Good morning.
Jair Bolsonaro has broken his almost two-day silence over his defeat in Sunday’s presidential election in Brazil – but refused to congratulate or recognise the victory of his rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
After Bolsonaro had delivered his message, however, his chief of staff indicated that his administration would not contest the election result. Bolsonaro lost Brazil’s most important election in decades by a margin of 2.1m votes – 50.9% to 49.1% – and dozens of world leaders swiftly recognised Lula’s victory.
But Bolsonaro initially said nothing, with local media reports suggesting the erratic rightwing populist was holed up in his presidential residence consumed by anger, despondency and disbelief.
What did he say? He thanked the 58 million voters who had backed his failed campaign but did not explicitly say he would respect Lula’s win and did not allude to the 60 million people who voted for his opponent. “As president and as a citizen, I will continue to follow all the commandments of our constitution,” Bolsonaro said, ambiguously.
How did Lula win the runoff, from São Paulo to the north-east? A Guardian analysis shows how votes in big cities such as São Paulo and Fortaleza were key to Lula’s tight victory in the second round of Brazil’s presidential election.
Huge ‘planet killer’ asteroid discovered – and it’s heading our way
Astronomers say they have discovered the largest planet killer-sized asteroid in eight years, and that the huge space rock will cross Earth’s orbit.
The asteroid, named 2022 AP7, was reported by researchers who were looking for space rocks within the orbits of Earth and Venus. Writing in the Astronomical Journal, the study’s lead author, Scott Sheppard, and colleagues at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington say they have found three “rather large” asteroids, one of which – 2022 AP7 – crosses Earth’s orbit, making it a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA).
With a diameter of between 1.1km (0.7 miles) and 2.3km, the team say 2022 AP7 is the largest PHA discovered since 2014 and probably in the top 5% of the largest ever found.
“Any asteroid over 1km in size is considered a planet killer,” said Sheppard, adding that should such an object strike Earth, the impact would be devastating to life as we know it, with dust and pollutants kicked up into the atmosphere where they would linger for years.
Will it hit Earth? “It has no chance to hit the Earth, currently,” said Sheppard, noting that at present 2022 AP7 crosses Earth’s orbit when Earth is on the other side of the sun.
Liz Cheney backs second Democrat, picking Ryan over Vance for Ohio Senate
The Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney has now endorsed two Democrats for election in the midterms next week, backing Tim Ryan in his Ohio US Senate race against JD Vance, after endorsing Elissa Slotkin for re-election to the US House in Michigan.
In Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday, Cheney told the journalist Judy Woodruff that she backed Ryan, a Democratic congressman, over Vance, the Hillbilly Elegy author and venture capitalist who abandoned criticism of Donald Trump and publicly embraced him.
“I would not vote for JD Vance,” Cheney said. Asked if she would vote for Ryan if she lived in Ohio, she said: “I would.”
In an unexpectedly tight race, the polling website FiveThirtyEight puts Vance two points up.
Cheney, the daughter of the former vice-president Dick Cheney, is a stringent conservative but nonetheless has emerged as perhaps the leading anti-Trump Republican. She rose to national prominence as vice-chair of the House January 6 committee, seeking to establish Trump’s guilt regarding the US Capitol attack, but in August she lost her primary in Wyoming to a Trump-backed challenger.
What will Cheney do next? Speculation continues over whether Cheney will mount a presidential run in 2024, whether for the nomination in a party dominated by Trump or as an independent. She has not confirmed or denied any plans. She has said she will leave the Republican party if Trump is the nominee again.
DoJ mulls immunity deal for Trump ally to secure testimony in Mar-a-Lago case
The justice department is weighing whether to grant immunity to the Trump adviser Kash Patel and force his testimony about claims that highly sensitive government documents that the FBI seized from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort were declassified, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The status of the documents has emerged as relevant to the criminal investigation surrounding Trump’s mishandling of national security materials as it could strengthen a potential case that the former president was in violation of state secrecy laws.
