Four Democratic women targeted by Trump accuse him of following an ‘agenda of white nationalists’ at a press conference

Four Democratic congresswomen of color targeted by Donald Trump’s racist attacks have accused the US president of following an “agenda of white nationalists” and asked that Americans “do not take the bait” of his divisive rhetoric.

In a joint press conference at the Capitol, the congresswomen spoke out after Trump said they should “go back” to the “crime infested” countries they came from, prompting condemnation in the US and across the world.

Four US politicians hit back at US president’s ‘go back home’ remarks … Boris Johnson under fire for stance on Islam … mayor cuts down London’s Tulip

Good morning briefers. I’m Martin Farrer and it’s my pleasure to take you through the top stories from around the world this Tuesday morning.

Anger as 2007 essay lamenting ‘no spread of democracy’ in Islamic world comes to light

Boris Johnson has been strongly criticised for arguing Islam has caused the Muslim world to be “literally centuries behind” the west, in an essay unearthed by the Guardian.

Writing about the rise of the religion in an appendix added to a later edition of The Dream of Rome, his 2006 book about the Roman empire, Johnson said there was something about Islam that hindered development in parts of the globe and, as a result, “Muslim grievance” was a factor in virtually every conflict.

Budget airline says it plans to close some bases and will carry fewer passengers

Ryanair has warned that delays to deliveries of Boeing’s 737 Max aircraft will hit passenger numbers next year and it plans to cut or close bases at some airports as a result.

Europe’s biggest budget carrier has ordered 135 of the 737 Max models, which remain grounded after two crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed a total of 346 people. Boeing has yet to convince regulators that software modifications are sufficient to ensure the plane’s safety.

Radical change needed to make UK food and farming system sustainable within 10 years

The true cost of cheap, unhealthy food is a spiralling public health crisis and environmental destruction, according to a high-level commission. It said the UK’s food and farming system must be radically transformed and become sustainable within 10 years.

The commission’s report, which was welcomed by the environment secretary, Michael Gove, concluded that farmers must be enabled to shift from intensive farming to more organic and wildlife friendly production, raising livestock on grass and growing more nuts and pulses. It also said a National Nature Service should be created to give opportunities for young people to work in the countryside and, for example, tackle the climate crisis by planting trees or restoring peatlands.

Implementation of ban ‘inadequate’ and has resulted in more waste, says Lord Teverson

The ban on the wasteful discards of healthy and edible fish at sea has failed, according to a Lords report. Despite its enormous popularity with the British public, the measure has been poorly implemented in the UK and the result is more fish being needlessly wasted.

The implementation of the discards ban has been “inadequate” according to Lord Teverson, speaking to the Guardian after a report on the issue that he co-wrote. A committee of the House of Lords criticised the government in a report for failing to put the ban into proper effect.

Evelyn Beatriz Hernández was jailed for murder after she was ruled to have induced abortion

A 21-year-old woman who gave birth to a baby in a toilet in El Salvador has returned to court for a second trial for murder in a case that has drawn international attention because of the country’s highly restrictive abortion laws.

Evelyn Beatriz Hernández, who says she was raped and had no idea she was pregnant, had already served 33 months of her 30-year sentence when the supreme court overturned the ruling against her in February and ordered a new trial with a new judge.

Human Rights Watch calls on Croatia to end illegal practice of forcing people back over Bosnian border

After months of official denials, Croatia’s president has admitted that the country’s police are involved in the violent pushbacks of migrants and asylum seekers apprehended inside the country.

The best chance for thousands of refugees stuck in Bosnia is to cross its border with Croatia to make it to the European Union. For the past year there has been repeated evidence of police using force against those who have made it across the border and then dumping them back in Bosnia.

Social media firm to investigate users’ complaints and take down violating posts

Fresh efforts to tackle scam adverts across Facebook are being introduced in the UK following action taken by the consumer champion Martin Lewis.

The social media company is releasing a scam ads reporting tool, with a specially trained team investigating alerts raised by users, reviewing reports and taking down violating posts to clamp down on potentially misleading adverts.

Daily Stormer publisher incited his readers to contact Tanya Gersh, who received threatening emails, texts and voicemails

The publisher of a neo-Nazi website, who organized a “troll storm” to target a Jewish woman and her family with months of abusive messages, should have to pay more than $14m in damages and remove all posts that encouraged his readers to contact her, a US judge has recommended.

The US magistrate judge called the harassment campaign, launched by the Daily Stormer publisher Andrew Anglin a month before Donald Trump’s inauguration, “egregious and reprehensible”. Anglin targeted Tanya Gersh, a Jewish real estate agent in Whitefish, Montana, a town where the prominent white nationalist Richard Spencer and his family have sometimes lived.