UK facing risk of 'systemic economic crisis', official paper says The government has privately admitted the UK faces an increased likelihood of “systemic economic crisis” as it completes its exit from the European Union in the middle of a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. A confidential Cabinet Office briefing seen by the Guardian also warns of a “notable risk” that in coming months the country could face a perfect storm of simultaneous disasters, including the prospect of a bad flu season on top of the medical strains caused by Covid. “Winter 2020 could see a combination of severe flooding, pandemic influenza, a novel emerging infectious disease and coordinated industrial action, against a backdrop of the end of the [Brexit] transition period,” it warns. The briefing, marked “official sensitive” and dated September, lays out for government planners the possible impacts of the last stage of Brexit, detailing “reasonable worst case scenarios” across 20 different areas of national life from oil and healthcare to travel and policing.
Two US soldiers killed in California training incident The names of the soldiers have been withheld pending next-of-kin notification. Army Special Operations Command said that "an aircraft incident occurred" and that the area has been secured while an investigation into the incident is underway. "Our sincere condolences go out the families and friends of the deceased. We thank you for not contacting them during this difficult time." It marks the second fatal US armed forces training incident in California this summer. Earlier this month, the military identified the people presumed dead in an amphibious assault vehicle training accident off Southern California.
Cas releases its reasons for overturning Manchester City's Europe ban The findings that led to Uefa’s club financial control body (CFCB) deciding that Manchester City were guilty of a “serious breach” of financial fair play regulations and imposing a two year Champions League ban have finally been revealed in the judgment of the court of arbitration for sport, which overturned the CFCB’s decisions. The CFCB found after its investigations and hearings that the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), the company through which Sheikh Mansour of the Abu Dhabi ruling family owns City, had funded payments in 2012 and 2013, understood to be £15m each year, that were reported to the Football Association and to Uefa as independent sponsorships from the telecoms company Etisalat. The Cas panel of three European lawyers decided by a majority 2-1, however, that it would not consider the legitimacy of those Etisalat payments, because they were made more than five years before the CFCB charges were brought in May 2019, so were “time-barred”.
Biden raises record funds as aides jab 'train wreck' Trump after sorry debate Joe Biden broke fundraising records coming out of Tuesday’s acrimonious presidential debate between the Democratic nominee and Donald Trump. The chaotic and unwieldy debate, in which moderator Chris Wallace, from Fox News, struggled to rein in Trump and the president egged on far-right groups, yielded a large fundraising haul for the Democratic campaign. In a conference call with reporters after the debate, Biden’s communications director and deputy campaign manager, Kate Bedingfield, announced that the campaign raised $3.8m between 10pm and 11pm through ActBlue, the Democratic grassroots fundraising site. “Tonight we broke the single-hour record for a campaign ever on ActBlue,” Bedingfield said. “And we broke our own hour record and raised $3.8m between 10 o’clock and 11 o’clock.” That fundraising infusion suggested that the total sum the campaign raised from the debate eclipsed the entire hauls some statewide or national campaigns have enjoyed.
US election 2020: Obama calls for end to voter suppression Media playback is unsupported on your device Former US President Barack Obama has sharply criticised what he described as Republican attempts at voter suppression in a speech at civil rights leader John Lewis's funeral. He said people in power were "attacking our voting rights with surgical precision" and called for wide reform. He also decried the police killing of George Floyd and the subsequent use of federal agents against protesters.
Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to undergo new global trial The Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine will undergo a new global trial as critics questioned the claim that it could protect up to 90% of people against coronavirus. On Thursday Sir John Bell, Oxford’s regius professor of medicine and the UK government’s life sciences adviser, dismissed suggestions the previous trial had not been properly set up or reported. “We weren’t cooking this up as we went along,” he said, adding that he hoped the full, peer-reviewed data would be published in the Lancet medical journal at the weekend. In spite of the public excitement generated by the announcement that a third vaccine had been successful – with particular promise for developing countries as it is relatively cheap and can be stored at fridge temperature – AstraZeneca’s share price dropped. One analyst in the US wrote in an investor note that “we believe that this product will never be licensed in the US” and alleged the company had tried to “embellish” the results.
California fires: Firefighters struggle to contain 560 blazes Hundreds of active fires, including more than 20 major ones largely sparked by a blitz of lightning in recent days, already have burned around 1 million acres, according to Cal Fire officials. Firefighters are worried about forecasts that say dry thunderstorms -- featuring lightning but little rain -- could spark more fires and spread existing ones Sunday through Tuesday. "What we're worried about is what happens after Sunday, if we do get more lightning strikes and fires," Cal Fire Battalion Chief Lucas Spelman said Saturday.
Broad joins the 500 club: still angry, still fiery and still getting better The Sunday after the Lord’s Test in 2005, England’s under-19 team played a one-day game against Sri Lanka at New Road. It was a forgettable business except that Chris Broad’s boy, Stuart, was making his debut and the few spectators there were all chatting about it. He would have stood out anyway, since he was so big and had a shock of blond hair, but they were curious to see the son of someone famous play, someone famous who’d seemed to have stopped playing himself only yesterday. They said the boy had only recently taken up bowling, that he had been a batsman at Oakham school. And you could tell. He had the action of someone who had been taught by good coaches rather than learned for himself.
French Open 2020: Ostapenko stuns Pliskova, plus Djokovic in action – live! Today features Novak Djokovic’s 33rd match of 2020 (he has won 31 of the previous 32), against one of his 31 previous victims, Ricardas Berankis, beaten 7-6, 6-4 in Cincinatti back in August. First, though, former world No5 Jelena Ostapenko, now down at No43 and thus unseeded, plays the No2 seed Karolina Pliskova to start proceedings on Chatrier, while on Lenglen the ninth seed, Denis Shapovalov, plays Roberto Carballés Baena, a 27-year-old Spaniard who has never been past the second round of a Grand Slam, and on Simonne Mathieu Petra Kvitova plays the Italian world No94 Jasmine Paolini, whose win over Aliona Bolsova in the first round was her first ever victory at a Grand Slam, for the very first time. There is a bit of lingering moisture in the air after overnight rainfall, but it isn’t delaying the start of play and we seem unlikely to be bothered by rain today (tomorrow’s forecast is not so encouraging). Today’s order of play, with action on all courts starting at 10am BST: