Friday’s top story: Tehran denies that US shot down its drone in strait of Hormuz. Plus, the Cats movie trailer is trending for all the wrong reasons

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

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

Iran disputes Trump’s claim it lost a drone

Tehran has denied Donald Trump’s claim that the USS Boxer shot down an Iranian drone in the strait of Hormuz, after the unmanned aircraft flew within 1,000 yards of the warship and ignored calls to stand down. The supposed incident occurred amid continuing tensions in the region, but also on the same day that Iran offered to permanently accept enhanced inspections of its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of US sanctions.

Friendly fire. Iran’s deputy foreign minister tweeted that the country had not lost any drones in the strait of Hormuz, and speculated that the USS Boxer might have “shot down their own [drone] by mistake!”

President tries to distance himself from racist chant at rally

Play Video 1:33 Trump says he 'disagrees' with racist chant against Ilhan Omar – video

Trump has attempted to distance himself from the crowd’s racist chants urging him to “send back” congresswoman Ilhan Omar at his campaign rally in North Carolina this week. Democrats condemned the spectacle as “despicable” and “vile” while Republicans stayed mostly quiet on the matter. Trump said on Thursday he “was not happy” with the chant and claimed falsely that he had shut it down. But, as Sabrina Siddiqui reports, the president has targeted Omar as part of his divisive 2020 strategy.

Fox News. Far from condemning Trump, prominent figures on Fox News praised the ugly scenes. David Smith assesses the symbiotic relationship between the president and his favourite network.

Mocking America. Trump has attacked Omar and her colleagues for hating America, yet he has denigrated and criticised the US more than any presidential candidate in memory, writes Luke O’Neil.

FBI: Trump directly involved in Stormy Daniels payment talks

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Stormy Daniels was paid off to prevent her going public about her affair with Trump. Photograph: Markus Schreiber/AP

Trump was directly involved in discussions leading to an illegal hush-money payment to the porn actor Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election, according to the FBI. Trump and his then press secretary, Hope Hicks, spoke repeatedly to his longterm legal fixer Michael Cohen as Daniels – AKA Stephanie Clifford – threatened to go public about her affair with the future president. Cohen is now serving a three-year prison sentence, in part for campaign finance crimes.

Going public. The FBI assessment emerged in an unsealed court filing. One agent wrote of their belief that “at least some of these communications [between Trump, Hicks and Cohen] concerned the need to prevent Clifford from going public”.

Trump’s businesses. Allegations of corruption still dog the president in office as he refuses to give up his businesses, leaving them open to clientele with significant conflicts of interest, as Pete Stone reports.

At least 33 dead after arson attack on Japanese anime studio

Play Video 1:29 KyoAni fire: arson attack at Kyoto Animation studio – video report

At least 33 people have died in a fire started by an arsonist at the Kyoto Animation studio, in Japan’s worst incident of mass murder for almost two decades. The suspect was injured in the fire and taken to hospital with dozens of other victims before being arrested. Identified only as a 41-year-old man, he is thought to have poured petrol in various areas of the three-storey building before setting it alight, with more than 70 people inside. Witnesses said they heard him shouting accusations of plagiarism.

Public donations. A crowdfunding effort has already raised more than $1m in pledges for the animation company and other victims of the fire.

‘Too painful.’ The Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said the attack had left him speechless. He was joined in expressing his condolences by other world leaders, as well as the Apple chief executive, Tim Cook, and anime fans around the world.

Crib sheet

The Bangladeshi government is preparing to move some of its 1 million Rohingya refugees, who are sheltering from violent persecution in Myanmar, to a remote silt island prone to severe flooding and cyclones.

The Chicago Police Board has fired four police officers for allegedly covering up a white officer’s fatal shooting of the black 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in 2014.

The Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has described the jail conditions of the drug lord Joaquín “ El Chapo ” Guzmán as “inhumane”, after Guzmán was sentenced to life plus 30 years in prison by a US court this week.

Boeing will take an after-tax charge of $4.9bn in the second quarter of 2019, to account for disruptions caused by the grounding of its range of 737 Max passenger jets, after the model was involved in two deadly crashes within six months.

Must-reads

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A still from Cats, featuring the Royal Ballet principal Francesca Hayward (centre) in her first film role. Photograph: Universal Pictures

Is Cats the creepiest film of the year?

The trailer for Tom Hooper’s star-studded big screen adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats set Twitter alight on Thursday evening, but not necessarily for the right reasons. Guy Lodge asks whether the wacky project will win the hearts of the masses, or get lost in the uncanny valley.

The women who helped put a man on the moon

The men of the Apollo missions could not have walked on the moon without the efforts of numerous unsung women, including computer engineers, seamstresses and secretaries. On the eve of the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s giant leap, David Smith recounts some of their remarkable stories.

Alec Baldwin: Trump jokes are ‘medicine to quiet the nausea’

Alec Baldwin has been impersonating Trump on Saturday Night Live since 2016. Now he’s playing another controversial businessman, the car executive John DeLorean, in a new docudrama. DeLorean was a victim of his own ambition, Baldwin tells Ryan Gilbey.

The city rejecting gendered language

In Berkeley, “manholes” are now “maintenance holes”, while fraternities and sororities will henceforth be known as “collegiate Greek system residences”, after the California city’s council committed to gender-neutral language in its municipal code, as Matthew Cantor reports.

Opinion

Extinction Rebellion has been accused of being an anarchist organisation. Robert Rivett, a retired doctor recently arrested while protesting in London, says the group is not violent, destructive nor even anti-government – it simply wants to save the planet.

Occupying Waterloo Bridge in April gave me a glimpse of the sort of community we could all enjoy living in. Full of energy, imagination and creativity.

Sport

JB Holmes is in front at five under par going into the second day of the Open 2019, with Tiger Woods struggling with the Northern Irish weather. But it was the pre-tournament favourite and local hero Rory McIlroy who had perhaps the worst day of his career.

The world time trial champion Rohan Dennis has withdrawn from the Tour de France, with mystery surrounding the Australian’s decision to quit a day before a stage he was fancied to win.

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