First Thing: Harris says US is ‘absolutely’ ready for a female president

Vice-president tells NBC she is focused on ‘the challenges, the dreams’ of Americans. Plus, Gisèle Pelicot takes the stand in France

Good morning.

Kamala Harris said that the US was “absolutely” ready for a female president, insisting that voters cared about candidates’ policies, not their gender.

The vice-president’s statement came during an interview with NBC News’s Hallie Jackson, who asked if she thought voters were ready for a woman, and a woman of color, to lead the country. Harris responded: “Absolutely. Absolutely.”

“In terms of every walk of life of our country,” Harris said, “part of what is important in this election is really, not really turning the page – closing a chapter, on an era that suggests that Americans are divided.” She added that the overwhelming majority have more in common “than what separates us”.

What else did Harris say? She reiterated that she represented a break with the Biden administration, and said she was aware that Trump might try to thwart the election results.

Trump alleges election meddling by UK Labour party volunteer door-knockers

Citing the American revolution while misspelling Britain as “Britian”, Donald Trump’s campaign has filed a remarkable complaint against UK Labour, accusing it of election interference.

It alleged that Labour recruited and sent party members to campaign for Harris in key battleground states, and sought to paint parallels with the American revolution. “When representatives of the British government previously sought to go door-to-door in America, it did not end well for them,” the letter from Trump’s legal team to the Federal Election Commission in Washington says.

The claims were rejected by the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, who said party officials volunteering for Harris were “doing it in their spare time” and not in a Labour capacity. Starmer told reporters that this was nothing new: “The Labour party … volunteers, have gone over pretty much every election. They’re doing it in their spare time, they’re doing it as volunteers, they’re staying, I think, with other volunteers over there.”

If Trump wins, will this harm relations between the UK and US? Starmer has insisted it won’t – that he has a “good relationship” with Trump that would not be jeopardised by the complaint.

With two weeks to go, what else is going on in the Trump campaign? Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, has claimed the ex-president “falls into the general definition of fascist”.

Israel confirms killing of Hezbollah’s presumed next leader

Israel has confirmed that it killed Hashem Safieddine, the presumed next leader of Hezbollah, in an airstrike on southern Beirut three weeks ago. Israel also killed the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last month.

Safieddine was the head of Hezbollah’s highest political decision-making body, the executive council, and had reportedly been chosen as Nasrallah’s successor some years ago. The confirmation means that only Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s deputy secretary general, remains alive among the group’s public-facing senior leadership.

Who will lead Hezbollah? Israel says the strike that killed Safieddine also killed another 25 Hezbollah leaders. It remains unknown who will assume the role.

What is the latest from Gaza? Israel’s siege of northern Gaza means Palestinians there “are rapidly exhausting all available means for their survival”, the UN’s humanitarian office warned.

In other news …

Gisèle Pelicot takes the stand on Wednesday in France to comment on the evidence presented so far in the rape trial that involves her ex-husband and 50 other men.

A multi-state E coli outbreak that resulted in one death has been linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers, the US public health authorities said, with 49 cases reported across 10 states.

China is cracking down on the use of puns online, one of the last ways citizens can safely discuss sensitive subjects without censorship.

Hundreds more babies died in the US than expected in the 18 months after Roe v Wade was overturned, research has found.

Stat of the day: 7% fall in US-Mexico border arrests

The number of arrests for illegally crossing the US-Mexico border dropped to a four-year low in September, authorities said on Tuesday, falling by 7%. The White House said the decrease was a result of toughening up asylum restrictions in June.

Don’t miss this: The secret health hell of being scammed

When the. journalist Moya Crockett sent the equivalent of $23,340 to a scammer in 2020, she quickly discovered the devastating psychological toll that falling victim to fraud can take. In the end, she was lucky: her bank reimbursed her in full. But, as she learned, it’s not just about the money. With scams sharply up since the pandemic, Crockett looks at the impact of cons on victims’ psyches, with one telling her she felt “violated and abused”.

Climate check: Cop29 host Azerbaijan ‘set for major fossil gas expansion’

Azerbaijan, the host of the Cop29 global climate summit, is planning a big increase its production of fossil gas over the next decade, a report can reveal. The researchers warned that it meant it had a “vested interest in keeping the world hooked on fossil fuels” – three years after the International Energy Agency said that no new fossil fuel exploitation should take place if CO2 emissions were to attain net zero by 2050.

Last Thing: Mickey the cockatoo freed from Sydney mall

After spending four weeks trapped inside a Sydney mall eating brioche, Mickey the cockatoo is finally free. His liberty was secured after a bird expert brought in another cockatoo, named Old Lady Doris, to calm Mickey down, leading to some “really cute scenes where they were canoodling with each other”, a bird sanctuary boss, Ravi Wasan, said.

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