too late to drop out of the 2024 US presidential election, a former top campaign aide to Kamala Harris has told the authors of a new book.

David Plouffe, who was manager of Barack Obama’s winning 2008 campaign and a senior adviser in his White House, was drafted in to help Harris’s bid for president after the declining Biden withdrew from the race last summer.

Harris’s 107-day sprint against Donald Trump was a “nightmare”, Plouffe is quoted as saying by authors Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson in Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. A copy was obtained by the Guardian.

• Did others who were interviewed agree? The authors spoke to around 200 people for the book, including members of Congress and White House and campaign insiders. Some had been sounding the alarm about Biden’s mental acuity and about desperate efforts by his close staff and allies to hide the extent of his deterioration.

Donald Trump lands in Saudi Arabia as Gulf visit to seek economic deals begins

US President Donald Trump has arrived in Saudi Arabia to kick off a four-day tour through the Gulf region, focusing on economic deals rather than the security crises ranging from the war in Gaza to the threat of escalation over Iran’s nuclear programme.

The Tesla CEO and Trump adviser Elon Musk, as well as other business leaders including BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, are travelling with the president.

The secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, and the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, are also among those on the trip.

• What is Trump planning for the visit? During the Riyadh stop, Trump is expected to offer Saudi Arabia an arms package worth well over $100bn, sources told Reuters, which could include a range of advanced weapons, including C-130 transport aircraft.

In other news …

• The high-profile racketeering and sex-trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs began yesterday, with prosecutors declaring that the hip-hop mogul “ran a criminal enterprise”.

• The Episcopal church’s migration service is refusing a directive from the federal government to help resettle white South Africans granted refugee status, citing the church’s longstanding “commitment to racial justice and reconciliation”.

• Three climbers from suburban Seattle were killed in a fall on Sunday when their equipment failed while rappelling down a steep gully in North Cascades national park in Washington state, sheriff’s officials said.

• The US has announced it is cutting the tariff on small parcels sent from mainland China and Hong Kong to the US from 120% to 54%, hours after Washington and Beijing agreed a 90-day pause in their trade war.

Don’t miss this: I’ve watched every single Nicolas Cage film made so far. Here’s what I learned about him – and myself

“One day I sat down to watch The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, the film in which Nicolas Cage plays a fictional version of himself,” says Susie Creagh, an Australian doctor. “I got about 20 minutes in when I thought the movie would benefit if I first watched Cage’s other films. So I turned it off and did just that: I watched every single one. He’s made more than 100. I watched them all in about three months.”

… Or this: ‘Inverse vaccines’ – the promise of a ‘holy grail’ treatment for autoimmune diseases

Autoimmune diseases affect as many as 800 million people around the world – about one in 10 of us. From multiple sclerosis and lupus to type one diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, these conditions all share a common trait: the body’s own immune system turns against itself. A revolution is now afoot, as researchers are developing a new approach that targets only the specific part of the immune system that has gone rogue, known as “inverse vaccines”.

Last Thing: Why Cannes is demanding celebrities wear clothes on the red carpet

Cannes has rejected one of this season’s hottest fashion trends: wearing very little at all. In recent years Bella Hadid, Natasha Poly, Elle Fanning, Meredith Mickelson and many others have chosen sheer outfits at the film festival, but the organisers have now put a ban on provocative displays. Why the sudden prudishness? “For decency reasons,” a festival document stated. “Nudity is prohibited on the red carpet, as well as any other area of the festival.”

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