News Daily: New Brexit plan and Trump call
Your morning briefing for 1 October 2019. …
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Brexit: Government to reveal new plan for EU negotiations
With 30 days to go until the UK is due to leave the EU, the BBC has learned that the government has prepared the legal text of an updated Brexit deal to put to Brussels. It includes an idea for dealing with the backstop – the plan to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic – which Boris Johnson and his ministers reject.
The government has suggested creating “customs clearance zones” in Northern Ireland and Ireland. But, with a crucial EU summit due to take place on 17 October, is this likely to work? The European Commission says it’s willing to look at new proposals. But, it adds, these must achieve the same aims as the backstop and be legally enforceable.
Meanwhile, the Conservative Party conference is continuing in Manchester. The justice secretary will later outline changes aimed at ensuring serious offenders serve at least two-thirds of their sentence.
But, BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg writes, it is on delivering Brexit that Mr Johnson will be judged.
We also ask whether a no-deal Brexit is still possible. And what could happen during the next month?
Trump asked Australian PM to help investigate Russia inquiry
Donald Trump is already facing impeachment proceedings over a telephone call with the president of Ukraine. And there’s more bad news for the US president from Australia. Officials there say he called Prime Minister Scott Morrison and asked for help with an investigation into the origins of the Mueller inquiry, which looked at whether Mr Trump had colluded with Russia in the 2016 presidential election. Media in Australia and the US say Mr Trump asked Mr Morrison for help discrediting the inquiry, which exonerated him of collusion.
It’s complicated, so here’s all you need to know about the Trump-Russia saga. The allegations around the Ukraine call are also far from simple, so here’s our explainer.
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Red and processed meats: How bad for us are they?
The World Health Organization caused quite a stir four years ago when it said processed meats, such as sausages, bacon and ham, cause cancer. It added red meat was “probably carcinogenic”, although the evidence was limited. New research, however, suggests cutting down on these foods is a waste of time for most people. It argues the evidence is weak and the risk to health small. This goes against the advice from most organisations. Here’s the full story.
How China became the world’s ‘economic miracle’
By Virginia Harrison & Daniele Palumbo
“When the Communist Party came into control of China it was very, very poor,” says DBS chief China economist Chris Leung. “There were no trading partners, no diplomatic relationships, they were relying on self-sufficiency.”
Over the past 40 years, China has introduced a series of landmark market reforms to open up trade routes and investment flows, ultimately pulling hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.
What the papers say
There’s plenty of discussion of the UK government’s revised Brexit plan. The Financial Times says the prime minister will know by the weekend whether Brussels is willing to engage with it. The Times, meanwhile, reports Boris Johnson will ask the EU to rule out any further Brexit deadline extension as part of a deal. Elsewhere, the i leads on opposition party talks on Monday, which it says included discussing a possible government of national unity. Plus, the Daily Mail says Conservative plans on jail terms spell “the end of the soft prison sentence”.
Daily digest
Alberto Salazar Mo Farah’s former coach banned from athletics for four years after doping violations
Jessye Norman Grammy-winning opera soprano dies aged 74
‘Right to repair’ EU brings in new rules for household appliances
Hanna Yusuf Tributes paid after BBC News journalist dies aged 27
If you see one thing today
My struggles as an intersex footballer
If you listen to one thing today
If you read one thing today
Who’s who in the Trump whistleblower story?
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Lookahead
10:00 Team GB announces the first athletes – a group of sailors – selected for next summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.
11:30 Treasury questions take place in the House of Commons.
On this day
1985 Police in riot gear close off parts of Toxteth, Liverpool, and Peckham, south London, in an effort to contain continued outbreaks of violence and vandalism.
From elsewhere
A terrible crime, a patient waiting for a transplant (Washington Post)
Tree-poaching is on the rise (The Atlantic)
How you can beat pain (Daily Mail)
As great white sharks disappear, Cape Town searches for answers (Sydney Morning Herald)
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