Thursday’s top story: Trump accuses China of ‘breaking deal’ as trade war intensifies. Plus, the border patrol serial killer – and the women who stood up to him

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

US prepares to increase duties on $200bn of Chinese goods

With a day to go before the the US and China enter a full-scale trade war, Donald Trump has accused Beijing of breaking a deal reached in trade talks between the two economic superpowers. As the US trade representative’s office prepared to hike duties on $200bn (£154bn) of Chinese goods from Friday, the president told supporters at a rally in Florida on Wednesday evening: “They broke the deal. They can’t do that, so they’ll be paying.”

Chinese reaction. The commerce ministry said if the US did impose the new tariffs on Friday, it would be forced to take “necessary countermeasures”.

Huawei case. Meng Wanzhou, the Huawei executive detained in Canada in December, has requested a halt to her extradition to the US. She said comments made by Trump prove that “political factors” related to the US-China trade conflict were behind her arrest. Trump has said the charges could be dropped if that would help trade talks with China.

House committee votes to hold Barr in contempt

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Barr is sworn in to testify before the Senate judiciary committee earlier this month. He refused to appear before the Democrat-led House judiciary committee. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/AP

The House judiciary committee has voted to hold the US attorney general, William Barr, in contempt of Congress over his refusal to hand over an unredacted version of the Mueller report. Also on Wednesday, the White House invoked executive privilege to block the committee’s request for the full report and its underlying evidence, leading the panel’s Democratic chairman, Jerrold Nadler, to declare: “We are now in a constitutional crisis.”

What next? The ramifications of the House judiciary committee’s vote remain unclear, and the full House must first approve the contempt resolution against Barr – which it probably will under Democratic control. Similar cases in 2008 and 2012 resulted in lengthy legal battles that outlasted the incumbent administration.

Trump Jr. The Senate intelligence committee has reportedly subpoenaed Donald Trump Jr, a signal the panel is continuing its Russia investigation despite claims by the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, that it was “case closed”.

Bolsonaro denounced by ex-ministers for environmental assault

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Dead trees in a deforested section of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

A group of former Brazilian government ministers has denounced the president, Jair Bolsonaro, for smashing the country’s carefully crafted environmental protections, potentially transforming Brazil into an “exterminator of the future”. Their criticism comes on another day of troubling environmental news. One study has concluded people will use 1.9tn plastic and glass drinks containers in 2019, up from 1.6tn in 2015. Another found that only a third of the world’s great rivers still flow freely, unimpeded by manufactured dams.

Flooding threat. The UK government’s environment agency has warned entire coastal towns may have to be abandoned to prepare for a potential global temperature rise of 4C.

Green party. In Canada, a silver lining: the country’s Green party believes the threat of climate change could at last propel them into serious contention at October’s federal election.

Washington state Republican stokes fears of civil war

Play Video 2:33 Republican lawmaker stokes fear of civil war and amplifies conspiracy theories in podcast - audio

Matt Shea, a Republican state representative from Washington, has amplified far-right conspiracy theories, warned of the “balkanisation” of the US and stoked fears of another American civil war in his appearances on podcasts in recent years. Appearing as a guest on the podcast Prepper Recon in 2018, Shea said: “Essentially we already live in two countries … you have half that want to follow the Lord and righteousness and half that don’t.”

Soros theory. Shea also claimed leftwing groups such as Antifa and Black Lives Matter were working together with funding from the billionaire George Soros, whose name is frequently invoked amid antisemitic tropes in far-right conspiracy theories.

Crib sheet

Americans are more likely to say theirs is the best country in the world than citizens of other nations, a survey of national pride in 23 countries has found.

Venezuela ’s opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, has accused the Maduro regime of “kidnapping” the vice-president of the country’s opposition-run parliament, Edgar Zambrano, who was seized by secret police in Caracas on Wednesday.

Denver has become the first US city to decriminalise psilocybin – the psychoactive substance in “ magic mushrooms ” – after a ballot initiative that mimicked the vote to decriminalise marijuana possession in the city in 2005.

The Australian Reserve Bank admitted it made a $2.3bn typo after printing 46m AUS$50 bills on which the word “responsibility” was misspelled.

Must-reads

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Juan David Ortiz is accused of killing four women in September 2018. Illustration: Franziska Barczyk

A serial killer at the border

In September 2018, a serial killer in the border town of Laredo, Texas, went on a rampage, murdering four sex workers. Richard Cooke tells the story of those killings – and of the group of women who confronted the alleged killer: a border patrol agent.

Amy Klobuchar’s midwest victory route

The Minnesota senator, Amy Klobuchar, is not a leading contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. But if she were to make it through the primary, says Tom McCarthy, her electoral success in a purple state could make her a plausible rival for Trump.

Why we must not let Europe break apart

Seven decades after the second world war, the European project – credited with keeping conflict at bay – is crumbling, writes Timothy Garton Ash. The pattern of disintegration may be familiar from history, he says, but this current version of Europe is still worth saving.

Silicon Valley’s privacy wars

Apple, Google and Facebook have tried to stake a claim to the moral high ground of user privacy, some more plausibly than others. The firms are throwing shade at each other’s inadequate efforts in the process, as Julia Carrie Wong reports.

Opinion

Ever since he pulled the US out of the Iran nuclear deal last year, Trump has done all he can to goad Tehran. The chances of stumbling into a war are rising, writes Michael H Fuchs.

Bolton and Pompeo sometimes act like they are itching for a fight, and US actions over the last year have significantly raised the chances for a miscalculation that spirals into conflict.

Sport

Another English club, another miraculous European comeback. On Wednesday night it was Tottenham’s turn to overcome their first-leg deficit, defeating Ajax 3-2 in Amsterdam to set up a Champions League final against Liverpool.

The US women’s soccer team are paid a quarter of what the men earn, despite being significantly more successful in competition. But Anya Alvarez says equal pay for women’s sport is not the heart of the problem – in fact, equal pay would inevitably follow from the more important goal: equal marketing.

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