News Daily: I misspoke, says Trump, and tough day for May

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'A slip of the tongue'

There was outrage and incredulity among supporters and critics alike when Donald Trump sat alongside Vladimir Putin and said he didn't believe Russia had interfered in the 2016 US election - even though his own intelligence agencies insist it did. Now the president says he misspoke - he meant to say he saw no reason why it was not Russia that meddled. Confused? See if our Trump-Putin toolkit makes things any clearer.

The president says he meant to utter "a sort of double negative" - a phrase that's raised a few eyebrows. "Say you meant to say, 'Let them NOT eat cake.' That should do it," joked one commentator.

Mr Trump will hope his clarification puts an end to the row, but the damage has already been done, writes the BBC's Anthony Zurcher, because on the biggest stage, he fumbled. Even if it was a slip of the tongue, our correspondent adds, the president's intended utterance would have been a pretty weak way to confront the head of a nation accused of targeting the heart of American democracy.

Tough day for the PM

Theresa May faces not one, not two, but three separate grillings on Wednesday over her Brexit struggles. First at Prime Minister's Questions, then from the Liaison Committee of senior MPs and lastly, from her own backbenchers. The final event, before the 1922 Committee, will be her last chance to heal divisions and rally the troops before Parliament begins its summer recess.

On Tuesday evening there was yet another knife-edge Commons vote in which a rebel Remainer amendment to the Brexit trade bill was defeated by only six votes. Would-be rebels had been warned that voting against the government could bring it down - but 12 still did it anyway.

Separately, Lib Dem MP Jo Swinson - who's currently on maternity leave - has attacked the government over its handling of the vote.

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New breed of teens

Today's teenagers are more sensible, more focused on their education and less likely to drink alcohol or have sex than their predecessors, according to a study. They also value spending time with family more highly than friends. The British Pregnancy Advisory Service says it may explain the sharp fall in teen pregnancies in the UK since 2007. But daily diaries also reveal teenagers are spending an average of almost five hours online every day for non-work or study reasons.

Could a prime minister ever have a Brummie accent?

By Chris Mason, Archive on 4

Accents show a lot about a person's life and background. But do they make a difference to getting on in politics? "I think that in this chamber a Brummie accent is a very rare thing. And I look forward to changing that!" So said Jess Phillips, the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, when she gave her maiden speech in the House of Commons in 2015. Accents are rich in sound but, as Ms Phillips emphasised, they are heavy in baggage that we load on to others and others load on to us.

Read the full article

What the papers say

The papers give their views on the latest Brexit manoeuvrings, with the Daily Mirror labelling the whole thing "a Mogg's Breakfast" - a reference to prominent Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg. It says the prime minister lives "to die another day" but is now "hostage to extremists driven by ideology not practicality". The Sun feels it was "repugnant to watch Westminster's Remainer elite line up to argue" for tying Britain to the EU on Tuesday. Nevertheless, despite "Brexit bickering", says the Daily Mail, "Britain is working". Reporting the latest job figures, it adds: "The dynamism of the economy is in sharp contrast to the paralysis in Westminster." Elsewhere, your earliest memories may be far from reliable, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph. New research suggests nearly 40 per cent of people believe they can recall events from their infancy even though scientists say that's impossible.

Daily digest

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Lookahead

09:45 Judgement expected in Sir Cliff Richard's privacy case against the BBC

Today Twelve Thai boys and their football coach, who were rescued from a flooded cave, are due to be released from hospital

On this day

2003 Dr David Kelly - the scientist at the centre of a row between the government and the BBC about the use of intelligence reports in the run-up to the Iraq War - is found dead

From elsewhere

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Why I lied to everyone in high school about knowing karate (Longreads)