Top story: Russia accuses west of plotting attack
I’m Martin Farrer and it’s my turn again to bring you the best of the news this Wednesday morning.
Britain, the US and France edged closer to a military confrontation in Syria after the western allies failed to agree with Russia on measures to deal with the aftermath of the suspected chemical attack on civilians at the weekend. Both sides rejected the other’s proposals to set up UN-led inquiries into the alleged attack, leaving some sort of military response against the Assad regime more likely. Russia said the allies were using the issue as a pretext to attack Syria, its longstanding Middle East ally to which it has lent extensive military support during the seven-year civil war. The US president, Donald Trump, who has cancelled a trip to Peru this weekend, has promised a “major decision”. In London, Theresa May called her national security council to discuss the crisis sparked by the attack on 7 April on the rebel-held town of Douma which left 45 people dead.
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‘Online arms race’ – Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and chief executive of Facebook, has vowed to ensure that no one messes with the elections around the world this year and warned of an online propaganda “arms race” with Russia during five hours of interrogation by US Congress members. He told one senator that he could not guarantee that some of the images allegedly spread on Facebook by Russian operatives during the US presidential election would not reappear. “This is going to be an ongoing conflict,” he said. Despite the billionaire’s obvious discomfort at the hearings, where he felt obliged to ditch his trademark T-shirt and jeans for a business suit and tie, his comments nevertheless gave what our Washington correspondent David Smith calls an “insight into the unnerving reach and influence of Facebook in numerous democratic societies”. And our Silicon Valley expert, Julia Carrie Wong, writes that the decision by two senators to livestream the hearings on Facebook only underlined Zuckerberg’s influence. He’s on again later today.
His testimony comes after Facebook admitted that the personal data of 87 million users was harvested by Cambridge Analytica without permission. Both companies – with two others – face a class action after lawyers in the US and UK filed a lawsuit yesterday. It claims on behalf of one million UK users and 70 million US users that the firms took private information from the social media network to develop “political propaganda campaigns” in the UK and the US.
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Centre of attention – Britain’s potential new centrist political party has links to Tony Blair and his son, Euan, the Guardian has learned. As the Observer revealed on Sunday, LoveFilm’s founder, Simon Franks, has set up a company as a vehicle to get the party started. Sources have told our political team that one person who was approached to join was told that Euan Blair – who runs a start-up company – was on the board and that Blair senior had advised on identifying donors. Euan Blair did not respond for comment and a spokesperson for his father denied any involvement.
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Fox hunt – Documents and computer records have reportedly been seized from the London offices of Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox in raids by European commission officials. A spokesman for the commission confirmed that a series of “unannounced inspections” had taken place at the offices of unnamed companies in several EU countries on Tuesday. They are investigating a potential abuse of Fox’s dominant position in the broadcasting of major sports events amid concerns of the regulators in Brussels that the entertainment conglomerate “may have violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices”.
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Record growth – Record labels are for the first time making more money from streaming services than from sales of CDs. New figures from the industry show that record company trade income rose by 10.6% in 2017 to stand at £839.4m – the fastest rate since the heady days of Britpop in the mid-90s. The increase comes from a 45% leap in subscriptions to services such as Spotify, as well as the ongoing vinyl revival which is now a fifth of the size of the CD market.
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The lower deck solution – Airbus says it is planning to introduce sleeping compartments in the cargo holds of its wide-bodied A330 passenger aircraft. The jet manufacturer says it has received positive feedback about the idea from airlines and it raises the prospect that those of us who can’t afford business or first-class travel might finally be able to get a decent sleep on a long-haul flight. However, Airbus’s partner, Zodiac Aerospace, doesn’t really sell the idea very appealingly, saying the scheme reaffirms its expertise in “lower-deck solutions”.
Breakfast read: six of the healthiest meals to start the day
OK, slight break with morning briefing tradition here but what better point in the day to highlight a piece from our food team about healthy breakfasts. Admittedly you might not have time to start dry toasting oats and almonds right now – as one recipe demands – so it might be one to put on the back-burner for the weekend. Anyway, these dishes are really healthy, so another word of warning: if you’re hoping that the article will somehow find a way to say that bacon and eggs are healthy, you’re going to be disappointed. That said, the “overnight oats with blueberry, vanilla and chia” sounds tasty even though it might just be a posh way of soaking your porridge overnight. The 10-minute almond granola has also got the briefing team interested. Slightly more exotic offerings – and more time-consuming ones – include coconut brown rice porridge with mango and lime, and ashura cereal with yoghurt and fruit.
Sport
Pep Guardiola blamed decisions that went against Manchester City in both legs of the Champions League quarter-final as they were knocked out by Liverpool 5-1 on aggregate at the Etihad stadium. Guardiola’s half-time bust-up helped bring City’s house of cards crashing down as they imploded in self-immolating fury, writes Barney Ronay. After last night’s other quarter-final, Roma’s captain, Daniele De Rossi, praised the coach, Eusebio Di Francesco, after his side completed a remarkable comeback against Barcelona to reach the last four. Leicester’s Ben Youngs says he is delighted to have avoided knee surgery and to be fit for a comeback in Saturday’s game against Northampton. “It definitely feels like I dodged a bullet,” he tells Gerard Meagher. And day seven of the Commonwealth Games is under way on Australia’s Gold Coast, with another 15 medals up for grabs.
Business
Christine Lagarde, the head of the IMF, has warned of “darker clouds looming” for the global economy amid trade tensions between the US and China. She says the current system was “in danger of being torn apart”. The markets are a little bit less apocalyptic, with mildest falls in Japan and Australia overnight, but Hong Kong is still feeling positive this morning. The pound is sitting at $1.418 and €1.146.
The papers
The Mail splashes with a story about energy bills under the headline “Minister slams greed of British Gas”. It also features the stramash about a floral tribute left by the family of the intruder stabbed to death in London last week being torn down. Other papers led on this. “Shameless” says the Mirror, while the Metro calls it the “The war of the posies”.
The Guardian leads with the class action against Facebook, alongside the latest on Syria. The Times leads with a domestic take on the crisis saying “May resists calls to join US action against Syria”, but the Telegraph says “May stands behind Trump”. The FT has a flick of Zuckerberg at Congress, but leads with the story that Volkswagen is set to replace its boss as it continues to clean up its emissions mess.
In perhaps less pressing news for the PM, the Sun says she hasn’t been invited to Harry and Meghan’s wedding.
For more news: www.theguardian.com
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