First Thing: Kirk shooting suspect had ‘very different ideology’ to conservative family, Utah governor says

Spencer Cox says suspect, who isn’t cooperating with officials, had been ‘radicalized’ and was in relationship with person transitioning from male to female. Plus, Bangkok reckons with a giant lizard boom

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The Utah governor, Spencer Cox, has said the man suspected of killing Charlie Kirk comes “from a conservative family” but that “his ideology was very different than his family”.

The Republican governor said Tyler Robinson, 22, was in a relationship with a person “transitioning from male to female” and that investigators were continuing to explore a possible motive in the attack.

Cox’s comments came four days after Kirk – a critic of gay and transgender rights – was shot from a distance with a rifle during an event at Utah Valley University shortly after asserting that “too many” transgender people had committed mass shootings in the US.

In reality, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonpartisan not-for-profit group, only about 0.1% of such shootings over the previous decade had allegedly been carried out by trans people.

Cox stopped short of saying that officials had determined the suspect’s partner’s alleged status was a factor in Kirk’s killing.

• What has Donald Trump said? Trump declined to call for the US to come together as a way of fixing the country’s divisions, preferring to cast “vicious and horrible” radicals on the left of US politics as the sole problem. The president also claimed people on “the left” were under investigation.

Adolescence triumphs at the Emmys while The Studio breaks records

Netflix’s breakout drama Adolescence has triumphed at this year’s Emmys, winning six awards.

The series, which became the streamer’s second most-watched show ever, won for limited series, directing and writing and also picked up three acting awards.

Owen Cooper became the youngest ever winner of the award for best supporting actor in a limited series. In his speech, the 15-year-old called the experience “just so surreal”. Erin Doherty won best supporting actress in a limited series.

• Who else were the big winners? Apple TV+ comedy The Studio, about a fictional Hollywood studio, became the most awarded comedy ever in a single year at the Emmys. Meanwhile, medical drama The Pitt won three awards, including best drama series and two acting awards.

Kathy Hochul backs Zohran Mamdani in race for New York City mayor

Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York, has endorsed Zohran Mamdani in his run for mayor of New York City, a significant boost for the democratic socialist.

Writing in a New York Times opinion piece, Hochul said: “In the four years since I took office, one of my foundational beliefs has been the importance of the office of New York governor working hand in hand with the mayor of New York City for the betterment of the 8.3 million residents we both represent.

“The question of who will be the next mayor is one I take extremely seriously and to which I have devoted a great deal of thought. Tonight I am endorsing assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.”

• What did she say? In a post on X linking to the column, she wrote: “New York City deserves a mayor who will stand up to Donald Trump and make life more affordable for New Yorkers. That’s @ZohranKMamdani.”

In other news …

• President Donald Trump has said foreign workers sent to the US are “welcome” and he doesn’t want to “frighten off” investors, 10 days after hundreds of South Koreans were arrested at a work site in Georgia.

• Authorities in Utah say two men have been arrested on suspicion of placing an incendiary device under a news media vehicle in Salt Lake City. The bomb didn’t go off.

• Romania on Sunday protested about the entry of a Russian drone into its airspace during an attack on neighbouring Ukraine by summoning the Kremlin’s ambassador to the foreign ministry.

• The violent weather that battered Europe this summer caused short-term economic losses of at least €43bn ($51bn), according to an EU-wide estimate, with costs expected to rise to €126bn by 2029.

Stat of the day: Rising Nato military spending to cause huge rise in emissions, report warns

A planned expansion of military spending by Nato countries could generate an additional 1,320m tonnes of planet-heating pollution over the next decade – on a par with the annual greenhouse gas emissions generated by Brazil, the fifth largest emitter in the world, according to a new report.

Don’t miss this: How to burst the Israeli bubble

This week, several countries – among them France, the UK and Australia – intend to recognize the state of Palestine during the UN general assembly. Many people have long deemed the two-state solution dead, and nothing could seem further away from it than the dystopian reality on the ground. Still, it’s a welcome step that addresses an enduring blind spot: Palestinian rights cannot be conditioned on Israeli interests, writes Noam Sheizaf.

…Or this: ‘The old white patriarchy isn’t knocking on my door!’ Sandra Oh on joy, despair – and going viral with a euphoric dance

This summer, Sandra Oh stood behind a lectern at a graduation ceremony in New Hampshire, preparing to give university-leavers words of hope at a time of permacrisis. She rose to the challenge. And then came the moment that would go viral. Oh instructed everyone to stand up and do something Cristina Yang, her career-making character on Grey’s Anatomy, used to do when times got tough. “Dance it out!” she exhorted.

Climate check: A tiny town in Idaho dodged incineration in 2024. Will the next wildfire take it out?

During a 2024 wildfire season, it took heroic firefighting efforts and favorable turns in weather conditions for the tiny central Idaho town of Stanley and nearby Redfish Lake Lodge – a mountain mecca for tourists from around the world – to survive without the loss of a single life or home. Next time, it might not be so lucky. “We need to think differently about how secure we are,” said Steve Botti, the mayor of Stanley who is an experienced firefighter himself.

Last Thing: ‘You’re going about your day and suddenly see a little Godzilla’: Bangkok reckons with a giant lizard boom

The Asian water monitor is the world’s second-largest species of lizard, reaching lengths of about two metres (7ft). It can be found in rivers, lakes and swamps across south-east Asia and into India and China. Increasingly, however, the dark brown lizard can be spotted in more populated areas. As the urban lizard population explodes, authorities are receiving more calls about conflicts: lizards intruding upon popular fishing spots, raiding livestock, and even crawling into people’s homes.

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