Top story: Rick Gates agrees to help Mueller investigation

Hello – it’s Warren Murray and despite the snow this service is running on schedule.

A raft of charges against Paul Manafort associate Rick Gates have been dropped after he agreed to help prosecutors in Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation. Nearly two dozen criminal fraud charges against Gates have been withdrawn as part of a plea agreement in which he is being shown leniency in exchange for his full cooperation. It adds to pressure on Manafort – Donald Trump’s former campaign manager – to cooperate with investigators or face Gates testifying against him and a potential long prison sentence.

Meanwhile Trump’s son-in-law and aide Jared Kushner has had his top-security access downgraded – locking him out of sensitive intelligence discussions. Kushner failed to disclose on his security clearance forms dozens of contacts with foreign officials, including a meeting in December 2016 with Sergey Kislyak, then the Russian ambassador to the US, and another with the head of a Russian state-owned bank that had been sanctioned by the US.

And the National Security Agency chief, Mike Rogers, says Donald Trump has given no orders to disrupt Russian meddling in US politics. Rogers told Congress: “Clearly, what we’ve done hasn’t been enough … I need a policy decision that indicates there is specific direction to do that. The president ultimately would make this decision in accordance with a recommendation from the secretary of defence.”

Quick catch-up – It is the middle of the week: time once again to gather developments in some of the bigger stories and deal with them in one hit.

> We are continuing our Beast from the East live coverage as Met Office snow warnings remain in place from south-east England to Scotland. In the Arctic, though, scientists are worried about recent “crazy” spikes of high temperature and debating whether they are natural or caused by humans.

> Theresa May says she will not accept any Brexit deal that threatens the “constitutional integrity” of the UK. Boris Johnson has not helped the government by likening the Irish border to congestion charging zones in London.

> A dossier of 43 stories of harassment, abuse and sexual violence in the Labour party has been forwarded to Jeremy Corbyn. The Labourtoo group is calling for the party to reform how it deals with claims of sexual misconduct.

Plastic no longer fantastic – You know the war on plastic has achieved unstoppable momentum when … PG Tips change their teabags. From next week the pyramid bags will be made from plant-based material, and all types will be biodegradable by the end of 2018. In the Netherlands, the supermarket Ekoplaza will today open what is believed to the world’s first plastic-free aisle. In Amsterdam you can now take a canal tour with a difference: one where you help to fish out plastic that’s been dumped in the city’s famed waterways.

Whiff of politics – People who hate body odours also tend towards rightwing authoritarian views, a Swedish study has found. How much you detest armpit waft might even be a very slight predictor of whether you support Donald Trump, scientists say. (The briefing is prompted by this story to recall that Trump is a self-described “germophobe”.) Researchers think the evolutionary reason could be the avoidance of unfamiliar environments and individuals that might carry disease.

The lonely bones – An international scandal over desecration of second world war shipwrecks off Indonesia has turned into a case of grave robbery. Metal scrappers have admitted they found human bones when they cut up the ships. Rumours among workers suggest remains were thrown into rice sacks and some buried in a local cemetery while others were thrown away. Britain and the Netherlands have called on the Indonesian government to find the bones and put things right.



And finally … The letter “n” has been targeted in an internet censorship blitz in China where authorities are scrambling to silence criticism of President Xi Jinping. The Communist party has been stung by a backlash at home and abroad as it moves to abolish presidential term limits – in effect, setting up Xi to rule for life. Searches for words and phrases including “shameless” and “personality cult” have been restricted, along with “Xi Zedong”. The likening of Xi to Mao Zedong is an obvious target, but why the humble 14th letter of the English alphabet? Beijing correspondent Tom Phillips looks at the theories.

Lunchtime read: How to train your lion

Britain’s “last lion tamer” faces an end to his livelihood, as the government commits to banning wild animals in English circuses. Thomas Chipperfield concedes he needs more than the argument of tradition to justify his work and answer the strident criticisms of animal welfare activists. After all, “dog-fighting is a British tradition” too.

“What I do is a benign tradition,” Chipperfield says. “Watching them work and showing their intelligence and abilities promotes a much greater appreciation of them.” The animals get a more stimulating, enriched environment than they would in a zoo, he claims. But why not work with horses and dogs, rather than wild animals with complex needs? “We’re very capable of meeting those complex needs,” he argues, “and that’s been determined by a number of scientific studies into animal welfare in circuses.” Read Patrick Barkham’s feature and see what you think.

Sport

Crewe Alexandra were advised by the police to sever their ties with Barry Bennell but continued to employ him, the Football Association’s independent inquiry into the sexual-abuse scandal has been told. England’s rugby union team are yet to replace Neil Back at openside, and it is a big problem, argues Nick Evans. Toto Wolff has defended the Mercedes team’s recent dominance in Formula One as fulfilling his commitment to Mercedes and its personnel. Swansea, meanwhile, have put the freeze on Sheffield Wednesday with a clinical second half in the FA Cup, winning 2-0. Finally, the only western construction worker killed in the building of World Cup stadiums in Qatar was working in a “downright dangerous” environment, a British coroner has said.

Business

Asian shares have fallen back in subdued trading after US Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell said that he’s feeling more optimistic about the economy – which markets have taken as meaning more interest rate hikes are on the way.

Sterling was trading at £1.389 and €1.136 a short time ago.



The papers

On the fronts there are a number about the beast and a number about Brexit. And many use the same apocalyptic picture of London being monstered by a mega snow cloud.

The Daily Star goes with “Snowmageddon”, the Express has “Killer freeze to get worse”, the Mirror calls it the “Rage of the beast” and the Metro says simply: “The Beast”. The Guardian has that amazing picture but leads on news of a worrying increase in temperature in the Arctic that has spurred “climate meltdown fears”.

The Telegraph (which has a winter wonderland picture) goes with Boris Johnson raising the prospect of a hard border with Ireland. The Times (Southend seafront snowstorm picture) follows the Ireland theme and says Theresa May will warn Brussels not to use the border issue to break up the UK. The i has the headline: “Tory rebels threat showdown with May” and says as many as 15 Conservatives could back away from their party over a hard Brexit. The Sun oddly ignores the weather and has a bit of a mean headline about Elton John. No need to repeat it here. Lastly the FT leads with the Comcast bid for Sky - which has upset Rupert Murdoch’s plans.

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