Thursday briefing: Ready to make a deal – but DUP deals the cards

Top story: EU leaders ‘ready to strike agreement’

Hello, I’m Warren Murray, and with introductions out of the way, here is the news.

We should find out this morning whether Boris Johnson has secured the Democratic Unionist party’s backing for his newly negotiated Brexit deal, centred on a “customs border in the Irish Sea”. Your first port of call for news in that vein should be our live blog which is already up and running. The DUP has already upped the stakes this morning by saying it could not support the deal in its current form but would continue to “work with the government to try and get a sensible deal”.

EU leaders have said they are ready to approve the agreement today at the leaders’ summit in Brussels if the prime minister succeeds. Plans to publish a full legal text ahead of the summit were put on hold yesterday because of the unionists’ objections. The prime minister is due to travel to Brussels and, if able to secure a deal, he would try to pass it through parliament on Saturday. He would need to rope in DUP support, along with up to 21 Tory rebels whom he ordered expelled from the party, and may have to resort to any Labour MPs who are prepared to give their backing.

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‘I will call you later’ – Donald Trump warned his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan “don’t be a fool” and said history risked branding him a “devil” in an extraordinary letter sent the day Turkey launched its incursion into north-eastern Syria. The bizarre presidential missive opens with “Let’s work out a good deal!” and closes with “I will call you later”. Trump wrote: “You don’t want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I don’t want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy – and I will.”

Two-thirds of House Republicans have joined Democrats to support a House resolution condemning Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from territory where Kurdish fighters defeated Isis. The vote triggered what House speaker Nancy Pelosi described as “a meltdown” by the president when she and other members of Congress met with him in the White House. Democrats walked out in response to his tirade.

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Guardian’s climate pledge – The Guardian Media Group has announced its commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2030. This goal is part of a newly unveiled environmental pledge to continue our longstanding record of powerful environmental reporting. “We have always led the way in environmental reporting,” writes Katharine Viner, the Guardian’s editor-in-chief, “whether it’s covering air pollution or wildlife extinction, threats to the oceans or the human and social costs that rising temperatures bring. We’ve already begun a full audit of emissions, and once we have the results we will work with the new staff sustainability forum to develop a detailed plan to achieve this goal.” GMG also announces it is the first major international news organisation to become a B Corporation – businesses that use their profits and growth for a greater good and have a positive impact for their employees, communities and the environment. Viner continues: “Through our recently acquired B Corp status, which commits us to reducing our environmental impact as well as to high standards of governance and social impact, we will be transparent and accountable.”

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‘Make BBC like Netflix’ – Nicky Morgan, the culture secretary, has said she is “open-minded” about scrapping the BBC television licence fee and replacing it with a Netflix-style subscription. “The licence fee last year raised £3.7bn for the BBC,” she told MPs’ digital, culture, media and sport committee. “They obviously have other sources of income as well. So I would need to understand what, if you were going to change, that would do to their income.” Her comments will boost the hopes of anti-BBC Tories, and scrapping the licence fee was recently raised by the rightwing Institute for Economic Affairs thinktank. Sources in her department later suggested it would not be a priority for Morgan and pointed out the government has committed to maintain the licence fee funding model for the BBC until 2027.

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Banks shamed over Saudi oil float – Environmental groups have warned banks linked to Saudi Aramco’s planned market float that they risk financing the destruction of the planet. Saudi Arabia’s state oil company has reportedly hired major banks including JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and HSBC to help arrange its $2tn (£1.6tn) market debut. Eight green groups including Friends of the Earth say it will be a huge infusion of capital for the fossil fuel industry, to benefit a regime with the “horrendous human rights record of the Saudi regime” including the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018, and Saudi forces’ involvement in airstrikes on civilians in Yemen. A Guardian investigation has revealed Saudi Aramco is the biggest single contributor to the global climate crisis, producing around 4.4% of the world’s carbon dioxide and methane emissions since 1965.

