Top story: Communities ‘in harm’s way’ in years ahead

Hello, it’s Warren Murray drawing back the curtains this morning.

Entire coastal and riverside communities in the UK might need to move to prepare for flood risk caused by an average global temperature rise of 4C, the Environment Agency has warned. It calls for an average outlay of £1bn a year to build traditional flood and coastal defences and allow for natural flood management. The strategy also makes clear that some areas of the UK cannot be protected and the response may have to include “moving communities out of harm’s way”. The government’s Committee on Climate Change has said that by the 2080s up to 1.5m properties in England alone could be at significant flood risk.

Gary Lineker and Paloma Faith are among parents joining a campaign on climate change to back the school strikes movement. On Sunday, international mother’s day, the Mothers Rise Up group is organising a march in London, protests from Sheffield to Taunton, and across Europe including Spain, Cyprus and the Netherlands.

Separately, two-thirds of the world’s great rivers are no longer free-flowing, say researchers, who fear the environmental harm caused by sedimentation, water over-use and pollution is not being properly weighed against benefits such as irrigation and hydroelectric power. Heavily fragmented rivers include the Danube, Nile and Euphrates, the Paraná and Missouri in the Americas, the Yangtze and Brahmaputra in Asia, and the Darling in Australia.

Unapologetically remain – The Lib Dems will today launch their European elections manifesto stamped “Bollocks to Brexit” as Vince Cable declares his party the torch-carriers for remain. Theresa May has agreed to meet next week with executives of the Tory 1922 committee as she faces demands to set out a timetable for her departure – or risk being evicted from the prime ministership via a party rule change. It buys the PM extra time to negotiate with Labour as she hints at bringing the EU withdrawal bill to parliament before the European elections. But it remains unclear how she might pull together the majority required to get it through.

Maduro’s crackdown continues – Venezuelan secret police have seized the vice-president of the national parliament, which is led by opponents of President Nicolás Maduro. “The dictatorship has kidnapped [Edgar Zambrano],” said Juan Guaidó, who led a failed uprising last week against the Maduro regime. The president’s office described Zambrano as one of the main leaders of the coup. At least 10 National Assembly deputies now face prosecution by Maduro’s administration – two have sought refuge in foreign embassies, though Maduro has not moved against Guaidó himself, possibly for fear of a strong reaction from the US.

‘Superbug’ vanquished – A teenager’s life has been saved using phages: highly specific viruses that can kill bacteria. Isabelle Holdaway, 17, was dying from an antibiotic-resistant infection that spread after a lung transplant. Her mother, Jo, found out about phage therapy online and talked to specialists at Great Ormond Street hospital. They worked with a scientist at the University of Pittsburgh who keeps thousands of phages in frozen storage. Two types that could attack Isabelle’s bacterial strain were picked out, and genetically modified to increase their potency.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Isabelle Holdaway, 17, and her mother, Jo. Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi/The Guardian

After six weeks of treatment, a liver scan revealed Isabelle’s infection had essentially disappeared. She returned to school to study for A-levels, has a part-time job and is learning to drive. “It’s incredible medical science. It’s been a miracle,” said Jo. In the future, scientists hope it may be possible to identify personalised treatments for tough bacteria like staph. “We’re sort of in uncharted territory,” said Professor Graham Hatfull, the Pittsburgh university scientist who supplied the lifesaving phages.

Barr found in contempt – A congressional committee has passed a contempt motion against the Trump-appointed US attorney general, William Barr, for refusing to hand over the unredacted Mueller report. Democrats insist lawmakers must see the report in full, after the Trump-Russia investigator Robert Mueller squarely placed any further action on his findings in the hands of Congress. Donald Trump Jr has been subpoenaed to appear before a committee of the Senate, which is controlled by the Republicans, about the Mueller investigation.

Note to subeditors – We probably should not point fingers but Australia’s mint has made a spelling mistake on 46 million of its new $50 bills. In a book excerpt printed in “micro-text” the word “responsibility” came out as “responsibilty”. The reserve bank says it will be corrected in the next print run.

Today in Focus podcast: Fake heiress who fooled everyone

Anna Sorokin, who went by the name Anna Delvey, spent years pretending she was a German heiress worth $60m. Today she is being sentenced in New York and faces up to 15 years in prison. How was her lie exposed? And: Helen Pidd on the inequality between London and the rest of England.

Lunchtime read: The fight to keep Europe together

Seven decades after the end of the war in Europe, the forces that want to tear it all down are on the rise: from Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National, to Spain’s far-right Vox, Alternative für Deutschland, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, the Law and Justice party of Poland, and Britain’s Ukip and Brexit parties. “Wherever one looks,” writes Timothy Garton Ash, “old and new rifts appear, between northern and southern Europe, catalysed by the eurozone crisis, between west and east, Catalonia and the rest of Spain, between two halves of each European society, and even between France and Germany.

“To be sure, the spectacle of a once-great country reducing itself to a global laughing stock, in a tragic farce called Brexit, has silenced all talk of Hungexit, Polexit or Italexit. But what Orbán and co intend is actually more dangerous. Nigel Farage merely wants to leave the EU; they propose to dismantle it from within. None of this radicalisation and disintegration is inevitable, but to avert it, we have to understand how we got here, and why this Europe, with all its faults, is still worth defending.”

Sport

Mauricio Pochettino said his Tottenham team had achieved a near miracle as he reflected on how his “superheroes” had fought back to beat Ajax and set up a mouthwatering Champions League final against Liverpool. The latest exhibition of football drama, writes Barney Ronay, was as good as it gets. Virgil van Dijk has said Liverpool’s appearance in a second successive final and pursuit of the Premier League title mark the start of a glittering era for Jürgen Klopp’s team. Intermittent rain meant only 19 overs were played in the first ODI between England and Pakistan but that was still enough time for Jofra Archer to make an impact.

Danny Cipriani has been voted player of the year by his peers despite his continued England omission by Eddie Jones. Phil Neville announced his 23-strong squad for the women’s World Cup after drawing on his own experiences to deliver the bad news to those who hadn’t made it. And a University of Georgia sprinter is expected to make a full recovery after he was impaled on a javelin during a practice session.

Business

Financial markets are bracing themselves for a full-blown trade war between the US and China after Donald Trump claimed China “broke the deal and they’ll be paying”. Vice premier Liu He is flying to Washington for crunch talks today aimed at salvaging an agreement but if the two aides fail $100bn of new tariffs will be levied on Chinese imports from midnight US time tonight. Asian stocks were at a six-week low overnight while the FTSE100 is heading for a drop of 0.3% later this morning. The pound has slipped below $1.30 and is at €1.162.

The papers

Baby Archie is the lead story on many front pages, including the Mail: “Aaahh! It’s Archie the Adorable”, the Mirror: “Hello, Archie”, the Express: “Archie meets the Queen” and the Sun, which goes for a pun on the baby’s middle name (Harrison): “Archie Harry’s son”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Guardian front page, Thursday 9 May 2019.

The Telegraph has a large picture of the royal baby but splashes on the story: “Thatcher would have blocked Huawei”. The Guardian also gives a picture slot to Archie but leads with: “Climate crisis ‘may force UK towns to be abandoned’”.

The i has: “5G phones face delay in Britain”, the FT says: “Iran ‘holding the world hostage’ with nuclear threat, claims US” and the Times reports: “School air pollution scandal”.

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