WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
Starmer's EU reset, Trump's tweaked charges, and a rare plant sighting

 
today's politics story

Starmer in Berlin to 'reset' European relations

What happened 
Fresh from his Rose Garden address yesterday, Keir Starmer arrived in Berlin last night to start talks on a new co-operative treaty with Germany as part of Labour's broad "reset" of relations with Europe.

Who said what
Discussions are intended to "turn a corner on Brexit", the prime minister said ahead of a round of meetings with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Collaboration between Germany and the UK on energy security, technology and science are all under discussion, said Downing Street. According to Starmer, the UK now has a "once-in-a-generation opportunity to reset our relationship" with Europe.

The PM has already pledged to secure a closer economic relationship with Europe, including a "much better" trade deal and reduced border checks, alongside a new security pact and asylum returns agreement with the EU. Yet it "remains unclear whether Brussels would entertain major changes to the UK's existing Brexit trade deal", which is scheduled to be reviewed in 2026, said the BBC.

What next? 
Starmer's attempt to renegotiate Britain's European relationships is "part of a broader strategy of taking controversial decisions early on in his term as prime minister", said The Guardian, in the hope that he may "reap the rewards for them closer to the next election".

To that end the government is also expected to announce tax hikes in October's budget to address the nearly £22 billion shortfall Labour says it has inherited from the Conservatives.

 
 
today's international story

Trump faces new indictment over 2020 election

What happened
Donald Trump faces a new federal indictment in his 2020 election subversion case as prosecutors look to protect their position in the wake of a ruling by the US Supreme Court in July that offered presidents immunity for many official acts while in office.

Who said what
The new indictment carries the same four charges brought against Trump last year, but removes some of the allegations that "might be construed as related to Mr Trump's official acts as president", said The New York Times. It also "contends that other acts should be interpreted as the conduct of a private candidate for office".

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig called the superseding indictment "a strategic retreat". According to George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley the case still "does not hold together" very well. "It's the shrinkflation indictment," he told Fox News. "It's the same packaging, just less product inside."

What next?
The superseding indictment is unlikely to go to trial before the November US presidential election.

 
 
Today's nature story

Amateur botanist finds Britain's 'holy grail' plant

What happened
Britain's rarest plant, the ghost orchid, has been seen for the first time since 2009. An example of the elusive flower was discovered this month by dental surgeon Richard Bate, a member of the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI). The orchid enthusiast had "spent 30 years searching deep, dark woodland in the hope of catching a glimpse of this rare flower", said The Guardian.

Who said what
Professor Ian Denholm, one of BSBI's two national expert referees on orchids, said the flower was "the holy grail for British botanists". The ghost orchid was first recorded in Britain in Herefordshire in 1854. The plant is notoriously difficult to find having been spotted in Britain only a few dozen times over the past 170 years.

What next?
The orchid's location is being kept secret to "protect its sensitive underground parts from being trampled by enthusiasts who would flock to see it – or having its flower plucked by a poacher", said The Guardian.

 
 

It's not all bad

The beaver population in urban London is finally growing, with two babies born for the first time since the species was hunted to extinction 400 years ago. Their parents were brought to the Paradise Fields nature reserve last fall as part of the Ealing Beaver Project, which aims to improve biodiversity and educate the public on these rodents. The births are "testament to the project's success in that the beavers are happy enough to breed and raise a family here", volunteer Sean McCormack told the BBC.

 
 
under the radar

The 'polycrisis' facing the Pacific Islands

Pacific Island leaders are gathering in Tonga this week to address issues including climate change, international drug trafficking, geopolitical power struggles and more, amounting to what Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka called a "polycrisis".

At the 53rd annual Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders Meeting, which concludes on 30 August, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has joined regional leaders amid a "growing sense of urgency as existential threats intensify on several fronts", said Al Jazeera. Recent unrest in New Caledonia, a French overseas territory, has only exacerbated concerns over the region's future.

"If the region is to survive it really needs something to drive the collective agenda and identity," Sandra Tarte, a regional politics expert at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, told Al Jazeera. 

The 2050 Strategy for a Blue Pacific Continent looks to fill that role. The broad approach was endorsed by PIF attendees in 2022 and leaders hope to thrash out more concrete details at this year's meeting. But some of the proposals on the agenda are likely to be shaped by international influence, yet another dimension of the "polycrisis" flagged by Rabuka.

"Once overlooked by many Western governments, the Pacific has become a focus of competition in recent years among the world's largest governments for influence, resources and power," said The Hill. "The Pacific Islands Forum has exploded in importance as a result, drawing diplomatic and civil society observers from across the globe."

 
 
on this day

28 August 1973

Marvin Gaye’s 13th studio album "Let's Get It On" was released by the Motown subsidiary label Tamla Records, helping to establish the soul singer’s reputation as a sex icon. The title track went to No.1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and the album became the most commercially successful of Gaye’s career.

 
 
Today's newspapers

"Finally Starmer comes clean: He'll soak middle class", says the Daily Mail after the PM's address from the rose garden at Downing Street, where he said October's budget would be "painful". The Telegraph says middle-class savers are rushing to sell shares. The Mirror focuses on concerns over the potential consequences of getting rid of the winter fuel payment for many elderly people. Meanwhile, the Daily Star says that "ET invaders would wipe us all out", splashing on remarks made by space expert Sreedhara Somanath that he believes extraterrestrials are real.

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Taking a cut

A family at a restaurant in southern Arezzo, Italy, was surprised to find its bill included a €58 fee for cutting a birthday cake bought at a local pastry shop. The hefty fee – more than the cost of the cake – included a €4.50 charge for each of the 13 guests. "We mainly serve dishes from our own production so we try to discourage those who bring things from outside," the restaurant owner told the Corriere Fiorentino newspaper.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Arion McNicoll, Abby Wilson, Sorcha Bradley, Irenie Forshaw and Chas Newkey-Burden, with illustrations by Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Steffen Kugler / Bundesregierung via Getty Images; Justin Lane – Pool / Getty Images; Rhona Wise / AFP via Getty Images.