Trump and advisers such as Patel have claimed repeatedly since the FBI search in August that the documents bearing classification markings found at the property had in fact been declassified before the former president left the White House.
The claims that the documents were declassified have not been supported by evidence, however, and Trump’s lawyers have not repeated the assertions in a related legal dispute before a judge or in court filings, where they could face penalties for lying.
What else is happening with Trump? The US supreme court’s chief justice, John Roberts, on Tuesday put a temporary hold on the handover of Trump’s tax returns to a congressional committee. Roberts’ order gives the supreme court time to weigh the legal issues in the former president’s emergency appeal to the high court, filed on Monday.
In other news …
Takeoff, a member of Migos alongside the rappers Quavo and Offset, has died. The 28-year-old rapper, real name Kirshnik Khari Ball, was fatally shot at a bowling alley in Houston where he and Quavo were playing dice at about 2.30am. Takeoff was pronounced dead at the scene.
Julie Powell, the food blogger best known for her cooking memoir, Julie & Julia, which inspired a film starring Meryl Streep, has died at the age of 49. Her husband, Eric Powell, confirmed to the New York Times that she died of cardiac arrest at their home in Olivebridge, in upstate New York, on 26 October.
The former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thanked voters for a “huge vote of confidence” as his rightwing religious bloc extended its lead with about 60% of all votes counted. Netanyahu’s main opponent, the incumbent prime minister, Yair Lapid, insisted the race was not done yet.
North Korea fired at least 10 missiles off its eastern and western coasts this morning, with one landing in waters farther south than ever before, according to the South Korean military, which responded by firing missiles over a maritime border.
Stat of the day: Italian researchers discover recipe to extend life of fresh pasta by a month
A new twist on packaging combined with a special ingredient could extend the shelf life of fresh pasta by a month, researchers say. Heat-treated, industrial fresh pasta has a shelf life of approximately 30-90 days, if stored appropriately. However, by taking a triple-pronged approach involving new forms of packaging, a different packaging atmosphere and the addition of “good” bacteria, researchers have been able to extend this to 120 days. Writing in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, the team say the development could help tackle food waste.
Don’t miss this: Can you stand on one leg for 10 seconds? Why balance could be a matter of life and death – and how to improve yours
Until we start to lose our balance, we barely notice it’s there at all. “It starts for a lot of people with simple stuff,” says Dr Anna Lowe, an expert on healthy ageing and physical activity. “Maybe you used to be able to quickly stand on one leg to put a shoe on, and you’ve stopped doing that at some point. Maybe you used to get out of the bath on to a slippery floor without thinking, and now you have to hold on to something. It’s easy to either miss the signs or just put it down to ageing – but it really is something you can affect.”
Climate check: Five crops devastated by a year of extreme weather
From Hurricanes Fiona and Ian to flooding in eastern Kentucky and a record dry summer as the western US entered its 22nd year of a once-in-a-millennium megadrought, the US has already seen more than two dozen major climate disasters, with losses exceeding $1bn (£864m). On top of this economic toll, extreme weather is also upending the food system in the US and much of the world. As the climate crisis causes temperatures to rise, precipitation patterns to shift and drought conditions to lengthen, many crops are struggling to grow – and produce the same yields – as they would under normal weather conditions.
Last Thing: Why swearing makes you fitter, happier and more persuasive
Research suggests that swearing is associated with many desirable conversational outcomes and can make you seem more persuasive. There are still many unanswered questions about the nature of swearing, according to a new paper. One thing seems certain: swearing is powerful. It’s capable of producing “a range of distinctive psychological, physiological and emotional effects”. One study showed that subjects who swore could keep their hands in a bucket of ice water for longer than non-swearers. In addition, swearing has the power to strengthen social relationships and increase credibility.
Sign up
First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you’re not already signed up, subscribe now.
Get in touch
If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com
