First Thing: Trump to appear in court for civil fraud suit in New York

New York attorney general will argue Trump owes at least $250m in profits made from false financial statements. Plus, climate scientist Michael Mann on our last chance to save the planet

Good morning.

Just a few miles south of Trump Tower in New York City, a judge today will hear allegations of fraud within the Trump Organization in a trial that could lead to Donald Trump and his family business paying hundreds of millions of dollars in damages and that has already threatened to end his business career in the city where it started.

The New York attorney general, Letitia James, has accused Trump of using false and misleading financial statements from 2011 to 2021 to make himself and his businesses wealthier, helping him broker deals and obtain financing. Based on her office’s three-year investigation, James argues that Trump owes at least $250m for committing fraud.

During the three-year investigation, James found that Trump had exaggerated the value of 23 of his properties and assets to the tune of hundreds of millions – or even billions of dollars. Trump used these financial statements to obtain favorable loans and make his net worth appear higher than it actually was.

What has Trump said about the trial? Trump said he would appear in court today. “I’m going to court tomorrow morning to fight for my name and reputation,” he said on his Truth Social account on Sunday.

Will there be a jury? No. The trial is a bench trial, meaning there will be no jury. The New York supreme court justice Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over the case, will be the sole decider. Because this is a civil trial, Trump will not be sent to prison if he’s found guilty nor does he have to make an appearance in court.

Biden urges Republicans to approve Ukraine aid, saying support cannot waver

Joe Biden has pressed congressional Republicans to back a deal to provide more aid to Ukraine, after provisions for Kyiv were left out of a bill to avoid a US government shutdown.

The president said yesterday he was “sick and tired” of the political brinkmanship, and that US support for Ukraine could not be interrupted “under any circumstances”. Republicans had pledged to provide Ukraine aid through a separate vote, he said.

Without referring directly to the US bill, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Sunday nothing would weaken his country’s fight against Russia and no one could “shut down” Ukraine’s stability, endurance, strength and courage, echoing a Ukrainian word often used to refer to power outages caused by Russian attacks. His comments were made in a recorded speech released on the Defenders Day holiday.

What did Biden say? The president said: “We cannot under any circumstances allow America’s support for Ukraine to be interrupted. I fully expect the speaker to keep his commitment to secure the passage and support needed to help Ukraine as they defend themselves against aggression and brutality.”

‘Let’s have that fight’: McCarthy and Gaetz go to war over shutdown deal

Simmering hostility between Republicans over the bipartisan deal that averted a government shutdown descended into open political warfare yesterday, with a rightwing congressman saying he would move to oust Kevin McCarthy and the embattled House speaker insisting he would survive.

“We need to rip off the band-aid. We need to move on with new leadership that can be trustworthy,” the Florida representative Matt Gaetz told CNN’s State of the Union, saying he would file a “motion to vacate” in the next few days.

McCarthy, Gaetz said, lied about “a secret deal” struck with Democrats to later pass money for Ukraine that was left out of the compromise agreement, and misled Republicans about working with the opposition at all.

The bill keeping the government funded for 47 days passed the House on Saturday night 335-91, with 209 Democrats joining 126 Republicans in support. It cleared the Senate 88-9 and was signed by Biden.

What has Biden said? In remarks at the White House on Sunday, the president said the measure extending funding until 17 November, and including $16bn in disaster aid prevented “a needless crisis”. But he added: “The truth is we shouldn’t be here in the first place. It’s time to end governing by crisis and keep your word when you give it in the Congress.”

What is ‘motion to vacate’ – the procedure to oust Speaker McCarthy? The Republican US House of Representatives speaker faces an attempt by members of his party to oust him. Here’s an explainer on what that involves.

In other news …

The California governor, Gavin Newsom, will name Laphonza Butler, a Democratic strategist and adviser to Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, to fill the vacant US Senate seat previously held by Dianne Feinstein, a spokesperson in his office has said. Butler will be the only Black woman serving in the US Senate, and the first openly LGBTQ+ person to represent California in the chamber.

Parents who shout at their children or call them “stupid” leave them at greater risk of self-harm, drug use and ending up in jail, research claims. Talking harshly to children should be recognised as a form of abuse because of the huge damage it does, experts say.

The roof of a church has collapsed in northern Mexico during a Sunday mass, killing at least nine people and injuring about 50, as rescue workers continue to search for survivors. Approximately 30 parishioners were believed to have been trapped in the rubble.

The death toll from a fire that tore through three adjoining nightclubs in south-eastern Spain, killing at least 13 people, is likely to rise, police have said. The blaze in the city of Murcia broke out at about 6am on Sunday in the La Fonda club.

Tom Hanks has warned fans that an ad for a dental plan that appears to use his image is in fact fake and was created using artificial intelligence. The actor, who has previously expressed concerns about use of AI in film, said ‘I have nothing to do’ with the hoax video.

Don’t miss this: ‘We felt so betrayed’ – Indigenous tribe reels after exclusion from US marine sanctuary

Violet Sage Walker stands on the bow of Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise ship and looks out at Morro Rock jutting up from the Pacific Ocean, writes Lucy Sherriff. The dramatic promontory – known as Lisamu’ in the Chumash language of Walker’s tribe – is part of a stunning stretch of California coastline she hoped would soon be part of a sprawling new marine sanctuary six times the size of Yosemite. Walker is the chair of the Northern Chumash Tribal Council, a small group of Indigenous Americans who once lived along the coast of San Luis Obispo county. Records of their occupation of the central coast date back 18,000 years.

Walker and the Chumash tribe had advocated for California’s central coast to be protected but a draft management plan left out the stretch they had hoped for.

… or this: Let it shine – the unexpected benefits of sun exposure on skin

Shades? SPF50 suncream? Wide-brimmed hat? For decades, it has been drilled into us that if the sun is out, we had better protect ourselves to stay safe. There is little doubt that too much sun exposure ages our skin and increases our risk of developing skin cancer. But scientists are increasingly questioning the mantra that sunlight is an evil to be avoided at all costs, and investigating the brighter side of exposure.

It is not just about vitamin D. Though important for strong bones and teeth, this sun-induced vitamin is the tip of the iceberg in terms of the physiological processes that are influenced by sunlight falling on the skin. Sunseekers may even have a longer lifespan. So, can we capitalise on the benefits of sunshine without risking skin cancer?

Climate check: ‘We’re not doomed yet’ – scientist Michael Mann on our last chance to save human civilisation

“We haven’t yet exceeded the bounds of viable human civilisation but we’re getting close,” says Prof Michael Mann. “If we keep going [with carbon emissions], then all bets are off.” The climate crisis, already bringing devastating extreme weather around the world, has delivered a “fragile moment”, says the eminent climate scientist in his latest book, Our Fragile Moment. Taming the crisis remains possible but faces huge political obstacles, he says. Mann, at the University of Pennsylvania, has been among the most high-profile climate scientists since publishing the famous “hockey stick” graph in 1999, showing how global temperatures rocketed over the last century. The renowned US scientist’s book examines 4bn years of climate history to conclude we are in a precarious situation but there is still time to act.

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