Thursday briefing: Rule still cruel, say Trump border policy critics
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Version 0 of 1. Top story: Separation policy axed after huge outcry Hello, Warren Murray here – let’s get you ahead by leaps and bounds. Donald Trump has signed an executive order abandoning his policy of separating immigrant children from their detained parents. But the instruction appears to do nothing to bring about the return of the 2,300 children already taken away. Critics say Trump’s policy remains needlessly cruel as he seeks to effectively replace family separation with indefinite family detention. Protesters are planning actions for later this month, and on Wednesday some activists occupied an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) building in Oregon, forcing it to shut down. In Mexico, some women and children hoping to cross into the US say they are choosing between death at home or brutal treatment in Texas. Overnight, Trump has held a rally in Minnesota where he attempted to deflect criticism by repeating his signature attacks on Hillary Clinton, the Democrats and immigrants. A cause without its rebels – Any “meaningful vote” for parliament now hinges on Theresa May keeping her word after Dominic Grieve failed to back his own amendment to the EU withdrawal bill. Ailing MPs arrived in wheelchairs for the crucial House of Commons vote but in the end Grieve and other Tory rebels backed down and the amendment failed – averting a defeat for the PM. Six rebel Conservatives still voted with Labour to support the amendment but it was defeated by 319 votes to 303. Grieve accepted assurances from May and David Davis, the Brexit secretary, that the role of parliament would be respected. MPs can still have a vote on the final deal – or no deal – but unless it is a vote of confidence the government can ignore it. The next major row looming for May appears to be on setting up a post-Brexit single market for goods. Brussels would likely demand concessions on freedom of movement – a red flag to leavers. Not getting it done – The Trump administration has admitted there are no signs of North Korea dismantling its nuclear arsenal or facilities, while no further meetings to achieve this have been arranged. After the Trump-Kim summit in Singapore last week, the US president promised a meeting would be held this week to “get this stuff done”. Yesterday the secretary of defence, James Mattis, was asked whether he could “put his finger on” any steps North Korea had taken to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme. “No, I’m not aware of that,” he replied. It adds to impressions that the North’s ruler extracted big concessions from Trump, including a halt to US-South Korea war games, while sacrificing little or nothing in return. Housing blocks could collapse – Residents are being cleared from two housing blocks in London that have been deemed at risk of falling down. Haringey borough council says the buildings on the Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham could collapse if there is a gas explosion or a vehicle hits the base. Households will be moved elsewhere either temporarily or permanently, and the buildings will probably be demolished and replaced. “We don’t know where they are going to rehouse us,” said one Broadwater resident. “But at least they are moving us. Who wants what happened in Grenfell to happen to their loved ones?” A nation expects – New Zealand’s media is going gaga after the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, went into hospital to give birth. Winston Peters, her deputy, has taken over as acting PM: “It’s a happy day and on behalf of the coalition government we wish her and Clarke [Gayford] all the very best,” he said. Ardern and Gayford, her partner, drove themselves to hospital at 5.50am local time. It will be the first time in 30 years that a nation’s leader has given birth while in office. Ardern is expected to take six weeks’ maternity leave. Ribbiting news – People with gardens are being urged to create simple ponds or areas of long grass for frogs and toads to help reverse a decline in their numbers. In return for accommodation they will eat your slugs, snails, ants and spiders: “They should be really good gardeners’ friends amongst your vegetables if you allow them to be your pest controllers,” said Daniel Hayhow, RSPB conservation scientist. World Cup Day eight of the tournament is upon us and the build-up to the first kick-off of the day has already begun at our live blog. It’s been another eventful 24 hours in Russia. Perhaps most notably, Gareth Southgate became the first major casualty of England’s campaign after dislocating his right shoulder while running near the team’s base on the Gulf of Finland. “It is better this is me than one of the players,” Southgate said. Meanwhile, Southgate’s assistant, Steve Holland, has revealed the