Top story: ‘Anyone in his way, he would hit’
Hello, it’s Warren Murray with the early news.
Ten people are dead after a van was driven along the sidewalk in Toronto, ploughing into pedestrians. The drama ended in the arrest of Alek Minassian, 25, from the nearby town of Richmond Hill. Police and the government said there appeared to be no immediate connection to terrorism. Apart from the dead, another 15 people were injured.
Onlookers have told of their horror after the van mounted the kerb of Yonge Street in the north of Canada’s biggest city around lunchtime on Monday and carved a trail of carnage two kilometres long. “Anybody in his way, he would hit,” said Ali Shaker, who was driving nearby. Another witness said: “I just came out from a subway station and I saw a crazy van, a rental van, hitting people one after one. I saw an old man going up and going down.” Here’s more of what we can tell you this morning.
Video taken by onlookers captures the extraordinary moment a Toronto police officer stares down the suspect, who points an object as if it is a gun while standing next to the damaged van. “Get down … get down or you’ll be shot!” the officer yells, levelling his own pistol, before walking straight up to the man who then lies on the ground to be handcuffed.
The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, expressed sympathy for the victims and their families, and praised first responders. “We should all feel safe walking in our cities and communities,” he said. Toronto’s mayor, John Tory, said it was a “cowardly and incomprehensible attack”, adding: “I hope that we will as a city remind ourselves of the fact that we are admired around the world for being inclusive, for being accepting and understanding and considerate.”
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‘Treasured sword’ – Kim Jong-un has pledged to keep North Korea’s nuclear arsenal for generations, throwing into doubt the prospect that talks with Donald Trump will be as “fruitful” as the latter hopes. Kim said the halt to testing he declared over the weekend was possible because the regime had built a viable nuclear deterrent. The North’s arsenal was a “powerful treasured sword for defending peace” and “a firm guarantee by which our descendants can enjoy the most dignified and happiest life in the world”. It doesn’t sound much like the “denuclearisation” that was hailed by the US president on Twitter. The White House spokeswoman, Sarah Sanders, said she would “leave that to the president and Kim Jong-un to walk through”.
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‘Pray for Alfie’ – Alfie Evans was taken off life support last night. A high court judge gave the go-ahead for doctors at Alder Hey children’s hospital in Liverpool to withdraw life support from the 23-month-old boy, who had a rare degenerative brain condition. On Monday afternoon, police blocked protesters as they tried to enter the hospital in support of Alfie’s parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, who had mounted a protracted legal campaign. Supreme court justices last week said: “Alfie looks like a normal baby, but the unanimous opinion of the doctors who have examined him and the scans of his brain is that almost all of his brain has been destroyed … there is no hope of his ever getting better.”
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Peer pressure – Parliament continues to pick apart Theresa May’s Brexit plans, with the Lords inflicting a fresh defeat by voting to retain the fundamental charter of EU rights. The government lost a series of other votes that could have given ministers the power to restrict when citizens could use principles of EU law to challenge the government; while a compromise was reached on post-EU public health protections. Senior Tory leavers continue to be gripped by a phobia of anything that suggests a customs union – they want Theresa May to rule out even a “customs partnership”. May’s team has privately admitted she may have to accept permanent membership of a European customs union, while senior Conservatives are said to be drawing up a customs union “in all but name” to try and broker peace with the Brexiters.
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Legacy of Rana Plaza – Five years after 1,134 people died in a garment factory collapse, Bangladesh has made inroads when it comes to protecting workers. “I think right now, of the developing countries with a ready-made garment sector, Bangladesh is the safest,” says Rob Wayss, executive director of one of the safety accords that resulted from the 2013 disaster.
But those deals are coming to an end, and they don’t cover workers in the many factories supplying non-western brands anyway. The garment sector complains western clothing retailers want it both ways – safety and minimum pay, but also ever-lower prices. Factory owners are happy to see safety accords wound down, while the government is reluctant to step up and enforce standards. As one labour advocate put it: “It is scary to imagine that things could go back to business as usual.”
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Bum dial – Vodafone has been named Britain’s worst mobile phone provider – for the seventh consecutive year. “These findings published by Which? really don’t match up with what our customers are telling us,” said a Vodafone spokesman – possibly demonstrating where the problem partly lies. EE, which last year shared the dubious distinction with Vodafone, came second-last in this survey. Utility Warehouse came in first – while the Telefonica/BT subsidiary GiffGaff came in second and Sky Mobile was third.
Lunchtime read: ‘Like baboons having sex’
Adult life inside a free-love cult was laid bare in a recent Netflix documentary, Wild Wild Country. Our TV critic Sam Wollaston, though, wondered what became of the children “seen running around in the background”. Wollaston tracked down Noa Maxwell, whose bohemian parents gravitated in the mid-1970s to controversial guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s ashram, first in India and later in Oregon.
“We had been a tight, 70s middle-class family, and within a very short period that family unit was ripped up,” says Noa, now 46. In the cult, adults immersed themselves in the search for a higher consciousness, and free love – “You could hear people having orgasmic sex all the time. All night, like mating baboons, gibbons.” The kids, meanwhile, ran wild. Eventually his mother wanted out, and settled back in Britain with Noa and his brother. “When I eventually did get back to this country when I was 10 I couldn’t read anything or write anything, or do two plus two,” says Noa. He tells how the experience left him damaged but also determined to be “as normal as possible – I made a lot of choices that would give me something solid”.
Sport
The England and Wales Cricket Board will meet representatives from the country’s 420 professional players next month following a backlash over its new 100‑ball competition. At Goodison Park last night, one banner called for Sam Allardyce to go during Everton’s 1-0 win over Newcastle but Theo Walcott’s sharp finish shielded the manager from further hostility.
London Marathon organisers are already lining up Mo Farah to run in next year’s race while his coach, Gary Lough, believes he could yet reach a “similar level” as the winner this year, Eliud Kipchoge. And Dylan Hartley will miss England’s three-Test tour to South Africa in June after being told to take the summer off following his latest concussion.
Business
Asian stocks bounced from near two-week lows on Tuesday, as investors paused for breath following the heavy selling of recent sessions and waited to see if the dollar’s rally was sustainable.
The pound has been trading at $1.394 and €1.141
The papers
It’s the Cambridges’ day on the front pages after they presented to the cameras their new baby boy, born on St George’s Day. “Thrice the worry now” is the Express headline, quoting William. “His first royal wave!” gushes the Mail, with a close-up of the baby’s face and tiny uncurled hand. “Triple crown” says the Mirror while the Sun has fun with a bit of Shakespeare – “Cry for Mummy, England and St George” – because the newborn also shares the Bard’s birthday.
Back to serious business: the Guardian splashes on the Windrush generation and Theresa May’s promise of citizenship and speedy compensation for those affected. “Ruddy awful,” fumes the Mirror, accusing Theresa May of authoring the debacle but letting Amber Rudd take the heat. The Times reports Rudd has promised a change of culture at the Home Office on migration. The FT covers US sanctions against Russian aluminium producer Rusal that have “sent global metal prices rocketing”. The Star goes with the death of former Masterchef contestant Matt Campbell after he collapsed during the London Marathon.
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