Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.
Progressive parties decimated in historic UK election
Boris Johnson’s decision to hold a snap election in the hope of uniting Britain’s pro-Brexit vote has paid off mightily, after his Conservative party won a thumping parliamentary majority amid the worst election night in decades for the UK’s leftwing and centre-left parties. Jeremy Corbyn has said he will not lead Labour into the next election after the Tories made gains in many traditional Labour strongholds. The Scottish National party won 11 extra seats, raising the prospect of a fresh referendum on Scottish independence.
Brexit challenges. EU leaders took Johnson’s victory as a chance to demand clarity on the UK’s future relationship with the bloc. But as Lisa O’Carroll explains, there are still Brexit challenges ahead for the triumphant prime minister.
Silver linings. The results had few bright spots for progressives, aside from Nigel Farage’s Brexit party winning no seats, and the House of Commons now having a record number of female MPs.
Impeachment vote delayed after day of testy debate
The House judiciary committee unexpectedly delayed its final vote on the articles of impeachment against Donald Trump on Thursday evening, following a 14-hour debate that descended into partisan rancour and pro-Trump showboating. The Republican Jim Jordan tried to have the first article, which charges the president with abuse of power, struck altogether. Florida’s Matt Gaetz read into the record a report on Hunter Biden’s past difficulties with drug addiction.
New schedule. The committee is to meet again on Friday morning, when Democrats are expected to pass along party lines both articles of impeachment: abuse of power and obstructing Congress. One Republican decried the last-minute change to the timetable as “Stalin-esque”.
US spy chief given 30 days to name Khashoggi’s killers
The Trump administration’s acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, has been set a congressional deadline of 30 days to formally declare whether the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, was responsible for the murder of the Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. The demand was included in the annual military spending bill, known as the National Defense Authorization Act, which was passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
Trump ally. Before the bill’s passage, the White House insisted on stripping out sections stipulating that Khashoggi’s murderers face punitive measures, meaning the crown prince – a close Trump ally – would be spared US reprisals even if he was named by Maguire.
Armenian genocide. The Senate has defied the White House and risked the anger of Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan by voting unanimously to recognise the genocide of some 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman empire between 1915 and 1922.
Freed from NDA, Buttigieg releases McKinsey client list
Pete Buttigieg, the rising young star of the Democratic presidential primary, has at last released a list of the clients he worked for during his three years at McKinsey, after saying the management consulting giant had freed him from a non-disclosure agreement. Yet the details are unlikely to satisfy progressives sceptical of the South Bend mayor’s business background, with the list including a healthcare firm that raised insurance rates, and a Canadian company involved in a price-fixing scandal.
Business experience. Buttigieg, who has described McKinsey’s recent work with Ice as “extremely disappointing”, was employed by the firm from 2007 to 2010.
Cheat sheet
A military operation has recovered six bodies from New Zealand’s White Island following the deadly volcanic eruption this week. The bodies of two victims are still unaccounted for.
Chinese officials have refused to comment on whether Beijing and Washington have agreed a détente in the US-China trade war, following reports in the US media on Thursday that an agreement “in principle” has been reached.
Andy Beshear, the new Democratic governor of Kentucky, has signed an executive order that will allow up to 140,000 people with non-violent felony convictions to vote at future elections, in a major victory for voting rights campaigners.
Outside investigators have submitted a report on the far-right GOP state representative Matt Shea to the Washington statehouse, following a series of Guardian exposés about Shea’s extreme, bigoted views and advocacy of violence against political opponents.
Must-reads
Forced to choose: her baby, or the US air force?
When US air force nurse Susan Struck fell pregnant in Vietnam in 1970, she was ordered to abort the child or face immediate discharge. Instead, she tells Jessica Glenza, she fought the air force in a case that was taken up by Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
How US law enforcement is failing to police itself
Anti-government, pro-confederate and white-supremacist groups have been attempting to recruit police officers into their ranks for decades. Yet as Maddy Crowell and Sylvia Varnham O’Regan report, police departments still struggle to police themselves.
What could the US afford if it taxed billionaires?
The top 1% of Americans own more wealth than the bottom 90% combined. If they were taxed at the same rates as the wealthy in the 40s and 50s, the US could make college free, invest in infrastructure and triple the budget for the National Institutes of Health, as Michael Linden explains.
The fight for better treatment for Hollywood’s assistants
Hollywood assistants have been sharing their experiences of working long hours for minimum wage while being mistreated by their bosses, sparked by the hashtag #PayUpHollywood. Ben Allen hears from those who stuck it out, and learns why others may not.
Opinion
Leavers in once-safe Labour areas have thrown their support behind Boris Johnson and his vow to get Brexit done, says Rafael Behr. And yet, argues Anand Menon, it remains unclear whether they – or anyone else – will be satisfied by the sort of Brexit Johnson can deliver.
The new, post-2016 political force of Brexitism has exerted such a profound magnetic pull on traditional Labour heartland seats that the old political compasses don’t work anymore.
Sport
Has Freddie Ljungberg restored sufficient confidence in the Arsenal squad to take advantage of a shaky Manchester City? And can Leicester build on a run of eight successive victories against Norwich to maintain their place as the closest challengers to Liverpool? Two of 10 things to look out for in the Premier League this weekend.
The organizers of the 2024 Paris Olympics have decided that the waves on the Atlantic coast of France are too unreliable to host the Games’ surfing events, which will instead take place in Tahiti, part of French Polynesia – 10,000 miles from the host city.
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