Top story: ‘Anger and shame’ as Oxfam launches review

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

Oxfam is desperately trying to contain a growing crisis over allegations of sexual misconduct by its aid workers as it faces a crunch meeting with ministers today which could see it stripped of government funding. After revelations that staff paid prostitutes in Haiti for sex parties were followed by similar reports about aid workers in Chad, the charity’s chair of trustees, Caroline Thomson, said she was widening a review of its practices and admitted “anger and shame that behaviour like that ... happened in our organisation”. The international development secretary, Penny Mordaunt, will meet the charity today after warning the scandal had put its relationship with the government at risk, along with its £34m state funding. Oxfam’s chief executive, Mark Goldring, said he would emphasise to the minister the charity’s contrition and the changes it had made. “I’m going to repeat, as I have done to the British public, Oxfam’s apologies for those events.” In our comment section, columnist Matthew d’Ancona argues that the Oxfam scandal is no reason to cut off foreign aid.

Canyon crash – Three Britons have been killed in a helicopter crash at the Grand Canyon in the United States. They were among six British passengers on the Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters aircraft when it crashed on Saturday evening on Hualapai Nation land near the Canyon’s west rim. Three of the passengers were rescued along with the pilot and airlifted to hospital in Las Vegas. The identities of the victims are not known. A witness said he heard explosions and saw flames and black smoke spewing from the crash site. The victims were bleeding and badly burned, said Teddy Fujimoto, a photographer who was working near the crash site. “It’s just horrible. It’s unimaginable, the pain,” he added.

Brexit battle – George Soros has upped the ante in his face-off with the pro-Brexit lobby by pledging another £100,000 to campaigners trying to prevent Britain leaving the European Union. The money is set to match a crowdfunding campaign set up in the wake of attacks on Soros, which has already raised more than £50,000 since his support was revealed last week. The billionaire investor attracted some sharp criticism from the Brexit camp when he donated £400,000 to the pro-Europe group Best for Britain. An article in the Daily Telegraph called him a “rich gambler” who meddled in the nation’s affairs. But Soros told the Guardian on Sunday: “I am happy to take the fight to those who have tried to use a smear campaign, not arguments, to prop up their failing case.”

Weinstein sued – New York state is suing the disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein, his brother Bob Weinstein and their film production company for alleged serious violations of civil rights, human rights and state business laws. A 39-page lawsuit laid on Sunday by the state attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, alleges that the Weinsteins created “a years-long gender-based hostile work environment, a pattern of quid pro quo sexual harassment and routine misuse of corporate resources for unlawful ends that extended from in or about 2005 through at least in or about October 2017”. Harvey Weinstein faces sexual misconduct investigations in four separate jurisdictions after the avalanche of sexual misconduct accusations against him by women including actors such as Rose McGowan, Uma Thurman and Salma Hayek. He denies the allegations.

There’s like, not enough likes – Facebook has a teenage problem. That’s the verdict of a tech industry analyst as research confirms that teenagers and young adults are deserting the social network as popularity among the over-55s surges. This year, 2.2 million 12- to 17-year-olds and 4.5 million 18- to 24-year-olds will regularly use Facebook in the UK, 700,000 fewer than in 2017, as they dump the site in favour of competitors such as Instagram and Snapchat, says eMarketer. Increasing engagement by the over-55s, however, means that age group will become the second-biggest demographic of Facebook users this year. It shouldn’t affect Mark Zuckerberg’s bottom line too much: he bought Instagram in 2012 for $1bn.

Winter Olympics



The Games were hit with yet more disruption on day three in Pyeongchang as the women’s super giant slalom was postponed due to high winds. The women’s slopestyle final was also delayed but eventually got under way; the American Jamie Anderson retained her title despite tricky conditions that resulted in a number of spectacular crashes. Canada won gold in the team figure skating, with Olympic Athletes from Russia taking silver and the USA bronze, as expected. Further medals are up for grabs today in the biathlon, freestyle skiing, ski jumping and speed skating . Follow all the day three action with our live blog.

Lunchtime read: Back to the beginning



We can never be accused of shirking the big issues in the morning briefing, and they don’t come any bigger than the origins of humankind. Last week’s revelations that the early Britons were dark-skinned provoked a lot of reaction and debate about our roots. In the latest of a new series looking at the science behind the news, our correspondent Hannah Devlin has gone back to basics and untangled the evolution of our species over millions of years ago to the modern day. Is there a direct line from chimpanzees? What was the significance of the discovery of the Australopithecus afarensis skeleton Lucy in 1974? And did homo sapiens (that’s us remember) breed with the much-maligned Neanderthal as they roamed out of Africa and encountered other ancient cousins such as the Denisovans in Siberia and possibly even a dwarf species known as “the hobbit” (Homo floresiensis)? It makes fascinating reading.

Sport

José Mourinho’s expertise at deflecting criticism hit new heights in the wake of Manchester United’s 1-0 defeat against Newcastle United with some extravagant, if fully warranted, praise of Rafael Benítez and his relegation-threatened squad. At Southampton the boos were loud and the language colourful yet Virgil van Dijk could hardly have looked more comfortable in Liverpool’s 2-0 win over his former club. England’s pursuit of a third consecutive Six Nations title shows no signs of relenting this week with Eddie Jones revealing he has arranged two full-blooded training sessions against Georgia. And Serena Williams played in her first competitive tennis match in over a year as she lined up alongside her sister Venus in a dead rubber doubles match in the Fed Cup.

Business

The world’s biggest hedge fund has warned that stock markets have become complacent and that a “bigger shakeout” is coming after last week’s sell-off. Bob Price, co-chief investment officer at the $160bn US hedge fund Bridgewater, made the comments as Asian stocks headed back into the black overnight. The FTSE100 is expected to open up 100 points, or 1.4% this morning. The pound is buying $1.386 and €1.128.



The papers

The crisis engulfing Oxfam dominates the papers today, with several front pages filled with the fallout.

The Guardian leads on news that the scandal has placed £34m of government funding for the charity in doubt, while the Mail splashes on “The Shaming of Oxfam” and how the charity has admitted to a “moral failure”.

The Daily Telegraph takes a slightly different approach with a story about ministers investigating an aid abuse “cover up” and Priti Patel claiming that the Oxfam scandal is “the tip of the iceberg”.

The Oxfam debacle also made the front of the Times, but the paper chose to lead on a piece about a new register for EU nationals not being ready in time for Brexit.

Elsewhere, the Sun has an exclusive about Soham murderer Ian Huntley, the FT leads on the world’s biggest hedge fund warning of new era of market volatility and the Mirror has a story about how the NHS has spent £30m over the past five years fixing botched plastic surgery carried out overseas.

Not wanting to surprise readers by deviating from a well-worn formula, the Express leads on the weather: “Icy storms to sweep Britain”.

For more news: www.theguardian.com

Sign up

The Guardian morning briefing is delivered to thousands of inboxes bright and early every weekday. If you are not already receiving it by email, you can sign up here.