Top story: Trump inspects damage from ex-hurricane Harvey

Hello – it’s Warren Murray with your morning reading.

Even in flood-hit Texas, the degree of personal adulation was important. “What a crowd, what a turnout,” said Donald Trump, oddly, jarringly, outside a fire station in Annaville, Corpus Christi, where he got up a ladder and boosted Texan morale by unfurling the state flag. The president greeted people in campaign style as he toured areas affected by ex-hurricane Harvey and they responded with mostly cheering and a certain amount of jeering.

Play Video 1:13 ‘What a turnout!’: Donald Trump visits Texas to view flood damage – video

At least 15 people have been confirmed dead as the emergency in Texas continues. A curfew has been imposed in Houston – more than 13,000 people have been rescued in the city and across south-eastern Texas. Harvey is still having an impact – it will spend much of Wednesday dropping rain on Louisiana before moving on to Arkansas, Tennessee and parts of Missouri, which could also experience flooding. You can follow our live coverage here. The president may return to Texas on the weekend and also visit storm-hit Louisiana, according to the White House.

Trump was apparently less pleased with the turnout for his rally in Phoenix, Arizona, last week. George Gigicos, a longtime organiser of his political events, has reportedly been axed because the president thought the crowd was too patchy. Gigicos is said to have been given his marching orders after the president was displeased by empty space in the convention centre where there was an estimated attendance of 10,000.

‘Time to pass the baton’ – Kezia Dugdale has resigned as leader of Scottish Labour in a sudden move announced last night. The decision was presented as having come as a surprise to the Scottish party, but Dugdale has been a past critic of Jeremy Corbyn and voted against him in leadership elections. Corbyn recently completed a Scottish tour where he spoke to packed rallies in the wake of Labour’s seat gains there in the general election. Last night he said Dugdale had been important to rebuilding Scottish Labour and praised her “service to our party and movement”. Scotland editor Severin Carrell says Anas Sarwar, the party’s health spokesman at Holyrood, is an early favourite to succeed Dugdale.

Queensferry Crossing opens – Motorists in Scotland today get their first chance to try out the new, long-awaited bridge over the Firth of Forth.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Queensferry Crossing bridge opens to traffic today. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

But they will need to be quick, as Britain’s newest road bridge – suspended by 23,000 miles of cables, and at 1.6 miles the longest of its type in the world – only stays open until Friday. Then it will be prepared for its official opening by the Queen on Monday, and not open to cars again until next Wednesday. The Queensferry Crossing takes over vehicle traffic from the narrow Forth road bridge – also opened by the Queen, 53 years ago – which will now be dedicated to buses and bicycles.

Britain’s betting addiction – Problem online gamblers are betting through the night and all week, spending an average of £98 each day on their habit. That contrasts with the average, “non-problem gambler” who normally spends about £14 placing a few bets on a Saturday. Industry-funded charity GambleAware has released the analysis, which found young, unemployed male jobseekers are considered most at risk. The Labour MP Carolyn Harris says the results show a “huge proportion” of the industry’s revenue is derived from problem gamblers. Industry regulator the Gambling Commission has warned that more than 2 million people in the UK are either problem gamblers or at risk. The government is planning to limit bets on controversial fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) but is failing to rein in online gambling, say campaigners.

Mystery fog – The “toxic cloud” that afflicted people on the Sussex coast with stinging eyes, coughing and vomiting may have come from a ship in the Channel. Satellite pictures show what looks like a plume of gas issuing from a point on the sea. Pollution monitoring equipment on Sunday afternoon picked up a fourfold spike in ozone levels, or possibly another chemical that triggered sensors. Testing has so far failed to identify the gas that rolled in like a fog and caused the evacuation of Birling Gap beach in East Sussex. “All I can say is that it was something that came in off the sea,” said Timothy Baker, from King’s College London’s environmental research group.

Lunchtime read: Unnatural monopolies

Should Facebook, Google and Amazon be nationalised? Whether you agree with Nick Srnicek’s contention that they are now too big to serve the public good, and the radical solution proposed, his explanation of how these gigantic “platform” companies acquire and maintain their dominance is an essential read.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Facebook has even developed a tool that warns when a start-up is becoming popular and a possible threat.’ Photograph: Alamy

Srnicek, author and expert in digital economics, says that to survive they need to extract ever more of our personal data, expanding into more areas of our lives (Google Home, Amazon Echo …), as well as swallowing up potential competitors – “Facebook has even developed a tool that warns when a start-up is becoming popular and a possible threat.” And artificial intelligence is already being used to exponentially improve these companies’ data collection and targeting of consumers. Hone that to perfection and you “own and control the basic infrastructure of 21st-century society” – a power that should only rest in public hands, he argues.

Sport

Arsenal say their position on Alexis Sánchez is unchanged – the striker is not for sale – after Manchester City finally moved for their longtime target with a straight cash offer of £50m.

The latest shock at the US Open came with the first-round exit of the defending champion, Angelique Kerber, at the precocious hands of the 19-year-old Japanese Naomi Osaka in 65 minutes on day two. West Indian cricket is alive again after the Test at Headingley, where they beat England by five wickets with 28 balls to spare, leaving Joe Root to defend his “positive” decision to declare.

The controversy over Davy Russell’s punch to his mount Kings Dolly before a race at Tramore nearly a fortnight ago has continued with David Muir, the RSPCA’s experienced equine consultant, adding his voice to widespread criticism. And the Olympic 5,000m runner David Torrence has been found dead in a swimming pool in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was 31.



Business

Tim Cook, the chief of executive of Apple, has netted $89m worth of shares under an incentive scheme set up when he took over the running of the company from founder Steve Jobs. Cook received half the award because the shares had reached a certain price, while the other half he got for just staying in the job.

The pound is up ever so slightly to $1.293, and down a similar amount to €1.079.

The papers

The Sun leads with premier league footballer Andy Carroll who has told a court he feared for his life during an attempted robbery by suspects on a motorbike who pulled up next to his car. The Times continues its stories on a young Christian child who had been placed with a Muslim foster family. It says a judge has ordered the child to be reunited with her family.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Guardian front page, 30 August 2017

The Guardian splashes with the story that a grammar school has been accused of dumping “weaker” pupils from its school in order to improve exam results. Still on education, the Telegraph says headteachers have urged exam boards to introduce stricter safeguards after admitting some teachers are “tempted to give their pupils too much help”.

The Mail splash is: “GPs told to slash hospital referrals” and claims that a new plan will mean a panel of doctors would have to approve any referral of a patient to hospital. The Mirror says that Paul Burrell, Princess Diana’s former butler, has doubts over her death and has visited the scene of her crash for the first time.

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