WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
School shooting, anti-pollution law, and Almodóvar's first English-language film

 
today's international story

Georgia high school shooter kills four

What happened 
Two students and two teachers were killed, and nine other people had to be rushed to hospital after a shooting at a Georgia high school yesterday, with authorities saying the gunman was a teenage student at the school.

Who said what
Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, took the "unusual step" of naming the minor arrested at Apalachee High School in Winder, about 50 miles north-east of Atlanta, said The Guardian. Colt Gray, 14, will be charged as an adult with four counts of murder. Local sheriff Jud Smith described the attack as "pure evil". 

Law enforcement officers are still investigating the shooting and the motive behind it. Smith warned that it could take "multiple days" to get answers.

The US has seen hundreds of shootings at schools and colleges in recent decades. The US Gun Violence Archive reported that there had been 384 mass shootings in the US this year before yesterday's incident. A mass shooting is classed as an attack in which four or more victims are killed or shot, not including the shooter.

What next? 
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said on X that he was "praying for the safety of those in our classrooms" and directing "all available state resources" to help.

Kris Brown, president of the gun control advocacy group Brady, said there was "no world in which this is acceptable".

"Thoughts, prayers and platitudes will never be enough," Brown said. "Gun violence is an all-too-American crisis that demands action."

 
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today's environment story

Anti-pollution law threatens water bosses with jail

What happened
Water company executives could be sent to prison for up to two years under new government legislation to combat pollution in rivers and seas.

Who said what
The measures, set to be unveiled today, would "end the disgraceful behaviour of water companies and their bosses", according to Environment Secretary Steve Reed. The Water Bill also includes plans for pay bonuses to be withheld from water bosses and "severe and automatic" speeding ticket-style fines to be issued in the event of pollution incidents.

The bill comes after "public outcry" over the regular dumping of sewage into seas and waterways by water companies, said The Telegraph. Sewage spills "rose to a record high last year", with 477,000 incidents over four million hours, up 58% on the previous year.

What next?
Some campaigners have criticised the new legislation as "window dressing", saying the real issue was not with the rules themselves, but a failure of enforcement. The government said future legislation would bring further changes to the water industry, accelerating infrastructure upgrades and better addressing the problem of pollution.

 
 
Today's film story

Almodóvar showcases first English-language film

What happened
Pedro Almodóvar premiered his first English language film at the Venice Film Festival this week. The Spanish director said the decision to make "The Room Next Door" in English was intended to communicate his firm belief that euthanasia should be available "all over the world".

Who said what
While assisted suicide remains a contentious issue in the UK, euthanasia has been legal in Spain since 2021 under a law that allows adults with "serious and incurable" diseases that cause "unbearable suffering" to choose to end their lives.

One of the film's stars, Tilda Swinton, called the new movie "a celebration of control and autonomy".

What next?
At present euthanasia is legal in only four countries in Europe: Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Spain. Portugal has legalised euthanasia for people in great suffering and with incurable diseases, but the law is not yet in force.

 "The Room Next Door" is set for release in UK cinemas on 25 October.

 
 

It's not all bad

Three years after the Taliban prohibited them from finishing their studies, 19 women have left Afghanistan to finish their medical training in Scotland. The Linda Norgrove Foundation arranged visas for the women and connected them to schools. They will be treated as domestic students, so their tuition is free. Knowing they would be returning to school was the "only motivation of light in our dark world," student Omulbanin Sultani told the BBC.

 
 
under the radar

Why the UK phone signal is so poor

Some of the UK's biggest cities are blighted by poor mobile phone network coverage.

Most mobile networks boast that they cover 99% of the UK, but 17% of users have experienced problems with their connection, according to the latest Which? mobile network satisfaction survey. Complaints included network dropouts, recurrent outages and consistently bad phone signals.

While problems in rural communities are expected – the previous government even published a briefing paper on the subject – few people anticipate that they will have to search for the magic four or five signal bars on their phone in a major urban area. Yet many city-based users say they also have problems and analytics company MedUX found that London had the worst 5G speed performance of all of Europe's main cities, both for uploads and downloads.

The problem, as Andy Aitken of mobile network provider Honest told the i news site, is a lack of investment. "We're not upgrading our telecom infrastructure to keep up with more devices and users," he said. In addition, the UK's planning system makes it difficult to put up the giant telephone masts needed for better mobile coverage.

Even when planning permission is given there are still problems, according to the London Evening Standard, which said the former Conservative government's ban on Chinese telecom manufacturer Huawei in 2020 put back the UK's rollout of 5G phone masts by two to three years. This causes problems because most phones are "automatically programmed" to use 5G even if there is a stronger 4G signal, said The Spectator's Kristina Murkett.

 
 
on this day

5 September 1975

Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a member of the Manson family cult, attempted to assassinate US President Gerald Ford in Sacramento. Fromme was sentenced to life in prison for the crime, but was paroled in 2009. The event was one of numerous attempts to assassinate a sitting or former American president, the latest occurring this year when a shooter opened fire on Donald Trump.

 
 
Today's newspapers

The Mirror leads with pictures of those who died in the Grenfell tragedy. The final report from the inquiry into the disaster features prominently this morning, with the FT saying the fire was the result of "decades of failure". The victims were killed by "greed and a culture of dishonesty", says The Times, while the i paper says that "everyone failed them". Police are under pressure to accelerate their criminal investigation, added The Guardian.

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Resigned to needing help quitting

Japanese workers are turning to a "resignation agency" to help them quit their jobs. Momuri, which translates to “I can’t do this anymore”, according to CNN, offers its service for the price of 22,000 yen (about £115). The agency pledges to help employees tender their resignations, negotiate with their companies and provide recommendations for lawyers if disputes arise. “Some people come to us after having their resignation letter ripped (up) three times and employers not letting them quit even when they kneel down to the ground to bow,” Momuri's Shiori Kawamata told CNN.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Arion McNicoll, Jamie Timson, Sorcha Bradley and Chas Newkey-Burden, with illustrations by Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Christian Monterrosa / AFP via Getty Images; Christopher Furlong / Getty Images; Daniele Venturelli / WireImage / Getty Images.