Top story: Brexit causes a fresh split
Good morning, Graham Russell here bringing you a digest of this morning’s news.
Plenty more ink is being spilled over Brexit, with Tory members of a parliamentary committee disowning their own report on leaving the European Union. One objector, Dominic Raab, described it as “rushed, skewed and partisan”. This comes a week after a third of the committee walked out of a meeting to discuss the report, angry at its negative tone.
The committee chair, Hilary Benn, said the report was balanced and an example of a “select committee doing its job”. Labour MP Pat McFadden said his pro-Brexit colleagues were simply “annoyed by the facts”. The underlying bone of contention appears to be the report’s criticism of a lack of preparation for a worst-case scenario: exiting the EU without a trade deal.
The report agrees with another committee’s conclusion that moving to deal on World Trade Organisation terms would be a “very destructive outcome” and says it is essential for MPs and Lords to have a vote in such a scenario.
Still, the good news is that Theresa May has laughed off the idea of declaring war on Spain over Gibraltar, and Boris Johnson will use a meeting with his German counterpart to say the Rock will not turn into a bargaining chip.
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Trump ban ‘misguided’– John Brennan, a former CIA director, has described Donald Trump’s so far unsuccessful efforts to ban refugees and visitors arriving from Muslim countries as simplistic and unlikely to improve US security. He criticised the repeated use of the term “radical Islamic terrorism”, telling BBC’s Newsnight: “It legitimises the terrorist in terms of that they’re actually carrying out a legitimate tenet of the Islamic faith and they’re not.”
Meanwhile, a one-time foreign policy adviser to Trump has been accused of handing energy industry documents to a Russian spy back in 2013. Court filings claim Carter Page – referred to catchily as “Male-1” – was groomed as an intelligence source by Victor Podobnyy, who is one of three men facing spying charges. Page left Trump’s campaign before the election but is under scrutiny by the FBI and various committees over Russian interference. Trump’s reaction to the Russia saga?
The real story turns out to be SURVEILLANCE and LEAKING! Find the leakers.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2017
On a busy day of developments in the US, the new attorney general has ordered a review of all police reforms taken in the wake of high-profile shootings, a key part of Barack Obama’s criminal justice legacy.
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Search engineered? Google is just the coolest thing, research has found. Actually, no YouTube, which Google owns, was even cooler, according to a survey of Generation Zers. Even its browser Chrome, was pretty cool, and cooler than Nike. Now, we’re not shouting “fake views” but it’s worth pointing out the research was funded by Google, arousing some scepticism. Possibly overegging it, one 17-year-old respondent was quoted as saying Google was “not only a powerful search engine, but great at everything it does, from email to documents”.
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He played dominoes, drank tea – Reker Ahmed, the teenage asylum seeker who was badly beaten in Croydon on Friday, was a college student who was a familiar friendly face in the community, enjoying dominoes and tea at the local shisha. “He was polite and wasn’t racist. He was happy he was living here, he was trying to learn English,” said Mohammad, who saw Reker in the tea house. Farhad, a friend, said the 17-year-old was a quiet boy who stayed out of trouble. “We never saw him fighting,” he said. Reker has been moved out of intensive care, and five people have appeared in court charged with violent disorder.
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Body count – Governments might have to force companies to employ a certain quota of human workers as the costs of automation plunge and robots become cheaper than workers in even the poorest countries. Robots don’t get sick, have children, go on strike or take annual leave, a report by the International Bar Association points out.
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Hunger gains – It might not do much for the nation’s health but it could save the livelihoods of a lot of posties – New Zealand Post is trying out home-delivering Kentucky Fried Chicken. With the number of letters being delivered halving in a decade, there will presumably be plenty of room in the vans for Zingers, fillets and, er, the occasional big daddy.
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Lunchtime read: Gibraltar’s ‘true Europeans’
The Rock arouses fierce defensive passions in the UK (as we have seen this week) and yes it does still have those cute red phone boxes but for many Gibraltarians, the territory is anything but a sliver of British yesteryear, writes Sam Jones. Some 96% of its residents voted to remain in the EU, and its economy depends heavily on the single market and freedom of movement – 12,000 Spanish and other EU nationals commute across its border daily.
Human rights lawyer James Netto says: “Our Saturday tapas are followed by a full Sunday roast. We regularly cross an international border that was once firmly shut. We prove that British national pride and a love for the EU can overlap.”
Sport
Andy Tennant has defended the medal‑or‑nothing ethos of British Cycling as it awaits UK Sport’s review of its culture and history, with the pursuit specialist saying it is not all about being “all cuddly and care bears”. Alastair Cook has insisted there will be no problems playing alongside his successor as England cricket captain, Joe Root, come the South Africa series in July.
Louise Taylor writes that comments made by David Moyes to the BBC’s Vicki Sparks highlighted there still resides an attitude of contempt for women in football under the shiny new politically correct facade. Liverpool fear they could be without Sadio Mané for a lengthy period after the striker limped out of the Merseyside derby with a knee problem, and Crystal Palace’s shock win over Chelsea, Coventry’s Wembley joy and another title for Celtic all feature in the latest Football Weekly podcast.
Business
Asian markets appeared to be on edge with little movement before the big must-watch meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping on Thursday. The markets were however in little doubt on the prospects of South Africa’s economy with Standard & Poor’s reducing its credit rating to junk status after President Jacob Zuma sacked his respected finance minister.
The pound is buying $1.24 and €1.16.
The papers
It’s back to the 1990s day at the Sun. The splash is full-bore redtop: “Up yours Senors!” – a revisit of its infamous headline from 1 November 1990: “Up Yours Delors”. This time the object of its ire is Spain which wants to get its hands on Gibraltar. Interesting that the top of the front has a holiday deal puff to France, Germany ... and Spain.
The Mail says 3 million people have card debts they can’t repay and that banks have no incentive to help those in trouble. The Mirror leads with two men jailed for life after torturing a couple with boiling water before stealing thousands of pounds in cash from their home. The burglars were later arrested on a plane after a shopping spree in Dubai.
The FT reports that the eurozone’s unemployment rate is at an eight-year low as the economic recovery gathers pace. The Times says a report by MPs has accused contractors in the foreign aid sector of ripping off taxpayers by overcharging for their services.
The Telegraph lastly bemoans the loss of Easter – it says that figures from the Church of England have accused the National Trust of “airbrushing faith” after it rebranded its Easter egg hunt as the “great British egg hunt”. Eggxit, one could say.
For more news: www.theguardian.com
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