Top story: Maduro staves off Guaidó rebellion

Good morning, I’m Warren Murray, here to get you up to speed quickly.

President Nicolás Maduro has addressed the Venezuelan people for the first time since a rebellion led by Juan Guaidó began on Tuesday morning. There were violent clashes in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, amid the attempted military uprising in support of Guaidó, who has declared Maduro’s presidency illegitimate and anointed himself as interim leader. Dozens of people were reportedly injured, with some receiving gunshot wounds and video footage showing armoured vehicles being driving into crowds of protesters.

Play Video 0:57 National Guard armoured vehicle drives into protesters in Venezuela – video

Speaking at around 9pm local time on Tuesday, Maduro claimed the “coup” had been defeated and that the perpetrators were being “interrogated”. Guaidó, in a video message about half an hour earlier, called on people to “hit the streets” on Wednesday and continue mass demonstrations against the Maduro regime. Guaidó called the uprising a “peaceful rebellion” and denied it was a coup attempt. He said the “final phase” of the collapse of the Maduro regime had begun.

In his address, Maduro was flanked by defence minister Vladimir Padrino López, appearing to contradict earlier claims by US national security chief John Bolton that key figures from the government were about to defect. Maduro denied US claims that he had been preparing to flee to Cuba but was dissuaded by Russian advisers sent by Vladimir Putin to prop him up.

Midweek catch-up

> Jeremy Corbyn has seen off attempts to tie Labour to a second Brexit referendum. The national executive voted only to keep it as a last-ditch option. Downing Street has said it wants significant progress in cross-party talks by the middle of next week.

> Universities are being told to consider the context of school results of prospective students. “A young person from a council estate who gets decent A-levels has often had to work a lot harder than the young person from a better-off neighbourhood who gets a few grades more,” said Sir Michael Barber, chair of the Office for Students.

> Robert Mueller has accused Donald Trump’s attorney general of misrepresenting his Trump-Russia findings. Meanwhile Trump’s state visit looks less stately the closer it gets – he appears unlikely to address parliament, while Jeremy Corbyn and Vince Cable plan to boycott his dinner at Buckingham Palace.

> Universal credit is “Orwellian”, says former judge Sir Stephen Sedley, and makes people worse off whilst purportedly helping them. A charity says recipients are being underpaid because even DwP staff can’t untangle the workings of the system.

> New Zealand’s five major media outlets have agreed to limit their reporting of the trial of the man accused of the Christchurch mosque massacre in order to prevent white supremacist beliefs being spread.

> Spreading gossip can now earn you a £3 fine and litter-picking duty in the Philippine town of Binalonan where the mayor says intrigue and titillation have led to disputes so severe that the council had to step in and sort them out. Or so we hear …

Gain of throne – The era of Reiwa (beautiful harmony) commences in Japan today as Naruhito officially becomes the country’s emperor, replacing his father, Akihito, who abdicated citing old age.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako of Japan. Photograph: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images

Obesity, air pollution and Mr Softee – Leeds has become the first city in the UK to report a drop in childhood obesity after introducing a programme to help parents set boundaries for their children and say no to sweets and junk food. It is called Henry (Health, Exercise, Nutrition for the Really Young). Separately, 40,000 premature deaths would be prevented in the UK alone if obesity could be eradicated within the next decade, a study has found. One step might be banning ice cream vans, as some London councils are doing – although the concerns are more about traffic congestion, illegal trading and air pollution. Picking up on the latter point to complete this segue-fest of a paragraph, a citizen-funded advertising campaign is to target property buyers with billboards about toxic air, using slogans such as “Location, location, lung disease”. There will be a website where homebuyers and tenants can look up levels of toxic air for properties they are considering.

Deep cover – Russia is still keeping shtum about that beluga whale found wearing a suspected military harness. But the US military has more or less openly trained and used dolphins and seals since the Vietnam war.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The beluga whale discovered in Norwegian waters wore a harness marked ‘Equipment St Petersburg’. Photograph: Norway fisheries department/EPA

America’s naval animals – specifically about 70 bottlenose dolphins and 30 California sea lions at a naval base in San Diego, California – are taught to search for objects, find lost equipment and patrol restricted waters. They were used to help clear mines in the Persian Gulf. According to the navy’s website: “Someday it may be possible to complete these missions with underwater drones, but for now technology is no match for the animals.”

Today in Focus podcast: Exam ‘cheating’ immigration scandal

Amelia Gentleman discusses the immigration scandal that has seen 34,000 international students accused of cheating in English language tests. And: Magid Magid, the 29-year old British-Somali lord mayor of Sheffield, who is about step down to run as a Green MEP in the upcoming European elections.

Lunchtime read: We are all nerds now

Fans have followed – and pored over – the incredibly long, detailed and complicated narratives of the Marvel Universe and the Westeros saga for a decade. Will we ever scale such heights of geekdom again?

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Fan dressed as Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy at a screening of Avengers: Endgame in Los Angeles. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters

Sport

Mauricio Pochettino defended his medical staff after Tottenham’s 1-0 Champions League semi-final defeat to Ajax, for whom Donny van de Beek scored, was overshadowed by a sickening head injury to Jan Vertonghen. Caster Semenya will today find out whether she has won her discrimination case against athletics’ governing body, the IAAF – a case described by the court of arbitration for sport as “one of the most pivotal” it has ever heard.

England have privately maintained that the decision to remove Alex Hales from their World Cup squad was endorsed by Eoin Morgan, Trevor Bayliss and a core of senior players. Warren Gatland has told his long-time lieutenant Shaun Edwards to make up his mind about whom he will be working for after the World Cup before the issue becomes a distraction. And a ruthless Judd Trump produced three centuries in five frames as he took command of his world championship quarter-final against Stephen Maguire in Sheffield.

Business

Fears about the migration of advertising revenue to Facebook and Amazon were behind the 8% fall in the shares of Google’s parent company Alphabet. It was the biggest drop in the mighty tech firm since 2012. It doesn’t seem to have affected prospects for the FTSE100, however, which is tracking to rise 0.5% at the opening. The pound is at $1.304 and €1.163. Many Asian markets are closed today while the denizens of Europe’s main bourses are also set to have the day off to celebrate international workers’ day.

The papers

The uprising in Venezuela and wrangling over Brexit dominate the papers today. The Times leads with with the attempted coup: “Venezuela protesters run down by military”. The Guardian front page also carries a story about clashes in Venezuela but the paper splashes on UK news: “Anger as Corbyn faces down calls for Labour to back new Brexit vote”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Guardian front page, Wednesday 1 May 2019.

The Telegraph is focused on Brexit: “May on verge of caving in to Labour”. Scenes of protest in Venezuela feature on the Financial Times’ front but it leads with “Trump drops cyber theft demand in bid for swift China trade deal”.

Elsewhere, the Mail has one of those headlines that doesn’t really make sense unless you read the story below: “Wife of ex-Putin crony’s £135,000 dinner with PM”. The Mirror has an interview with Springwatch presenter Chris Packham who claims he has been receiving death threats over his campaign to stop “pest” birds being shot. The Express ponders the eternal question: “Is this the end of free cashpoint machines?” The Sun is upset over Marks & Spencer’s move to make all Percy Pig sweets sold in their stores vegan. Lamenting the change, the paper crowbars in the pun “Percy killing”.

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