Top story: Amendment passed to keep parliament open

Hello, Warren Murray here with just the sort of thing you need of a Friday morning early.

Conservative rebels are among MPs who have moved to stymie Boris Johnson by voting to block any attempt to suspend parliament and force through a no-deal Brexit.

The chancellor, Philip Hammond, vowed to “fight no deal every inch of the way” as he and three other cabinet ministers abstained and let the vote pass in a defeat for the government.

Johnson has refused to rule out suspending parliament but a series of Commons and Lords amendments now make this markedly more difficult, dictating that ministers must report regularly to the Commons up to and beyond the Brexit deadline.

Pay day is on May – Public sector workers including teachers and police officers are reportedly to be given a £2bn pay rise. The Treasury will unveil the biggest public sector pay rise for six years on Monday before Theresa May’s tenure as prime minister comes to an end, according to the Times. The Treasury is expected to say, though, that barring some extra funding for schools, the money will have to come from existing budgets. During the leadership contest, the frontrunner, Boris Johnson, refused to commit to a pay rise for public sector workers.The rises to be announced next week do not apply to other public sector staff, such as more junior civil servants and nurses, whose pay is dealt with separately, according to the Times.

Stevenage car crash – Fourteen people have been injured, some seriously, after a crash at a street meeting for souped-up cars in Stevenage. Hertfordshire constabulary said the cars were involved in a collision on Monkswood Way at about 9.45pm on Thursday. Reports on social media suggested the two cars collided and at least one of them struck spectators. The East of England ambulance service said it had taken 12 people to three hospitals: Lister hospital in Stevenage, Watford hospital and the Princess Alexandra in Harlow. An air ambulance also attended.

Japan studio attack – Authorities have told how a man walked into the studios of Kyoto Animation and poured petrol everywhere before setting it alight, killing at least 33 people and leaving 36 others injured, some of them critically. The suspect, identified as a 41-year-old male, was reportedly taken to hospital before being arrested by police. He did not work for the studio but reports said the attacker shouted about being “ripped off”.

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

Hideaki Hatta, chief executive of the renowned studio, said it had recently received emails containing death threats. “They were addressed to our office and sales department and told us to die,” he said. “I am heartbroken. It is unbearable that the people who helped carry Japan’s animation industry were hurt and lost their lives in this way.” One of the studio’s best-known franchises is K-On!, a comedy about a band formed by high-school girls. “I have watched animation since I was a student, and this was a terrible event,” says Jun Shin, a 30-year-old fan from Osaka who joined others in visiting the site of the fire to say a prayer. “I wanted to come and mourn.”

Khan woos Generation Rent – Sadiq Khan, the London mayor, will campaign for new powers to impose rent controls as he seeks re-election in 2020. He will launch a City Hall report today showing the average private rent for a one-bedroom home in London is now more than the average for a three-bedroom home in every other region of England. Khan said Scotland allowed councils to limit rent rises to inflation but the rest of England and Wales had very weak protections. The Tory mayoral hopeful Shaun Bailey has said he would set up a “taxpayer-owned housebuilder” controlled by City Hall. He actually wants to cut affordable home targets for developments from 50% to 35%, arguing it would result in more cheaper housing being built overall.

Breast-ironing classed as crime – A form of abuse where a young woman’s chest is seared with hot stones, supposedly to delay breast development, is to be prosecuted in Britain with offenders facing prison time. The Guardian has revealed anecdotal evidence of dozens of British cases of breast-ironing, which is more commonplace in Africa. Activists say it may have happened to more than 1,000 women and girls in the UK. The Crown Prosecution Service says it will issue guidance making it “quite clear [that] breast-ironing is child abuse. We hope this new guidance will give victims, police and prosecutors the confidence they need to bring perpetrators of this cruelty to justice,” said Jaswant Narwal, a chief prosecutor who specialises in so-called “honour” abuse.

Calling at all stations – Tube passengers in London will be able to use their phones as trains pass through tunnels from early 2020. It removes one of the last major public places in Britain without phone reception, but raises etiquette issues with commuters able to make and receive phone calls in what has largely been a chatter-free environment. Mobile phone coverage has become standard in many other subway systems around the world, but until now London commuters have only had wifi available to them in stations. To cope with the world’s oldest subway network, comprised of narrow and bendy tunnels, Transport for London is using “leaky feeders” – cables running through the tunnels that act as giant aerials.

