Monday’s top story: Trump and allies declare the president vindicated by special counsel. Plus, the professor teaching the unqualified rich kids who ‘bribed their way to college’

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

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

Russia investigation ‘an illegal takedown that failed’, says Trump

Donald Trump and his family led a chorus of Republican gloating on Sunday after the US attorney general, William Barr, said the special counsel had found no collusion between his election campaign and Russia. House Democrats said they would subpoena Barr, and were quick to point out that Trump’s claim of “complete and total exoneration” was inaccurate. Though Barr’s summary said Robert Mueller’s report does not conclude the president is guilty of obstructing justice, it “also does not exonerate him”.

What next? The conclusion of the Mueller investigation comes as a disappointment to those hoping for a Watergate-style end to the Trump administration. But that doesn’t mean Trump is in the clear, says Richard Wolffe.

Russian officials arrive in Venezuela to bolster Maduro

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A man holds a portrait of President Nicolás Maduro during a pro-government demonstration in Caracas on Saturday. Photograph: Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images

A group of Russian military officials has arrived in Venezuela to offer equipment, training and strategy advice to President Nicolás Maduro’s embattled government. An official in Caracas confirmed their arrival after a Russian cargo plane and airliner were spotted at Maiquetía airport outside Caracas this weekend, and said the visit represented the ongoing military cooperation between the two allies.

Arrest threat. Roberto Marrero, the right-hand man to Maduro’s rival Juan Guaidó, was arrested last week accused of running an anti-Maduro “terror cell”, raising fears of a crackdown on the country’s opposition.

Police investigate death of second Parkland student in two weeks

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A memorial outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Photograph: Alicia Vera/The Guardian

Two students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida, have died in the space of two weeks, a month after the first anniversary of the mass shooting at the school in which 17 people were killed. Police said they were still investigating the second death and would not release the name of the boy, who died on Saturday and was believed to have been a survivor of the February 2018 attack. The Miami Herald reported that a police source said his death was an “apparent suicide”.

First death. Sydney Aiello, 19, a survivor of the shooting who was given a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, died last weekend. Her funeral was held on Friday.

Gun reformer. David Hogg, the Parkland pupil who became a leader in the March for Our Lives movement, tweeted on Sunday: “How many more kids have to be taken from us as a result of suicide for the government/school district to do anything? Rip 17+2.”

Prospects for May’s Brexit deal recede amid coup rumours

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Theresa May and her husband Philip leave church on Sunday. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

The UK prime minister, Theresa May, remains in a perilous position this week, apparently planning to make another run at pushing her Brexit deal through a hostile parliament, following an inconclusive summit with Conservative Brexit ultras this weekend and rumours of a cabinet plot to oust her from Downing Street. More than a million people are estimated to have joined an anti-Brexit march in London on Saturday, while five million have signed a petition to revoke Article 50. But the international trade secretary, Liam Fox, insisted the only Brexit options available are May’s deal or no deal.

No confidence. May is unpopular even with her own cabinet, but her victory in a confidence vote in December means she can’t be deposed by the same method for at least 12 months. Peter Walker explains how else she might be ousted.

Crib sheet

Cyclone Idai ’s official death toll has topped 750 in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe combined, with almost 110,000 people now in camps and aid workers fighting to prevent outbreaks of diseases such as cholera or malaria.

Asian stocks have slumped amid fears the US might be heading for a recession, after the US Federal Reserve indicated last week that it would not raise interest rates this year.

The enigmatic, boundary-pushing singer-songwriter Scott Walker , whose work included the pop hit “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore” and an experimental album about Mussolini’s mistress, has died aged 76.

The Sackler Trust, which donates millions to the arts and other causes in the UK, will halt all new philanthropic giving while the Sackler family faces multiple lawsuits over its ownership of Purdue Pharma, whose drug OxyContin helped fuel the opioids crisis.

Must-reads

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A murmur of red-winged blackbirds passes over an irrigation ditch in Blythe, California. Photograph: Trent Davis Bailey/The Guardian

Why is Saudi Arabia buying water from a California desert?

More than half of the crops in the small town of Blythe, in a drought-stricken corner of California, are alfalfa set to be fed to dairy cows – not in the Golden State’s Central Valley, but in Saudi Arabia. Lauren Markham asks why a foreign company is drawing precious resources from a US desert to offset a lack of water halfway around the globe.

Documentary discovers a nation under stress

Stress can be an aggravating factor in multiple health problems. Dr Sanjay Gupta, whose documentary One Nation Under Stress premieres on HBO on Monday, tells Amanda Holpuch that “toxic levels of stress” could explain why US life expectancy is falling.

Why do people write zero-star reviews?

Rotten Tomatoes was recently forced to remove thousands of negative user reviews of Captain Marvel, submitted before the film was even released. Rich Wordsworth asks one committed “review-bomber” why he regularly posts zero-star appraisals.

The illegal mining city Peru wants wiped out

Last month, Peru launched its biggest ever raid on illegal gold mining, as hundreds of army commandos and more than 1,200 police officers swooped on the Amazonian gold-rush town of La Pampa, a hub for organised crime and home to about 25,000 people. Dan Collyns reports.

Opinion

Following the revelation that rich parents have been buying their children places at America’s most prestigious universities, one professor says what happens when these students arrive in his classroom is even worse.

Every unqualified student admitted to an elite university ends up devouring hugely disproportionate amounts of faculty time and resources that rightfully belong to all the students in class.

Sport

Rob Gronkowski, the celebrated tight end who has won three Super Bowls with the New England Patriots, announced his retirement from the NFL in an Instagram post on Sunday.

Zion Williamson’s top-seeded Duke almost suffered an upset at the hands of UCF and their 7ft 6in center Tacko Fall, but finally scraped a 77-76 victory in the headline encounter from Sunday’s NCAA Tournament action.

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