Top story: a united kingdom is ‘unstoppable’
Hello, this is Martin Farrer bringing you the news you need this Monday morning.
Theresa May will meet Nicola Sturgeon today as she begins a last-minute tour of the UK to sell her plan to trigger Brexit on Wednesday. First stop East Kilbride on the outskirts of Glasgow, where the prime minister will tell civil servants that there is no limit to what the UK can do if all four nations of the union work together. It might be harder to convince Scotland’s first minister, whom she meets later in the day.
Meanwhile the UK’s manufacturers warn the PM today that it would be “simply unacceptable” if she followed through with her suggestion that no deal with the EU would be better than a bad deal.
And if you missed it, check out this editorial from the weekend about how triggering Brexit could jeopardise 60 years of European peace.
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Westminster investigation – The Guardian has confirmed that MI5 identified Khalid Masood as a potential extremist in 2010 before he later slipped down its list of priorities. Two men are still in custody in connection with Masood’s deadly assault in London and debate will continue to focus today on proposals by home secretary Amber Rudd that security services should be allowed “backdoor” access to Whatsapp and other encrypted messaging systems. It follows reports that Masood used Whatsapp shortly before killing four people last week. Opposition politicians and civil liberties groups say Rudd is being “unrealistic” in her demands.
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High-speed failure – BT has been fined £42m over delays in installing high-speed cable. It was meant to compensate rivals such as Vodafone for its tardiness but failed to do so, Ofcom said. It might also have to shell out £300m in damages.
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‘Fake Edited News’ – In the US, veteran news anchor Ted Koppel has accused the rightwing Fox star Sean Hannity of being “bad for America”. Hannity didn’t appreciate that very much and later fumed that CBS had edited the Sunday Morning show to make him look bad. “Fake Edited News,” he raged on Twitter.
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Worst since Iraq invasion? – At least 150 people are thought to have died in a coalition bombardment of Isis-held areas of Mosul in what could be the worst toll of civilian life involving US forces since the 2003 invasion. Our correspondent Martin Chulov has been in the Iraqi city and has witnessed the desperate scramble by residents to rescue family and friends from wrecked buldings.
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Beware the comfort zone – Be careful the next time you slip into your tracksuit bottoms for a flight. In the US, two young girls were prevented from boarding a United Airlines flight because they were wearing leggings. Their choice of attire was, apparently, a contravention of the inflight dress code for their complimentary tickets and they were not allowed to fly until they put dresses on over the top.
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Lunchtime read: how robots could be a force for good
Ever thought about how robots might change our world? Apparently most westerners distrust machines if they’re doing anything other than the most menial jobs. But what, Tim Dunlop imagines, if we harnessed new technology to free us from work and confront problems such as inequality and environmental decay?
Sport
Jermain Defoe rolled back the years to show England what they have missed, as the Sunderland striker scored in a 2-0 win over Lithuania in World Cup qualifying. Meanwhile, Chris Martin’s solitary strike at Hampden Park was enough to give Scotland a 1-0 victory over Slovenia.
Lewis Hamilton has said rule changes this Formula One season have made it “harder than ever” to overtake. American world No1 Dustin Johnson is showing ominous form before the Masters after winning the WGC Match Play in Austin. And Jordan Coe, a 20-year-old Muay Thai boxer from Falkirk, has died while training in Thailand.
Business
The Asian markets have taken a bit of pasting this morning in the wake of the US healthcare fiasco, not helped by the Donald’s attempts to blame everyone but himself. The Nikkei is off a chunky 1.5% and the FTSE100 is set to drop 0.6% at the opening bell.
The dollar has fallen to near two-month lows so the pound is up to $1.25 – but flat with the euro (€1.15)
The papers
It’s Monday so a bit of a mixed bag on the front pages.
The FT leads on news that Britain will more than likely have to remain part of the EU’s regulatory framework in many areas post-Brexit because it does not have the expertise to go it alone yet. The Telegraph leads with Amber Rudd’s threat to take action against internet firms that don’t take responsibility for the use of their platforms by extremists.
The Times says YouTube (owned by Google) has been “flooded” with violent propaganda videos since the Westminster attack – many of them are still available.
The Sun follows the theme with a splash that reads “What side are you on Whatsapp”. It claims the messaging service has repeatedly refused to decode encrypted messages when asked to by MI5.
The Mirror says “Someone is protecting Maddie kidnapper”, ascribing the words to a detective who has examined the case of Madeleine McCann. The Mail accuses Downing Street under David Cameron of covering up correspondence in relation to Uber, saying it had denied any communications with the Mayor of London (then Boris Johnson) about curbs on the firm.
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