Top story: Damning accounts of Trump circle’s Russian contacts
Good morning, this is Warren Murray bringing you today’s Guardian morning briefing.
Fresh scandal has erupted over the relationship between Donald Trump’s election campaign and the Kremlin after US intelligence officials said there were frequent contacts between the would-be president’s aides and Russian intelligence.
The National Security Agency intercepted “constant communication” between high-level Trump advisers and “Russians known to US intelligence” over the course of the past year, according to reports that cited current and former intelligence officials.
Trump has previously denied there were any such contacts. But suspicions about Moscow’s influence over the president are picking up serious momentum. After the White House national security adviser quit over his talks with Russia’s ambassador, it has emerged that Trump apparently knew weeks ago that Michael Flynn had misled the vice-president about those conversations. Calls are growing in Congress for a full investigation.
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Killing of Kim Jong-nam – The apparent assassination in Malaysia of Kim Jong-un’s brother, Kim Jong-nam, adds the strangest instalment yet to a catalogue of paranoid executions and purges by the North Korean ruler.
But we should not allow the “comic book” character of such episodes to cloud the fact that this same regime has let off nuclear bombs and seems more determined than ever to make one fly, as Simon Tisdall writes.
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Paul Nuttall and Hillsborough – A Ukip press officer has sought to take the blame for mistakenly publishing a claim that party leader Paul Nuttall lost “close friends” in the Hillsborough stadium disaster. Lynda Roughley said she was “entirely responsible” for the website post. But the Stoke Central byelection candidate continued to be challenged over his insistence that he was at the stadium on the day of the disaster in 1989. His father has backed him up but a teacher, a schoolmate and Hillsborough justice campaigners are among those casting doubt.
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Darker materials – Calibrate your alethiometer and prepare to be plunged back into the multiverse of daemons, Dust and the tyrannical Magisterium … Philip Pullman has thrilled fans by announcing three new novels to stand alongside the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials.
The new series, entitled The Book of Dust, will tell the story of heroine Lyra before and after the events of Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. Pullman said he wanted to delve into the true nature of “Dust”, the mysterious substance at the centre of the original novels.
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‘Huge explosion’ in Oxford – People were feared missing after a blast followed by a fire at a block of flats in the Osney Lane and Gibbs Crescent area of the city. Six fire crews with 40 firefighters were called in. Several people were treated for smoke inhalation and minor injuries, with one woman taken to hospital. Police were still at the scene overnight.
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No longer managing – Poverty looms for four million more “just about managing” Britons as inflation pushes up costs while tax credits and working-age benefits remain frozen, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation is warning. There are already more than 19 million people living below the minimum income for a decent standard of living, according to one nationally recognised benchmark, and high employment levels are not helping because so many jobs are low-paid.
Lunchtime read: The man with no name
A pickup truck crash near the Mexican border in California left one of the passengers lying in a persistent vegetative state in a San Diego hospital. Unidentified for 16 years, this man became a symbol of hope for families from Mexico searching for boys and men who had disappeared after heading north.
Sport
Barcelona were hammered 4-0 by an Ángel Di María-inspired Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League tie while Arsène Wenger has insisted his Arsenal side are up for the “massive challenge” they face against Bayern in Munich tonight.
Elsewhere, newly released documents show that Lewisham council and its offshore-registered developer admitted making a series of false claims while securing a £20m grant from the mayor of London to implement the land-grab scheme. And a fight between UFC’s biggest star, Conor McGregor, and former boxing world champion Floyd Mayweather appears to be moving closer to reality.
Business
Investors are questioning whether Toshiba can survive after its shares plunged 11% on its admission that it had a $6.3bn blackhole in its accounts thanks to problems at its newly purchased American nuclear business Westinghouse.
Asian shares hit their highest point for 19 months helped by a bullish night on Wall Street after Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen flagged a possible interest rate rise next month.
The pound is pretty flat this morning at US$1.25 and €1.18.
The papers
The FT leads with the troubles at Toshiba saying a key part of the UK’s energy strategy has been thrown into doubt with the company likely to abandon its lead role in a Cumbrian nuclear power station. Like many others the front-page picture is of the apparently assassinated brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The Mail splash is “The Plastic Bottle Betrayal” with the paper reporting that ministers are set to reject a scheme that would have put a deposit on bottles and cans in order to encourage recycling.
The Times has the story that Amazon will get a tax cut on its business premises under new rules despite high street stores having to pay more in rates.
The Mirror says a scientific study has linked heading footballs to early onset dementia with the Telegraph also leading on the story, saying professional football has become as dangerous as boxing.
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