WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
Turkish protests, Russian warships, and the end of the road for black cabs

 
today's international story

Protests in Turkey after Erdogan arrests rival

What happened
Demonstrators have rallied after Turkish authorities detained Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a prominent rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in what the main opposition party called "a coup against our next president".

Who said what
Prosecutors arrested Imamoglu just days before he was due to be selected as the presidential candidate for the Republican People's Party (CHP), accusing him of corruption and calling him a "criminal organisation leader suspect". Imamoglu said online that "the will of the people cannot be silenced".

Protests subsequently erupted on Turkey's streets, with crowds chanting anti-government slogans in "a display of public anger not seen in years", said the BBC.

CHP leader Ozgur Ozel addressed crowds in Istanbul's Sarachane district, saying Erdogan had targeted Imamoglu due to fears of losing to him in the ballot. Imamoglu, 54, has led Erdogan in some opinion polls in recent weeks.

The "original move" against Imamoglu had "focused on whether his university diploma was valid", which would be necessary for running for the presidency, said Politico. The investigation subsequently "snowballed", however, when he was arrested on charges of extortion, bribery, fraud and aiding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

What next?
The government has instituted a temporary four-day ban on demonstrations. Any further protests could "test authorities' willingness to expand on a legal blitz since late last year" that has already led to "numerous indictments, the ousting of several elected opposition mayors and the jailing of a nationalist party leader", said Reuters.

 
 
today's defence story

Royal Navy shadows Russian ships in UK waters

What happened
UK warships have tracked a Russian task group as it passed through British waters, reported the Royal Navy. It was the third time in six weeks that Russian ships returning from Syria had been closely watched by British ships and helicopters.

Who said what
Speaking of the operation, Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard said he was "grateful" to all the personnel who shadowed the Russian convoy.

This was not the first time that Russian ships had been "spotted or monitored in UK waters", said the BBC. In January, Defence Secretary John Healey told MPs that the Royal Navy had monitored a Russian spy ship called Yantar, which he said was being used to gather intelligence and map the UK's underwater infrastructure. And in June last year a Russian submarine was spotted off Scotland's west coast before it arrived in Havana, Cuba a week later.

What next?
Following this latest operation, Pollard stressed: "Russia should be in no doubt that the UK will defend our waters."

 
 
Today's transport story

London black cabs could vanish, report warns

What happened
London's black cabs might disappear by 2045 at their current rate of decline, according to a report by the think tank Centre for London.

The number of taxis licensed by Transport for London dropped from 22,810 in 2013 to 14,470 in 2023 amid the rise of Uber and other transport companies. Just 104 new licences were issued last year, compared with 1,010 in 2016. The report blamed the cost of the now-mandated electric cars and the difficulty of "The Knowledge" test requirement.

Who said what
"Black cabs are a fundamental part of London's cityscape," said Antonia Jennings, chief executive of Centre for London.

Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association, added: "We've been here since the time of Oliver Cromwell and we aren't going anywhere soon." But he said the taxi trade faced "very real existential threats".

What next?
TfL said it would soon publish a new taxi "action plan".

 
 

It's not all bad

A record-breaking 18-kilometre tunnel linking Denmark and Germany is beginning to take shape. The €7.4 billion (£6.2 billion) Fehmarnbelt Tunnel, the world's longest road and rail immersed tunnel, is being built with prefabricated concrete sections lowered on to the seafloor. The first tunnel elements recently left the Danish production site, with completion set for 2029. Special pontoons will oversee the immersion process, which must be executed flawlessly. Engineers are conducting final tests before the first section is to be placed later this year.

 
 
under the radar

The 'secretive' battle for the most powerful role in sport

The eclectic members of the International Olympic Committee are gathering in Greece to decide who will formally succeed Thomas Bach as the body's president at a ceremony in Switzerland on 23 June – known as "Olympic Day".

The position of IOC president "carries significant diplomatic sway" not just in sport, but in global politics, said The Guardian's chief sports reporter Sean Ingle. One of the first people to call Bach and congratulate him on winning the 2013 election was Vladimir Putin. Yet the selection process is so "secretive and strange" that it would "make a Vatican cardinal wince".

The election is being contested by several sporting organisation presidents, as well as a prince, a politician from Zimbabwe and Britain's Sebastian Coe, the former Olympic champion and current president of World Athletics.

Campaigning is restricted to a single "15-minute PowerPoint presentation" given by each candidate to the IOC's curious electorate, said Ingle. The process is tightly controlled: IOC rules state that for each candidate, "at the end of their time slot the microphone will be switched off automatically" and "no Q&A sessions" will be permitted. Voting starts today at a resort hotel in a conclave-esque setting behind closed doors.

No one is expected to win an absolute majority in the first round, so the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated until a winner is finally decided and the doors open.

Whoever becomes the next president will lead the IOC into a "challenging world", said Lawrence Ostlere, senior sports writer for The Independent, "facing down the climate crisis, deeply divisive issues of gender, the advancement of AI" and a "rapidly changing entertainment-scape".

 
 
on this day

20 March 2003

The US, leading a 30-nation "coalition of the willing", invaded Iraq, ostensibly to disarm its weapons of mass destruction and topple Saddam Hussein's regime. No WMDs were ever found and the Iraq War dragged on until 2011. Recently released documents suggest that then US president George W. Bush believed he was on a "mission from God".

 
 
Today's newspapers

France is to hand its citizens a guide on "what to do if we're invaded", says The Telegraph. Rachel Reeves is set to reveal the "biggest UK spending cuts since austerity" in her spring statement, says The Guardian, with Labour MPs "uneasy" about her plans. Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror says former health secretary Matt Hancock has defended the so-called "VIP lane" contracts granted to some suppliers during the coronavirus pandemic. "No apology, no shame" is the tabloid's headline.

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Bolton hits McSaturation point

Bolton is about to get its eighth McDonald's – with all of the fast-food outlets within a few minutes' driving distance of one another, serving a population of 300,000. A design and access statement said the new drive-through "supports local demand" and would create up to 120 jobs. The development forms part of the fast-food chain's £1 billion expansion, which will see 200 new sites open across the UK and Ireland over the next four years.

 
 

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

Image credits, from top: Ugur Yildirim / dia images / Getty Images; Finnbarr Webster / Getty Images; John Wreford / SOPA Images / LightRocket / Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images.