10 things you need to know today: October 3, 2017

1. Trump calls Las Vegas mass shooting 'pure evil'

President Trump on Monday tweeted his "warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims" of the Las Vegas mass shooting. In a later televised address, Trump called the attack an "act of pure evil." Trump will visit the city Wednesday to meet with first responders, families, and victims. The death toll from the attack rose to 59 on Monday, making it the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. More than 500 were injured. SWAT team members found the suspect, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, dead from a self-inflicted wound in his 32nd-floor hotel room where police say he holed up, firing on a crowd at a country music concert below. Police found about 20 guns inside, including two rifles with scopes on tripods in the window. The FBI said Paddock had no connection to any international terrorist group, and that there was no immediate evidence regarding a motive.

Donald J. Trump The Washington Post

2. Iconic rocker Tom Petty dies at 66

Tom Petty, the iconoclastic frontman who led the band the Heartbreakers, died Monday. He was 66. Petty was found unconscious in full cardiac arrest at his Malibu home. He was rushed to a hospital but doctors found no brain activity and he was later taken off life support. "It's shocking, crushing news," Petty's friend and Traveling Wilburys bandmate Bob Dylan said in a statement to Rolling Stone. "I thought the world of Tom. He was a great performer, full of the light, a friend, and I'll never forget him." Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers completed a 40th anniversary summer tour last Monday that Petty said would be his "last trip around the country," although he did not intend to quit performing.

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Rolling Stone

3. Trump visits hurricane-damaged Puerto Rico

President Trump landed in San Juan on Tuesday to meet with Puerto Rican authorities, first responders, and some of the U.S. Caribbean territory's residents still struggling to recover from Hurricane Maria. The storm was the most powerful to hit Puerto Rico in nearly a century, and two weeks later 95 percent of the island's 3.4 million residents are still without power. People in the countryside have limited access to food and fresh water. Trump has traded jabs with San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, who called for a stronger federal response, but Cruz on Tuesday accepted the president's invitation to meet. The Trump administration has noted that there are more than 10,000 federal officials helping in Puerto Rico.

The Associated Press

4. Kushner, Ivanka Trump reportedly have 3rd private email account

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump have a third email account on their private domain that is now being examined by White House officials, three people with knowledge of the matter told Politico Monday. It was reported in September that Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, and first daughter Ivanka Trump set up personal email accounts on their domain and used them to conduct government business. This third email account was reportedly used to send and receive travel documents, internal schedules, and official White House materials. Many of the emails were sent by Ivanka Trump to her assistant, Bridges Lamar, and household staff had access to the account, Politico reports.

Politico

5. Documents show more contact between Trump associate and Russians

Documents turned over to federal investigators revealed at least two previously undisclosed contacts between President Trump's attorney, Michael Cohen, and Russians during the 2016 campaign, The Washington Post reported Monday, citing two people familiar with the matter. In one case, Cohen exchanged emails about an invitation to attend an economic conference in Russia that was to be attended by leading Russian financial and government leaders, including Vladimir Putin. In the other, Cohen received a proposal about a Moscow residential project from a company founded by a billionaire one-time Russian lawmaker. Cohen declined the invitation to attend the conference, and rejected the development project. The Trump Organization gave the White House details of the emails in August.

The Washington Post

6. Nobel Prize in physics goes to trio for detecting gravitational waves

Three American physicists — Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish, and Kip Thorne of the LIGO/VIRGO collaboration — won the Nobel Prize for physics on Tuesday for the detection of gravitational waves, which had been predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago but never seen. "This is something completely new and different, opening up unseen worlds," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said as it announced the winners of the 9 million Swedish crown ($1.1 million) prize. "A wealth of discoveries awaits those who succeed in capturing the waves and interpreting their message." This year's Nobels kicked off on Monday with the announcement of the winners for medicine, and next will be the Nobel for chemistry, which is to be announced Wednesday.

The New York Times The Guardian

7. Catalans protests Spain's effort to thwart independence vote

A general strike brought much of Spain's Catalonia region to a standstill on Tuesday as unions and other pro-separatist groups protested the national government's attempts to thwart Sunday's independence referendum. Trade unions, businesses, schools, transport networks, police, and even the region's successful soccer team FC Barcelona participated in the one-day strike. Nearly 900 people were injured when riot police tried to drive away voters using rubber bullets and batons during the vote, and stormed polling stations to seize ballot boxes. Regional government leader Carles Puigdemont said Monday he considered the vote binding, and vowed to take the results favoring secession to the Catalonian Parliament within days. Madrid says the referendum violated the nation's constitution.

CNBC

8. Tesla says 'bottlenecks' kept it from meeting Model 3 production goal

Tesla said Monday that "production bottlenecks" had prevented it from meeting goals for its ramp-up on its new Model 3 mass-market sedan. The luxury electric car maker said, however, that its deliveries rose by 4.5 percent to 26,150 in the third quarter over the same period last year. The California-based company produced just 260 Model 3 sedans and delivered 220 of them in the quarter. Tesla said it expected to meet its target of 5,000 of the Model 3 sedans, which start at $35,000, per week by the end of the year, and to increase that to 10,000 per week at some point in 2018.

Reuters

9. Pair accused of killing Kim Jong Un's estranged brother plead not guilty

Two women accused of killing the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pleaded not guilty as their murder trial started in Malaysia on Monday. The women — Siti Aisyah, 25, of Indonesia, and Doan Thi Huong, 28, of Vietnam — are accused of smearing a nerve agent on the face of Kim Jong Nam, the estranged older brother of the North Korean leader. The women were working as escorts and claimed that North Korean agents duped them by telling them they were participating in a prank for a hidden-camera TV show. Kim Jong Nam died en route to a hospital shortly after the Feb. 13 incident at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. North Korea has denied involvement in the killing.

The New York Times

10. GM plans new electric vehicles in push for 'all-electric' future

General Motors announced Monday that it was working toward an "all-electric" vehicle lineup. "Although that future won't happen overnight, GM is committed to driving increased usage and acceptance of electric vehicles through no-compromise solutions that meet our customers' needs," said Mark Reuss, General Motors executive vice president of product development, purchasing, and supply chain, at a media event at the company's Warren, Michigan, technical campus. The automaker said it was immediately accelerating development of electric vehicles on the way to introducing two new all-electric vehicles in the next months, and at least 20 electric or hydrogen vehicles by 2023.

General Motors The Washington Post