Wednesday’s top story: Trump clashes with Republican senators over tariff threat. Plus, how McDonald’s became the heart of the US’s forgotten towns

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

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

President calls Senate opposition to tariff plan ‘foolish’

Donald Trump is facing rare opposition from Senate Republicans over his plan to impose tariffs on Mexican imports in an attempt to force Mexico to do more to tackle illegal immigration. Trump said the Senate would be foolish to try to thwart the tariffs, which are due to take effect next week, as the World Bank released a report suggesting global investment has plummeted as a result of the president’s trade wars with Mexico and China.

D-day veterans and world leaders arrive in Portsmouth to vast security Read more

Dream bill. The Democrat-controlled House passed a bill on Tuesday that would give about 2 million immigrants the possibility of acquiring citizenship. The law has close to zero chance of enactment.

The Beast. Despite Trump and the Mexican government’s efforts at a crackdown, Central American migrants are still making their way northonboard the freight train, as David Agren reports from southern Mexico.

Trump backtracks on NHS remarks on UK visit

Play Video 2:08 Trump and May hold joint press conference – video highlights

On the final day of his state visit to Britain, Trump joins several other world leaders in Portsmouth to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-day landings. In an interview released on Wednesday morning, he rowed back on his previous remarks that the UK’s National Health Service would be on the table in a post-Brexit trade negotiation.

Climate talks. In a meeting with Prince Charles, during which the heir to the throne pressed him on environmental issues, Trump said he blamed other nations for the climate crisis, insisting the US was “among the cleanest climates”.

Leadership material. During the visit, Trump has met Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove, two of the Conservative ministers vying to replace Theresa May as prime minister. “You have a lot of good people running,” he told ITV’s Piers Morgan.

Doctors: calling abortion bans ‘heartbeat bills’ is misleading

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Anti-abortion advocates at the Planned Parenthood clinic in St Louis, the last abortion provider in Missouri. Photograph: Jeff Roberson/AP

The biggest professional group in the US for doctors who specialise in women’s health has come out against the term “fetal heartbeat bill” to describe abortion bans, saying it is not medically accurate. Bans on abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy, which were recently passed by several US states, are arbitrary, said Dr Ted Anderson, the president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which represents 58,000 physicians across the country.

Clinical understanding. Six-week abortion bans that “use the term ‘heartbeat’ to define the gestational development being targeted do not reflect medical accuracy or clinical understanding”, Anderson said.

Homeless population of Los Angeles rises dramatically

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A homeless encampment in LA’s Skid Row neighbourhood. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters

The homeless population of Los Angeles has gone up by 16% in the past year. An annual report released on Tuesday found more than 36,000 homeless people in the city and almost 59,000 across Los Angeles county. The city, which contains some of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in the US, is also home to the Skid Row district, where thousands live in tents, cars and shelters yards from the skyscrapers of Downtown.

Families and children. The number of homeless families went up by 8% to 8,800, and youth homelessness jumped by 24% to nearly 4,000, more than half of whom are unsheltered.

Crib sheet

Police in the Northern Territory of Australia have announced a review of the state’s parole rules after a man wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet following his recent prison release allegedly killed four people on a shooting rampage in Darwin .

Despite economic growth across Africa, almost half of the continent’s child deaths are a result of hunger , and one in three African children are stunted due to malnutrition, an Ethiopian thinktank has said.

Cardinal George Pell , the former Vatican treasurer who is the most senior Catholic to have been jailed for child sexual abuse, has begun an appeal against his conviction.

A “controlled explosion” on the set of the new James Bond movie at Pinewood Studios in London has injured a crew member and damaged the 007 soundstage.

Must-reads

Seeking respect in ‘back-row America’

For his new book, Dignity, the photographer Chris Arnade captured life in the poor communities of what he describes as “back-row America”. In many such towns, he found, McDonald’s served as the de facto community centre, a space where people “could be themselves on their own terms”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest At McDonald’s, people ‘could be themselves on their own terms’. Photograph: Chris Arnade

Why Eric Garner’s family are still waiting for justice

Eric Garner died as a result of an alleged police chokehold in Staten Island in 2014. Five years later, despite nationwide protests, millions of dollars in compensation and a disciplinary hearing, no one has been held accountable. “There is no justice at all for Eric,” Garner’s mother tells Oliver Laughland.

How a dog became mayor of a California town

The mayor of Idyllwild, California, took office at just 11 weeks old and conducts his duties in the nude. He is, however, a very good boy. Matthew Cantor talks to Mayor Maximus Mighty-Dog Mueller II, a golden retriever more popular than most human politicians.

How to beat the $200bn medicine counterfeiters

Thousands of people in Africa dye each year after treating diseases such as malaria and pneumonia with fake and ineffective medicines. Helen Lock reports on how health workers and campaigners are fighting the fakes, including with the use of blockchain technology.

Opinion

Joe Biden’s simplistic anti-Trump message is not sufficient to earn the Democratic nomination, argues Bhaskar Sunkara. The winning candidate must present a genuine progressive agenda.

Incumbent presidents have an enormous advantage. Four of the last five US presidents won second terms. We can’t assume that just any stuffed suit could take on Trump. And a stuffed suit is essentially what Biden would be.

Sport

Anthony Joshua will have the opportunity to reclaim his heavyweight boxing titles following his shock defeat by Andy Ruiz Jr in New York last weekend. A rematch has been confirmed for November or December, at a venue to be determined.

Roger Federer survived a four-set, all-Swiss scrap with his friend Stan Wawrinka at the French Open on Tuesday to set up a semi-final against his longtime rival and the tournament favourite, Rafael Nadal. It will be their 39th encounter.

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