WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
Assisted dying, Syrian sanctions, and why the PKK is laying down its arms

 
today's politics story

Scottish assisted dying bill passes first vote

What happened
Following months of scrutiny and debate, the Scottish parliament has voted 70 to 56 to consider a bill allowing assisted dying for terminally ill people. The free vote comes just a few days before a similar vote at Westminster for England and Wales.

Who said what
Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur (pictured above) said too many dying people faced "horrendous choices and bad deaths" because they were denied the right to an assisted death. Fighting back tears, Pam Duncan-Glancy, Scottish Labour's education spokesperson, urged MSPs to reject the bill. "Rather than legislating to assist to die, let us resolve to legislate to assist people to live," she said.

After yesterday's vote "the real work begins", said Andrew Learmonth in the Scottish Herald. A number of MSPs who supported the bill at stage 1 "did so to allow further debate", but "made clear that their continued backing is not guaranteed". MSPs clearly felt the "weight of this debate", said Philip Sim on the BBC. If the bill is to make it all the way through parliament, "it is clear members will want to be certain that it is absolutely watertight".

What next?
MSPs will now debate complex amendments, including tightening the definition of terminal illness, raising the minimum age from 16 to 18, and clarifying legal competence and safeguards against coercion. Significant hurdles remain, including constitutional questions and time pressure, with stage 2 expected to begin in September.

 
 
today's international story

Trump vows to lift sanctions on Syria

What happened
Donald Trump announced that he would end US sanctions on Syria, offering economic relief to the nation after years of war and dictatorship. He is set to meet Syria's new President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former rebel leader who ousted Bashar al-Assad, during his state visit to Saudi Arabia today. The comments prompted widespread celebrations on the streets of Syria.

Who said what
"There is a new government that will, hopefully, succeed in stabilising the country and keeping peace," said Trump. "That's what we want to see in Syria."

Sharaa's "pitch to woo the US president" offered "access to Syrian oil, reconstruction contracts and to build a Trump Tower in Damascus", said The Guardian. As well as benefitting Syria, this is "another key win" for Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has advocated engagement with Syria's new leadership, said CNN. "Oh, what I do for the crown prince,” said Trump after his announcement.

What next?
Trump is in the Middle East trying to "drum up Saudi investment in the United States", said The New York Times. Bin Salman (pictured above with the US president), has pledged to raise Riyadh's commitment from $600 billion to $1 trillion, as requested by the president.

 
 
Today's europe story

Berlin bans secessionist 'Kingdom of Germany'

What happened
Germany has banned the extremist group "Kingdom of Germany" (KRD), part of the far-right Reichsbürger movement, in a crackdown that "signalled tough action against a subversive far-right scene", said The Guardian.

The "cult-like" group is one of the largest factions in the movement. It has been described by political analysts as "emblematic of the democratic malaise in Germany" that has also boosted support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, said the Financial Times.

Who said what
Four people were arrested, including KRD's founder and self-proclaimed monarch Peter Fitzek, who styles himself as King Peter I. Fitzek protested that the arrest was "illegal and unlawful".

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (pictured above) said KRD had built a "counter state" with "criminal economic structures" that directly threatened the justice system and rule of law.

What next?
The KRD ban follows the German domestic intelligence agency's recent classification of the AfD as a "right-wing extremist" group. That designation will allow for closer surveillance and has ignited debate over whether the party itself should be banned.

 
 

It's not all bad

Two wooden statues of JRR Tolkien and his wife Edith will be unveiled on 6 June in Roos, East Yorkshire, honouring the author's time there after World War I. The statues mark the moment Edith danced for Tolkien in a nearby wood, inspiring the tale of Beren and Lúthien in "The Silmarillion". Created by artist Allen Stichler, the statues celebrate the region's influence on Middle-earth and aim to boost local tourism through the "Tolkien Triangle".

 
 
under the radar

Why the PKK is laying down its arms

The Kurdistan Workers' Party, known as the PKK, has announced that it will disband and disarm, potentially ending four decades of bloody conflict with Turkey.

The militant group said "all activities" conducted under its name would come to an end after a call in February by its jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan for it to disarm. The PKK has "completed its historical mission", said a statement published by a news agency close to the group, and the struggle against Turkey's oppression of Kurdish people could now continue via "democratic politics".

The move "signals the potential end of a conflict that has plagued the region", said Al Jazeera, "spilling over" into Iraq and Syria, and killing an estimated 40,000 people.

The PKK has "waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984", said Politico. Originally, it aimed to create an independent state for Kurds, an ethnic group of about 40 million people spread across Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. But in recent years the group has "called for more autonomy within Turkey instead", said CNN.

Öcalan, also the group's founder, has been imprisoned on an island near Istanbul since 1999. But last October Devlet Bahceli, one of Turkey's most powerful politicians and a key ally of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, made Öcalan an offer: if he would disband the PKK, it would open a pathway to ending his life sentence.

In February Öcalan argued that the PKK had outlived its original mission and called for it to dissolve itself. But the decision to disband the PKK "does not guarantee peace", said Reuters. It "paves the way for agreeing a tricky legal framework".

 
 
on this day

14 May 1643

Louis XIV ascended the throne of France at the age of four. But he wasn't the youngest monarch in history. That distinction belongs to John I, who became king of France and Navarre the day he was born in 1316, and held the title until his death four days later.

 
 
Today's newspapers

"Cleared after 38 years", says The Mirror, reporting on the release of Peter Sullivan, who was convicted of a 1986 murder he didn't commit. Sullivan is "not angry… not bitter", says Metro, despite suffering what the Daily Mail calls "one of Britain's worst miscarriages of justice". A "hostile state" could be responsible for the blaze at the prime minister's London home, says The Telegraph. A "golden age" of obesity-fighting drugs is on the way, says the Daily Express. Professor John Deanfield, a cardiologist, says that the new medications could "slash the risk" of many heart, liver and kidney diseases.

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Historic phobia

Many three-year-olds are anxious about monsters under their bed, but one toddler in the US dreads lifting up the duvet to find John Wilkes Booth, the 19th century actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Lainey Litton developed the unusual fear after a family visit to the site of the assassination, Ford’s Theatre Museum. Lainey's mother Cassie told People magazine that her TikTok video about the phobia had prompted several comments from people revealing their own childhood fear of Booth.

 
 

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

Image credits, from top: Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images; Win McNamee / Getty Images; Odd Andersen / AFP / Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images.