Top story: Macron heaps pressure on Brazil’s Bolsonaro
Good morning – I’m Warren Murray with a summary of the news.
France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, has said the fires in the Amazon are an “international crisis” and called for them to be the first item discussed at the G7 summit, which begins tomorrow. “Our house is burning,” Macron wrote. Brazil’s president, the far-right nationalist and conspiracy theorist Jair Bolsonaro, accused Macron of a “colonialist mindset”.
Bolsonaro has angrily played down the fires as a “domestic Brazilian issue” and an annual phenomenon, while trying to blame NGOs without any evidence. Brazil has had more than 72,000 fires this year, an 84% increase on the same period in 2018. The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said he was “deeply concerned” about the effect on the global climate crisis: “We cannot afford more damage to a major source of oxygen and biodiversity.” Bolsonaro’s environment minister, Ricardo Salles, has been booed while addressing a climate event.
Cloud over grand design – Small investors who put millions into the TV property guru Kevin McCloud’s eco-friendly housing ventures have been told they could lose up to 97% of their money. McCloud wooed investors into schemes promising returns of up to 9% a year from his Happiness Architecture Beauty (HAB) homes businesses. But small investors who put £2.4m into one of the bonds are on course to lose between 74% and 97% of it in a worst-case scenario. Investors of another £1.9m in were told to expect dividends of at least 5% by the end of 2016, but say they have received nothing and been “fobbed off”. McCloud told the Guardian: “I will of course do everything in my power to improve the current situation but I cannot discuss anything else at this point because we are, importantly, trying to find a resolution with both the mini-bond investors and the company.”
Four-way pill cuts heart risk – A once-a-day “polypill” containing four drugs including aspirin, cholesterol-fighting statins and heart medications is safe and reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes in people over the age of 50, a study has found. Writing in the Lancet, researchers from the UK, US and Iran report that 3,417 people were given advice on blood pressure and cholesterol, diet, exercise and smoking. A similar number were given the polypill as well. After five years, those taking the pill had a 34% lower rate of heart attack, heart failure or stroke. Scientists in the field have welcomed the “robust” study, though Professor Jeremy Pearson, from the British Heart Foundation, cautioned the benefits of the polypill might appear exaggerated in Iran, compared with higher-income countries where there is better preventative medical care.
Cummings’s Downing St role questioned – Dominic Cummings is not fit to work at No 10, having been found in contempt of parliament, the leading Tory MP and Johnson supporter Damian Collins has suggested. “There should be some sanction for those found in contempt of parliament,” said Collins – whose summons to a Commons committee was ignored by Cummings – “including whether they should be considered fit to hold public office”. As Boris Johnson continues his European sortie, Emmanuel Macron has said the Irish backstop is “indispensable” and called for concrete alternative proposals from the prime minister. “We should all together be able to find something smart within 30 days if there is goodwill on both sides,” Macron said. “We need to try to have a useful month.” Political editor Heather Stewart writes that Johnson’s trip has been a qualified success – allowing him to appear pro-active in seeking to resolve the backstop impasse, while his appearance at the Biarritz G7 summit on Saturday will burnish his image “simply by virtue of the fact that he is prime minister, and in contrast with his often socially awkward predecessor.” (Ouch!)
Spacewatch – India’s Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft has arrived at the Moon and started manoeuvring into a stable orbit. All going well it will deploy a lander called Vikram that is due to touch down at the lunar south pole on 7 September. If successful, it will make India the fourth country to make a controlled landing on the moon’s surface, behind Russia, the US and China. The mission lifted off on 22 July from the Satish Dhawan space centre on Sriharikota island off the coast of Andhra Pradesh.
Runs on sun – The world’s first solar farm to power a railway route directly is due to plug into Network Rail’s Wessex line near Aldershot. About 100 solar panels will initially provide 30kW to run the track’s signalling and lights. It could pave the way for a larger project capable of directly powering trains on the route from next year. Solar panels are already used to power the operations of train stations, including Blackfriars in central London. But the Aldershot project is the first time a solar array will bypass the electricity grid to plug directly into a railway’s “traction” system.
