First Thing: eight people, mostly Asian women, killed in Atlanta shooting

Good morning.

At least eight people were killed in a spate of shootings across three massage parlours in the Atlanta area yesterday. Six of those killed were Asian a two were white. A 21-year-old man was arrested following an hours-long manhunt and is reportedly the suspect in all three attacks.

• There is no known motive but NYPD’s counter-terrorism bureau announced that it would deploy officers to Asian communities around New York, and Atlanta police sent officers to check on similar businesses. The shootings come amid an increasing number of attacks against Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic.

• What do we know so far? Alison Rourke summarises the key pieces of information we have on the shootings.

Biden is touring to tout his stimulus bill

Joe Biden travelled to Pennsylvania yesterday to promote his $1.9tn coronavirus stimulus package, stopping by a unionised, Black-owned flooring company to highlight the benefits of the bill for small businesses, which have been hit badly by the pandemic. While at the firm, he told employees that “more help is on the way – for real”.

This was one stop on a nationwide “Help is Here” tour. Biden, Kamala Harris and their spouses will head to Georgia, another key swing state, this week.

• Two Republican lawmakers said prisoners should use stimulus payments for restitution for their crimes rather than personal economic support as intended. The Wisconsin lawmakers have introduced a bill, but it’s unclear whether it will pass. There is debate about whether criminals should receive the cheques, which they also did under Donald Trump.

Russia spread misinformation about Biden in the 2020 election, says US intelligence

Russia attempted to influence the 2020 presidential election by spreading “misleading or unsubstantiated allegations” against Joe Biden via allies of Donald Trump, according to intelligence officials.

A 15-page report found that Russia targeted those close to Trump to spread information to denigrate Biden. The Democratic House intelligence chair, Adam Schiff, said: “Through proxies, Russia ran a successful intelligence operation that penetrated [Trump’s] inner circle.”

• Alaska’s Republican party has censured a senator for voting to convict Trump during his second impeachment trial and does not want her to be the GOP candidate at the next election, according to a member of the central committee. The move is dramatic for state politics: Lisa Murkowski has been in the Senate since 2002, and a member of her family has represented Alaska in the Senate since 1981.

• The teen who hacked Biden and Bill Gates has been jailed for three years after breaching several high-profile Twitter accounts in an attempt to win bitcoin transactions. Graham Ivan Clark, who was 17 at the time, made $100,000 off the hack, but has since retuned the money.

Could North Korea be planning a nuclear weapons test?

North Korea could be planning a test flight for one of its inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) “in the near future”, according to a senior US military official yesterday. Gen Glen VanHerck, who heads up security for the continental US, appeared to base the prediction on the country unveiling its largest ICBM yet at a parade in October, rather than any specific intelligence.

• US officials are beginning a trip to Japan and South Korea to discuss security issues, amid concerns North Korea could be raising the stakes in its nuclear diplomacy with Washington. Should a test go ahead, it would be the first serious challenge for Biden over North Korea.

• North Korea hasn’t tested a nuclear weapon for three years but has been improving the design of its ICBM, continued producing the weapons and tested smaller missiles.

In other news …

• Biden said Andrew Cuomo should resign if an investigation verifies sexual misconduct claims made against him by six women, predominantly former aides. In an interview to air this morning, Biden said that should the investigation confirm claims, “I think he’d probably end up being prosecuted too”. Cuomo denies the allegations.

• Two people were rescued from a truck dangling over a gorge in Idaho yesterday after the vehicle plunged off a bridge. The gorge is roughly 100ft deep, equating to the height of a 10-storey building.

• The homeland security secretary tried to deter people from trying to cross the US border yesterday amid a surge in the number of people attempting to enter the US. Alejandro Mayorkas said the country remained closed to most asylum seekers, though it is still processing a growing number of unaccompanied child migrants.

Stat of the day: 19th-century whales shared information and changed their behaviour to cut human attacks by 58%

Whales that were attacked in the north Pacific shared information about what was happening to them and changed their behaviour, cutting the strike rate by humans by 58% in just a few years. These are the findings of a remarkable new study about sperm whales, which are highly social animals that can communicate over long distances via sonar clicks. They also have the largest brains on the planet.

Don’t miss this: the father of a trans girl made an impassioned plea about the right to play sports

Missouri father Brandon Boulware has attracted millions of views with a moving plea to state lawmakers to reject a bill that would ban his daughter from playing on girls’ sports teams. Speaking at a hearing for the bill in Missouri House of Representatives, Boulware told of his regret that he had forced his child to “wear boy clothes, get short haircuts and play on boys’ sports teams” and described how she had come alive when allowed to dress how she wanted, grow her hair and play sports with other girls. He said:

I ask you please don’t take that away from my daughter or the countless others like her who are out there. Let them have their childhoods. Let them be who they are. I ask you to vote against this legislation.

Last thing: the world nature photography awards are here and you should definitely take a look

The world nature photography awards are here, and the pictures are nothing short of spectacular. Thomas Vijayan was named the photographer of the year for his image of a Borneo orangutan, and he described the area as a “photographer’s paradise”. From lions to frogs, these images are a reminder of the wonders of the natural world.

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