Top story: ‘Placed himself and his money above the law’
Hello, I’m Warren Murray. Happy Yorkshire Day – more on that further down.
The former Trump campaign boss Paul Manafort enriched himself with a “secret income” from consulting for pro-Russian groups in Ukraine, a court has heard.
In the first trial to arise from the Trump-Russia investigation, Manafort is accused of funnelling more than $60m through offshore accounts and hiding a “significant” portion of it from US tax collectors. It funded fast cars, “fancy clothes” and other indulgences including a $21,000 watch, a $15,000 jacket made of ostrich and more than $6m worth of property paid for in cash. “He got whatever he wanted,” assistant US attorney Uzo Asonye told the jury. “No tax law, no banking law … Paul Manafort lied to his bookkeeper, he lied to his tax preparer, he lied to the IRS, he lied to multiple financial institutions – all in order to get and keep money.”
Manafort’s defence team is seeking to blame his deputy, Rick Gates, who also worked as an aide on Trump’s campaign and has struck a plea deal. “Money’s coming in fast. It’s a lot, and Paul Manafort trusted that Rick Gates was keeping track of it,” said lawyer Thomas Zehnle. “Rick Gates had his hand in the cookie jar and he couldn’t take the risk his boss would find out.” The trial is expected to go for three weeks.
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‘No bodies were found’ – Authorities in Mexico said they believed all 103 people on board had survived the crash of an airliner near the city of Durango. Eighty-five were injured, two of them critically. The Embraer 190 plane operated by Aeromexico came down in a field soon after takeoff. In Peru, 10 tourists were injured when one train crashed into another from behind near the ancient citadel of Machu Picchu.
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Midweek catch-up – Slightly rebranded but the same pithy summaries you can always depend on at this crucial juncture.
> Jeremy Corbyn has apologised for speaking at a Holocaust Memorial Day event in 2010 alongside people who reportedly likened Israel’s actions in Gaza to the Nazis and “whose views I completely reject … I apologise for the concerns and anxiety that this has caused.
> Theresa May must pursue a softer Brexit to protect the economy, a thinktank has warned. The PM has cut short her holiday to press her case with France’s president. An EU official says its paper on post-Brexit trade will be short and not necessarily sweet.
> Facebook and Instagram have removed 32 pages and accounts that appeared to be trying to influence the US midterm elections. Facebook said it had detected “coordinated inauthentic behaviour” possibly linked to Russian online saboteurs.
> House of Fraser has been deemed by Moody’s to be in technical default on its loans. The retailer needs £60m to pay rent, cut its overdraft and stock up for Christmas.
> “THE WORLD’S ON FIRE”. Michael McCarthy asks whether the heatwave, and the kind of headline it prompted in the Sun, signals the end of climate denial.
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‘Not a victimless crime’ – The Met chief Cressida Dick has blasted what she called middle-class cocaine users who will “happily think about global warming and fair trade” while believing there is no harm in snorting the drug. “Well, there is; there’s misery throughout the supply chain,” she has said, as drug dealing is blamed for a surge in gang violence. The Tottenham MP, David Lammy, citing reports from Interpol and Europol, has said killings are being fuelled by the booming white middle-class market for cocaine. The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, and the justice secretary, David Gauke, have also said people using cocaine should feel guilty about the related violence and deaths.
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DIY guns stopped – A court in the US has blocked the release online of blueprints for 3D-printed guns. “There is a possibility of irreparable harm because of the way these guns can be made,” said US district judge Robert Lasnik. Democrats have urged Donald Trump to make the ban permanent. Trump tweeted that he was “looking into” it, saying making them available to the public “doesn’t seem to make much sense!” Gun experts have questioned whether they pose a serious threat, as they are inaccurate and tend to fall apart after a few shots.
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Bits of Holy Grail found – Unseen sketches from Monty Python have been discovered in the archives of Michael Palin. The material written for Monty Python and the Holy Grail include one about a Wild West bookshop and another that features an “amorous Pink Knight”. The archive, which spans Palin’s literary and creative life from 1965 to 1987, is being put on public display by the British Library.
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Yorkshire Day – Today the land of tea, puddings and wilfra tart stages its annual affirmation of county pride. About 200 dignitaries are expected to attend the official civic celebration in Ripon including a procession, church service and lunch of roast beef with you-know-what (consumed, quite possibly, amid murmurs about devolution).
“There is a sense across the whole of the north of England and Yorkshire especially that we are seen as second-class citizens compared to the rest of the UK and London in particular,” says Philip Bell, CEO of the Yorkshire Society. “There’s a certain thing that beats in your heart as a Yorkshire person and unless we hold it together as a nation and maintain the traditions like Yorkshire day, there’s a danger it will disappear.”
Lunchtime read: ‘Hostile environment’ – the border within
For a primary school teacher it was the moment he had to sit down with new parents for an uncomfortable conversation about their child’s nationality. For an NHS doctor it was delivering a baby with untreatable complications that could have been been avoided if the mother hadn’t been too frightened to attend antenatal appointments.
If Windrush had looked like a sudden crisis for the government, it has been a daily reality for years for thousands of people on the frontline of the deterrent policies Theresa May dubbed the “hostile environment” – under which doctors, teachers and even landlords have been conscripted to patrol a border within.
Sport
Starting at Edgbaston today, the five-Test series against India condensed into little more than six weeks will determine whether this is an annus horribilis or mirabilis for England.
Manchester United wrapped up their pre-season tour of the US with a 2-1 win over Real Madrid, thanks to goals from Alexis Sànchez and Ander Herrera. Having overcome the banana skin of South Korea, England face a potentially tournament-defining night against the most dangerous of foes, the Netherlands, at the hockey World Cup. And the father of the British snowboarder Ellie Soutter who died suddenly on her 18th birthday believes the intense pressure of competing in elite-level sport may have contributed to her death.
Business
The City watchdog says its decision not to take any action against Royal Bank of Scotland over the mistreatment of small business customers in the wake of the financial crisis does not condone the bank’s behaviour. But our columnist Larry Elliott says it shows the Financial Conduct Authority is a paper tiger.
The main stock markets in Asia were up overnight thanks to strong company earnings on Wall Street. The FTSE100 is set to drop 0.35% at the open this morning while the pound is worth $1.311 and €1.122.
The papers
The Guardian splashes on Northamptonshire county council being near collapse and “no longer able to protect children at risk”.
Brexit dominates the front pages of several others. The FT says: “May to warn Macron that no-deal Brexit poses job risk to Europe”; the Times does that as “May’s Brexit plea to Macron”. The i has “Food firms demand Brexit summit” and the Express is pleased that “At last we’re talking tough”. The Mirror’s splash is “Palace crisis talks over silencing Meghan’s dad”; the Telegraph has “Betrayal of Bloody Sunday veteran” and the Sun’s splash headline is “Gutless”, on a story about an attack on an 18-year-old girl outside a club.
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