Top story: ‘Crooked to the end’
Good morning – Warren Murray here and we’ve rounded the corner now with Friday in sight.
The voted-out US president has pardoned Michael Flynn, one of the big figures of the Trump-Russia controversy. Donald Trump said it was his “great honour” to pardon the retired general. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about secretive discussions with the Russian ambassador in 2016, when president-elect Trump had designated Flynn as his national security adviser. He later sought to withdraw his guilty plea, and the court process was continuing when Trump stepped in last night with the pardon. In the US a pardon constitutes forgiveness but does not signify innocence.
Trump is expected to offer pardons to a number of key aides before he leaves office on 20 January. He has commuted the sentence of Roger Stone, a longtime ally who like Flynn was convicted under special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian election interference and links between Trump and Moscow. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chair of the House intelligence committee, wrote: “Donald Trump has repeatedly abused the pardon power to reward friends and protect those who covered up for him. This time he pardons Michael Flynn, who lied to hide his dealings with the Russians. It’s no surprise that Trump would go out as he came in – Crooked to the end.”
* * *
Maradona mourned – Argentina, Naples and the world of football are in mourning after the death of Diego Maradona, in many people’s eyes the greatest player of all time, following a heart attack. He was 60. Argentina has declared three days of national mourning as tributes poured in from around the world for the player blessed with sublime talent developed in the slums of Buenos Aires, who went on to become everything that defined Argentina’s football principles.
“It’s difficult to convey how or why that sharing a nationality with an icon turns into such a big deal,” writes Marcela Mora y Araujo, who translated Maradona’s autobiography, El Diego. “Why claiming him as ours by virtue of being born in the same country is such a strong glue for notions of identity, cultural and sporting, but Maradona became an emblem of Argentinianess, more so than other sports stars or celebrities.”
* * *
Terrorists freed in Iran swap – Australia has refused to say whether it was involved in a prisoner swap deal to release the British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert. Three Iranians involved in a botched attempt to kill Israeli diplomats eight years ago are believed to have been exchanged. Moore-Gilbert was suddenly released from Tehran’s Evin prison on Wednesday after serving a little over two years of a 10-year sentence for espionage.
Her conviction in a secret trial was regarded internationally as without merit and politically motivated; no evidence of her alleged crimes has ever been publicly presented. Iran has acknowledged her release was in exchange for three men convicted of an attempted terrorist attack on Thai soil. They succeeded only in blowing up their own Bangkok apartment and one of them blew his own feet off with a grenade while fleeing from police.
* * *
Hancock ex-neighbour’s Covid contract – An acquaintance and former neighbour of Matt Hancock is supplying the government with tens of millions of vials for NHS Covid-19 tests despite no previous experience of producing medical supplies. Alex Bourne, who had a pub near Hancock’s former constituency home in Suffolk, said he first offered his services to the health secretary several months ago via a personal WhatsApp message. Bourne’s company, Hinpack, produced plastic cups and takeaway boxes for caterers. Hancock messaged back, said Bourne, directing him to a health department website to register his services. Over subsequent weeks he was contacted by a supplier to the NHS and eventually contracted to produce medical vials. Bourne played down his relationship with Hancock: “I’ve never once been to his house … He’s never been to mine. I’ve never once had a drink with him.” A spokesperson from the health department said: “We do not comment on the secretary of state’s personal relationships.” Asked whether Bourne’s business received preferential treatment, the department said: “There is no evidence to support these claims.”
* * *
Despair as aid budget shrinks – A cut to UK foreign aid announced by Rishi Sunak could see a million girls lose out on schooling, nearly three million women and children go without life-saving nutrition and 5.6 million children left unvaccinated, leading to “tens of thousands” of deaths, charities, aid experts and MPs have said. They have called the cut “unprincipled, unjustified and harmful” just as a global health crisis reverses decades of progress on poverty, healthcare and education. They also come despite the World Food Programme warning of famines of “biblical proportions” in 2021 without billions in aid, while Unicef estimates 500 million children have been unable to access learning due to coronavirus. In other reaction to the chancellor’s mini-budget, unions have described the public sector pay freeze as a “kick in the teeth” for workers including firefighters, police, teachers and local authority staff. Sunak has warned the Covid-19 economic emergency has only just begun as he pledged a fresh £55bn to tackle the pandemic. The Office for Budget Responsibility says the government will need to find up to £27bn in spending cuts or tax rises by 2024 to address long-lasting damage to the economy and public finances.
