Top story: Blame game over London Bridge attack
Good morning – Warren Murray bringing you today’s Briefing.
Britain’s security agencies are being criticised this morning because they knew about at least one of London Bridge terrorists, Khuram Shazad Butt, but failed to stop him. Butt had been revealed on TV as an extremist and was well known for his open radicalism in Barking, east London, where he lived. The identity of another of the attackers has emerged: he was Rachid Redouane, who also lived in Barking. We are continuing our live coverage of the attack’s aftermath.
The police are saying the threat of terrorism has ramped up and a new approach is needed to stop plots coming to fruition. There are an estimated 23,000 people currently or formerly suspected of jihadi activity in Britain. Mark Rowley, the country’s top anti-terror officer, has suggested a system that resulted in Butt being assessed as a non-threat needs to change, and things might have been different if authorities had access to his “covert communications”. Rowley says more needs to be asked of the private sector – taken to mean internet companies whose networks can be used by terrorists to transmit encrypted messages.
Rowley also called for communities to play their part. In an extraordinary move, more than 130 imams and other Muslim leaders have announced they are refusing to say funeral prayers for the attackers. Harun Khan, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britainn, said: “We agree with the prime minister that things must change. Enough is enough.” Mak Chishty, the Met’s highest-ranking officer of Muslim faith, said: “It is the Islamic duty of every Muslim to be loyal to the country in which they live.”
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‘Cyber espionage’ – Russian agents attempted to directly hack the US election result by getting into electronic voting systems, according to a news report that cites top-secret National Security Agency files.
Russian military hackers attacked a US voting software supplier and sent “spear-phishing” emails to more than a hundred local election officials in the days before the poll, according to the report in the Intercept, which adds to a picture of concerted efforts by the Kremlin to influence who got into the White House. A US intelligence contractor named Reality Winner has been arrested, possibly for leaking this new information to the press.
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Terror and the election – Terrorism has topped the list of concerns among undecided voters in focus groups carried out for the Guardian. From an initial response of grief and disgust after the Manchester bombing, voters have been prompted by the London attack to consider how best to deal with extremism, according to BritainThinks. Some view the Conservatives as the right choice, while others believe they have had their chance and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour will do better at tackling the root causes.
In an interview with our political editors, Corbyn says Labour in these last days is cutting through the Tory negativity and attacks. Asked if he will win the election, the would-be prime minister answers with an emphatic “Yes.”
There’s more news like this in the Snap, our daily election briefing. Read to the bottom for details.
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Rent reduction – More signs of a turning tide in Britain’s “broken” housing market with rents falling for the first time in seven years. In London new tenants are paying £70 less a month than they were a year ago. Rents have also fallen in the north-east of England, the south-east, Scotland, and Yorkshire and Humberside. A surplus of lettings arising from a decline in house prices may be part of the picture – owners can’t sell and are renting out their properties instead. Brexit’s effect on the pound and flat wages growth are increasing household living costs as well – HomeLet says landlords are squeezed between ensuring rents are affordable and covering their own rising expenses.
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Obi wants it back – The world’s most prolific Star Wars collector has appealed for help to track down items he says were stolen by an “alleged friend and confidant”. Steve Sansweet, owner of Rancho Obi-Wan in Petaluma, California, says 100 items went missing between 2015 and 2016 including “vintage US and foreign carded action figures, many of them rare and important pieces”.
The pilfering came to light after other collectors suffered thefts, and their pieces, plus some of Sansweet’s, started showing up for sale. Carl Edward Cunningham, 45, of Marietta, Georgia, has been charged with felony grand theft.
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Great anticipations – For a bit of enlightening fun, here are 35 words you are probably getting wrong, from the legendary Fleet Street editor Harold Evans. Reading it should forego all other priorities – do not forgo the opportunity. What the Briefing learned: the difference between a “replica” work of art and a “reproduction”.
Lunchtime read: It’s not really our thing …
The “internet of things” is the idea of our lives being augmented by connected devices that can dim the lights, order the shopping and keep track of our health.
But under the guise of irresistible convenience, vast amounts of data about our movements, consumer preferences and personal traits are being harvested by companies like Amazon and Google. Adam Greenfield asks whether the connected world is really delivering for you and me – or just for the people who built it.
Sport
The former Newcastle United midfielder Cheick Tioté has died after reportedly suffering a heart attack while training with his club in China. Nick Ames remembers a cult hero who won fans over with a single swish of his left boot against Arsenal. Louise Taylor profiled the Ivory Coast international back in 2010. In far brighter news, you can join AC Jimbo and friends as they recap the breathless Champions League final.
Eoin Morgan says his side bears some of the hallmarks of the New Zealand team that thrashed England at the 2015 Cricket World Cup, but the host nation is looking for revenge at the ICC Champions Trophy. If that dish is best served cold, Australia’s has arrived soaking wet: their match against Bangladesh was washed out before they could secure a result.
Andy Murray has cruised through to the quarter finals at Roland Garros, while Romanian Simona Halep has blasted her way through to the final eight in the women’s draw. In the NBA, LeBron James helped create the concept of a modern superteam, but DJ Gallo argues the very same trend will now destroy him. British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland, on the other hand, is hoping for more intensity and a swift reversal of fortunes for his side.
Business
Escalating tensions in the Middle East, the Trump-Russia scandal, British elections and a European Central Bank meeting this week have all taken their toll on Asian stocks, oil and the US dollar. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.2%, pulling back from its two-year high on Monday. Chinese and Hong Kong shares bucked the trend, rising 0.1% and 0.3% respectively.
Sterling advanced 0.1% to $1.292 while on the continent a pound has been buying €1.15.
The papers
All the papers lead with the London attacks and follow pretty much the same line. The Mirror asks “So how the hell did he slip through?” with a picture of Khuram Butt unfurling an Isis flag on a Channel 4 documentary. The Sun goes with “Why didn’t they stop TV jihadi” – with a still from the same doco. The Telegraph has the same theme: “Brazen jihadi who was free to parade his extremism on TV”.
The Guardian has police warning that Britain now faces a “completely different level” of terror threat, with a sidebar about Khuram Shazad Butt being known to MI5 and the police. The Mail says “MI5 and Yard: We had him – and let him go” and reports the security services missed a string of opportunities to catch Butt. The FT says questions are rising over the monitoring of suspected extremists.
The Times has “London attacker linked to 7/7 bombing suspect”, saying Butt had worked in a gym run by a man who was connected to Mohammed Siddique Khan, one of the London bombers in 2005. The Express has a message from the prime minister – “May: trust me to keep you safe”.
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The Snap
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