Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.
Beijing says it will never surrender in trade war with US
The Chinese yuan hit a four-month low on Monday, with the price of soybeans slumping to the lowest level since the 2008 financial crisis, as investors braced for Beijing’s response to the imposition of 25% US tariffs on thousands of Chinese products. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman insisted Beijing “will never surrender to outside pressure” in the escalating trade war, as the US drew up plans for more tariffs on all remaining Chinese imports – some $300bn.
Trump tactics. Donald Trump is obsessed with tariffs, but his trade war with China is a risky electoral strategy for 2020, as David Smith reports from Washington.
Saudi oil tankers ‘damaged’ amid tensions with Iran
The Saudi energy minister has said two oil tankers that sustained “significant damage” off the coast of Fujairah, a port in the United Arab Emirates, were the targets of an apparent sabotage attack. The reported incident came after the US warned “Iran or its proxies” may target maritime traffic in the region, as tensions escalate between Iran and US allies in the Gulf.
Psychological warfare. The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps has claimed the deployment of a US aircraft carrier to the Gulf is intended merely to intimidate Tehran, and the US lacks the military strength to launch a war against Iran.
Sanctions bite. Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, has said tightening US sanctions could lead to conditions harsher than those suffered by Iranians during the country’s war with Iraq in the 1980s.
Trump’s New York buildings face millions in climate fines
Eight large Trump properties in New York apparently fail to comply with the city’s new emissions regulations, meaning the Trump Organization could be hit with annual fines of $2.1m beginning in 2030 if it fails to make the buildings more energy efficient. According to data shared with the Guardian, the president’s eight largest New York properties pump out about 27,000 tons of greenhouse gases per year, equivalent to approximately 5,800 cars.
Biden targeted. Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani says the president wants his attorney general to consider investigating his most feared 2020 foe, Joe Biden, over Biden’s son’s ties to Ukraine – a potentially chilling case of Trump using the justice department to pursue a political rival.
Duterte seeks to tighten grip on power in the Philippines midterms
Filipinos are voting in midterm elections that could help the country’s controversial president, Rodrigo Duterte, to strengthen his grip on power. The poll is considered a referendum on Duterte’s policies, including his brutal crackdown on the drugs trade and his embrace of China. If his party makes gains in the Senate, it could allow him to deliver on other incendiary pledges, such as restoring the death penalty.
Unfinished business. At least six widows of murdered male politicians are standing in the midterms, part of a tradition of women continuing to fight their late husbands’ political battles in the Philippines.
Crib sheet
Google has given more than $150,000 in free advertising to Obria, an anti-abortion group that runs ads purporting to provide abortion services, when in fact it seeks to deter “abortion-minded women” from terminating pregnancies.
Nick Clegg, Facebook’s head of global affairs, has rejected calls from some Democratic presidential candidates for the firm to be broken up, saying “chopping a great American success story into bits” is not the solution to criticisms of the social network.
A Myanmar pilot has been praised for safely landing an Embraer 190 passenger plane with 89 people onboard at an airport in Mandalay, despite being unable to use the aircraft’s front landing gear.
A cardinal who carries out acts of charity in the name of Pope Francis broke a police seal and shimmied down a manhole in Rome to restore electricity to an unused, state-owned building occupied by hundreds of homeless people.
Must-reads
Veep: an audaciously meanspirited comedy for our time
Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s political antiheroine Selina Meyer has shared her last insult, as the sweariest, funniest show on TV aired its final episode. It’s a tribute to Veep’s blistering satire that it suited two diametrically opposed real-life presidencies, says Charles Bramesco.
How Christians came to terms with Trump
It may have seemed hypocritical for evangelicals to back a thrice-married, big-city billionaire in 2016. But on a range of issues – specifically abortion and the supreme court – Trump has reliably delivered for the religious right, as David Smith reports.
Big tech’s assault on democracy in India
The Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp is thought to have more than 300 million users in India, which makes it a powerful political campaigning tool. But John Harris finds it is also used to spread dangerous rumours that can cause real-life violence.
What got cut from Avengers: Endgame?
The climactic instalment of the Marvel cinematic story to date runs to more than 182 minutes, but there were still various scenes that had to be cut – and others that never made it past the script stage. Zach Vasquez rounds up what we know about the scenes that didn’t make it.
Opinion
It’s easy to blame the anti-vaxxer movement on bad parents, writes Paul Ward, but that just leads to greater distrust. Instead, we should seek to understand them and the choices they have made.
In my field of public health, we actively aim not simply to blame people for their behaviours, but rather to understand the social, cultural, economic and cultural reasons that underpin their behaviours in the first place.
Sport
Manchester City crushed Brighton 4-1 on Sunday to secure their second successive Premier League title. While his players outdid themselves on the pitch, the side’s true star was coach Pep Guardiola, who long ago set his sights on retaining the trophy.
Guardiola thanked close rivals Liverpool for an “incredible” season, while the Liverpool manager, Jürgen Klopp, said his team need to get “close to perfection” if they hope to unseat City next year. The Guardian’s sports writers picked 10 games that decided the title, starting with City and Liverpool’s 0-0 draw last October.
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