Top story: Pompeo joins attack on ayatollah ‘mafia’
Good morning. I’m Martin Farrer and these are the top news stories to start your week.
Donald Trump has launched a Twitter diatribe against the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, warning him to “never, ever threaten the US again” or suffer consequences “few have ever suffered before”. He continued the attack by saying that the US would no longer stand for “your demented words of violence and death. Be cautious”. The US president’s characteristically intemperate outburst, which was all written in capital letters, followed a warning by Rouhani that Trump should not try to antagonise Iran. Trump’s comments followed a similar attack by his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, who used a speech in California to flail what he called Tehran’s leadership of “hypocritical holy men”. Pompeo said the country’s ruling elite were akin to a “mafia” because they were amassing vast personal fortunes while allowing ordinary Iranians to suffer economic hardship. He alleged, for example, that the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has an off-the-books hedge fund worth $95bn. The US will reimpose sanctions on Iran next Saturday after Trump withdrew from the international nuclear agreement with the country.
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Canada shooting – A woman has been shot dead and 13 others injured in an incident near a restaurant in Toronto. One of the people injured at was a child, local media said. The gunman was also dead, police said. One witness, Jody Steinhauer, told CBC she was at a restaurant on Danforth Avenue with her family when she heard what sounded like 10 to 15 firecracker blasts. She said she was told to run to the back of the restaurant and “started to hear people scream out front”.
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Ponzi planet – Temperatures in Britain are set to hit 34C this week as the heatwave continues unabated. But amid the prospect of hosepipe bans for millions of people across the UK, a new report warns that we are devouring the planet’s resources in increasingly destructive volumes. Earth Overshoot Day – which marks the point at which consumption exceeds the capacity of nature to regenerate – has moved forward two days to 1 August, the study says, meaning that the world has consumed a year’s worth of carbon, food, water, fibre, land and timber in a record 212 days. Global Footprint Network, an international research organisation, says our economies are running a “Ponzi scheme” with the planet by borrowing from the future to run up ecological debt in the present. And another sobering report warns that recycling waste sent abroad could be ending up in landfill sites.
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Credit crunch – The universal credit system is riddled with problems and is virtually guaranteed to create mistakes and delays that could push benefit claimants into hardship, whistleblowers have told the Guardian. Staff say glitches and errors in the “cobbled together” system have led to claimants’ payments being delayed for weeks or wrongly reduced by hundreds of pounds. One said the IT system, which is six years behind schedule, is “fundamentally broken” and campaigners warn that the problems could get worse next year when more than 3 million claimants join the system.
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Corbyn test – A group of MPs and peers will today defy Jeremy Corbyn by using a meeting of the parliamentary Labour party to push an emergency motion saying the PLP should adopt a fuller definition of antisemitism. The leader wanted the debate to be put off to the autumn. It is the latest development in the long-running row in the party which has also seen Corbyn defend a disciplinary inquiry into Dame Margaret Hodge for calling him an antisemite.
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Changing the guard – A high-ranking security officer for the French president, Emmanuel Macron, is being investigated by police for allegedly assaulting protesters at a May Day demonstration. Alexandre Benalla, who has been sacked, appeared in court on Sunday accused of “gang violence” along with a member of Macron’s centrist party. Macron has ordered a shake-up of his private office in the wake of the allegations, according to reports last night. The bodyguard, who was captured on video hitting a demonstrator while wearing a riot police helmet, was forced to cancel his wedding on Saturday in order to face questioning by detectives.
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Bean boom – The increasing popularity of vegan food has prompted one of Britain’s biggest producers of meat-free food to make a multimillion-pound investment in R&D. Quorn is spending £7m on a research and development facility at its North Yorkshire headquarters as the meat-alternative brand tries to ride the vegan food boom.
Lunchtime read: Why online fury is dead end for left
If you are frustrated by the increasingly splenetic ranting that passes for political discourse these days then you’ll enjoy today’s piece by John Harris. He notes that although he enjoyed taking part in the anti-Trump rallies last weekend, he despairs that too many on the progressive side of politics are “narcissistically shouting into the void and carrying a placard that says ‘Prick’”. That is just playing into the hands of people like the US president and Nigel Farage who, he says, are content to “explode the internet on a daily basis and thereby nullify meaning, sow mistrust and break as many things as possible”.
Sport
Francesco Molinari said he felt a sense of disbelief after becoming the first Italian to win the Open, adding that fighting off Tiger Woods in the process made it even more special. Team Sky’s Gianni Moscon has been kicked off the Tour de France for raising a fist towards Elie Gesbert from the Fortuneo-Samsic team. Mesut Özil has announced his retirement from international football citing “racism and disrespect” and saying he is considered “German when we win but ... an immigrant when we lose”. Lewis Hamilton has claimed a “glorious” German GP win after a two and a half hour wait for his victory to be confirmed. José Mourinho, meanwhile, is targeting Harry Maguire to improve Manchester United’s defence.
Business
Tesco is planning to take the supermarket price fight to Aldi and Lidl by opening a chain of discount stores as early as September. The company has advertised for staff for stores which will operate under a different brand name, with retail insiders saying it could be called Jack’s. On international markets the dollar fell as trading resumed after Donald Trump’s comments on Friday that the greenback was too strong. The pound was up slightly at $1.312 and €1.12.
The papers
The Guardian’s main story today is “Universal credit fundamentally flawed, say whistleblowers”, and also runs stories about the Syrian White Helmets receiving asylum and the acid attack on a three-year-old boy in Worcester. The acid attack is the lead story for several papers today. The Mail headline is “What have they done to my baby?”, the Sun urges police to “Find tot acid fiends” and the Express calls the attack “Pure evil”.
The Telegraph leads with a story about British jihadis facing American justice: “Javid tells US: We won’t block death penalty for Isil ‘Beatles’”. The Mirror has a story about allegations that “fatcats” at water companies: “Bled dry by greedy bosses”.
Several papers have Brexit-related leads. The Times goes with: “No deal on Brexit risks civil unrest, says Amazon”. The i warns: “No checks on food safety under Brexit plan” and the FT says: “Brussels throws out May’s Brexit plan for City access to EU market”.
For more news: www.theguardian.com
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