WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
Heart disease, gallantry awards, and Taylor Swift-inspired church services

 
today's health story

Weight-loss drug 'cuts heart attack risk by 20%'

What happened 
Prescribing weight-loss injections could help cut the risk of heart attacks and strokes in middle aged people by a fifth, according to a study.

Who said what
The study, presented at the European Congress of Obesity (ECO), found that semaglutide, which is found in brands including Wegovy and Ozempic, lowers the risk of heart attack, stroke or death from cardiovascular disease by 20%. This finding "could be the largest medical breakthrough since statins", said The Guardian.

The trial, led by researchers at University College London, involved more than 17,500 adults over the age of 45 who had heart disease – which affects 7.6 million in Britain – or had suffered a heart attack or stroke. As well as lowering the risk of heart disease, participants in the trial who took semaglutide also lost 9% of their body weight on average.

This "fantastic drug really is a gamechanger", said professor of cardiology John Deanfield, who led the research. The trial shows that semaglutide "targets the underlying biology of chronic diseases" independently of their effect on weight loss.

What next? 
The discovery is "set to transform clinical practice in the NHS", said The Times. Semaglutide is likely to be "prescribed en masse by the end of the decade" in a bid to reduce heart attacks and strokes, similar to how statins or blood pressure medication are provided to millions of patients now.

 
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today’s politics story

Rwanda law suffers Northern Ireland setback

What happened
Parts of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Rwanda deportation bill should be "disapplied" in Northern Ireland because they undermine post-Brexit human rights protections agreed with the EU, a high court judge has ruled.

Who said what
Belfast High Court Justice Michael Humphreys' ruling is significant because it could make deporting migrants to Rwanda impossible if they travel to Northern Ireland. The DUP warned that this would make Northern Ireland a "magnet" for migrants.

"Oh, dear!" said Sky News's chief political correspondent Jon Craig. Sunak's Safety of Rwanda Act was "supposed to prevent this sort of legal challenge". But with the "ink barely dry on the act", Humphreys' ruling "bodes ill for the PM" and "potentially opens the door to more legal challenges".

What next?
The judgment will have no impact on the first flights to Rwanda this summer, which will take off as planned, a spokesperson for the prime minister said, adding the government would appeal the ruling.

 
 
Today’s science story

Antimicrobial resistance 'worse than climate change'

What happened
The rise of superbugs resistant to antibiotics poses a greater threat to humanity than climate change, England's former chief medical officer has warned.

Who said what
Dame Sally Davies, who is now the UK's special envoy on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), claims the growing number of infections caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites that can no longer be treated with available medicines will "make some of Covid look minor" and is a "more acute" issue than global warming.

AMR could turn everyday injuries and routine surgeries – ranging from caesarean sections to cancer interventions and organ transplantation – into "life and death events," said the Daily Mail. It would also "undo decades of medical progress and potentially kill millions every year".

What next?
The World Health Organisation predicts that at the current rate the direct death toll from AMR will grow to 10 million a year by 2050. Last week the UK government launched a national action plan on antimicrobial resistance to "contain and control AMR by 2040".

 
 

It's not all bad

Georgia Laurie, hailed for rescuing her twin sister from a crocodile's grip, is among nine individuals who have been honoured with gallantry awards for exceptional bravery. Receiving the King’s Gallantry Medal, Georgia described it as a beacon of hope after battling post-traumatic stress disorder. PC Rowland Zachary Printer, who confronted a gunman in Plymouth's 2021 mass shooting, and Chhaganlal Jagatia, who took part in a Greece hotel fire rescue, were also recognised.

 
 
under the radar

Namibia grapples with legacy of genocide on Shark Island

Namibia is being urged to pause its plans to extend a port on Shark Island, the site of an "extermination camp" in the 1904-1908 genocide and likely location of human remains.

A non-profit research agency used ground radar to detect anomalies in the soil and identify "mass graves", said The Guardian. Forensic Architecture published its discovery in April and is calling for a "moratorium on all development projects in the area" until potential graves are investigated. There is a "credible" risk that the works could discover human remains in the water.

In 1904 chief Samuel Maharero led the indigenous Herero people in a revolt against exploitation by German colonial settlers in what was then known as German South West Africa. In the same year Namibia's Nama people also staged an uprising and German authorities under General Lothar von Trotha unleashed a brutal retaliation of mass killings and forced labour. Nearly 100,000 indigenous people were killed or died during what is now widely recognised as one of the 20th century's first genocides.

Shark Island became "synonymous" with the atrocities, said The Namibian. The German Empire modified it into a peninsula in 1906 and used it as a prison, where inmates were subjected to "starvation, rape, forced labour and beatings".

In 2019 the Namibian government declared Shark Island a national heritage site and the Nama people still consider it sacred. But authorities have proposed expanding the bus port on the island to support green hydrogen production and its export to Europe by German company Hyphen.

Germany formally acknowledged the genocide in 2021 and then pledged £1 billion to Namibia in development aid projects – an offer that was rejected.

 
 
on this day

14 May 1796

An eight-year-old boy called James Phipps received the first smallpox vaccination, administered by Dr Edward Jenner. It proved a success, and the doctor's discovery changed medical history forever. The World Health Organization declared in 1980 that the disease had been eradicated.

 
 
Today’s newspapers

British nature is "in crisis", says the i paper, leading on a joint letter from the CEOs of the National Trust, RSPB, The Wildlife Trusts and Woodland Trust, who sound the alarm over the decline of the UK's natural environment. The Guardian leads on a study that recommends a "double lock" for tenants renewing their tenancies. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has praised a "fictional cannibal" says the Daily Star, after the "crackers orange manbaby" lauded "the late great Hannibal Lecter" as a "wonderful man".

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Taylor-ing worship

A church in Heidelberg is hoping to recruit younger members to its congregation by appealing to Taylor Swift fans. Priest Vincenzo Petracca delivered two services dedicated to the pop star on Sunday that featured pink programmes and musical interludes. Petracca, who also deejays, quoted some of the star's lyrics, including the famed line from her hit "Anti-Hero": "Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby." The church is planning similar services later this year, with The Times reporting that "Billie Eilish and Beyoncé are on the shortlist".

 
 

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

Image credits, from top: Carolina Rudah / Getty Images; Sameer Al-Doumy / AFP via Getty Images; Rudolfo Paralan Jr / Getty Images.