Tuesday briefing: EU strikes deal on Covid recovery

Top story: Success in marathon Brussels talks

Good morning – Warren Murray giving you a leg-up this morning.

European Union leaders have just announced a historic agreement on a €750bn pandemic recovery fund and long-term spending plans following days of acrimonious debate at what was the bloc’s longest summit in two decades. As the meeting reached its fifth day, the 27 country heads gave their seal of approval to the EU jointly issuing debt on an unprecedented scale in the face of an economic downturn not seen since the Great Depression. Their summit stretched from Friday morning into the early hours of this morning when the agreement was confirmed.

Face masks should be compulsory by law in GP surgeries to minimise the spread of Covid-19, the British Medical Association has said. “It makes no sense that the government has introduced one measure for shops and public transport, while other indoor spaces, including GP practices, are exempt,” said Dr Richard Vautrey, chair of the BMA’s GPs committee. Almost 900,000 public sector workers will be given an above-inflation pay rise today, the chancellor has announced, praising their work on the frontline during the pandemic. Teachers and doctors will receive 3.1% and 2.8% respectively; police, prison officers and National Crime Agency staff will receive 2.5%; and members of the armed forces will receive 2% as will the judiciary and senior civil servants. More than 300 NHS workers have died just in England after contracting coronavirus, many having caught it while caring for patients. An asylum seeker who became infected with Covid-19 after an outbreak in his accommodation is taking legal action against the government.

Among developments at our live blog: Donald Trump has backed wearing a mask as “patriotic”. Scientists at Oxford University have meanwhile announced their vaccine candidate has safely triggered a strong immune response during human trials. The health secretary, Matt Hancock, said: “Very encouraging news. We have already ordered 100 million doses of this vaccine, should it succeed.” Here is our latest global wrap-up of coronavirus news.

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Trump ready to trample law – Donald Trump has vowed to send federal officers to several American cities led by Democrats in what critics say is an attempt to play the “law and order” card to boost his bid for re-election. The president’s threat came after a federal crackdown on anti-racism protests in Portland, Oregon, that involved unmarked cars and unidentified forces in camouflage. The sinister events in Portland have renewed fears about creeping authoritarianism from Trump’s White House as he struggles against Joe Biden in the polls. The president has sought advice from a pro-torture lawyer on how he might try to rule by decree, ignoring any laws that impede his agenda. John Yoo drew up the legal justification for waterboarding under the George W Bush administration. Trump identified New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Baltimore and Oakland as places in need of federal agents, describing those cities’ mayors as “liberal Democrats … We’re sending law enforcement. We can’t let this happen to the cities.”

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Russia and Brexit – The long-awaited report on Russian influence in UK politics and public life is due to be released this morning, nine months after its publication was blocked by Boris Johnson before the general election. The document results from 18 months’ work by a cross-party committee taking evidence in secret from British intelligence and independent experts. Downing Street has repeatedly sought to downplay the significance of its contents, even though the PM refused to clear it as required by law last October, preventing its publication for months on end. Evidence was submitted by the former MI6 spy Christopher Steele accusing senior UK government ministers, including Johnson and the former prime minister Theresa May, of ignoring claims the Kremlin had a “likely hold” over Donald Trump. Steele also told the committee there was evidence the Kremlin tried to covertly fund Brexit and influence the result of the 2016 referendum.

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Girls’ school exclusions hidden – Girls are being informally and invisibly excluded at a higher rate than boys from some schools, a study suggests. It found that at some schools in England, boys are much more likely to be formally excluded, whereas girls are being moved to other schools or leaving before the end of year 11 – without it showing up in official figures. Experts are concerned these informal exclusions are not subject to accountability checks and girls may be missing out on the support that is offered to officially excluded pupils. The study by Social Finance, a not-for-profit group, also found pupils who have been through social care are more likely to experience all forms of exclusion; 15% of vulnerable children experienced 58% of multiple fixed-term exclusions; and pupils with special education needs were eight times more likely to be permanently excluded.

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Spurt of discovery – Volcanoes are probably still active on the planet Venus, researchers have claimed. They studied “coronae” formations around 133 volcaones and found 37 appear to have been active in the past 2m to 3m years. “In my opinion many of these structures are indeed active today,” said Laurent Montesi, a University of Maryland geophysicist and co-author of the study published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Today in Focus podcast: President Kanye – is he serious?

The rapper has entered the race for the White House invoking his religious beliefs. Prof Josef Sorett looks at whether West’s presidential bid is anything more than a stunt.

Lunchtime read: ‘Perfect Uighur’ still not safe in China

Beijing claims its re-education camps in Xinjiang are necessary to combat Islamic terrorism – but Dilara’s experiences tell a different story.

Sport

Joe Root says his players are “in the presence of greatness” and watching “Mr Incredible” at work following the all-round masterclass from Ben Stokes that set up a series decider between England and West Indies on Friday. Chelsea are closing in on the signing of Kai Havertz after discussing personal terms with the Bayer Leverkusen midfielder on a five‑year contract. Goals from Daniel Podence and Jonny in a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace kept Wolves in the top six and also ensured Roy Hodgson’s worst losing run in the Premier League.

Toronto Wolfpack have withdrawn from the remainder of the Super League season before its restart next week, casting doubt over the Canadian club’s long-term future in rugby league. Lewis Hamilton has extended his criticism of Formula One’s stance against racism with a broadside against teams that have made no effort to address the matter. And NFL players will be tested daily for the coronavirus for at least the first two weeks of training camp per the league’s new testing protocols.

Business

Marks & Spencer will cut 950 mainly head office jobs as it struggles with the downturn that is crushing Britain’s retail sector. But the FTSE100 is set for a decent rise this morning after markets rose in Asia Pacific overnight thanks to vaccine hopes driving Wall Street to a strong close yesterday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq reached another record high. The pound is at $1.265 and €1.106.

The papers

The Guardian’s print edition leads with “Hopes of Covid vaccine rise after UK study hailed as breakthrough”. Metro calls it “The Covid buster”, while both the Mirror and Mail predict a “Vaccine for Christmas”.

The i hedges it: “Breakthrough vaccine could be ready by end of year”. The Times’ splash headline is similar, while like others it gives the front-page picture slot to the Depp-Heard court testimony. The FT reports that the UK has reserved 90m doses.

The Express leads with “Pay rise reward for our virus heroes”. The Telegraph runs with “Russia ‘tried to meddle in Scottish vote’” as it previews the intelligence committee report due to be released today.

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