Top story: Judges hear Trump’s case for travel ban
Hello, this is Warren Murray bringing you today’s Guardian morning briefing.
Donald Trump and his travel ban were both left in a state of suspense overnight as judges reserved their decision on whether or not it is legal to close the borders to people from seven Muslim-majority countries. The appeals court panel adjourned with a promise to deliver a verdict as soon as possible. They did not indicate a date or time.
The US state department’s lawyer told the court Trump had clear constitutional authority for the ban. Washington state and Minnesota previously won a restraining order against it and argued this should remain the status quo to prevent irreparable damage to individuals and families, as well as discrimination on religious grounds.
There has been uproar in the Senate after Republicans exploited procedure to silence Democrat Elizabeth Warren while she read from a letter that Martin Luther King’s widow wrote in the 1980s criticising Senator Jeff Sessions over his civil rights record. Thirty years later the Senate is deciding whether Sessions is suitable to be Donald Trump’s attorney general.
In Britain, frosty exchanges continued over who runs parliament after Commons Speaker John Bercow declared he would not let Trump speak in Westminster Hall. His House of Lords counterpart, Lord Speaker Fowler, indicated he might invite Trump to use a different room at Westminster instead.
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Meanwhile: Obama carefree – Barack Obama has tested his kite-surfing skills against Richard Branson on a post-presidential holiday in the Virgin Islands. We have the video here. After waving goodbye to the White House, Obama appears to have the wind at his back, unburdened by what’s going on in his wake.
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Take it and leave – The final Commons vote on the article 50 trigger is due to take place today. As debate continued on Tuesday, Conservative rebels worried about the shape of a final Brexit deal were denied an amendment that would let MPs send Theresa May back to the EU negotiating table seeking better terms. The Commons will simply have to vote to either accept or reject what is on offer when two years of talks conclude.
Meanwhile, taxes will soar to 30-year highs and public spending will have to be slashed if the government is to tackle its persistent budget deficit, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned. Our own investigation reveals that the universal credit, one of the schemes meant to save Treasury money by simplifying welfare, has left recipients falling into rent arrears, having to resort to food banks and turning to loan sharks to get by.
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Rape shield law – A bill to prevent victims being cross-examined on their past sexual conduct is being put forward by the Wales MP Liz Saville Roberts. There is strong cross-party support in the Commons to extend the existing protections put in place when Jack Straw was home secretary. The changes would also add safeguards for victims who are in school or college, protect complainants’ identities from the accused in some circumstances, and set wider grounds to appeal against lenient sentences.
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Kink in Stonehenge tunnel plan – An important group of tombs near the ancient site could be affected if a 1.8 mile road tunnel goes ahead on its current route, heritage experts have warned.
Historic England, English Heritage and the National Trust have said they support the plan to divert the A303 under the stone circle – which they agree will go some way to restoring Stonehenge’s original setting – but are asking the government to move one mouth of the tunnel, the “western portal”, further away from the Normanton Down Barrows.
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Technical failure – Another of the government’s flagship educational initiatives has suffered a setback as the £9m Greater Manchester University Technical College (GM UTC) prepares to shut its doors at the end of the academic year, becoming the seventh to fold. The Oldham college offered students leaving secondary school at 14 an alternative route into engineering and science. But it failed to attract enough pupils and no one got a grade A*-C result in both GCSE maths and English last summer.
Lunchtime read: Inside the minds of people who never forget
Imagine being able to remember the little details of every day of your life, from the age of eight until the present. Meet Jill Price, the first person ever to be diagnosed with “highly superior autobiographical memory” – a condition she shares with about 60 other people, some of whom find that their extraordinary gift can also be a burden.
Sport
The former England Test cricket captain Alastair Cook has said he felt left “out to dry” by the England and Wales Cricket Board over the Kevin Pietersen affair three years ago. Eddie Jones has been picking the brains of his football counterpart, Gareth Southgate, before he takes his England side to Wales in the Six Nations this weekend. Two members of the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl winning team have said they will refuse Donald Trump’s invitation to the White House. And an Indian player is believed to have blasted his way into cricket history by becoming the first to hit a triple century in a Twenty20 match. Mohit Ahlawat hit 39 sixes and 14 fours.
Business
Markets have been flat all round. Nikkei down 0.2%, Shanghai Composite slightly down. Australia’s S&P the exception, up 0.3%. Any protectionist rhetoric from Donald Trump during his meeting with Japan’s PM Abe over the weekend could have an impact on Monday.
The pound traded at US$1.25 and €1.17 overnight.
The papers
The Times splashes on the Institute of Fiscal Studies’ warning that Britain’s tax burden will rise to its highest level in 30 years to combat the persistent budget deficit. Other papers also highlight this.
The Mail follows the financial theme with news that the Treasury is cutting payouts on premium bonds and interest rates on other government-backed accounts. The Telegraph splashes with the EU facing a new Greek debt crisis after the IMF warned the country’s debts were on an “explosive” path. The Mirror’s headline is “I know who killed Jill Dando” – it features an interview with a retired detective who says a hitman identified the killer to him.
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