Top story: Trump makes a friend in Putin, and an enemy of the courts
Hello, this is Graham Russell bringing you today’s Guardian morning briefing.
Donald Trump has sparked outcry after again saying in an interview that he respects Vladimir Putin, even when told the Russian president is “a killer”. Trump tersely tells Fox News: “We’ve got a lot of killers. What, do you think our country’s so innocent?” Florida senator Marco Rubio said in a tweet: “When has a Democratic political activist been poisoned by the GOP or vice versa? We are not the same as Putin.”
Trump also told people to blame judges in the event of a terrorist attack on the US after his executive order suspending travel from seven Muslim-majority countries was itself suspended by the courts.
“Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril,” Trump wrote on Sunday after judges denied the White House’s emergency appeal. His opponents hailed the courts as a barricade against a leader who Bernie Sanders said was moving the US “in a very authoritarian direction”.
Super Bowl electrifies – The New England Patriots have come from 25 points down to win Super Bowl LI in overtime. The historic comeback win against the Atlanta Falcons has cemented the legend of quarterback Tom Brady who led the team to their fifth title. Away from the action we give you Lady Gaga’s half-time show, the wine ad that “humiliated” Australia, all the other ads and the trailers that were released.
An incredible, shrinking NHS – One in six A&E departments face being closed or downgraded in the next four years, according to analysis of NHS proposals.
The plans are part of efforts to plug a £22bn hole in the health service budget by 2021. Hospitals will also be required by law to check whether patients are eligible for free care from April onwards. Overseas patients will be billed in advance for all non-urgent care as part of government efforts to claw back £500m a year.
Bringing Labour into line – Labour MPs have been told to cancel leave and be prepared for a three-line whip as the party begins its push for amendments to the Brexit bill.
The party will ask all its politicians to line up together on Wednesday but Jeremy Corbyn has hinted that frontbenchers who defy the official position will not face the sack, telling BBC Radio 4 he is a “very lenient person”.
Catholic Church in crisis – Seven per cent of Australia’s Catholic priests have been accused of abusing children since 1950, new data from an official inquiry has revealed.
Among the St John of God Brothers, 40% of the brothers are believed to have abused children. Between 1980 and 2015, 4,444 people alleged incidents of child sexual abuse have been recorded, with the average age of victims 10.5 for girls and 11.6 for boys.
Front-row seat to history – The world’s longest commercial flight has landed in New Zealand after a journey lasting 16 hours and 23 minutes. The Boeing 777-200LR on Qatar Airways’ Doha-to-Auckland service touched down five minutes early after flying 14,535km and crossing 10 time zones.
Lunchtime read: Brexit ‘could be a historic disaster’, says Ken Clarke
Last week, he was the only Tory to vote against triggering article 50, and his passionate pro-Europe speech made him an unlikely hero of the remain left. So how bad does he think Brexit could be?
Sport
Super Bowl aside, Great Britain have won their Davis Cup tie against Canada after the teenager Denis Shapovalov was defaulted for hitting a ball into the face of the umpire. Vincent Aboubakar scored a winner for the ages as Cameroon beat Egypt 2-1 to claim the Afcon 2017 title. Leicester City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel has warned his team-mates that if the reigning champions don’t improve they will be relegated, and Eddie Jones has added extra spice to Saturday’s Six Nations match in Cardiff by suggesting England should always beat a country the size of Wales.
Business
Asian markets (Nikkei, S&P, Kospi, Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite) all slightly up in early afternoon trading. This is due to a good day on Wall Street last Friday, better job stats in the US plus the Trump review of financial regulations introduced after the 2008 financial crisis.
The pound traded at US$1.25 and €1.16 overnight.
The papers
The FT leads on an Ipsos-Mori poll of senior executives from more than 100 of the 500 biggest companies in the UK. Fifty-eight per cent thought the initial Brexit vote was having a negative effect on their business.
The Daily Mail splashes on government plans to provide incentives to help elderly residents downsize from their larger homes in order to free space for families. The Times and Express lead on the NHS, with the Times saying hospitals will be legally obliged to charge ineligible foreign patients before treating them in a bid to stop health care tourism. The Mirror reports on the David Beckham leaked email saga, saying “£1m plot to blackmail Beckham”.
To read more visit: www.theguardian.com