Top story: Gunman did not oppose sentence
Good morning, Warren Murray bringing you Thursday’s key stories.
The terrorist who killed 51 Muslim worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand will spend the rest of his life in jail without possibility of parole – the first time in modern New Zealand that such a sentence has been imposed. “You have offered no apology or public acknowledgement of the harms you have caused,” Justice Cameron Mander told Brenton Tarrant, 29. “While I appreciate that you have forsaken the opportunity to use these proceedings as a platform, you appear neither contrite nor ashamed.”
Tarrant pleaded guilty and was unrepresented during the sentencing proceedings, but used a stand-by lawyer to tell the judge that he did “not oppose the application that he should be sentenced to the term of life without parole”. Dozens more people were wounded in the attacks in March 2019, the country’s worst peacetime massacre. The sentence came after the court heard three days of emotional victim impact statements during which more than 90 of those bereaved or wounded in the attacks addressed the court. Throughout this morning in Christchurch dozens of members of the public gathered outside the courthouse. Many held signs depicting large, red hearts, or reading: “We are one.”
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Kenosha roils – Two people have been shot dead when suspected white militia members opened fire at protests in the city of Kenosha that were sparked by the shooting and grave wounding of Jacob Blake. Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, was arrested over the protester shootings. NBA playoffs have been suspended after one team boycotted their latest game in protest over the shooting. Jacob Blake admitted to having a knife when he was shot by police, Wisconsin’s attorney general, Josh Kaul, has said. The attorney general said police used a Taser unsuccessfully on Blake before an officer shot him seven times in the back. The knife was recovered from the footwell of the car Blake had leaned into at the moment he was shot. Police from the scene have been placed on administrative leave while the matter is investigated, including Rusten Sheskey, the officer who fired the shots. At the Republican national convention, reduced almost to a sideshow on a tumultuous day in the US, Mike Pence, the vice-president, called for law and order to be restored.
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Coronavirus latest – A home care worker who did not wear protective equipment may have infected a client with a fatal case of coronavirus during weeks of contradictory government guidance on PPE, an official investigation has found. Black and minority ethnic people trusted government scientists and public health officials less than white people did at the height of the UK’s coronavirus outbreak, according to a study for the Wellcome Trust. The findings prompt questions about whether more could have been done to better communicate with different communities. Keep up with further coronavirus developments at our global live blog.
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‘Unsurvivable’ – Thousands of residents have evacuated ahead of Hurricane Laura lashing coastal communities in Louisiana and Texas. Forecasters have described the storm surge from the mammoth category 4 hurricane as “unsurvivable”. The governors of Texas and Louisiana urged residents along the affected coastline to leave the area as the National Hurricane Center warned of storm surges of up to 20ft along a 170-mile stretch of coastline.
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Civil servants take fall for A-levels – Boris Johnson has been accused of presiding over the death of ministerial accountability after No 10 removed the most senior Department for Education official, its permanent secretary, Jonathan Slater, from his post in the wake of the exams fiasco. A day earlier Sally Collier quit as chief executive of the exams regulator Ofqual. The education secretary, Gavin Williamson, has faced calls to quit but has remained in post and repeatedly declined to say whether he offered his resignation. The two civil servants are the latest to be frozen out while Johnson’s ministers escape sanction.
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Girls worry over online image – A third of girls and young women will not post selfies online without using a filter or app to change their appearance, while a similar proportion have deleted photos with too few “likes” or comments, research has found. Girlguiding said 39% of the 1,473 survey respondents aged 11-21 felt upset that they could not look the same in real life as they did online. One respondent said: “I find it hard to go through Insta because everyone looks perfect and it lowers my self-confidence.” Girlguiding advocate Phoebe Kent said she felt influencer culture was one of the most damaging phenomena on social media. Girlguiding has submitted evidence to this year’s women and equalities committee inquiry into body image.
Today in Focus podcast: Reni Eddo-Lodge on white privilege
The first black British author to top the UK bestseller list talks with the Observer’s Nosheen Iqbal about global discussions on racism after the death of George Floyd.
Today in Focus is revisiting episodes examining race and racism after a worldwide summer of protests in reaction to the killing of George Floyd in the US.
Lunchtime read: To catch a sex trafficker
Thousands of young women leave home in Nigeria every year on the promise of a good job in Europe, only to be trapped by debt and forced into prostitution. But one joined forces with investigators in Italy to expose the traffickers.
Sport
On an extraordinary day for the NBA, the Milwaukee Bucks boycotted Game 5 of their playoff series against the Orlando Magic in protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake, while other basketball figures staged their own protests and spoke of their support for the cause. In New York, Naomi Osaka pulled out of the semi-finals of the Western & Southern Open in protest at racial injustice – and soon afterwards the tournament followed her lead by suspending Thursday’s play. The race to sign Lionel Messi is on, and while he may one day come to regret leaving Barcelona, the club certainly will, writes Sid Lowe. Wendie Renard scored the only goal of the game for Lyon and PSG were pushed aside in their Women’s Champions league semi-final.
A Women’s Super League fixture between West Ham and Arsenal plus a Brighton men’s friendly this weekend are among a list of sporting events which will act as new test events for spectators. A Sport Integrity Forum has been launched “to mend the cracks in the system” in the wake of the gymnastics abuse scandal and other concerns around bullying, discrimination and corruption in British sport. Sir Dave Brailsford has described his relationship with Chris Froome as “great”, despite his decision to omit the four-times Tour de France winner from his Ineos Grenadiers team selection for this year’s race. And Matt Le Tissier says it is “time to look forward to life’s next challenge” after being dropped, along with Phil Thompson and Charlie Nicholas, by Sky Sports.
Business
Asian stock markets have retreated as investors look ahead to a speech by the US Federal Reserve chairman for signs of more support to an economic recovery. Market benchmarks in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul fell while Shanghai and Sydney were higher. The FTSE looks like opening flat to just a few points higher at this stage while sterling is worth $1.320 and €1.116 this morning.
The papers
The incendiary situation in Kenosha, Wisconsin is well illustrated on the Guardian’s front page today by the picture accompanying our story “‘Vigilante’ held after two shot dead in US”. Our print edition’s lead story is “Germany scraps Brexit talks after ‘wasted’ summer of no progress”. The Metro has “Turtle chaos” after Boris Johnson grasped at the “mutant algorithm” as the cause of the A-level debacle. The headline requires an inset picture of a ninja turtle to make it work, which is generally not a good sign, and the caption helpfully distinguishes between the PM and the cartoon character.
The Telegraph splashes with “Victims of virus will be paid to quarantine” – our Guardian read on that is here. The i covers the civil service purge: “PM swings axe again as Tory unrest grows over U-turns” while the Mail helps the CBI put pressure on Johnson to “rescue Ghost Town Britain” and “get workers back at their desks”.
The Times carries a news line that continues to resurface during the pandemic in one form or another: “NHS data shows 15m on ‘hidden waiting list’”. The Mirror leads on a story that also features on other fronts: “Girls Aloud Sarah’s secret cancer hell”. The Express has “Insect spray can kill virus says minister” – though the findings about citriodiol from the army’s Porton Down lab are caveated. And lastly in the FT, allegations of sexism and harassment at the Green Climate Fund: “UN-backed climate agency faces tide of abuse claims from staff”.
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