Top story: ‘It was a nothing,’ says Donald Jr

Good morning. I’m Martin Farrer and these are the top stories this Wednesday morning.

Donald Trump Jr says he didn’t tell his father about his election-campaign meeting with a Russian lawyer in the hope of finding damaging information about Hillary Clinton because “it was a nothing”. After being forced to release emails that show he was eager to discover what Natalia Veselnitskaya had to offer – “If it’s what you say, I love it,” he told an intermediary – Trump Jr appeared on Fox News overnight to give his side of the story. Under gentle questioning from conservative host Sean Hannity, he said the press had “built this up” and said he wouldn’t have even remembered it “until you started scouring through this stuff”.

Our Washington correspondent David Smith offers a coruscating assessment of Hannity’s interview technique after the host at one point said “I can’t think of any more” questions. How about telling the FBI about a potential attempt to subvert US democracy by a foreign adversary?

Julian Assange has stepped into the controversy by claiming that he advised Trump Jr to publish emails about his Russian contacts with Wikileaks in order to prevent the drip-drip of leaks of the material by his enemies.

A deadly business – Multinational tobacco companies have tried to intimidate at least eight governments in Africa into cutting or diluting the kind of protections that have saved millions of lives in the west, a Guardian investigation reveals. The UK-based company, British American Tobacco, is fighting Kenya and Uganda through the courts to drop regulations and has also written to other governments accusing them of breaching their own laws and international trade agreements, and warning of damage to the economy.

Our story is part of a major investigative series and includes a report by our health editor, Sarah Boseley, from Nairobi on Kenya’s attempts to crack down on smoking. The habit is projected to increase sharply in Africa in the coming decades with disastrous consequences for public health. Smokers are now subject to heavy fines for lighting up in public and many head for vile, fume-filled sheds which serve as designated smoking areas for the city’s addicts.

There’s also a video explainer about how Africa has become the frontline in the industry’s bid for more customers.

Play Video 2:02 Wimbledon 2017: Johanna Konta reaches semi-finals on day eight – video highlights

Konta crazy – We’ve had Henman-hysteria and Murray-mania. But now it looks like a Konta-craze (insert your own adjective) is coming after the eponymous Johanna became the first British woman to reach the women’s semi-finals at Wimbledon since 1978. Her thrilling three-set victory over Romania’s Simone Halep sent the Centre Court crowd into raptures and the Australian-born player now faces Venus Williams tomorrow for a place in the final. Her secret? Apparently it’s baking muffins.

Going green – Amid mounting pressure from environmental groups, Coca-Cola is planning to radically increase the amount of recycled plastic in its bottles, the Guardian understands. The company is set to announce the move today.

However, if you really want to make a difference to the world the thing to do is have one less child. The next best things are selling your car, avoiding long flights and going vegetarian. They are all much more effective than activities such as recycling, using low energy light bulbs or drying washing on a line, according to a new study by researchers at Lund University in Sweden and published in Environmental Research Letters.

Doomed devotion – The wife of jailed and terminally ill Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo has been “physically and mentally destroyed” after her effort to stay close to her husband led to years of persecution by the authorities, a friend has said. Liu Xia, once a poet star of a bohemian Beijing scene, has been under house arrest and cut off from the outside world to prevent her speaking out about her husband who is dying of cancer, but is not allowed to leave the country.

The harsh reality – It’s 20 years since learner driver Maureen Rees “bunnyhopped onto our screens” in Driving School, launching the remorseless rise of reality TV. Our writer Tim Dowling assesses the genre and counts the ways it has “all but ruined telly and, to a large extent, civilisation”, including by removing any meaning from celebrity, turning us into terrible people and “conferring undue influence on the unworthy”.

Lunchtime read: Where dreamers and zealots rush in

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Patrick Mahoney prays for Charlie Gard in London. Photograph: Matthew Chattle/Barcroft Images

The feelings stirred when the lives of our children are in jeopardy are often expressed in barbaric terms, with parents pledging to protect their own to the destruction of all else. In the Charlie Gard case, writes our columnist, Zoe Williams, these emotions overpower cold, institutional logic expounded by doctors and courts. This has allowed “dreamers and zealots” such as Trump and the Vatican to use the infant’s plight to promote the pro-life cause. In the meantime, she says, “nothing will lift the suffering of Charlie’s parents”.

Sport

Andy Murray is on court at Wimbledon at lunchtime today, against the American Sam Query, as he leads the march of five 30-somethings into the last eight in SW19. Eric Dier is open to the prospect of a move to Manchester United and the club are pushing hard to make it happen, despite the Tottenham chairman, Daniel Levy, having categorically ruled it out. Para athlete Abdullah Hayayei has died following a training incident in London before the upcoming World Para Athletics Championships. And the profanities flew when Floyd Mayweather Jr and Conor McGregor met face to face as they kicked off a four-city, three-country international press tour to drum up interest in their August matchup in Las Vegas.



Business

Britain’s economy will lose momentum this year as the impact of Brexit and an uncertain election outcome drag on output, according to ratings agency Moody’s. S&P also said things will go downhill, especially if Theresa May is unable to get a good Brexit deal from the EU.

The pound was battered on Tuesday thanks to Brexit uncertainty and didn’t recover overnight. It’s buying $1.284 and an eight-month low of €1.119.

The papers

Johanna Konta’s picture features on almost every front page this morning, but the papers are less united about the lead story.

Under the headline “Royal Navy mission fails to curb flow of migrants”, the Times reports on a parliamentary inquiry which concludes that a UK-EU operation in the Mediterranean has seen an increase in the number of people dying at sea.

The Guardian’s main story is the investigation into the tobacco industry, while the Telegraph leads with the Trump Jr-Russia saga, as does the FT with the headline “Trump’s son welcomed offer of Russian help to damage Clinton”.

Guardian front page, 12 July. Photograph: Guardian

The Mail says a “hard left” bullying campaign against Tory MPs has been exposed by a cross-party report, while the Express plumps for the story about Boris Johnson telling the EU it can whistle for Brexit divorce payment.

The Sun reveals the “Menace of the exploding Argos tables”, which has seen patios around the country showered with glass after tables bought from the catalogue store “explode like bombs” in the summer heat.

For more news: www.theguardian.com

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