Top story: Deadlock and chaos as president marks first year
Good morning – it’s Warren Murray bringing you the stories to start the week.
The shutdown of the US government has continued overnight as Republicans scrambled to win the Democratic votes they need to keep funding federal departments.
The crisis is a result of Donald Trump scrapping protections against deportation for the “Dreamers” – undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US as children. Democrats are demanding Trump soften his stance on the Dreamers’ fate, and have been able to deny Republicans the supermajority needed to push through a bill providing the government’s day-to-day finances.
Overnight, Mitch McConnell, the Republican majority leader in the Senate, offered the Democrats a later vote on immigration reform if they agree to continue funding the government. However, one Democratic source cautioned that no deal had been reached.
A shutdown is triggered when Congress fails to pass appropriate funding for federal operations and agencies. Nearly 40% of the workforce is placed on unpaid leave and told not to work, though “essential” ones such as homeland security, the FBI and military personnel on active duty are able to continue. The situation is a humiliation for the president who has just notched up one chaotic year in office.
Epidemic of vanity steroids – Up to a million British people are using muscle-building anabolics and other image and performance-enhancing drugs (IPEDs), experts have warned. The desire to conform to a “ripped” image is driving men to put their long-term health at risk. Yorkshire-based Joe Kean, who recruited steroid users for the study of IPED use, warned of a burden on the NHS: “Lads are taking steroids, drinking and taking a bit of coke and they go out feeling hard and manly. Steroids, alcohol and cocaine are the holy trinity for heart issues.” The problem is prevalent in Wales where boys as young as 13 are known to use IPEDs.
‘Don’t risk losing to Russians’ – Britain’s defence chief of general staff, Sir Nick Carter, will warn today that the UK is trailing Russia in terms of defence spending and capability. Military chiefs and Conservative MPs claim the funding has dropped to dangerously low levels, and Carter will say in a London speech that one of the biggest threats is cyber-attacks targeting both the military and civilian spheres. “We have seen how cyber-warfare can be both waged on the battlefield and to disrupt normal people’s lives.” The Ministry of Defence is pressing the Treasury for a significant increase in spending on the army, navy and air force.
Wanted: nuclear dump site – Britain is restarting the search for an area willing to be the host of an underground repository where nuclear waste would remain stored for hundreds of thousands of years. The last such effort collapsed in 2013 when Cumbria county council abandoned its bid for the geological disposal facility (GDF). Stable geology and local consent are being treated as essential to the process of finding a site. On the latter point the misgivings are obvious, but the construction of a nuclear power plant in Somerset, and plans to build four others, mean finding a solution is a pressing matter for the government. “I hope to God they get it right this time,” said one source close to the process.
Go home … to nowhere – The Home Office has left a stateless man in limbo by telling him to return to Palestine, where he can not get in because of his lack of papers. It is a “brutal and illogical” situation, said Michael Ferguson, from the charity Passage.
Mohammed Al-Mustafa, 36, left Gaza at age five with his parents after his brother was killed. He has never had any legal status, and claimed asylum in the UK in 2010. The Home Office appears to have tried to have it both ways, questioning his claims of Palestinian origin in order to refuse him protection, but also advising him to move back there – which he has attempted to do twice, unsuccessfully. “Give me country,” he pleaded in an interview with the Guardian. Al-Mustafa’s case is being reviewed by the Home Office.
Valuable Titian flushed out – A Renaissance painting once owned by Charles I and given to his plumber to settle the royal debt is coming to auction. Titian’s two-metre tall work depicts the virgin martyr St Margaret escaping from the mouth of Satan in the shape of a dragon.
After Charles I’s execution in 1649, Oliver Cromwell’s government gave it to John Embry in lieu of £100 worth of plumbing bills. It will be auctioned at Sotheby’s New York on 1 February and carries an estimate of £1.5m-£2m. In London, the Royal Academy of Arts is to open an exhibition on Saturday of works collected by Charles I that are being reunited for the first time in 400 years.
Younger at heart – Your “heart age” is basically your actual age, adjusted for health risk factors such as smoking, drinking and family history of heart problems. Today, read our quick guide offering seven ways to reduce your risk of heart attack or stroke – starting with calculating how “old” you should consider your ticker to be.
Lunchtime read: Flying against fair play
Instructive reading, this one, about how Ryanair dances around the rules for compensating passengers for disruption to their flights. According to Coby Benson, from flight claims specialists Bott and Co, the Irish airline is the greatest offender in dodging legitimate claims.
One plane bound for Berlin was diverted mid-flight to Hanover, and passengers left stranded there at 1am. They were fobbed off when claiming for the train fares needed to reach their actual destination. Others in similar straits have been denied compensation – they say Ryanair falsely claims to have offered them alternative transport. Benson has a backlog of 15,000 claims against Ryanair: “These are not isolated incidents but company policy.”
Sport
Marco Silva, replaced as Watford coach by Javi Gracia, forged a thrilling side at Vicarage Road but the tailspin that hit after his courtship of Everton leaves a sour taste all round, write Simon Burnton and Nick Ames. In rugby union, Saracens have former neighbours Wasps to thank after they scraped through to the Champions Cup quarter-finals but Scarlets are the ones to watch, writes Rob Kitson.
Tom Brady’s New England will contest another Super Bowl after he and Danny Amendola helped stage a late rally against Jacksonville; the Patriots will meet the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL championship match after Nick Foles threw for three touchdowns and made big play after big play in a stunning 38-7 rout of Minnesota. Kyle Edmund’s unsung victory in reaching a quarter-final against Grigor Dimitrov at the Australian Open – the British No 2’s first in a grand slam – has seen him stay true to his quiet nature as passions rage around him. “If I win, great; if I lose, I’m upset. People’s lives go on,” he said after his win over Italy’s Andreas Seppi. And Mark Allen won his first snooker triple crown title when he fought off a spirited performance from Kyren Wilson to triumph 10-7 in the final of the Masters at Alexandra Palace.
Business
Asian stock markets have opened the week mixed, with global investors appearing to shrug off the latest US government shutdown for the moment.
The pound has been trading at $1.386 and €1.133 overnight.
The papers
The Sun leads on the murder of eight-year-old girl Mylee Billingham as does the Mail which has a picture of the youngster on its front – apparently taken an hour before her death. The Mirror goes with the same image and almost the same headline.
The Times leads on a speech by the head of the army, General Sir Nick Carter, who is due to say that the UK would be hard pressed to withstand a Russian attack and more investment in our forces is needed. The Telegraph’s splash is the same with the headline “Army ‘can’t keep up with Russia’”. The FT flags up that Angela Merkel is closer to a fourth term as German chancellor after the agreement on coalition talks. Lastly, the Guardian leads with a crisis warning from health experts that as many as a million people may be taking image and performance enhancing drugs.
For more news: www.theguardian.com
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