First Thing: Harris and Trump chase swing state votes as campaign nears climax

Harris and Trump focus on key swing states of Arizona and Nevada. Plus, ‘brat’ is Collins’ word of the year

Good morning.

As the 2024 presidential race nears its climax on Tuesday, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump continue to rush around swing states, rallying voters in the hopes of being sworn into the world’s most powerful office on 20 January 2025.

On Thursday both candidates held rallies in the swing state of Nevada. Harris’s rally had a joyful mood, with mothers carrying infants, supporters wearing Halloween costumes and an appearance by Jennifer Lopez. “We’re not going back!” people chanted.

At Trump’s event supporters cheered the demonization of immigrants, jeered the “fake news” media and broke into chants of “Fight! Fight! Fight!” Meanwhile, Trump told Tucker Carlson in an interview that Elon Musk and Robert F Kennedy Jr could be “influential figures” if he wins.

What are the polls showing? It’s unclear. Nationally, Harris is at 47% and Trump 46%, but due to the electoral college system, it’s going to come down to a few swing states. It’s neck and neck.

How many have already voted? More than 65 million people have cast their ballots, as of 31 October at 11pm EST.

How do you spend a billion dollars in election funding? Check out Richard Luscombe’s piece on where the money actually goes.

About 8,000 North Korean soldiers at Ukraine border, says US

About 8,000 North Korean soldiers are stationed in Russia on the border with Ukraine, the US secretary of state has said, warning that Moscow is preparing to deploy those troops into combat “in the coming days”.

Antony Blinken said the US believed that North Korea had sent 10,000 troops to Russia in total, deploying them first to training bases in the far east before sending the vast majority to the Kursk region on the border with Ukraine.

The deployment could expand the largest land war in Europe since the second world war into a multi-region conflict, tying in the rising tensions in the Korean peninsula between North and South Korea.

Here’s what the US envoy to the UN said: Robert Wood bluntly warned that Pyongyang’s forces entering Ukraine “will surely return in body bags”.

Ukraine is bracing for the outcome of the US presidential election: in an interview with the Guardian in May, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had “no strategy yet” for what to do if Trump returned to the White House, though he suggested the outline of a plan rooted in an appeal to the candidate’s vanity.

Israel’s expanded strikes suggest ‘rejection’ of ceasefire, says Lebanon’s prime minister

Lebanon’s prime minister, Najib Mikati, criticised Israel’s “expansion” of its attacks on the country, saying they indicated a rejection of efforts to broker a truce after more than a month of war, Agence France-Presse reports.

“The Israeli enemy’s renewed expansion of the scope of its aggression on Lebanese regions, its repeated threats to the population to evacuate entire cities and villages, and its renewed targeting of the southern suburbs of Beirut with destructive raids, are all indicators that confirm the Israeli enemy’s rejection of all efforts being made to secure a ceasefire,” Mikati said in a statement after overnight raids hit Beirut’s southern suburbs, in the first such attack this week.

Reuters reports a US envoy this week asked Lebanon to declare a unilateral ceasefire with Israel as part of an effort to help negotiations reach a resolution for the more than year-long conflict, a senior Lebanese political source and a senior diplomat told the agency.

How many people in Lebanon have been killed in the conflict? The country’s health ministry says more than 2,800 people have been killed and 13,000 wounded since 8 October 2023.

In other news …

Striking Boeing workers will vote on an improved contract offer on Monday, which includes a 38% pay rise over four years and a larger signing bonus.

Not a single country has contributed towards reparations for the victims and survivors of the Ugandan warlord Dominic Ongwen, despite the international criminal court awarding €52.4m in February.

Cutting children’s sugar can protect them against adult diabetes and high blood pressure, with research suggesting a 35% drop in type 2 diabetes and a 20% fall in high blood pressure.

Stat of the day: $700 San Francisco ‘pod’ with privacy curtains and charging ports

A company that rents “sleeping pods” in downtown San Francisco for $700 a month has had 300 people apply for its remaining 17 beds, the company’s CEO said. Brownstone Shared Housing’s bunk bed-style “pods” measure approximately 3.5ft-by-4ft-by-6.5ft, large enough to fit a twin mattress. The pods come with privacy curtains, inside lighting and charging ports.

Don’t miss this: ‘I graduated from art school at the age of 90’

“I have always been passionate about art, but I had no money, and with 13 children to feed and educate, being an artist wasn’t an option. I was 83 when I finally enrolled at art school,” says Miguel Ángel Gallo. “My only problem was that a couple of teachers in the first year wouldn’t take me seriously.”

Climate check: Trump presidency could ‘cripple’ Paris climate agreement, warns UN chief

The world needs the US to remain in the international climate process to avoid a “crippled” Paris agreement, the UN secretary general has warned, amid fears that Donald Trump would take the country out of the accord for a second time. António Guterres said it would be like losing a limb or organ.

Last Thing: ‘Brat’ chosen as Collins word of the year

Lexicographers at Collins dictionary have named “brat” their 2024 word of the year, following 2023’s word, “AI”. Collins selected brat amid a new definition: “Characterised by a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude.”

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