WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
Ships collide, Wall Street dips, and business booms 'bigly' for Trump impersonators

 
today's maritime story

Fuel tanker and cargo ship collide in 'massive fireball'

What happened
The search for a missing crew member has been called off after a cargo ship carrying a toxic chemical collided with an oil tanker laden with jet fuel off the East Yorkshire coast yesterday.

At least 36 crew members were brought to shore after the MV Stena Immaculate and the Solong hit each other.

Who said what
"One crew member of the Solong remains unaccounted for. After an extensive search for the missing crew member, sadly they have not been found and the search has ended," said Matthew Atkinson, divisional commander for HM Coastguard.

Two maritime security sources said there was no indication of any malicious activity or other actors being involved in the collision. But a government source told The Telegraph that foul play "could not be ruled out at this stage".

What next?
Where this collision will rank in terms of environmental damage is unknown, said The Times. "One factor is the nature of the oil," added the paper. Jet fuel, or kerosene, is "more toxic to aquatic life than diesel or crude oil".

Yorkshire conservationists warned that seabirds, grey seals and fish stocks were all at risk.

As for who will bear the cost of clean-up, under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, the UK government is likely to meet many of the immediate expenses. The vessel owners and their insurers may also have to pay a huge bill, with environmental groups estimating it at about £15 million.

 
 
today's economics story

Wall Street slides as recession fears loom

What happened
US stocks had their worst day of the year yesterday, with the S&P 500 index falling 2.7% a day after Donald Trump refused to rule out the possibility that his aggressive tariff policies could trigger a recession.

Who said what
The declines followed the US president's equivocal response to questions over a potential recession. In comments aired on Sunday, he said the US economy was in "a period of transition because what we're doing is very big".

Over the past few weeks Trump has "threatened, imposed, suspended and resumed tariffs" on America's largest trade partners, said The New York Times. Together, these "dizzying shifts" have "unnerved investors".

What next?
It is still more likely that the US will not go into recession, according to economists, but the risk is growing. Goldman Sachs last week increased its odds of a recession from 15% to 20%. JP Morgan Chase, meanwhile, was even less confident of the economy remaining robust, putting the chances of a recession this year at 40% and citing "extreme US policies" as the cause.

 
 
Today's environment story

Households near new pylons to save on energy bills

What happened
People living near new electricity pylons will get hundreds of pounds off their bills as part of government plans to boost energy infrastructure.

Households within 500m of new or upgraded pylons will get discounts of "up to £2,500 over 10 years", said the BBC.

The government hopes that the incentive will "help reduce opposition and delays" to new projects necessary to reach clean energy targets. A government-commissioned report found "hundreds of miles" of new pylons would be needed.

Who said what
James Robottom, head of policy for RenewableUK, welcomed the bill discounts and said they would "help to enable the roll-out of much-needed new grid infrastructure at a faster pace".

But rural campaign groups told the BBC that it was "impossible to put a price on the loss of a landscape".

What next?
The discounts are part of the government's Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which is due to be published this week, and are expected to be in place from next year.

 
 

It's not all bad

Actor Michael Sheen has bought and erased £1 million in debt for people in his home town of Port Talbot, using £100,000 of his own money. His mission, detailed in a new Channel 4 documentary, aims to highlight the predatory debt industry. Sheen, who is known for his activism, is also pushing for fairer lending laws to help protect low-income borrowers from sky-high interest rates.

 
 
under the radar

Business booms 'bigly' for Trump impersonators 

Booked-out diaries, assassination fears and an assault in a hotel lift: Donald Trump impersonators have had quite a ride since the Maga original returned to the White House.

With "appearances at parades, golf tournaments and even kids' parties", the Trump lookalike industry is booming, said The Independent.

And there's serious cash to be made from being a Donald doppelganger: on Gig Salad, a platform used to book performers, prices for a personal appearances range from $100 (£77) to $20,000 (£15,500).

There is also money to be made on this side of the Atlantic. A Trump impersonator from Southampton, whose income has already increased by 40% since the US president was re-elected, told The Guardian that he was expecting to have an "unstoppable" four years of business.

But the rewards of imitating such a polarising political figure are not without risk. John Di Domenico, "the world's most famous Trump impersonator", said he had been urged by friends to wear a bulletproof vest after he was attacked "by a livid liberal" in a Las Vegas lift last summer, said The Sun.

It's been a different story for the comedians who "lampooned" Kamala Harris and Joe Biden: they're finding out the hard way that impersonators' fortunes "rise and fall based on the fates of the people they portray", said The New York Times.

Still, there's always room for a pivot. John Morgan once made "over a million dollars" impersonating former US president George W. Bush, but, he told The Independent, he has now "transitioned on to the Trump scene".

 
 
on this day

11 March 2020

The World Health Organization classified the Covid-19 outbreak as a pandemic. Scientists estimate that globally the virus has caused more than 28 million excess deaths to date. The UK, which suffered one of the highest numbers of reported fatalities, also spent more on economic support than almost any other developed country.

 
 
Today's newspapers

Several papers including The Sun lead on the collision in the North Sea. The Mirror says there are fears about what impact the "catastrophe" will have on wildlife, while the Daily Mail wonders how ships ploughed into each other "in broad daylight". The Guardian reports on Keir Starmer's private declaration that the number of unemployed people in the UK was "indefensible", ahead of the Department for Work and Pensions green paper on sickness and disability benefit reform.

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Drop the beet

A vegetable orchestra has been awarded a Guinness World Record after racking up 344 live performances over almost three decades. The 11-piece Vegetable Orchestra, formed in Vienna in 1999, features musicians playing on instruments such as the "carrot recorder", "cucumberphone" and even the "leek violin". The musicians carve their instruments from fresh vegetables before every performance, with any unused vegetables turned into a soup for concert-goers to enjoy later.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Arion McNicoll, Harriet Marsden, Sorcha Bradley, Ross Couzens, and Chas Newkey-Burden, with illustrations by Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Lee Whittaker / Getty Images; Charly Triballeau / AFP / Getty Images; Dan Kitwood / Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images.