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Donald and Melania Trump after disembarking from Air Force One at Stansted
Donald and Melania Trump after disembarking from Air Force One at Stansted. Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA
Donald and Melania Trump after disembarking from Air Force One at Stansted. Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA

US briefing: Trump in Britain, Jared Kushner, and violence in Sudan

This article is more than 4 years old

Monday’s top story: Protests expected as US president arrives in London for three-day state visit. Plus, Warriors level NBA finals in Game 2

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Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.

Trump calls London mayor a ‘stone cold loser’

Donald Trump described Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, as “nasty” and the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, as a “stone cold loser” – and that was before he landed in London. The president arrived in the UK on Monday for a state visit, with tens of thousands expected to turn out in protest and widespread alarm over his administration’s trade demands.

The US ambassador to London, Woody Johnson, said on Sunday that in any post-Brexit trade deal between the two nations, access to the UK’s National Health Service would be “on the table”.

  • Climate confrontation. The outgoing British prime minister, Theresa May, has been urged by climate experts to confront Trump on his “undermining” of efforts to reduce emissions.

Kushner expresses doubt that Palestinians can self-govern

Jared Kushner meets the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in 2017. Photograph: Handout/Reuters

In a rare television interview, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, has expressed doubt over whether the Palestinians are “capable of governing”, as he prepares to unveil the Middle East peace plan he has been drafting for the past two years. Speaking to Axios on HBO, Kushner avoided confirming whether his plan included a two-state solution and said it was a “high bar” for Palestinians to expect complete freedom from Israeli interference.

  • No comment. Kushner denied his father-in-law was racist but would not be drawn on his opinions about the “birther” controversy. He also refused to say whether he had spoken to the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, about the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

  • Secretive summit. Kushner joined the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, at the annual Bilberberg Group summit – catnip for conspiracy theorists – which took place in Switzerland at the weekend.

Institute that advised UN and EU is actually lobby group

ILSI’s founder is a former vice-president at Coca-Cola. Photograph: Dan Peled/AAP

An institute that sold itself as a scientific health charity, installing its experts on EU and UN regulatory committees, is in fact an industry lobby group with corporate backers including Coca-Cola and Monsanto. The International Life Sciences Institute claims to pursue “objectivity, clarity and reproducibility” to “benefit the public good”, but researchers who analysed thousands of documents under freedom of information laws uncovered evidence that it had worked to counter public health policies on behalf of business.

  • Sugar sceptic. In a 2015 email sent to Coca-Cola and Monsanto executives, the ISLI founder, Alex Malaspina – a former Coca-Cola vice-president – lamented new US dietary guidelines designed to lower sugar consumption, calling them “a real disaster”.

Sudan security forces open fire on protesters in Khartoum

Sudan security forces disperse protesters with gunfire - video

At least nine people are reported dead and dozens have been injured after security forces in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, used live fire to disperse protesters participating in a sit-in that has gone on for weeks at the defence ministry. Witnesses and Arab television stations reported that the military’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had also targeted hospitals, firing weapons and beating medical staff. The violence caused unrest elsewhere in the city, with protesters using burning tires to block several major roads.

  • Demanding democracy. The demonstrators were demanding democratic reforms following the fall of the dictator Omar al-Bashir in April, since when Sudan has been ruled by a military committee.

Crib sheet

  • Not a single country is on course to achieve gender equality by 2030, according to the first index measuring progress against a set of internationally agreed development targets.

  • Louis Levi Oakes, the last of the Mohawk code talkers so crucial to the allied effort in the second world war, has died aged 94, three years after his contribution was at last recognised with a Silver Star, the US military’s third-highest combat honour.

  • Italy’s first transgender mayor, who was elected in the small northern town of Tromello last week, has said the “arrogant and oppressive” politics of the burgeoning far right will eventually be defeated by a “kindness revolution”.

  • A total of 272 whales were spotted in New York City waters last year, compared with five in 2011, a surge experts say is thanks to a major clean-up of pollution in the Hudson.

Must-reads

Agnes Chow, 22, is a pro-democracy campaigner in Hong Kong. Photograph: Benjamin Haas/The Guardian

What drives young activists?

Across the world, young people are leading campaigns on the crucial issues of the day, from the climate crisis to women’s rights and democracy in Hong Kong. They explain what motivates them to take action, in their own words: “We are full of rage and terror.”

The Jonas brothers on music, marriage and making up

It is six years since the Jonas Brothers announced their split, leaving fans distraught and their family divided. Now the former Disney stars are back with a No 1 single. “We definitely didn’t think we were going to get back together,” they tell Peter Robinson.

Three Venezuelan families: a photo essay

Silvana Trevale, a photographer, left her home in Venezuela in 2011 to escape the growing economic and humanitarian crisis. But she has returned to document how three families from different backgrounds have been deeply affected by the country’s woes.

The US cities struggling to fight hackers

Baltimore recently became the latest in a string of major US cities to experience a ransomware attack, when hackers hobbled the city’s computer systems and demanded a $76,000 bitcoin ransom. Sam Levin reports on an “exponentially increasing problem” that could affect everything from emergency services to the water supply.

Opinion

The wrongful conviction of the Central Park Five was a political awakening for Rashad Robinson. Thanks to Ava DuVernay’s new Netflix series about the case, he says, it can now be a lesson in racial justice for a new generation.

Thirty years ago, for my generation, this story was central to our education about how race and politics worked. It became a symbol of our own trauma, too.

Sport

The Golden State Warriors have levelled the NBA finals at 1-1 after a third-quarter surge against the Raptors in Toronto on Sunday. Klay Thompson led the Warriors, scoring 25 points towards their 109-104 win.

Liverpool are keen to extend and improve Jürgen Klopp’s contract, in the belief the charismatic German’s management can inspire a new golden era at the club following their Champions League triumph. Klopp currently has three years left on the six-year, £7m-per-year contract he signed in 2016.

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