WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
Musk turns on Farage, Ukraine launches offensive, and HMPV virus spreads in China

 
today's politics story

Musk calls for new Reform UK leader

What happened
Elon Musk has said Nigel Farage "doesn't have what it takes" to be leader of Reform UK and called for him to be replaced at the top of the party.

Who said what
In a post on X, Musk appeared to endorse Rupert Lowe, the Great Yarmouth MP, as a possible new leader for Reform, saying statements he had read from Lowe "make a lot of sense". The comment came just hours after Farage described Musk as a "friend" in an interview on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme.

"Well, this is a surprise!" Farage wrote on X after Musk's tweet. "Elon is a remarkable individual, but on this I am afraid I disagree." The Reform UK leader indicated Musk's comment could be connected to their differing positions on Tommy Robinson, the former leader of the English Defence League, who Musk has said should be released from prison, but whom Farage condemns.

What next?
The apparent split "does relieve Farage of having to defend Musk’s increasingly prolific, freewheeling and far-right views", said The Guardian, but it also places in doubt the tech billioniare's potential donation of $100 million (£80 million) to Reform, which has recently been the subject of "significant speculation".

The rupture is "inevitable and welcome", said Tim Stanley in The Daily Telegraph. "It erupts at a turning point for Reform" when the party must make a choice: "is it a coherent conservative party or the party of white resentment?" Farage must "take a stand against the nativists".

 
 
today's international story

Ukraine launches surprise Kursk offensive

What happened
Ukraine has launched a "counterattack" in Russia's western Kursk region, according to the Russian Defence Ministry.

Who said what
The Ukrainian offensive began yesterday morning, with soldiers and heavy vehicles heading towards the Russian settlement of Berdin, added the Russian Defence Ministry.

Andriy Yermak, the head of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office, suggested the attack had been successful. "Kursk region, good news, Russia is getting what it deserves," he wrote yesterday.

What next?
The assault comes at a "critical juncture in the nearly three-year conflict", said the AFP news agency, with both sides "seeking to boost their negotiating hand" ahead of US president-elect Donald Trump's return to office on 20 January.

Kursk has been the site of Ukraine's "most significant cross-border incursion" since August last year when the country's forces overran several Russian settlements, said The Times. But Ukraine is believed to have lost control of about 40% of that territory since the summer, added the paper.

 
 
Today's health story

Virus spreading in China raises alarm

What happened
China is experiencing a surge in infections of a respiratory virus that is especially dangerous for young children, the elderly and vulnerable groups, prompting comparisons with the outbreak of Covid five years ago.

Who said what
Beijing has downplayed the virus, identified as human metapneumovirus (HMPV), as an annual winter event. China's foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Friday: "Respiratory infections tend to peak during the winter season. The diseases appear to be less severe and spread with a smaller scale compared to the previous year."

Certainly the spike in cases "coincides with colder weather and increased indoor activity, conditions that typically fuel the spread of respiratory viruses", said The Independent. But China was "widely criticised for covering up details about the early stages of the Covid outbreak in the central city of Wuhan", said The Times.

What next?
Neighbouring countries including Cambodia and Taiwan are reportedly keeping a close watch on the situation. In India, however, officials said there was no need for panic as HMPV is "like any other respiratory virus".

 
 

It's not all bad

If you want to learn a new language you should try to get plenty of sleep, a new study suggests. Researchers from the University of South Australia found that sleeping between lessons significantly improved memory and mastery of new words and grammar. Using a miniature language called Mini Pinyin that is based on Mandarin, participants who slept showed significantly better retention and performance. Lead author Dr Zachariah Cross said sleep "is not just restful; it's an active, transformative state for the brain", adding that the findings may inform treatments for language impairments like autism and aphasia.

 
 
under the radar

Trinidad and Tobago's murder emergency

For many Trinidad and Tobago is the epitome of a Caribbean paradise, but soaring homicide rates in the dual-island nation have pushed the government to declare a state of emergency.

Killings in the last weekend of December took the country's murder toll for the year to 623, an "unprecedented" number in a nation with a population of only 1.5 million, said The Guardian. Of these, police believe "nearly half" are tied to gang violence, with "almost all linked to organised crime", making Trinidad and Tobago "one of the most violent countries" across the Caribbean and Latin America.

Trinidad and Tobago has "struggled" to contain gang violence for "more than 25 years", said The New York Times, but the past decade has seen a "surge" in deadly conflicts between its estimated 186 street gangs. With much of the republic's crime linked to the international drugs trade, the US state department believes "close proximity to Venezuela", alongside "porous borders", is to blame for the spike in violence, said the BBC.

The duration of the current state of emergency has not been confirmed, but in any case the measure may only be a "bandage on a national sore", Derek Ramsamooj, a political analyst, told The New York Times. Critics say the "societal causes for gang violence" must be directly tackled to see any significant lasting improvement.

An ongoing state of emergency may also "put a damper" on the nation's "world-renowned Carnival", which is scheduled to wind through the streets in early March, said the BBC. A "major tourist attraction", Carnival is the country's annual highlight, but this year's celebration is likely to unfold with strict security measures in place.

 
 
on this day

6 January 1838

Samuel Morse publicly demonstrated his telegraph system for the first time at the Speedwell Iron Works in New Jersey. Despite the rise of emails, texts and DMs, telegrams are still in use – in fact, about 17 million are delivered each year, from personal messages to legal notifications and contracts, according to iTelegram, which took over Western Union's telegram business in 2006.

 
 
Today's newspapers

E-scooter collisions have trebled in three years, prompting urgent calls for ministers to "end the e-scooter menace", says the Daily Mail. Ambulance handover delays in England "may harm 1,000 patients a day", says The Guardian in an exclusive report which found that 414,137 people are believed to have experienced some level of harm in the last year. Meanwhile, migrants are more than "three times as likely to be arrested for sexual offences" as British citizens, according to an analysis published in The Telegraph.

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Paws for thought

A new study aims to find out whether dog owners and their pets are truly on the same wavelength. Scientists at Cambridge University are studying 40 dogs of various breeds and sizes to see if their brainwaves synchronise with those of their owner when interacting with each other, a phenomenon already observed in mothers and babies. If proven it could explain the dogged devotion between owners and their four-legged friends.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Arion McNicoll, Rebekah Evans, Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, Ross Couzens, and Chas Newkey-Burden, with illustrations by Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Leon Neal / Getty Images; Roman Pilipey / AFP / Getty Images; Lintao Zhang / Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images.