influences and consideration that led to a tactical shift to playing three at the back in Russia. British police are working with the Football Association to investigate a video that has surfaced online apparently showing England fans at the World Cup in Russia performing Nazi salutes. Yesterday’s games saw three 1-0 wins and three familiar goalscorers: Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed his fourth of the tournament as Portugal put Morocco out; Diego Costa scored his third in Spain’s win over Iran; and Luis Suárez marked his 100th international cap by sending Uruguay into the last 16 and ending Saudi Arabia’s involvement. Our podcasters discuss all this and more, including today’s games which see Denmark play Australia, France face Peru, and Argentina meet Croatia. And we’ve got your inbox covered too with the World Cup Fiver email – subscribe to receive it each weekday. Lunchtime read: ‘Knife crime is a public health issue’ In our year-long series Beyond the Blade, the Guardian gained access to previously unavailable data on young people and knife crime from the past 40 years, and counted all the children and teens killed by knives last year. We discovered that roughly half of all teenage knife deaths, on average, take place outside London. The overwhelming majority of those killed by knives in Britain in the last 40 years were not black. And the overwhelming majority of young people caught carrying knives today are not involved with gangs. Yet, writes Gary Younge, tabloid headlines still steer our assumptions about knife crime. “Earlier this year, a handful of fatal stabbings (and shootings) in London launched another one of Britain’s episodic fixations with knife crime and youth violence.” Today, Younge explains the lessons we have learned over the past year and lays out the case for a radical new approach. Sport Another day produced another record as England’s women demolished South Africa by 121 runs to begin their T20 tri-series campaign in rampaging style. The series may be lost but England’s final tour stop in South Africa has particular resonance for Eddie Jones as it was in the shadow of Table Mountain that the Rugby Football Union approached him to become England’s coach at the end of 2015. One Ascot legend handed the baton to another on Wednesday, as Frankie Dettori’s golden run of form came to an abrupt halt and Sir Michael Stoute claimed outright possession of the all-time trainers’ record at the Royal meeting. Manchester City are close to completing the signing of Jorginho after agreeing an initial fee of €49m (£43m) with Napoli for the Italy midfielder. And Bernard Hinault, the five-times winner of the Tour de France, has called on riders in this year’s race to strike in protest at the presence of Chris Froome, who is awaiting the outcome of an adverse analytical finding for the asthma drug salbutamol. Business Our economics editor, Larry Elliott, critiques the left’s failure to come up with radical responses to the 2008 financial crisis but argues that Brexit offers a second chance for progressives to halt the march of neoliberalism. Asian shares continued to recover overnight as US-China trade fears abated. In Australia, one of the countries most exposed to Chinese trade, the benchmark ASX 200 index soared to fresh 10-year highs helped by the falling value of the Australian dollar. The British pound has also suffered at the hands of the US greenback, slumping to $1.317, but that is similarly helping the FTSE 100 which is set to rise a healthy 0.5% this morning. The papers The Guardian leads with the government’s apology over the deaths of more than 450 patients at Gosport War Memorial who were given life-shortening doses of opioid drugs that they did not need. “650 hospital killings covered up” is the Mirror’s version. “Condemned to die – by their hospital” is how the i sums it up. “Why has this woman not faced justice?” asks the Telegraph, referring to Jane Barton, the doctor at the centre of the case. “Twice as deadly as Shipman” says the Sun, while the Express says families want “Justice for hundreds killed by ‘Dr Death’”. The Mail’s demand: “Now put her in the dock”. On the Commons rebellion that fizzled, the Metro says: “May beats off Brexit revolt” while CityAM deserves some praise for “Rebels without a clause” – though strictly speaking, wasn’t it the other way around? “Trump and Putin plan talks during Europe trip” – the Times says this is causing alarm in Nato and Whitehall. The FT’s splash headline is “May’s comments cast doubt on UK’s status as tier one military power” – it reports the PM has rattled the MoD by appearing to question Britain’s role as a global military player. Sign up The Guardian morning briefing is delivered to thousands of inboxes bright and early every weekday. If you are not already receiving it by email, make sure to subscribe. For more news: www.theguardian.com |