Top story: Brussels owed €6.8bn in first payment
Hello, Warren Murray here. Hope this week’s briefings have been useful – here’s one more to complete the set.
The UK’s Brexit “divorce bill” is €47.5bn (£40.8bn), according to estimates from the European Union that are higher than UK government forecasts. The first tranche, €6.8bn, is due for payment by the end of the year. In 2018 the Office for Budget Responsibility put the Brexit bill at £37.1bn, while government officials thought £35-39bn.
The 2020 accounts have yet to be signed off by the EU’s auditors, but the Brexit bill is thought unlikely to change. UK government sources said some liabilities may never materialise, for example if recipients of EU loans pay back all the money rather than default. The largest share of the Brexit bill, €36bn, is to pay for EU infrastructure and social projects agreed by previous UK governments. Much of the rest consists of EU liabilities, including pensions and sickness insurance for retired EU officials, former EU commissioners and MEPs.
Boris Johnson once said the EU “could go whistle” if it expected the UK to pay a divorce bill, but later accepted that the UK had to clear its debts in order to negotiate a trade deal. The government is also due a share of the EU’s assets, including €1.8bn in fines levied on companies.
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Covid booster after six months? – Pfizer is pushing for future booster shots of its vaccine because Covid immunity might weaken after six months. It plans to ask US regulators to authorise the booster, though regulators the FDA and CDC have said: “We are prepared for booster doses if and when the science demonstrates that they are needed.” During the first year of the pandemic 25 children and teenagers died as a direct result of Covid-19 in England and about 6,000 were admitted to hospital, according to analysis from University College London. Children seen to be at greatest risk were in ethnic minority groups, or had medical conditions or severe disabilities. Airlines, meanwhile, have reported a surge in flight bookings after the government announced fully vaccinated passengers and their children could return from amber-listed countries without quarantine after 19 July. More developments at our live blog.
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Afghanistan power grab – Iran, Turkey, Pakistan and Russia have moved to fill the military and diplomatic vacuum opening up in Afghanistan as US forces pull out. Iran has secured a statement from the Taliban that they do not support attacks on civilians, schools, mosques and hospitals, and want to negotiate Afghanistan’s future. There are fears in Iran that a million Afghan refugees might pour over the border, though some think the influx could actually help Iran’s demographics and economy. Russia has sought assurances that Afghanistan’s northern borders will not become a base for attacks on former Soviet republics. Joe Biden has pledged US forces will be out by 31 August. Emma Graham-Harrison reports from Kabul that Taliban fighters have pressed in on the capital of Helmand province, once the centre of the UK’s presence. Militants are less than a mile from Lashkar Gah, local officials have said.
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‘New and relevant information’ – Two Metropolitan police officers have been given misconduct notices over potential failings in the disappearance of teenager Richard Okorogheye, 19, whose body was discovered in a lake in Epping Forest in March a week after he went missing from his London home. The officers may have failed to pass on “new and relevant information” to missing persons staff, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said, adding: “The serving of misconduct notices does not mean that disciplinary proceedings will follow.” The IOPC said in April it was investigating complaints by Okorogheye’s mother, Evidence Joel, about the way the Met handled reports that her son was missing.
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Police parade Haiti suspects – The commando unit that assassinated Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse, was composed of 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans, authorities have said. Police paraded 17 men before journalists on Thursday, showing Colombian passports plus assault rifles, machetes, walkie-talkies and materials including bolt cutters and hammers. Police said 15 Colombians were captured, as well as two Haitian Americans. Three assailants were killed and eight remained on the run.
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Hubble trouble – The Hubble space telescope’s science instruments have gone into safe mode after a computer malfunction. Its Nasa controllers will most likely have to switch to backup equipment onboard – a delicate operation that will first be practised in computer simulations on Earth.
The science instrument command and data handling unit that is thought to be having problems is the same one installed during the most recent, and in all likelihood final, servicing mission to Hubble in 2009. Full science operations are expected to resume in due course, according to Nasa.
