Top story: ‘We just save what we can’
Hello, it’s Warren Murray putting the top stories at your fingertips.
The devastation wrought by Cyclone Idai is becoming clear after it swept through Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, destroying almost everything in its path, causing devastating floods, killing and injuring thousands of people and ruining crops. More than 2.6 million people are potentially affected in what the UN says could be the worst such disaster to hit the southern hemisphere.
Official death tolls stand in the hundreds but the true numbers may not be known for months. The Mozambican and South African military and other organisations have been working to rescue people from the air. Ian Scher from Rescue SA explained the stark reality: “We just save what we can save and the others will perish.” Jill Lovell – an Australian in Mozambique running a mission school in Beira, which has been cut off by floodwaters – said in an email: “It is a total mess here … People are in trees and on rooftops. Emergency relief crews are slowly coming in. Rains continue to make it all even harder. So many lives lost and homes destroyed.”
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Boris, Brexit and Barnier – With Tories convinced that Theresa May is on borrowed time as leader, some are orchestrating to prevent Boris Johnson taking her place – and preparing to resign if he does. “There is a really strong anti-Boris feeling,” said one former minister, “but all the Brexiters may get on board with him if they feel the wind is blowing in his direction because they will want jobs.” At an EU summit tomorrow, the PM will ask for what might be termed a meaningful delay in the Brexit process. Ministers held crisis talks yesterday after the Speaker blocked a further immediate vote on May’s unchanged deal. The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has suggested the PM is not being offered a blank-cheque extension to the article 50 process, and a long delay could make a second referendum necessary.
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Midweek catch-up
> Patients are waiting months for cataract surgery because of NHS cuts, research reveals. The Patients Association has criticised the spread of “crude rationing” of this and other surgeries such as hip replacements that can drastically improve quality of life.
> The government will start issuing official threat-level warnings for far-right terrorism as well as Islamist terrorism. A stabbing in Stanwell on Saturday is being treated as a white supremacist attack.
> Heavy use of cannabis increases the risk of psychosis, researchers believe. They estimate 30% of first-time psychosis cases in south London, and half those in Amsterdam, could be avoided if high-potency cannabis was unavailable.
> A US jury has ruled that Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide was a substantial factor in giving a California man cancer. Monsanto continues to argue the glyphosate herbicide is safe to use and does not cause non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
> The education secretary says students should report peers who cheat by using essay-writing websites. PayPal is being called on to ban payments to “essay mills” whose wares are virtually impossible to detect through anti-plagiarism software.
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Most want rich soaked – A majority of people living in developed countries want their government to tax the rich more to help the poor, according to an OECD survey of 21 countries. “Too many people feel they cannot count fully on their government when they need help,” said Ángel Gurría, secretary general of the OECD, which polled 22,000 people. The UK was not included in the study, but almost 80% of people in Portugal and Greece wanted the rich taxed more, as did half of US respondents. Almost half of Americans in the survey said they would pay 2% more income tax to receive better healthcare, and one-third would be prepared to pay a 2% levy in return for better state education.
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Back down the coalmine – Britain’s first new deep coalmine in 30 years has been given the go-ahead by Cumbria county council despite protests about climate change. The site will process 2.5m tonnes a year of coking coal for steelmaking in UK and Europe, replacing imports from the US, Canada, Russia and Colombia. Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat councillors backed the development, which promises to create 2,500 direct and indirect jobs. The owners says about a third of the project’s energy needs will be met by solar power. The mine is due to begin production in about two years’ time.
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Scotland’s land monopolies targeted – Scottish landholding rules must be radically reformed to reverse “socially corrosive” concentration of ownership in the hands of ultra-wealthy people and public bodies, a major review warns. The Scottish Land Commission says about 1,125 owners, including Highland lairds and major public bodies such as Forest Enterprise and the National Trust for Scotland, own 70% of Scotland’s rural land, covering more than 4.1m hectares. The eventual goal of the commission would be to break up many large estates. Hamish Trench, the commission’s chief executive, said large landowners did not need to behave badly for it to be an issue – concentration of ownership decreased economic opportunities and diversity. The Scottish Green party MSP Andy Wightman called on ministers to adopt the review’s recommendation and end “the centuries-long persistence of hegemonic landed power”.
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Today in Focus podcast: Gaza – generation blockade
Oliver Holmes describes his recent visit to Gaza, where a generation of Palestinians have spent their entire lives fenced in. Plus: Rafael Behr on why an article 50 extension is not a victory for remainers.
Lunchtime read: How a love child found her sister
“How do you explain to your fragile, octogenarian mom that her ex-husband’s mistress actually did have his child, and now that child is one of your closest friends? Short answer: You don’t. You just don’t.”
Laura was born to a mother who had had an affair with her married boss. “Her husband was deployed in Guam. She’d found a doctor to induce labour a month before I was due to make it appear as though I could have been conceived while her husband was home on furlough.” The truth came out after Laura turned 21 and, years later still, she resolved to track down her biological father, that ex-boss of her mum’s. She found him – or rather, his obituary: “He had died two days prior.” But tracing his other children led to a bond with a half-sister that changed her life.
Sport
Crewe Alexandra are taking on Barry Bennell’s victims in the high court by claiming it was the parents, not the club, who let boys stay overnight with the man who has been described as “an industrial-scale child molester”. The Six Nations countries are in danger of falling out over plans to aggregate their television and commercial rights, with England and France demanding an unequal share of the proceeds to pay off their clubs. Harry Kane has insisted the intensity of club rivalries will not disrupt the harmony established by Gareth Southgate within the senior England squad. The Wales fly-half Gareth Anscombe has called on the power-brokers to sort out Welsh rugby’s domestic mess. And the deletion of a social media post featuring a photo of the AFLW player Tayla Harris that attracted vile comments has caused uproar in Australia.
Business
The remarkable figures released yesterday showing that unemployment is at a 44-year low may have given the UK economy some cheer, but events further afield continue to drive the numbers on the FTSE100. The benchmark index is expected to fall around 0.6% when trading starts this morning, which is in line with Asian markets overnight nervous about the outcome of the latest Federal Reserve policy meeting in New York. Although the Fed is expected to keep US rates on hold, what policymakers might suggest about what’s coming down the track is the real game. A pound will get you around $1.325 or €1.168 this morning.
The papers
It’s all about Theresa May asking the EU for an extension of article 50 today (and a few images of Prince Charles in a pair of swimming shorts on holiday). The Mirror wins pun of the day with “May begs for Brextra time”. The Mail rails against “1,000 wasted days” with a front-page rant: “Exactly 1,000 days ago, Britain voted to leave the EU. Today incompetent MPs and hard Brexit zealots have made us a laughing stock – and now Brussels is telling us to ‘think again’.”
The Express takes its top line from Andrea Leadsom’s rebuke of remainers in cabinet: “You don’t want to deliver Brexit”. The Telegraph also goes with a Leadsom quote: “This used to be the Cabinet that would deliver Brexit … now it’s not”. The Times has: “May pleads for delay to Brexit as EU stands firm” while the i declares: “We’re in crisis, admits May as she seeks Brexit delay”. The Financial Times sees things from a slightly different perspective: “Brussels takes hard line on Brexit delay as cabinet splits over terms.”
The Guardian is alone in giving most of the space on the front to the devastation wrought by Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Its Brexit story – “May begs EU to delay Brexit as No 10 concedes deal is in crisis” – sits underneath.
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