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Good morning, I’m Mattha Busby with today’s essential stories.
Beto O’Rourke to seek Democratic nomination in presidential bid
Following months of speculation, the former congressman Beto O’Rourke has formally announced his plans to campaign for president, joining 14 other Democrats vying to challenge Donald Trump for the White House. In his campaign launch video O’Rourke criticised the Trump administration for prioritising corporations over ordinary people, struck a liberal note on immigration and stressed the dangers of climate change. These challenges “will either consume us or they will afford us the greatest opportunity to unleash the genius of the United States of America,” he said.
O’Rourke rose to national prominence during the 2018 midterms when his narrowly unsuccessful bid to unseat the Texas senator Ted Cruz gained unprecedented grassroots support and raised record funds.
The former vice-president Joe Biden is soon to decide whether to run for the Democratic presidential nomination, amid warnings that a failure to cultivate small-donor support would undermine his reputation as “middle-class Joe”.
Manafort gets seven-year prison sentence amid fresh charges
Paul Manafort, the one-time Trump campaign chairman, was sentenced to another three and a half years in prison for fraud and failing to disclose foreign bank accounts, in addition to the nearly four years he received last week in Virginia for money laundering and unregistered lobbying. Later on Wednesday, Manafort was charged with 16 separate felonies over mortgage fraud, conspiracy and falsifying business records by the state of New York. The president cannot issue a pardon for state crimes in the way he can for federal ones.
Liar. In a stern rebuke, the judge told Manafort – who sat in a wheelchair due to gout – that it was difficult to overstate the “amount of fraud”, “number of lies” involved and the “extraordinary” amount of money he earned lobbying for pro-Russia politicians in Ukraine.
Mueller. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election has now seen five people jailed, with Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, and Rick Gates, a Trump campaign official, awaiting sentencing.
Chaos in parliament as May warns rebels: back me or lose Brexit
The British government suffered two more defeats on Brexit as MPs demanded that the UK cannot leave the EU without a deal clarifying their future relationship. The prime minister, Theresa May, told rebellious backbenchers that Brexit could face a lengthy delay if her deal did not win approval by next week. With the cabinet split three ways following an unprecedented evening of Tory divisions that saw the government order MPs to vote against its own motion, the UK is now facing a cliff-edge. A motion will be brought forward today on delaying Brexit to “set out the fundamental choice facing this house”, May said. Here’s what happened.
No dice. The EU said that the vote to block a no-deal Brexit was meaningless, with a senior negotiator describing it as “the Titanic voting for the iceberg to get out of the way” because the UK still has to agree to a deal.
Julián Castro: Marshall plan for Central America, not a wall
As an alternative to Trump’s proposed wall across its southern border, the Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro has called for a revamp of the 1948 aid package to help poor countries fight back against gangs and poverty to reduce the numbers of undocumented migrants entering into the US. In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the former Obama cabinet member said that his investment program would be focused on the so-called northern triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras and contrasted with a “slap in the face like the wall”.
Detail. Castro said that he aimed to produce a detailed blueprint of the policy before the first Democratic poll – the Iowa caucuses on 3 February – as he touted the investment as “bigger than we’ve ever done”.
Accountability. Castro criticised the US’s “checkered history” in Central America and recognised that “strongmen leaders” have often “used the US as a foil to prop themselves up”.
Crib sheet
Trump relented to pressure and grounded Boeing’s 737 Max fleet, despite initially holding out against the move following the second fatal crash involving the plane in five months.
Democracy is good for your health, with life expectancy growing quicker in countries that have become democracies since 1970 thanks to increased accountability and responsiveness, according to a new study across 170 countries.
Facebook was stung by outages that saw users of the company’s main applications, including Instagram and WhatsApp, encounter issues when attempting to access the apps, the day after Google suffered similar problems, unrelated to any cyber-attack.
USA soccer teammates Ali Krieger and Ashlyn Harris have confirmed they are engaged to be married and will tie the knot at the end of the year in Florida following the US team’s World Cup defense in France this summer.
Must-reads
How vegan burger companies want to revolutionise the idea of meat
Bleeding vegan patties such as the Impossible Burger are perhaps not as harmless as they might seem, writes Jessica Glenza. The Impossible has more salt and saturated fat than a Five Guys beef patty and is helping to fuel demand for soy, the much-criticised soil-depleting mono-crop.
Washing synthetic clothes spreads microfibers everywhere. What to do?
Like many of us, Jemima Kiss only learned about plastic microfiber pollution relatively recently. Plastic fibers make up 92% of freshwater particles, and minuscule fibers have been found in our drinking water, beer and table salt.
Are urban anti-vaccine ‘hotspots’ putting children at risk?
Seventeen states allow exemptions from vaccinations on the grounds of personal beliefs, creating “hotspots” of “anti-vaccine activity”. In one such state there has been a measles outbreak despite the fact it was meant to have been eliminated in 2000. The anti-vaxxers are on the march.
How I rediscovered my mother tongue
The Nigerian author Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani grew up only speaking English at home; Igbo was forbidden. Her parents would only speak their native tongue to converse privately, but Nwaubani learnt fluent Igbo, and it is now an essential part of her life and identity – though she falters in the presence of anyone who knew her as a child.
Opinion
Black American TV stars are speaking out against the treatment they receive, explaining how they have to pay for their own hairstyling before going on set. What can the rest of us expect, Afua Hirsch asks, if black TV stars are treated so differently.
White actors or contributors are treated to the planning, support and resources to get this right. Our appearance as black contributors, on the other hand, is an afterthought, or not thought of at all.
Sport
Liverpool’s manager Jürgen Klopp was jubilant in the wake of his team’s 3-1 victory away at Bayern Munich, claiming that the Merseyside club had put themselves back on the map of world football after the convincing victory against the German champions.
The trading of Odell Beckham Jr to the Browns, weeks after paying the star receiver a $20m signing bonus and stressing he would not be traded, demonstrates how NFL teams value the allure of hope over talent, says Oliver Connelly in the Sportsblog.
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