Today in Focus podcast: Canada’s Indigenous child deaths
Half a century ago, Barry Kennedy was taken from his family and forced into an abusive system that sought to obliterate his Indigenous heritage. Now, after the discovery of more than 1,000 bodies in unmarked graves at schools including his own, he reflects on the traditions that were erased, the friends he lost – and Canada’s new reckoning with that history.
Lunchtime read: All aboard the night train
Whether it’s Edinburgh, Vienna or Madrid, overnight rail travel is about novelty, excitement and even romance. So look forward to new French night trains from 2024, recommends sleeper car frequenter Chris Moss.
Sport
Gareth Southgate has described the overwhelming sense of pride he feels to have led England to a first major men’s final since 1966 as he promised to relish the wonderful opportunity that lies ahead. Boris Johnson is poised to call an extra bank holiday if England win Sunday’s final at Wembley. Eddie Jones has revealed how he has borrowed from Gareth Southgate’s coaching manual after saluting his opposite number for guiding England’s men into a major football tournament final for the first time in 55 years. Novak Djokovic has been imperious in his run to the final four at Wimbledon but Denis Shapovalov could prove an awkward opponent in Friday’s semi-final.
Ash Barty, on a high after reaching her first final in SW19, has revealed how close she was to missing out on her dream at the All England Club because of injury. An inexperienced England side thrashed Pakistan by nine wickets in the first ODI at Cardiff. The British & Irish Lions will play back-to-back matches against the Sharks to fill a void after the Bulls were hit by a Covid outbreak. A weary peloton took things easy after the double ascent of Mont Ventoux, with an opportunistic breakaway led home by Nils Politt, who took the biggest victory of his career in Nîmes. And Team GB is targeting between 45 and 70 medals at the Tokyo Olympics after confirming it will send more women than men to a Games for the first time.
Business
Few would dispute that China’s recent crackdown on cryptocurrency trading and mining has contributed to a plunge in the value of bitcoin and the like. While arguments rage about whether cryptos are fundamentally weak, China’s central bank is attempting to incubate its own fledgling e-currency. Transactions made using a digital currency, controlled centrally, will give it even greater ability to monitor the economy and populace. The rollout is also seen as part of a push to weaken the power of the US dollar, and in turn that of the government in Washington – reducing China’s dependence on the dollar-dominated global banking system, as Martin Farrer explains.
On the markets, Asian shares have stumbled to two-month lows with confidence hit by the global spread of the Delta virus variant and worries over global economic recovery. The FTSE is up a shade as we publish, while a pound is bringing $1.377 or €1.163.
The papers
The only unity on the front pages today is among those that have chosen to lead on the football. Top of the Guardian is the easing of quarantine rules opening up travel to 100 countries. The changes to the government restrictions benefit only those living in England, not Brits abroad, it reports. The Times leads on the government offset for families using green energy, with a smaller story on vaccinated Britons booking quarantine-free holidays.
The Daily Mail follows up Wednesday’s “Isolation Insanity” story with an exclusive revealing that “the controversial self-quarantine plan will be watered down within days” and that the NHS app will be redesigned. The Daily Express reports, under the headline “Pension Shock for Millions”, that Rishi Sunak “has been warned it would be an ‘outrage’ to block a guaranteed bumper pension payout”, after the chancellor hinted that the government will temporarily break the pension triple lock this year in order to prevent the Treasury being landed with a £3bn uprating bill. You can read our story on that here.
The Telegraph leads on Sunak, too – though at the other end of the age spectrum, with the chancellor urging people to get back into offices, particularly younger staff, for whom he said it was “really important”. The Independent warns that “hospitals across the country were already struggling to cope with a surge in pressure yesterday with more than a week to go before the end of lockdown restrictions brings a further increase in Covid cases”. The FT’s main story is the European Central Bank setting a new 2% inflation target. The Mirror, Metro and Star lead on the football, with “Fever pitch”, “It’s the final countdown” and the trolling headline-picture combo of “What have the Romans ever done for us?” emblazoned on a Hawaiian pizza.
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