WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
Channel deaths, trade wars, and the Ukrainian partisans taking on Russia

 
today's Immigration story

Twelve die in Channel crossing shipwreck

What happened 
Six children and a pregnant woman are among 12 people who died when a boat carrying dozens of asylum seekers was "ripped apart" in the English Channel yesterday.

Who said what
More than 50 people were rescued from the "terrible shipwreck" off Cap Gris-Nez, said French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin. Only eight of the 70 passengers had been wearing lifejackets, according to French officials. "Unfortunately, the bottom of the boat ripped open," said Olivier Barbarin, mayor of Le Portel near the fishing port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, where a first aid post was set up. 

At least 37 people have died trying to cross the Channel this year compared with 12 in total last year. People smugglers are "cramming more people into dinghies" due to boat supplies being limited by law enforcement crackdowns, said The Telegraph.

The disaster is a "major test" for Keir Starmer, said The Guardian. Charities have been lobbying the new government to open up safe routes for those wanting to come to the UK.

What next? 
Downing Street says it is targeting criminal gangs by setting up the Border Security Command and recruiting more officers to the National Crime Agency. But "no amount of 'smash the gangs' policing and government rhetoric is going to stop these disasters from unfolding time and again if the needs of people exploited by those gangs remain unaddressed", said Amnesty International.

Darmanin has urged the UK and EU to agree a "treaty on migration" to curb small boat crossings.

 
 
today's trade story

China threatens rapeseed sales after Canada EV tariffs

What happened
China announced a probe into rapeseed imports from Canada yesterday as trade tensions continued to escalate following the imposition of tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, steel and aluminium by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government.

Who said what
Plans for the rapeseed investigation are "deeply concerning", said Canada's Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay.

More than half of rapeseed produced in Canada makes its way to China, the world's biggest oilseed importer. The "latest tit-for-tat" move comes as governments around the world, including the US and EU, "erect barriers against Chinese-made electric cars", said the BBC.

What next?
Beijing said it would file a complaint with the World Trade Organization over Canada's EV tariffs, which it called "discriminatory" and "unilateral".

China has "targeted Canadian rapeseed in previous trade tensions", said the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, suspending two exporters in 2019 before removing the restrictions three years later. Analysts believe China may now turn to Australia and Ukraine for alternative supplies.

 
 
Today's health story

Young adults with ADHD face long wait for drugs

What happened
Four in 10 young adults with ADHD have to wait more than two years to get medication on the NHS, a new study has found, as demand for services surges.

The study highlighted a gap between adult and child mental health services that has left many young adults without crucial medication as they start jobs or university.

Who said what
Dr Anna Price, a senior research fellow at the University of Exeter, said the findings "highlight the need for a co-ordinated approach to address problems that lead to a postcode lottery for patients trying to access treatment for ADHD". She said failing to treat ADHD could "have a huge impact" on young lives.

What next?
NHS clinics have struggled to meet the rising demand for services, which has surged since the pandemic. According to The Times, the number of NHS patients receiving ADHD medication has doubled in six years, reaching 230,000 – about half of whom are children or teenagers.

 
 

It's not all bad

Researchers have found that some dogs can remember the names of toys even after not seeing them for two years, demonstrating long-term memory capabilities. In a study five dogs were tested on their ability to recall the names of up to 12 toys, with some achieving a success rate of up to 60%. Shany Dror of Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary, the first author of the study, said the findings could offer insights into canine cognition as well as human language evolution.

 
 
under the radar

Atesh: the Ukrainian partisans taking on Russia

Its operating strategy could come straight out of a Second World War handbook, using locals' intimate knowledge of their land and the element of surprise to harass occupying forces. But this isn't the French Resistance fighting back against the Nazis in the 1940s; it's a Ukrainian guerrilla group called Atesh that claims to be having great success disrupting Russian military activities.

In the ever-complex landscape of the Russia-Ukraine war, Atesh has emerged as a growing force. It was formed by ethnic Ukrainian, Russian and Crimean Tatar partisans in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory of Crimea in the summer of 2022 following the invasion that February. As well as choosing the Crimean Tatar word for "fire" as its name, the group issued a statement on the Telegram social media app that declared its aims were "to fight for the Ukrainian state" in any way possible – including acting as double agents within the Russian military.

Successes are said to include damaging railway lines used to transport military supplies, assassinating soldiers and providing valuable information to Ukrainian intelligence, as well as ongoing strikes on Russia's Black Sea Fleet and military bases in the region.

Atesh's activities have led to it being "hunted ruthlessly" by the FSB, Russia's security and counter-intelligence service, said The Times. Despite these extensive measures the group has proven resilient, continuing to carry out operations and evade Russian efforts to neutralise it.

"The resistance movement within the occupied peninsula will only amplify," said  journalist David Kirichenko in The Kyiv Independent. "Soon, like the rest of Ukraine, Crimea will be a territory of freedom once again."

 
 
on this day

4 September 1985

The first pictures of the Titanic wreckage are released, 73 years after it sank off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. After many failed attempts to locate it, Dr Robert Ballard teamed up with the US Navy to find the vessel by tracking debris from the wreck along the ocean floor. As we reported on Monday, a new expedition to the Titanic this summer has revealed that the ship's wreckage is rapidly deteriorating.

 
 
Today's newspapers

Six children and a pregnant woman were among at least 12 people who died after a small boat carrying migrants sank in the English Channel, says The Guardian.  Survivors of the Grenfell disaster tell the i paper that the final report from the inquiry should be followed by criminal prosecutions. Labour's Joe Powell, MP for Kensington and Bayswater calls on the government to "accelerate" prosecutions. The FT says regulators are to scale back a planned new regime that will force banks to reimburse victims of fraud after pressure from the government and fintech firms. 

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Generating a slice of culture

A restaurant in Dubai has used ChatGPT to come up with a pizza to showcase the city’s cultural heritage. Dodo Pizza's AI-generated recipe features Arab shawarma chicken, Indian paneer cheese, Middle Eastern Za'atar herbs and tahini sauce. Chef Spartak Arutyunyan said it was "surprisingly good". Other pizza suggestions put forward by ChatGPT were not as well-received by the chef, including one covered in strawberries and pasta.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Arion McNicoll, Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, Kaye O'Doherty, Sorcha Bradley and Chas Newkey-Burden, with illustrations by Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Denis Charlet / AFP via Getty Images; Sven-Erik Arndt / Arterra / Universal Images Group via Getty Images; Jaap Arriens / NurPhoto via Getty Images.