* * *
Plastic sachet mountain – Environmental campaigners, politicians and business leaders are calling for an end to the distribution of billions of plastic “personal care” sachets of things like detergent, shower gel and perfume. The coalition A Plastic Planet says about 122bn sachets a year are distributed, often as giveaways, with the packaging thrown away and rarely recycled. More are used for single serves of ketchup and other condiments. The UK’s single-use plastics ban, introduced on 1 October, covers only plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds. Similarly, sachets are not covered by the EU single-use plastics directive, which is set to outlaw a host of throwaway items from 2021. Sian Sutherland, a co-founder of A Plastic Planet, said: “The hundreds of billions of sample sachets pumped out by the personal and home care industries each year are used to drive instant sales but will pollute the planet for centuries.”
* * *
‘Nobody expected they were leaving for the last time’ – Azerbaijan’s victory in the six-week war for the Karabakh region has turned tens of thousands of Armenian residents into refugees. For the wave of 1990s Azeri exiles from Karabakh, who fled when Armenians wrested the territory in the post-Soviet turmoil, the recapture signals the end of a wait to go home. But it has turned Armenians like Irina Safaryan into the exiles this time, as they were forced to flee as Azeri soldiers advanced.
“We expected to go back to our houses in three or four days, maximum a week,” says Safaryan, whose family left their photo albums behind. “Nobody expected they were leaving their land, their house, for the last time.”
Today in Focus podcast: How Amazon won the pandemic
As high street rivals were forced to close this year, Amazon has gone from strength to strength. But reports of conditions in some of its huge warehouses have brought a new level of scrutiny, as John Harris explains.
Lunchtime read: The locked-in patient who came back
Jake Haendel spent months trapped in his body, silent and unmoving but fully conscious. Most people never emerge from “locked-in syndrome”, but as a doctor told him, everything about his case is bizarre.
Sport
Goals from Atalanta’s Josip Ilicic and Robin Gosens denied a much-changed Liverpool side the chance to seal qualification for the Champions League knockout phase. But Phil Foden’s first-half strike was enough for Manchester City to beat Olympiakos 1-0 and qualify for the Champions League last 16. Elsewhere, Real Madrid claimed their first-ever win at San Siro, beating Internazionale 2-0 after the hosts’ Arturo Vidal was sent off for dissent in the first half.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton has been asked to intercede on behalf of three Bahraini citizens who claim to have been victims of human rights abuses. Lucas Moura says Tottenham can win the Premier League this season if they believe in themselves. As England’s defensive juggernaut rolls west towards Wales questions remain over what attacking weapons Eddie Jones’s side have in their armoury and when they may see fit to use them regularly. And Marcus Rashford will be honoured with a special award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year but he has not made the shortlist for the main category, the winner of which is voted for by the public.
Business
Asian shares have mostly been higher after Wall Street took a pause from the optimism underlined in a record-setting climb earlier in the week. A reality check appeared to be setting in amid the pandemic and a batch of discouraging data on the US economy, including jobless numbers. US markets will be closed today for Thanksgiving. The Nikkei 225 gained 0.7% in afternoon trading; Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.7%; South Korea’s Kospi edged up 0.6% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.2% and Shanghai was up nearly 0.2%. The pound is worth $1.338 and €1.122 while the FTSE is trending 0.3% higher at time of writing.
The papers
We have special coverage of the reaction in the world’s press here today to the death of Maradona – the Briefing’s customary summary follows.
The Guardian’s front page today carries both a tribute to Maradona and the confirmation that Britain is in its deepest economic slump in more than 300 years. The Star says “Maradona in the hands of God” echoing Gary Lineker’s Twitter tribute to mixed reviews. It also jests “Where was VAR when we needed it”, showing the hand of god at work. The Mirror uses the “hands of god” line too and offers a mixed ovation to “a hero, a villain, a cheat and a genius”.
The Sun runs the same headline followed by “England’s World Cup nemesis and one of the all-time greats”. Same again in the Metro which calls him “Argentina’s football legend”. In the Telegraph he’s “Hero, villain, genius” – the splash though is the mini-budget: “Sunak – our economic emergency has only just begun”. The Mail notably does not mention Maradona at all on its front page – edition timing, or a bit of lingering ill sentiment? Generous coverage, though, from the back page inwards. The Mail’s splash is “This is going to hurt, Britain” and Sunak is shown having his blood pressure taken.
Diego’s on the front of the Times while the lead story is “Covid costs three years of growth to economy”. The i has “Adios Diego”, while “Sunak warns of emergency and raids aid for UK” tripped me up. The Express makes much of the mini-budget: “Rishi’s pledge to deliver on your priorities” while its front-page tribute to the footballer is “RIP: The eternal, flawed genius …” and the god reference again. The FT is straitlaced with “Maradona mourned: Football pays tribute as Argentina great dies at 60” and its splash is “Brexit impasse poses risk to London’s lead on derivatives”.
Sign up
The Guardian Morning Briefing is delivered to thousands of inboxes bright and early every weekday. If you are not already receiving it by email, you can sign up here.
For more news: www.theguardian.com