Today in Focus podcast: The Jeffrey Epstein scandal

The high-flying financier is back in court on charges of the sex trafficking of minors. Vicky Ward and Ed Pilkington discuss the case. Plus: Aditya Chakrabortty wonders why the French super-rich who promised to donate to Notre Dame haven’t paid up yet.

Today in Focus The Jeffrey Epstein scandal Sorry your browser does not support audio - but you can download here and listen https://audio.guim.co.uk/2019/07/18-64543-20190719_TIF_EPSTEIN.mp3 00:00:00 00:30:27

Lunchtime read: How to frame Alec Baldwin?

“His career has always seemed so diffuse,” writes Ryan Gilbey. “Who knows what he ever wanted? He has been a theatre actor, a film and TV star, hosted a quiz show and presided over his own chatshows, as well as Alec Baldwin’s Love Ride, in which he dispenses relationship advice to couples from the back of a limousine.” Baldwin’s latest outing, Framing John DeLorean, is playing the late automobile executive and inventor whose gull-winged car was turned into a time machine in Back to the Future – but whose life was destroyed by ambition, stupidity and greed, culminating in a cocaine-smuggling operation that got busted by the FBI.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Alec Baldwin – ‘You English could fold sex into dentistry.’ Photograph: Action Press/Rex/Shutterstock

“DeLorean once said that no man without a strong sex drive ever accomplished anything,” writes our interviewer, “so I ask Baldwin whether he agrees. ‘What a naughty, naughty English question that is,’ he says, with a booming laugh. ‘You could fold the sex into anything, couldn’t you? You could fold the sex into dentistry. Listen, I’m not an authority on that subject, but there are men and women … there’s one thing they want and that’s all they want, whether it’s money or sex or power. And that was John.”

Sport

JB Holmes heads into the second day of the Open holding the lead at Royal Portrush after a day that was among the worst of Rory McIlroy’s career to date. World time-trial champion Rohan Dennis has wished his teammates well for the rest of the Tour de France but offered no insight as to why he quit the race dramatically on stage 12, which was won by Britain’s Simon Yates. Ellyse Perry scored 84 not out and had a century partnership with Rachael Haynes as England toiled for 100 overs against ruthless Australia on the first day of the Women’s Ashes Test at Taunton. England’s 58-47 victory over South Africa means they will now face New Zealand in the semi-finals of the Netball World Cup.

Great Britain is on course to send its biggest team to an overseas Olympics, with the aim of staying in the “upper echelons” of the medal table at Tokyo 2020. The young St-Étienne centre-back William Saliba has decided to join Arsenal despite a late attempt by Tottenham to sign the France under-20 international. And Zimbabwe’s participation in the upcoming World T20 qualifiers is in doubt after the International Cricket Council suspended their membership.

Business

The grounding of Boeing 737 Max jets has cost the company $5.6bn in “potential concessions and other considerations to customers”, with the impact of reduced production also contributing to the losses. Hints from the US Federal Reserve that it could cut rates by 0.5% later this month have given Asian stocks a big boost overnight, Tokyo leading the way with a jump of 2%. The FTSE100 is set to benefit from the prospect of looser monetary policy as well and is seen rising 0.42% at the opening. The pound is at $1.243 and €1.114.

The papers

The Commons vote aimed at preventing the UK leaving the EU with no deal is the main story on many front pages. The Guardian has “Tory rebels send stark warning to Johnson over no-deal Brexit” and the FT says “Tory rebels check Johnson threat to force through no-deal Brexit”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Guardian front page, Friday 19 July 2019.

Others prefer the line that it was effectively a first defeat for PM-elect Boris Johnson. “No-deal mutiny: Johnson’s first defeat,” says the i while the Metro has “First revolt against new PM”. The Telegraph has another way in: “Hammond stirs up trouble for Boris in Brexit parting shot”. The Express conjures up a positive splash for Johnson, with him telling the paper: “Nobody should sell their home for dementia care costs”. The Times has the rebellion tale on the front but leads with “May gives £2bn pay rise to public sector workers”. The Mail goes for “1 in 3 dementia victims forced to sell homes”.

The Sun leads with a story about TV presenter Ant McPartlin back behind the wheel after his driving ban: “Drive carefully, Ant”. The Mirror has a “licence fee shocker” on its front: “Free TV axe to cost £1.6bn.”

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