Lunchtime read: Sound systems of Carnival
With customised speakers pumping out earthquaking bass, sound systems are the booming heart of London’s Notting Hill Carnival. This year, 36 systems will operate simultaneously from Kensal Road right down to Westbourne Grove.
A selection of operators talk about 50 years of playing records from reggae to grime. Plus: we’ve mapped out the sounds at this year’s event.
Sport
The third Ashes Test continues today with England on top after Jofra Archer’s six-wicket haul at Headingley left the bowler “over the moon” and Australia wondering what to do with their top order. The sports minister, Nigel Adams, has agreed to ask the English Football League to extend Friday’s 11.59pm deadline for the expulsion of Bury, following a request by the Bury North MP James Frith. The England goalkeeper, Carly Telford, has criticised the efforts of France as Women’s World Cup hosts, describing the tournament as “a balloon that deflated quickly”. Diogo Jota and Raúl Jiménez scored to help Wolves to a 3-2 victory at Torino that was a huge step towards reaching the Europa League group stage.
Brooks Koepka, the four-times major winner, shot a 67 at East Lake to share the lead at the Tour Championship and said he was delighted with the results of a naked photoshoot for a magazine. Eddie Jones has paired Tom Curry and Sam Underhill together for the first time for England’s Rugby World Cup warm-up against Ireland. And fans in rural New Zealand have raised concerns at how they will watch the World Cup in Japan given “terrible” internet reception in the rugby-mad nation, prompting the government to introduce legislation in a last-ditch effort to make the tournament more accessible.
Business
Hong Kong has a GDP bigger than many industrialised countries and is a world-class financial centre boasting a stock market with a total value of more than £2.5tn. No wonder business is showing signs of nerves after 11 weeks of street protests (you can follow a day in the life of a protester here). The consultancy Capital Economics predicts a recession in the next quarter: “Retail sales are particularly badly affected and mainland tourism has fallen,” says Capital’s Julian Evans-Pritchard. “Four per cent of Hong Kong’s GDP is from tourism and 75% of tourists are from the mainland and they’ve stopped going because of the way the protests are portrayed there. We see this continuing deep into [the third quarter] with a technical recession – the first since the global financial crisis.”
On the markets overnight, Asian shares have struggled to make headway amid uncertainty over how much further the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates. Investors are keenly awaiting Fed chair Jerome Powell’s speech at a gathering of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, around 1pm UK time. The pound is worth around $1.222 and €1.104 while the FTSE is headed for a higher open.
The papers
Boris Johnson’s Brexit showdown with Emmanuel Macron is on the front of several of today’s papers, including the Guardian: “Macron tells Johnson Irish backstop is indispensable”. The Telegraph’s headline is “Johnson demands fresh border plan”. The i’s splash is “Johnson encounters French resistance”. The Express carries an obscured picture of the PM, with his arms raised and fists clenched: “Brexit victory salute” it declares, saying Johnson can “rightly feel buoyant after winning over hardline Macron”.
The Sun and the Mirror both carry stories about Prince William’s “budget” holiday. “Wills gives Harry a flying lesson” is the Sun’s headline, noting the prince’s family’s budget flight after his “bruv’s private jet storm”. The Mirror has “Wills & Kate’s £73 hols flight”. The Mail says “Wills and Kate’s £73 flight – and a first class lesson for Harry and Meghan”, but it saves its splash for a health “breakthrough”. Its headline is “Four-in-one pill that slashes heart risk”, reporting a combination of aspirin, statins and blood pressure drugs “could stop thousands dying”.
The Times leads on “Girls close gender gap in science and tech”, as it reports on Thursday’s GCSE results in which the number of girls sitting computing exams “jumped by 14% in one year”. The FT carries a large picture of the burning Amazon, but its main story is “EU plans crackdown on use of facial recognition in public areas”.
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