Morning Report
Israeli raids, Khalife in court, and a royal visit to Southport

 
today's international story

Fresh Israeli strikes on Beirut kill 22

What happened
Israeli air strikes on residential buildings in two densely populated Beirut neighbourhoods have claimed the lives of 22 people and injured 117. The explosions "brought down one eight-story building and wiped out the lower floors of the other", said The Independent. Among the dead was a family of eight that had evacuated from the south of the country, where Israeli soldiers are carrying out ground operations, said Reuters.
 
Who said what
BBC reporters said they "heard loud explosions" echoing through Bachoura, a small Shia area in the capital. "They came after two relatively calm days in the Lebanese capital," said the broadcaster.

This appears to be "the deadliest attack" on Beirut "in more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah", said The New York Times. The strikes were "a failed assassination attempt" against senior Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa, according to the Hezbollah-aligned news network Al-Mayadeen, said The Washington Post.
 
What next?
The strike came hours after UN peacekeepers said Israel had fired on their bases deliberately, attracting international criticism. The US said it was deeply concerned about the reports and was pressing Israel for details.

 
 
today's LEGAL story

Alleged soldier spy 'offered to be MI6 double agent'

What happened
Daniel Khalife (pictured above), the former British soldier who made headlines when he escaped from Wandsworth prison underneath a food delivery lorry, has denied spying for Iran. The 23-year-old is on trial at Woolwich Crown Court, accused of collecting sensitive information for Iran, perpetrating a bomb hoax and absconding from prison.

Who said what
The court heard that Khalife had been in contact with Iranian handlers since he was 17, passing them information including a “handwritten” list of 15 British special forces soldiers. According to the prosecution, in 2019 he twice contacted MI6 offering to be a “double agent”. Khalife, who won a trophy for best junior soldier, wanted to join the special forces himself, his lawyer, Gul Nawaz Hussain KC, said, but was allegedly told “not to apply” because his mother was born in Iran.

What next?
The trial is expected to last for about six weeks.

 
 
Today's ROYAL story

Princess of Wales visits Southport

What happened
The Princess of Wales has made her first official outing since her chemotherapy treatment ended, visiting the bereaved families of the Southport stabbing victims on Thursday. Alongside Prince William, she met with the relatives of six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar. The three girls were fatally stabbed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on 29 July.

Who said what
The visit was "initially billed as a solo public engagement for the Prince", said The Telegraph, but it is "understood that just hours earlier the Princess decided to join him in order to show her support and compassion". The couple were said to have felt that it was important to "show the community that it has not been forgotten and that they will continue to offer their support".

What next?
The "royal mother-of-three has appeared in public on merely a few occasions this year as she underwent treatment for cancer", said Tatler, so this is another sign that she is "recovering well from her health battles of the past year".

 
 

It's not all bad

A herd of long-horned tauros will be released in the Scottish Highlands to replicate the role of the extinct aurochs, the wild ancestor of cattle. Bred in the Netherlands, the tauros are a cross-breed that closely resemble the ancient aurochs, and are expected to help restore landscapes and boost biodiversity. Rewilding charity Trees for Life plans to establish Britain's first herd of 15 on its 4,000-hectare Dundreggan estate near Loch Ness. Once Europe's largest land mammals after the woolly mammoth, aurochs vanished from Britain in about 1300BC, but their DNA lives on in some ancient cattle breeds.

 
 
UNDER THE RADAR

The revolutionary plan for network states

First they created new currencies, and now crypto bros have an even wilder ambition: to make new countries.

In today's "chaotic world" of "geopolitical clashes, wars and an increasingly digital economy", this "sounds more realistic than ever before", said Forbes.

"Here's how it would work", said the BBC. "Communities form – on the internet initially – around a set of shared interests or values. Then they acquire land, becoming physical 'countries' with their own laws."

The entities would "exist alongside existing nation states and, eventually, replace them altogether". This would allow people to choose their nationality, "like you choose your broadband provider", and "become a citizen of the franchised cyber statelet of your choice".

These new states would be "formed on the basis of shared ideas, interests and goals", and they "are not merely theoretical constructs", added Forbes. "They represent a practical reimagining of how communities can organise and govern themselves in the digital age."

The idea is being powered by a "cultish tech movement that ultimately seeks to end countries as we know them", said The New Republic, and "decentralise governance in the same way that crypto seeks to decentralise finance". The ambitious plan would see "typically cash-strapped countries cede land to tech bros who want to play a real-life version of SimCity".

Existing projects are "at different stages of development and still face unique challenges", said Forbes, but "their collective efforts signify a growing interest in redefining governance in the digital era".

 
 
on this day

11 October 1984

American astronaut and geologist Kathryn Sullivan became the first woman to walk in space. Next year Christina Koch will be the first woman to go to the Moon as part of Artemis II, Nasa's first crewed mission to Earth's satellite in more than 50 years.

 
 
Today's newspapers

People who work in social care will get higher wages under the Employment Rights Bill – or the new "Rayner law" – as the i paper dubs it. The Times says the plan would give unions "wider powers to recruit members and stage strikes". Elsewhere, the UN has accused Israel of "deliberately" firing on its peacekeepers in Lebanon, says The Guardian. UN member states expressed outrage at the "alleged attack", in which two people were injured, the paper reports.

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Speeding Muppet

A driver that appears to be the Cookie Monster from "Sesame Street" has been snapped behind the wheel of a speeding car. The "bizarre" image of the "googly-eyed, biscuit-loving speedster was captured by traffic cops in Germany", said The Sun. The person in the costume was tearing along at nearly 60mph in a 50mph zone in Dortmund and now faces a £35 fine if they are caught. "It is unclear if the biscuit-mad Muppet has ever been caught speeding before," said the paper, "or if he even has a driving licence."

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Sarah Collins, Holden Frith, Hollie Clemence, Harriet Marsden, Sorcha Bradley and Chas Newkey-Burden, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly.

Image credits, from top: AFP / Getty Images;
Metropolitan Police; Danny Lawson / WPA Pool / Getty Images; Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Getty Images.