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Ants in a hurry – The Saharan silver ant has been clocked by researchers as the fastest ant in the world, blazing through the speed trap at the scaled-down equivalent of 120mph and able to travel 108 times its body length in a second. Running flat out, with their gallops bringing all six legs off the ground at once, the ants can cover 85.5cm per second in 47 strides, more than 10 times Usain Bolt’s stride rate.

Unlike other desert creatures which shelter from the intense 60C noon heat, for Cataglyphis bombycina it is a prime time to scavenge. They emerge from their nests to feast on carcasses of less fortunate creatures that have succumbed to brutal temperatures. But even with their silvery hairs, which reflect the sun, they can barely survive the heat themselves and need all their speed and navigational skills to find food and return to the nest alive.

Today in Focus podcast: Will parliament accept Brexit deal?

Jennifer Rankin and Polly Toynbee discuss the dilemma facing MPs as the government edges towards a Brexit deal. Plus, Cara Reedy on what it means to be a person with dwarfism.

Lunchtime read: Signal passed at danger

On 5 October 1999, two trains collided at speed in Ladbroke Grove, west London, killing both drivers and 29 passengers. Barrister Greg Treverton-Jones, who survived the crash and worked on the subsequent harrowing inquiry, pieced together what went wrong. A warning: this article contains graphic details.

Sport

Eddie Jones has sprung a huge surprise by dropping George Ford and naming Owen Farrell at fly-half for England’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final against Australia on Saturday. England’s Maro Itoje has slammed this week’s racist abuse in football as appalling and abysmal and warned that rugby union should not consider itself immune from similar problems.

Boxer Patrick Day has died after he sustained head injuries in a fight on Saturday night against fellow American Charles Conwell. Ole Gunnar Solskjær needs more time and respect at Manchester United, writes Rob Smyth, and the choice is simple: potential long-term success under the Norwegian or guaranteed long-term failure under a number of different managers. Professional women’s golf in Europe is set to be afforded a timely boost after talks resumed over the LPGA Tour’s proposed takeover of the Ladies European Tour. Despite a late strike that earned Atlético Madrid a precious away goal, and a draw in the Women’s Champions League, the Manchester City manager, Nick Cushing, remained relaxed. And American golfer Lee Ann Walker was not aware that caddies no longer can stand behind players as they putt unless a player starts the stance over – and she paid a dear price, adding 58 penalty strokes at a Senior LPGA event.

Business

Asian stocks have barely moved after soft US retail sales data raised fears about the health of the world’s largest economy, sucking the steam out of a five-session rally. Indices in South Korea, Australia and New Zealand were all in negative territory, Chinese shares were mostly flat, while Japan’s Nikkei ticked up and US stock futures were barely changed. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was slightly higher with gains largely led by Hong Kong’s Hang Seng. The pound is worth $1.282 and €1.157 at the moment while the FTSE is looking flat.

The papers

We’ve got a full roundup of the front pages here – a summary follows.

A photograph of Boris Johnson walking behind a metal fence, appearing as if he were behind bars, provided a visual metaphor too good for most publications to pass up and it is the lead image on most of the front pages. The Telegraph really pushes the image, its slightly baffling headline is: “Brexit is like the Shawshank Redemption ... but now we can see the light”.

The Express has: “Against all odds, Boris closes in on Brexit deal”, the Times reports: “Brexit deal on knife edge as DUP blocks Johnson”, the Mail says: “In sight of the summit”, the Guardian has: “Johnson in last-minute scramble for DUP backing”, the Mirror goes with: “Brexit on a knife-edge”, the i’s splash is: “Deadlock on Brexit deal ahead of summit”.

In other news – the FT reports: “Hargreaves Lansdown under fire as Woodford collapse traps clients” and the Sun’s splash is: “Ego warriors”, as it accuses celebrities who support Extinction Rebellion, including Benedict Cumberbatch and Steve Coogan, of having “high-carbon lifestyles”.

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