Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.
Top story: Corbyn refuses Brexit talks until ‘no deal’ ruled out
The British prime minister Theresa May has survived a vote of no confidence in her Conservative-led government despite the crushing parliamentary defeat of her Brexit deal, leaving the UK in limbo as the planned date of its departure from the EU looms. May has invited the leaders of Britain’s other major parties to help her reach a Brexit consensus, but Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour opposition, has said he will not take part in such talks until May rules out the possibility of a “no-deal” Brexit.
Disastrous week. On today’s podcast, May’s former director of strategy Chris Wilkins and the Guardian’s Brussels bureau chief, Daniel Boffey, explain how Brexit has unravelled.
What now? The Guardian’s political correspondent Peter Walker examines the options for Brexit after the collapse of May’s deal.
How the US shutdown affects a small rural town
Among the 800,000 federal employees affected by the partial government shutdown are the 300 people who work at a federal prison in Jesup, a small town in southern Georgia. But while they struggle on without pay, Guardian reporter Khushbu Shah finds that others in Jesup are barely aware of the shutdown: a pattern that most likely applies in communities across the US.
State of the Union. The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has asked Donald Trump to delay his State of the Union address, scheduled for 29 January, or deliver it in writing, saying the agencies responsible for security at the event have been “hamstrung” by the ongoing shutdown.
US plans new space sensors for missile defence
Trump is set to unveil plans for a new generation of space-based sensors designed to identify and shoot down missiles directed at the US from “rogue states” such as Iran and North Korea. The plan is part of a major expansion of US missile defence stemming from an administration review – the first since 2010 – which the president will present in a speech at the Pentagon on Thursday. It is thought Trump may tie the plans to his recent proposals for the creation of a “space force” branch of the military.
INF pullout. The US will begin pulling out of the Cold War-era Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty with Russia in February, after the failure of talks over a new Russian missile that is suspected of violating the agreement.
The plant-focused diet that could save the world
An international commission has devised a “planetary health diet” that could improve the health of billions of people, while also averting a global environmental catastrophe, its creators have said. The diet demands people in North America eat 84% less red meat and six times more beans and lentils. Scientists have said its health benefits would prevent at least 11 million deaths per year, while diminishing our reliance on the industrial agriculture that is devastating the natural environment.
On the menu. Dale Berning Sawa takes a closer look at precisely what is allowed in the planetary health diet commissioned by the Norway-based thinktank Eat and the British medical journal the Lancet.
Crib sheet
Jason Spindler, a businessman and 9/11 survivor, has been named as the American who died during a terror attack in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Tuesday, in which at least 20 people were killed.
Brazil’s new environment minister, Ricardo Salles, has suspended all partnerships with non-governmental organizations as part of what has been called a “war on NGOs” waged by the the country’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro.
An Islamic State suicide bomber has killed four Americans in north-eastern Syria, weeks after Trump announced he would pull US troops out of the country claiming the group had been defeated.
The first green shoot to sprout on the moon has become the first green shoot to sprout and then die on the moon, after temperatures on board China’s rover, Chang’e 4, plummeted during the lunar night.
Must-reads
How a deluge of money nearly broke English soccer
The English Premier League, the world’s most lucrative soccer league, has seen global expansion, staggering profits and the arrival of several ultra-wealthy club owners. Jonathan Clegg and Joshua Robinson explain how all that money almost tore it apart.
Why sick migrant children get the bare minimum of care
The recent deaths of two migrant children in US custody made headlines, but as Alexandra Villareal reports from a detention facility in Pennsylvania, parents are used to seeing their sick children go untreated while supposedly under the government’s protection.
Teenagers talk sex in acclaimed Netflix comedy
Netflix’s new series Sex Education centres on the 16-year-old son of a sex therapist, who counsels his classmates about their sexual issues. It’s a raunchy yet sensitive depiction of how today’s teenagers deal with intimacy and consent, writes Arielle Bernstein.
The battle behind Mark Zuckerberg’s Hawaii estate
Many longtime landowners on the Hawaiian island of Kauai have lost property to wealthy newcomers. So when Mark Zuckerberg got caught up in a land dispute, many locals called him “the new face of neocolonialism”. Julia Carrie Wong reports from Kauai.
Opinion
Ethan Lou, a bitcoin creator who covered the energy industry as a journalist, says there are distinct parallels between cryptocurrency and big oil – and that bitcoin will one day be haunted by its environmental footprint.
Bitcoin mining uses as much power as a small country, according to some estimates. Miners compete for limited coins, resulting in an arms race, and that power usage increases constantly and rapidly.
Sport
in 2014, the UFC president, Dana White, took a strong stance against domestic violence, insisting: “You don’t bounce back from putting your hands on a woman.” But MMA fighters remain almost four times as likely to face domestic violence charges than NFL players, and the sport doesn’t want to talk about it, as Karim Zidan reports.
The professional bull rider Mason Lowe, who was ranked 18th in the world by the sport’s governing organisation, PBR, has died from his injuries after he was thrown from a bull and trampled at a competition in Denver.
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