WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
Siddiq resigns, police arrest Yoon, and the hunt for sustainable aviation fuel

 
today's politics story

Siddiq quits amid corruption probe

What happened
Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq has resigned after an official investigation found her family's connections with the ousted Bangladeshi regime exposed the government to "reputational risks".

Who said what
Laurie Magnus, the prime minister's adviser on ministerial standards, said it was "regrettable" that Siddiq (pictured above) was not more "alert" to the perception of a conflict of interest.

Siddiq is being investigated by Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission due to allegations that her aunt – the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina – potentially misappropriated billions of pounds, some of which was used to buy property overseas.

With Siddiq's departure Labour's "holier-than-thou posturing is well and truly finished", said William Atkinson in The Telegraph. "Any hope that (Keir Starmer) had of painting his premiership as a departure from the perma-scandal of the Tory years is now shot."

The problem for Siddiq was that the "longer the controversy dragged on the allegations grew less spurious and more serious", said Jon Craig on Sky News. "What initially looked like unproven links began to look more plausible and less defensible."

The question many are asking now is whether Starmer "moved fast enough to contain the row over Siddiq when it became clear her position as anti-corruption minister was untenable", said Pippa Crerar in The Guardian.

What next?
Siddiq said staying in her role would have been "a distraction" for the government, but maintained that she had done nothing wrong. In a letter accepting Siddiq's resignation, the prime minister said the "door remains open" for her.

 
 
today's international story

Police arrest South Korean president in raid

What happened
Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has been arrested after approximately 1,000 police officers surrounded and then managed to gain entry to his residence in central Seoul.

Who said what
In a video message released shortly after his detention, Yoon said that he would comply with questioning to "prevent unsavoury bloodshed".

Chung Jin-suk, Yoon's chief of staff, accused the police of planning a siege on the president and treating him as if he were "a member of a South American drug cartel". The arrest followed a "dramatic" failed attempt to bring the president in at the start of this month, said the BBC.

Yoon's "power grab" last month "plunged South Korea into its worst political crisis in decades", said The Guardian, after he directed soldiers to storm parliament in a failed bid to stop MPs voting down his suspension of civilian rule.

What next?
The first hearing in Yoon's impeachment trial ended after just a few minutes yesterday when the president failed to appear at the constitutional court. The court’s justices now have five months to decide whether to strip Yoon of his presidential duties or return him to office.

 
 
Today's sexual abuse story

Grooming gangs made up of 'peasants', says Badenoch

What happened
Kemi Badenoch has blamed people from rural "peasant" backgrounds for Britain's grooming scandal. The Conservative leader once again called for another public inquiry into the child sexual abuse, saying there was a "systematic pattern of behaviour" among people from a "very poor background", from "sub-communities" within countries like Pakistan, and that the jobs held by perpetrators – for example taxi drivers – "allowed them to exhibit this predatory behaviour".

Who said what
"The thing I think is needed is looking at cultural issues," Badenoch told GB News. "Where do these abusers come from?"

Keir Starmer has accused Badenoch of jumping on a "far-right bandwagon". The prime minister said victims wanted to see action from the October 2022 Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse rather than another review.

What next?
Several Labour politicians have joined calls from both the Tories and Reform UK for another inquiry, including Sarah Champion, the MP for Rotherham, where the scandal was concentrated.

 
 

It's not all bad

The Biden administration has successfully allocated $74 billion (£60 billion) in Inflation Reduction Act funds to clean energy and climate projects, safeguarding them from a potential rollback by incoming president Donald Trump. These "Trump-proofed" investments, as The Guardian called them, will support renewable power, electric vehicles and energy efficiency, creating jobs and fostering sustainability. While $20 billion (£16.3 billion) remains unallocated and at risk, experts say the allocated funds represent an important step in addressing the climate crisis, ensuring lasting benefits for America’s environment and economy.

 
 
under the radar

Airlines ramp up hunt for sustainable aviation fuel

A Boeing 747 reportedly burns a staggering 3,800 gallons of fuel an hour, or about one gallon every second. So it is no surprise that the aviation industry is looking for ways to make air travel more eco-friendly. But the transition away from traditional jet fuel towards more sustainable options, while being a constant goal of airlines, is easier said than done.

Various airlines are looking for ways to use these clean energy fuels – commonly called sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) – on a widespread basis. Governments as well as individual airlines have set environmental goals for SAF usage in the coming decade. While progress is being made, making SAF ubiquitous in aviation remains a lofty goal.

SAF is generally "made from non-petroleum feedstocks that reduce emissions from air transportation", said the US Department of Energy. There are several sources of SAF, but most are made "from non-petroleum-based renewable feedstocks" such as the "food and yard waste portion of municipal solid waste, woody biomass, fats/greases/oils and other feedstocks".

Creating SAF is "energy intensive," said Heatmap News. This means that finding a way to produce SAF while also "scaling to meet demand is a challenging and expensive task".

Several airlines and governments are working to increase SAF production and meet usage goals. The US is attempting to improve SAF usage with benchmarks to hit by certain years, including a "50% reduction in life cycle greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional fuel" and the production of "3 billion gallons a year of domestic SAF by 2030", said the US Department of Energy.

 
 
on this day

15 January 1759

The British Museum in London opened to the public, filled with renowned antiquities such as the Rosetta Stone and, later, the Elgin Marbles. These are increasingly a source of contention, with Greece claiming ownership. The country is nearing an agreement with the museum for the return of at least some of the artefacts.

 
 
Today's newspapers

"It's a relief to be in remission" is The Sun's headline, quoting the Princess of Wales during a visit to the hospital where she received cancer treatment. The Telegraph claims that the government's plans to repeal parts of the Legacy Act could mean former Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, and up to 400 others "also detained in the 1970s", have "the right to claim compensation" for unlawful detention. Meanwhile, Tulip Siddiq's resignation as Treasury minister leads The Guardian, which notes that it was the "second resignation of a senior woman in Starmer's government over ethics".

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Falconer ruffles feathers

Italian football team Lazio has sacked its eagle mascot's handler after he shared videos of his own prosthetic penis online. Falconer Juan Bernabe had been in charge of the eagle, named Olimpia, since 2010, flying the bird over the Serie A club's Stadio Olimpico before matches. The club said it was shocked by the images of Bernabe's penis that he posted on social media after undergoing implant surgery. But Bernabe defended his decision to publish the videos, telling Italy's Radio24 that he was trying to bring awareness to the operation, adding that "nudity is normal; I grew up in an open-minded, naturist family".

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Arion McNicoll, Jamie Timson, Harriet Marsden, Ross Couzens, Justin Klawans and Chas Newkey-Burden, with illustrations by Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Nicola Tree / Getty Images; Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images; Jack Taylor / Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images.