First Thing: New York police search for suspect who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO

Good morning.

New York police are searching for the suspect who shot and killed the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, one of the US’s largest health insurers, on Wednesday in midtown Manhattan.

Brian Thompson, 50, was shot outside the Hilton hotel shortly after 6.45am after arriving the company’s annual investor conference. Police said a masked man approached Thompson from behind and shot at him repeatedly, with the New York’s police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, saying that “every indication is that this was a premeditated, pre-planned targeted attack”.

After shooting Thompson in his back and his leg, the suspect fled north into an alleyway, then walked westbound before getting an electric Citi Bike and riding towards Central Park. Thompson was rushed to Mount Sinai hospital and was pronounced dead at 7.12am.

• Had Thompson had threats made against him? His wife, Paulette Thompson, said “there had been threats”, adding: “Basically, I don’t know, a lack of coverage? I don’t know details. I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.”

Israel’s war in Gaza amounts to genocide, Amnesty International report finds

Amnesty International has become the first major human rights organization to allege that Israel’s war in Gaza amounts to genocide under international law. It is the first time Amnesty has labeled an ongoing conflict as genocide.

In a report published Thursday, Amnesty examined events in Gaza between October 2023 to July 2024. It said that Israel has “committed prohibited acts under the Genocide Convention, namely killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction” with the “specific intent to destroy Palestinians” in Gaza.

Trump makes U-turn on top White House lawyer pick

Donald Trump has abruptly swapped out his pick for White House counsel after he moved his original nominee to the new department of government efficiency.

Trump has appointed David Warrington – a low-profile but consistent figure in the president-elect’s circle – to serve as the top lawyer in the incoming administration, moving the Republican lawyer Bill McGinley to the department that will be co-led by Elon Musk.

“Dave will lead the office of the White House counsel, and serve as the top attorney in the White House. Dave has represented me well as my personal attorney, and as general counsel for my presidential campaign,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

In other news …

• Georgian police have arrested an opposition party leader as mass anti-government protests entered their seventh night after the governing party’s decision to suspend talks on joining the EU.

• France’s government has been toppled by a no-confidence vote for the first time in more than 60 years, with the prime minister, Michel Barnier, expected to resign on Thursday.

• A school shooting in northern California left two students injured and the suspected shooter dead, officials said on Wednesday.

• South Korea’s ruling party vowed to block the opposition’s attempt to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed attempt to impose martial law.

Stat of the day: Global LNG capacity set to grow by nearly 50% by 2030

The world’s capacity for liquefied natural gas (LNG) is on track to grow by almost 50% by 2030, according to International Energy Agency – a rise that would be inconsistent with stopping global temperatures from rising over 2.4C (36.32F) past pre-industrialised levels. Major banks have invested $213bn into plans to build gas export and import terminals, the climate group Reclaim Finance found. Methane leaks could mean planned terminals create emissions almost as high as those from all the coal plants operating worldwide.

Don’t miss this: Eminem and Debbie Mathers showed that hip-hop is the genre where men come to terms with their mothers

After the announcement of Debbie Mathers’ death on Wednesday, Thomas Hobbs dives into the familial relationships rappers explore in their lyrics. In contrast to the awed depiction other rappers reserved for their mothers, Eminem turned “his rough and tumble childhood in a Detroit trailer park into a cartoonish soap opera where nothing was off limits”, Hobbs writes, with his mother “frequently depicted as a villainous, Nurse Ratched-esque character”. But the two later reconciled, with Eminem acknowledging he and his mother were “survivors” rather than enemies.

Climate check: Mapping how climate risks are driving up insurance premiums around the US

The climate emergency is triggering an insurance crisis, with hurricanes, floods, fires and other extreme weather events resulting in soaring average premiums since 2020. The Guardian has analyzed the study’s mortgage payment data to map the places in the US at highest risk from disasters and insurance hikes.

Last Thing: From semaglutide to Kamala Harris: these are the most mispronounced words of 2024

Kamala Harris (pronounced, as I’m sure you’re aware by now, COM-a-la HAR-iss), Chappell Roan (CHAP-uhl ROHN) and Zendaya (Zen-DAY-a), are all on a list of the words we mispronounced most in 2024. Why all the mispronunciation, asks Matthew Cantor? An expert explains that it can be partly blamed on the democratization of news – and even the Norman invasion of 1066. Check out the list to see if you’ve been getting any wrong.

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