Newspaper headlines: Trump's new EU 'assault' and fairer fares By staff

BBC News Published duration 1 February 2017

As the world learns more about the tactics of the Trump administration, the Financial Times has been talking to the president's top trade adviser, Peter Navarro.

Like his boss, he doesn't shrink from saying what he thinks.

He accuses Germany of exploiting a "grossly under-valued" euro - which makes its exports cheaper - to gain an unfair trading advantage over other EU countries and the United States.

He also confirms that negotiations about a trade deal between the EU and the US are dead.

The FT says that while criticism of German policy during Barack Obama's presidency was "cloaked in diplomatic language", Mr Navarro's comments "highlight an apparent willingness by the Trump administration to antagonise EU leaders".

The Daily Telegraph also leads on Mr Navarro's comments, which it calls "incendiary".

Mr Trump's trade chief had "put the US on a collision course with Germany" , the paper added. It sees the comments as a "new front in the president's assault on the EU".

A bid to end Britain's "rip-off" rail fares will represent the system's "biggest overhaul in more than 30 years", the Times says.

Thousands of expensive long-distance fares will be scrapped from the National Rail database to ensure travellers get a cheaper deal, it says.

A new website will make it easier for passengers, the Metro adds

image copyright National Express

The website is based on an algorithm mathematicians developed to quickly calculate whether there is a cheaper way to do things, the paper says.

According to the Metro, the best deals are on trips over an hour long, as longer journeys offer more opportunities to tweak the route and ticketing.

The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents train operators, says current fares are "baffling" for passengers.

The Times unveils plans for a test that all newly qualified doctors - as well as doctors from abroad - would have to sit before they could practice in Britain.

It's being proposed by the General Medical Council. The GMC's president tells the paper that the existing system, under which 34 British medical schools set their own criteria, is inherently unfair and fails to ensure that all doctors starting to practice meet common standards.

The cost of "health tourism" is the main front page story for both the Daily Mail and the Sun.

Both tell the story of a Nigerian woman who gave birth to quads in a London hospital and whose care will cost the NHS £500,000.

She appears in a BBC documentary, "Hospital", which is on BBC Two tonight.

The Sun says the failure to make health tourists pay for their care is an outrage and that the NHS is seen as "a soft touch" worldwide

There is plenty of advice for MPs preparing to vote on Brexit.

The Daily Express hopes they'll respect the referendum result, while the Daily Mail says up to 100 MPs are ready to vote against triggering Article 50 and, in its words, defy the 16 million people who voted to leave the European Union.

The Daily Telegraph says the speech by Labour's Sir Keir Starmer setting out why Remainers must accept the outcome of the referendum was "soberly compelling".

The paper tips him as a future Labour leader.

Meanwhile, the Guardian fears Britain's relationship with Europe is on course to collapse: it urges wavering MPs to "get real and vote to stop this madness".

The paper also gives prominence to the gloomy predictions of the Resolution Foundation, which says this parliament could be the worst for living standards and inequality since the early 1980s.

The campaigning think tank forecasts that rising inflation and a slowdown in jobs growth will hit poorest households hardest.

The plight of Gerry and Kate McCann - who yesterday lost their libel case against a Portuguese former detective - is the front page story in the Daily Mirror

The McCanns originally sued ex-police chief Goncalo Amaral after he wrote a book claiming they were responsible for their daughter Madeleine's disappearance.

The paper says they now face a bill for legal costs estimated at £500,000.

The Daily Telegraph says the result also raises the "nightmare prospect" that the couple could be sued for damages by the former policeman.

And finally, the Times reports that dozens of families in Cornwall could lose their homes under compulsory purchase orders to protect them from pollution.

Cornwall council is considering - as a last resort - moving people out of areas where air pollution exceeds legal limits.

It says that would be cheaper than a new road bypass costing tens of millions of pounds.

In an editorial , the paper says this is the kind of eccentric idea that ends up on the table in local government when ministers refuse to take action.