Cohen blames ‘blind loyalty’ to Trump for prison sentence ... Data shows US gun deaths at highest level in 20 years ... FBI kept files on peaceful climate change protesters

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

Top story: UK prime minister pressing on with Brexit plan

The embattled British prime minister, Theresa May, flew to Brussels on Thursday to continue Brexit talks with the EU after surviving a vote of no confidence from MPs in her own party. May won the poll of Conservative lawmakers by 83 votes, but her leadership was left damaged by the loss of support from more than a third of her MPs. She has signalled she will step down before the next election but, in the meantime, it remains unclear what effect the government infighting will have on her Brexit strategy.

Crisis of confidence. In our Today in Focus podcast, Anushka Asthana hears from MPs and from political correspondent Jessica Elgot about just how damaging a day of public infighting has been for May and her party.

Cohen blames ‘blind loyalty’ to Trump for prison sentence

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Cohen leaves federal court after his sentencing in New York. Photograph: Craig Ruttle/AP

Donald Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen broke down in tears in a New York courtroom on Wednesday, as he was sentenced to three years in prison for what the judge described as a “veritable smorgasbord of fraudulent conduct”. Cohen said it was his “blind loyalty” to the president that had led to his committing the crimes in question, including lying to Congress and facilitating illegal hush payments to two women alleging affairs with Trump.

National Enquirer. In a further legal setback for the president, American Media Inc, the publisher of National Enquirer, has told prosecutors it worked “in concert” with Trump’s presidential campaign to pay a Playboy model $150,000 in hush money, prosecutors announced.

Legal costs. Perhaps the only real winners on the sprawling legal battlefield created by the various Trump-related inquiries are the lawyers. Peter Stone looks at the legal costs so far, and sees which Republican donors have been paying the bills.

Data shows US gun deaths at highest level in 20 years

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Students including survivors of the Parkland shooting stage a ‘die-in’ protest at a Florida supermarket in May. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Almost 40,000 people were killed in shootings in the US in 2017, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, putting gun deaths at the highest rate since 1996. The deadliest mass shooting by an individual in US history occurred last year, when 58 people were killed by a gunman at a music festival in Las Vegas. But the disturbing figures were boosted more by the steady rise in suicides, which accounted for around 60% of total gun deaths.

Global statistics. Just six countries are responsible for more than half of all gun deaths worldwide: Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala, and the US.

FBI kept files on peaceful climate change protesters

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Thom Krystofiak, left, Inga Frick and Jonas Magram, climate change campaigners from Fairfield, Iowa. Photograph: Courtesy Thom Krystofiak

Three sixtysomething environmental activists from Iowa were included in a federal surveillance report after taking part in a peaceful protest at a BP oil refinery in 2016. According to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the report was part of an FBI effort to assess the danger posed by the climate campaign group, 350.org. “Trying to deal with the greatest crisis humans have stumbled into shouldn’t require being subjected to government surveillance,” said the group’s founder, Bill McKibben.

UN climate talks. The EU has joined developing nations in pledging to toughen their emissions targets at UN climate talks in Poland, but four fossil fuel powers have resisted the consensus: Russia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the US.

Crib sheet

At least nine people are dead and dozens injured after a major high-speed train crash at a railway station in the Turkish capital, Ankara.

French and German police are still hunting 29-year-old Chérif Chekatt, the man alleged to have killed three people and injured 13 others in an attack at Strasbourg ’s Christmas market.

A cohort of journalists working as fact-checkers to combat fake news on Facebook are pushing to end their partnership with the company, saying it has largely ignored their concerns.

Environmentalists are horrified by a US supreme court ruling that could result in the construction of Trump’s border passing straight through the National Butterfly Center in Texas, a sanctuary that is home to 200 species.

Must-reads

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Saifullah Paracha (top), Guantánamo’s oldest inmate, and his son Uzair. Composite: Getty; AP

Were a father and son wrongly ensnared by the war on terror?

Saifullah Paracha and his son Uzair were arrested in 2003, accused of aiding al-Qaida. Despite doubts about their involvement in terrorism, they remain behind bars. Saifullah, the oldest inmate at Guantánamo Bay, will probably die in detention without ever being charged. Saba Imtiaz tells the story of two “forever prisoners”.

Experts rush to solve the illness that’s paralyzing children

Since 2014, some 500 US children have fallen ill with acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), a little-understood syndrome that leads to paralysis. After a record number of cases in 2018, doctors are working to identify its causes before another outbreak, Jessica Glenza reports.

Why did Alabama police shoot a black man in the back?

When EJ Bradford was shot dead by a police officer at a shopping mall on Thanksgiving, his death raised several questions: was he shot from behind? Was he just an innocent bystander? Oliver Laughland and Jamiles Lartey look for answers in Hoover, Alabama.

Statute of Liberty climber continues her protest

Millions watched on live television as Patricia Okoumou scaled the Statue of Liberty on 4 July, in protest at the Trump administration’s treatment of migrants. She tells Joanna Walters why she continues to demonstrate despite her impending trial.

Opinion

From the Arab spring to the gilets jaunes, we live in an age of leaderless uprisings. Carne Ross asks how these movements might go beyond protest to produce lasting political change.

What such movements oppose is usually clear, but what they propose is inevitably less so: that is their nature… Ultimately, to address profound systemic challenges, we shall need new participatory and inclusive decision-making structures to negotiate the difficult choices.

Sport

Manchester United and Manchester City are both through to the knockout stages of the Champions League. Our Sports team looks at who’s hot and who’s not from the competition’s last 16.

The 2018 draft class is the most flawless in NBA history, writes Devin Gordon. But the sheer brilliance of Luka Doncic, the Dallas Mavericks’ teenage Slovenian, is making his peers look mediocre.

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