WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
Bomb threats, an election petition, and Davey's Christmas No.1 dreams

 
today's international story

Bomb threats made against Trump cabinet picks

What happened
Several of Donald Trump's cabinet nominees and selections for his White House team have been targeted by bomb threats and "swatting attacks", said the president-elect's transition team yesterday.

Those who said they were affected included Elise Stefanik (pictured left), Trump's nominee to be ambassador to the United Nations; Lee Zeldin (pictured right), who has been nominated to head the Environmental Protection Agency; Brooke Rollins, Trump's selection for the Department of Agriculture; and Matt Gaetz, a nominee for attorney general who withdrew last week. John Ratcliffe, who was picked to be CIA director, and Pete Hegseth, the nominee for secretary of defence, have also been the victims of "attacks", according to Fox News.

Who said what
The FBI said it was aware of "numerous bomb threats" as well as "swatting incidents", where hoax calls are made to police claiming a life-threatening situation is taking place. "We take all potential threats seriously and, as always, encourage members of the public to immediately report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement."

The "same tactics have been used in the past against some of those who've been viewed as Trump adversaries", said NBC News, including several judges and prosecutors who have been involved in cases against the president-elect. Last year US politicians around the country were "swatted over Christmas", said the BBC. "Most were Republican, but some Democrats were targeted as well."

What next?
Authorities are continuing to investigate the incidents.

 
 
today's politics story

Parliament to debate petition for fresh election

What happened
A petition demanding a fresh general election, which has been signed by nearly 2.8 million people, will be debated in Parliament on 6 January next year.

Who said what
The petition was posted on the Parliament website by pub owner Michael Westwood and claims that Keir Starmer has "gone back on promises". It has easily surpassed the 100,000 signatures required to trigger a vote and has become the third most popular e-petition since 2010, in part due to having been promoted on social media by Elon Musk, Nigel Farage and others.

Kemi Badenoch used the petition to "taunt" Starmer during Prime Minister's Questions yesterday, said the BBC. The Tory leader said the petition represented "two million people asking him to go" following Labour's first Budget since 2010. Starmer responded that July's election, where Labour won 411 Commons seats and 9.7 million votes, had been a "massive petition" in itself.

What next?
The chair of the Petitions Select Committee and Liberal Democrats MP Jamie Stone will lead the debate, which will be on a "neutral" motion, meaning it cannot trigger a new national election.

 
 
Today's crime story

Counter-terrorism police arrest six over 'PKK activity'

What happened
Protesters clashed with police in Harringay, north London after six suspected members of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known as the PKK, were arrested as part of a counter-terrorism investigation.

Four men, aged 23, 27, 56 and 62, and two women, aged 59 and 31, were arrested at separate addresses in dawn raids in London. The PKK has been a proscribed organisation since 2001 "for its advocation of Kurdish self-rule through both political and armed struggle", said Sky News.

Who said what
"There is not believed to be any imminent threat to the public linked to the matters under investigation," said The Times. But Acting Commander Helen Flanagan, from the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, said the arrests over "very serious allegations" followed a "significant" investigation.

What next?
The Kurdish Community Centre in Harringay will be closed for up to two weeks while officers carry out a search as part of the investigation. Extra officers will carry out additional patrols in the area over the coming days.

 
 

It's not all bad

Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey is aiming for a Christmas No.1 with "Love is Enough", a festive single recorded with a young carers' choir and Bath Philharmonia. The song, featuring a Christmas-themed video, highlights the challenges faced by carers, a cause close to Davey's heart as a former young carer. Proceeds from sales will benefit the Carers Trust and Bath Philharmonia. Davey quipped that Mariah Carey might be "very worried". Reaching No.1 would cap off a year of Lib Dem surprises that include beginning it with 15 MPs and ending it with 72.

 
 
under the radar

Tutankhamun: the mystery of the Boy King's pierced ears

Ever since British archaeologist Howard Carter first peered into the tomb of ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun 100 years ago, the mystery of the Boy King's death has captivated historians and amateurs alike.

And that mystery recently "took another turn", according to the Daily Express. Researchers have proposed that Tutankhamun's eye-catching gold funerary mask may have been intended for someone else, but the pharaoh's untimely death, less than 10 years after he ascended to the throne at the age of nine, forced it to be quickly repurposed.

The earring holes on the mask suggest it may have been prepared for a "high-status" woman or child, said a team at the University of York.

Its study puts forward the hypothesis that the king "wouldn't have worn earrings beyond childhood", said Professor Joann Fletcher, in a documentary from 2022, adding that when he died he would "not have been portrayed with pierced ears".

The gold used on his face is also "entirely different to the gold used on the rest of the mask". This suggests Tutankhamun's face was "effectively grafted on" to another mask of a previous female ruler, said Fletcher, but that the ears were left intact. "I was sure the death mask was not specifically designed for King Tut."

Research suggests that the mask was intended for a "regal female burial" – perhaps Queen Nefertiti, his stepmother, who died before him.

The fact that there is such detailed debate proves that even a century after Tutankhamun's discovery, the Boy King continues to be a source of fascination.

 
 
on this day

28 November 1893 

Women vote in a national election for the first time in the New Zealand general election. Today New Zealand is one of only seven countries worldwide to have 50 per cent or more women in parliament, with the other six being Rwanda, Cuba, Nicaragua, Andorra, Mexico and the UAE.

 
 
Today's newspapers

The truce between Israel and Hezbollah has allowed thousands of displaced people to begin returning to their homes, says The Guardian. The i Paper leads on comments from the Chief Inspector of Probation Martin Jones who says that the early release of prisoners "puts the public at risk" from sex offenders. Meanwhile, Keir Starmer is trying to "rush through a treaty giving away the Chagos Islands", The Telegraph says, amid "mounting speculation that Donald Trump could oppose the deal".

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

It was gnome joke

The residents of Formby in Merseyside can sleep a little sounder this evening after the 48-year cold case of the disappearance of scores of garden gnomes was solved. The mysterious removal of the garden ornaments, which were replaced with sinister ransom notes, gripped the area over the Christmas of 1976, but until this week no one had come forward with any clues as to the identity of the "phantom gnome snatcher of Formby". Arthur, now aged 62, told BBC Radio 2 that he and his then five-year-old brother Colin had been behind the crime. "Over the years it’s been on my conscience that I did this terrible thing," he told Vernon Kay. "I would like to beg forgiveness from all the families that I caused grief."

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Arion McNicoll, Harriet Marsden, Jamie Timson, Sorcha Bradley and Chas Newkey-Burden, with illustrations by Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images; Wiktor Szymanowicz / Future Publishing / Getty Images; Carl Court / Getty Images.