Tuesday briefing: What Humza Yousaf’s win means for Scotland, the SNP and independence

In today’s newsletter: The former health minister inherits a party, country and movement in flux from predecessor Nicola Sturgeon

• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First Edition

Good morning. After a brutal and destabilising SNP leadership contest, Humza Yousaf is the party’s new leader. Today he should be confirmed as the first Scottish first minister from an ethnic minority, and the first Muslim to lead a major British political party.

In what turned out to be a very tight race, Yousaf beat his rival Kate Forbes by 52% to 48% after the votes of third-placed Ash Regan were redistributed. And while he promised that “we will be the team, we will be the generation that delivers independence for Scotland”, the work ahead of him is considerable: independence looks further away than it did when Nicola Sturgeon announced her resignation, and the fractures within the party have been brought into sharp relief. For the first time in a long time, the SNP’s ability to maintain its status as the dominant force in Scottish politics looks in serious doubt.

Israel | Benjamin Netanyahu has announced a delay to his far-right government’s proposals to overhaul the judiciary after 12 weeks of escalating political crisis. After a day of protests prompted in part by the resignation of his defence minister, the embattled prime minister said the changes would be delayed to the next parliamentary session.

Media | Doreen Lawrence has claimed the Daily Mail hired private investigators to hack her phone for information on her murdered son Stephen, potentially disrupting the police investigation into his death. Lawrence, the Duke of Sussex and Elton John are among those bringing high court cases against Associated Newspapers alleging illegal reporting tactics. See more details of the allegations.

US gun violence | A former student killed three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville on Monday, armed with two “assault-style” weapons and a handgun. Joe Biden called the shootings “heartbreaking, a family’s worst nightmare” and again called on Congress to pass an assault weapons ban.

Culture | A survey by Equity, the performing arts union, has found that most chorus members would have to quit the English National Opera if the company were to relocate outside London because of personal obligations tying them to the capital. More than two-thirds of those people said they would be forced to leave the profession altogether.

TikTok | One of Europe’s largest ammunition manufacturers has said efforts to meet demand from the war in Ukraine have been stymied by a new TikTok data centre monopolising electricity near its biggest factory. “We are concerned because we see our future growth is challenged by the storage of cat videos,” chief executive Morten Brandtzæg said.