Top story: Trump and Cohen discuss Playboy model story
Hello – I’m Warren Murray serving up the news the way you like it (hopefully).
Donald Trump is heard on a newly released recording discussing with attorney Michael Cohen how to purchase the rights to former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story about their alleged affair.
On the tape from September 2016, Cohen can be heard explaining to the then presidential candidate how he would finance the purchase of the rights to McDougal’s story. Trump interrupts Cohen to ask: “What financing?” Cohen tells Trump: “We’ll have to pay,” after which Trump says: “Pay with cash.” The recording is muddled, making it difficult to confirm the full context of Trump’s comments. Here is why this tape matters and what the White House is saying.
Cohen’s own lawyer, Lanny Davis, released the tape arguing its contents proved his client tried to handle the payment legally, whereas Trump instead sought to pay in cash – the preference of “drug dealers and mobsters” and inherently designed to remain secret. “We have truth on our side and they are afraid,” Davis told CNN.
According to court filings, the government obtained as many as 12 audio recordings after FBI raids on Cohen this year. Cohen is under further scrutiny for paying $130,000 in hush money to adult film actor Stormy Daniels who has also alleged an affair with Trump.
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‘It looked expensive’ – Charlie Rowley says he found a bottle of what turned out to be the nerve agent novichok in a sealed box that he gave to his partner, Dawn Sturgess, who sprayed it on her wrists. Sturgess died; Rowley was saved by medical staff at Salisbury hospital, as were earlier novichok victims Sergei and Yulia Skripal. Rowley has told ITV that he tipped some on his hands but washed it off: “It didn’t smell of perfume. It felt oily.” Paul Mills, deputy chief constable of Wiltshire police, refused to speak in detail about Rowley’s claims: “We’re aware Mr Rowley has decided to conduct an interview as is his right.” The leader of Wiltshire council, Lady Scott, warned people in the area not to pick up items. “If you haven’t dropped it then don’t pick it up.”
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Quick catch-up - Here is what’s happening in some of the week’s major stories.
> The death toll in the Greece wildfires has risen to at least 74, with another 700 people rescued from the sea. Survivors have told how flames swept through the seaside resort of Mati. A state of emergency continues and three days of national mourning have been declared.
> Police have charged five men over the suspected acid attack on a boy aged three in Worcester. They are due to appear before magistrates in Kidderminster today.
> The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has declared “I’m to blame” and that voters can “come and get me” over the assault scandal involving his bodyguard, Alexandre Benalla, who donned police riot gear and attacked a protester.
> The heatwave is predicted to bring temperatures of 36C (95F) to parts of Britain before thunderstorms, hail and strong winds take hold. The Met Office has issued a thunderstorm warning from Friday afternoon for the north and east of England.
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Doomsday prepping – A pretty full plate of Brexit this morning. The secretary of state for leaving, Dominic Raab, has admitted plans are being drawn up to ensure Britain has an adequate food supply in case of a no-deal Brexit, but denied it amounts to stockpiling by the government. Some fun is being had with the phrase “taking back control” after Theresa May repatriated Brexit duties from Raab. She will now be in charge of negotations with the EU – Raab will “deputise” for the PM and handle matters on the home front. Employers across the country are to be given an EU citizen “toolkit” to help European staff register for post-Brexit immigration status, the home secretary, Sajid Javid, has announced. And the leave campaign backer Arron Banks has denied that payment to a minister in the government of Lesotho amounted to a bribe to gain a diamond mining licence.
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‘Not sitting down’ – A student has prevented a man being deported to Afghanistan by refusing to sit down, preventing the commercial flight carrying him from taking off. “I am doing what I can to save a person’s life,” said Elin Ersson as she stood and live-streamed her sometimes tearful protest as the plane sat on the tarmac at Landvetter airport in Gothenburg, Sweden. At one point she challenged another passenger: “What is more important, a life, or your time? … I want him to get off the plane because he is not safe in Afghanistan. It’s not right to send people to hell.” The asylum seeker, three security personnel and Ersson eventually left the plane. It was reported the man would be deported at a later date – Sweden has adopted a hardline stance on immigration, making it much harder to seek and gain asylum.
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Once in a blood moon – The longest lunar eclipse of the century (so far) will take place across Friday night and Saturday morning, as the moon is totally eclipsed by the Earth for one hour and 43 minutes. Much of the world, including the UK, will be under a “blood moon” – although it is a total eclipse, red light from the sun is scattered by the Earth’s atmosphere and still reaches the moon. Here is how and when to watch.
Lunchtime read: Fish oil or snake oil?
It started out as a panacea for rickets in the 19th century and has morphed into a $30bn business today. Omega-3 is one of our favourite supplements – but a huge new study has found it has little or no benefit for cardiac health.
“Over the past 15 years more than 20 studies have shown a lack of effect,” writes Paul Greenberg. “But we continue to look at the world of fish and seafood through the amber lens of a fish oil capsule. Omega-3s do something in our bodies – and probably something important. But without the larger context of the marine organisms that contain them, omega-3s get lost in the noise of human metabolism and modern marketing.”
Sport
Tour de France organisers will be hoping for a less chaotic day after riders were caught in the clouds of spray from the gendarmerie’s heavy-handed efforts to break up a mid-race farmer’s protest on yesterday’s stage 16. In terms of racing, Geraint Thomas has predicted today’s short but spiky 17th stage will be “massively decisive” in determining the fate of this year’s yellow jersey.
Richarlison has completed his move to Everton from Watford which he hopes can help his “dreams to become a reality here at one of the biggest clubs in England”, while Barcelona have agreed a deal to sign Malcom from Bordeaux for an initial €41m (£36.5m), just a day after Roma announced they had a deal of their own. Joe Root, despite scoring only 22 and three, still contributed significantly as Yorkshire wrapped up a 118-run Roses win over struggling Lancashire inside three days. And the England and Wales Cricket Board has rejected a new round of leaked reports that said the besieged 100-ball domestic competition would comprise teams of 12 or 15 active players where 11 are nominated to bat with the remainder permitted to bowl.
Business
Not many companies could shrug off a $5bn fine but Google is one of them. Quarterly results of its parent company, Alphabet, were better than expected and still showed a $2.8bn profit; without the fine that figure would have been $7.8bn. Wall Street investors liked the numbers, sending its shares up 6%, which in turn boosted stocks in the Asia-Pacific region overnight. The FTSE 100 is set to drop 0.28% at the open in London later this morning. The pound is flat at $1.314 and €1.125.
The papers
The Guardian is one of several papers that leads on Greece’s fire emergency, calling it “An unspeakable tragedy”. The Times headline is “A biblical disaster” and the i has “Trapped between fire and sea”. The Mail continues to lead with the heatwave in the UK, saying “Britain’s in meltdown!” and the Sun combines the two stories with a headline “The world’s on fire!”
The Telegraph has a call from law and security chiefs:: “Jihadists should be prosecuted for treason”. The FT report is on Turkey: “Lira plunges as rates freeze raises fears over Erdogan’s economic role”. The Express calls the sell-off of an airbase a “Betrayal of our RAF heroes” while the Mirror has an interview with a 16-year-old who says: “Please don’t free the monster who left me for dead age 3”.
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