Top story: House aides sought out ex-MI6 agent

Hello, it’s Warren Murray bringing you the news this morning.

Republicans have been accused of trying to meddle in the Trump-Russia investigation following a secretive bid to contact Christopher Steele, the ex-MI6 spy behind an explosive dossier on the president.

Two congressional staff were told to seek out Steele on a visit to London. They were sent by an aide linked to Trump ally Devin Nunes – chairman of the House intelligence committee. Nunes quit the Russia investigation over alleged bias and unethical conduct, but has been accused of continuing to interfere.

Two staff turned up at Steele’s lawyers’ office while the now-private intelligence expert was inside. It is seen as highly unusual that the investigation’s senior congressional leadership apparently did not know about the London visit. The committee’s leading Democrat, Adam Schiff, said he was unaware of it. A Democrat formerly involved with the intelligence committee said it did not “pass the smell test” that two staffers were dispatched without the knowledge of the chairman.

Steele’s dossier – containing allegations of extensive secret collusion between Trump and the Kremlin – was compiled in 2016, initially for use by Trump’s Republican election opponents in the primaries before finding its way to the Democrats. Republican Senator John McCain handed it over to the FBI in December.

Broadband speed check – Britain lags behind most of Europe and ranks only 31st in the world for broadband internet speed. The average speed in the UK is 16.5 megabits per second (Mbps) whereas Ofcom says that in theory, speeds in the order of 36Mbps should be achievable. In Sweden they get 40Mbps. France and Italy are among those doing worse than Britain. Singapore has the world’s fastest broadband; Somalia and Malawi are among those at the bottom of the list. Dan Howdle from Cable.co.uk which produced the report said the UK was “relatively speaking” near the top of the league table of 189 countries. “[But] is it good enough to lag behind 20 other European countries in terms of broadband speed?”

Leasehold breakthrough – A developer is to free homeowners from their ground rent being doubled every 10 years. The announcement follows a Guardian campaign. Countryside Properties says it is buying back the freehold on a number of properties from ground rent company E&J Estates, which in turns says it will not buy any further such houses. Campaigners, though, say much more needs to be done for buyers who have found themselves trapped by doubling clauses that send their ground rent spiralling into many thousands of pounds over the life of a lease, making their homes virtually unsaleable.

Belfast unrest – Nationalists have set fire to a credit union building in the Northern Ireland capital amid rioting over the banning of an annual bonfire tradition. Trouble started on Monday in the city’s Market district after authorities took away materials gathered for bonfires to mark the introduction of internment without trial in 1971. Sinn Féin long ago phased out the bonfires but dissident republicans have revived the 9 August tradition in some areas of Northern Ireland. The old credit union building in the Divis area of the city was torched on Monday evening after police were pelted with petrol bombs and cars were set on fire earlier in the day in the Market district.

Don’t mention the warming – Staff at the US Department of Agriculture have been told to stop using the term “climate change” and instead say “weather extremes”. In a worrying manifestation of the Trump administration’s climate censorship, employees in the USDA unit responsible for land conservation in farming were told in emails obtained by the Guardian that addressing climate change was “not consistent” with the Trump administration’s priorities and they should change their language accordingly. Farming accounts for 15% of US greenhouse gas emissions. Trump has suggested climate change research is an elaborate Chinese hoax. He has also picked a non-scientist and climate sceptic to be the USDA’s chief scientist.

Add another one - You may or may not welcome the news that Britain has one more variety of snake than previously thought. It does not necessarily mean there are more of them – rather, the barred grass snake, Natrix helvetica, is now recognised as Britain’s fourth species, distinct from the eastern grass snake (Natrix natrix), whereas previously they were lumped together. These non-venomous snakes can grow to a metre. They like living near water, and eat frogs, toads and newts. The species is also found in Switzerland, Italy and France, and the western part of Germany.

Lunchtime read: Stuck in Serbia

They hoped for a new life in Germany – but then the borders began closing. Since then, Muhammad Shafi Faqirzada and his wife and children have been stranded in Serbia, unable to gain the foothold in Europe that a million others managed in 2015-16.

Refugees stand behind a fence at the Hungarian border with Serbia in September 2015. Photograph: Armend Nimani/AFP/Getty Images

The Faqirzadas, from Afghanistan, are among 7,600 refugees in Serbia, according to the UNHCR. They stay mostly in state-run accommodation centres. The children, who include more than 900 unaccompanied minors, attend local schools – one teacher described them as her most motivated pupils. Selected refugees are allowed to trickle into Hungary – and the EU proper – at the rate of five a day. But some are wary of the strict conditions over the border. Faqirzada says: “In Serbia the people support each other. They support my family too, I do not forget this.” Read these stories and more as part of our new arrivals project.

Sport

Laura Muir was close to tears after missing out on a world championship 1500m medal by seven hundredths of a second to South Africa’s Caster Semenya, who later attempted to shut down debate over her medical condition of hyperandrogenism.

Joe Root is hopeful his first Test series win as England captain could well be the start of something, while his South African counterpart, Faf du Plessis, delivered a withering assessment of Vernon Philander’s overall fitness after the series concluded inside four days at Old Trafford.

England rugby coach Eddie Jones has discovered the risks of lauding “laidback boy” Manu Tuilagi after the injury-plagued centre’s latest scrape, writes Gerard Meagher.

“Incredibly ambitious” Virgil van Dijk has handed in a transfer request as he looks to force his way out of Southampton. And the former world No5, Sara Errani, has been banned from tennis for two months after testing positive for a cancer treatment drug.

Business

Stock markets in Asia were slightly lower this morning despite yet another record close on Wall Street. The Nikkei was down 0.3%, Hong Kong was flat while Shanghai edged marginally lower amid news that Chinese imports and export growth missed forecasts.

Overnight the pound was buying US$1.30 and €1.10.

The papers

There’s no one theme linking Tuesday’s front pages, with each newspaper opting for a different lead story. In the Telegraph, that’s a claim by a former head of GCHQ that children should spend more time online (perhaps welcome news for parents amid summer holidays).

Guardian front page, 8 August 2017

The Times says Tesco is to stop selling plastic bags, while the Guardian leads with an exclusive on the US department of agriculture dropping the term “climate change”. A switch of chief executive at Paddy Power Betfair is the Financial Times splash. The Daily Mail is concerned about RBS’s stance on online banking scams and the circumstances behind the alleged kidnapping of a British model – a story the Mirror also leads on. The Sun has found more to write about the Diana tapes.

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