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Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.
Democrats condemn Barr’s rollout plan for Mueller report
The American public will at last get their first look at Robert Mueller’s report on Russian election meddling on Thursday, as the attorney general, William Barr, releases a redacted version of the 400-page document at the centre of a two-year national psychodrama. White House lawyers have reportedly been briefed on the report, as they prepare to rebut any of its contents that may contradict Donald Trump’s claim to have been “totally exonerated” by Mueller.
Open Barr? The attorney general will give a press conference at 9.30am, 90 minutes before the report’s release at 11am. That schedule, according to Jerry Nadler, the Democratic chairman of the House judiciary committee, will allow Barr to “put his own spin” on Mueller’s conclusions.
Report highlights. Tom McCarthy pinpoints five things to look out for in Mueller’s report, including evidence that Trump obstructed justice.
Cuba crackdown puts White House at odds with allies
The White House has announced it will enable lawsuits against foreign companies that use properties nationalised by Cuba’s communist government. The US crackdown on the cash-strapped island nation, a reversal of Obama-era rapprochement, was described as “regrettable” by Canada and the EU. Cuba is struggling economically after a drop in aid from Venezuela, but continues to support the embattled Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro.
Weapons test. In an apparent repudiation of Trump’s attempts to make peace with North Korea, meanwhile, Kim Jong-un has overseen the country’s first weapons test since a recent summit in Hanoi ended without an agreement. Pyongyang is apparently calling for the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, to give up his role in the negotiations.
Trump offshore drilling policy ‘a recipe for disaster’
The Trump administration’s attempts to expand offshore oil and gas drilling to almost all US waters, and to repeal safety rules introduced after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, are “a recipe for disaster”, according to Oceana, a conservation group behind a new report. As the ninth anniversary of the Gulf of Mexico spill looms, it said “systemic failures” in oversight are increasing the risk of similar major incidents in future.
Inadequate enforcement. The federal agency that oversees offshore drilling has just 120 inspectors to conduct 20,000 inspections a year. The report also said the fines imposed on drilling firms for rule-breaking were insufficient.
US classed as ‘problematic’ in annual press freedom ranking
The US is now classed as a “problematic” place for journalists to work in the World Press Freedom Index, ranking below countries such as Romania, Chile, and Botswana. The annual report is compiled by Reporters Without Borders, which assessed the US in the context of Trump’s repeated attacks on the media and the recent shooting of five newspaper staff at the Capital Gazette in Maryland.
Facebook factcheck. Facebook’s controversial factchecking programme is partnering with the Daily Caller, a rightwing website founded by Tucker Carlson that is frequently accused of publishing false content.
Crib sheet
A man from New Jersey has been arrested after trying to enter St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York carrying two cans of gasoline, lighter fluid and butane lighters, days after a fire ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
The former army general Prabowo Subianto has claimed victory in the Indonesian presidential election, despite unofficial results from several pollsters suggesting his rival, the incumbent, Joko Widodo, has in fact won re-election comfortably.
The former president of Peru Alan García has died after shooting himself in the head as police attempted to arrest him in connection with a multibillion-dollar corruption scandal.
A British diving expert who helped to rescue a group of schoolboys from a cave in Thailand last year had to be rescued from a flooded tunnel in Tennessee this week, after spending more than 24 hours underground.
Must-reads
The film that will change your mind about satanism
The documentary Hail Satan? focuses on the Satanic Temple, a nontheistic group from Massachusetts. Despite Fox News outrage, the Temple’s adherents don’t actually believe in Satan, but seek to remind the public that the US is supposedly a secular nation. It’s an unexpected dose of calm rationalism, writes Benjamin Lee.
Shades of black: readers respond to our colorism series
Last week Guardian US ran a series of articles on colorism, the discrimination experienced by darker-skinned black American women. We asked readers to respond and heard from many with personal stories of colorism in the US, the UK and beyond.
What sex therapists hear from the couch
In the past, sex counsellors focused on physical issues, such as erectile dysfunction. But, as Elle Hunt learns, today’s wealth of information on sex has only made their jobs more complicated: “There are all sorts of small doubts creeping into people’s minds about what it is to be sexual.”
Talking about climate change in Mississippi
For the latest column in her Climate Changed series, Megan Mayhew Bergman travelled to conservative Natchez, Mississippi, where she was told climate change is not a “polite” topic of conversation. Yet the growing threat of flooding means residents may soon be unable to avoid the subject.
Opinion
Trump’s newly confirmed interior secretary, David Bernhardt, is a former oil and gas lobbyist who intends to hand over as much of the US’s public lands as he can to corporations, says Kate Aronoff. But proposals from the Democratic presidential contender Elizabeth Warren would ensure public lands remain public.
Protecting public lands has never been the wholesale mission of the Department of the Interior, whose Bureau of Land Management was created to help mining, lumber and ranching companies gain access to them; other bodies within it are more explicitly focused on environmental protection.
Sport
Tottenham Hotspur have reached the Champions League semi-finals at Manchester City’s expense after a thrilling, mind-bending game at the Etihad stadium on Wednesday, with five goals scored in under 20 minutes and two crucial VAR (video assistant referee) decisions, bringing the final score to 4-3 in City’s favour – but 4-4 on aggregate, meaning Spurs went through on the basis of away goals. Meanwhile Liverpool sailed past Porto to secure their semi-final spot against Barcelona.
The NFL has announced the schedule for its 100th season, kicking off with the classic match-up of Green Bay at Chicago and featuring five games abroad, including four in London.
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