UK: Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Saturday 30 Mar 2019
Theresa May is planning how to bring her EU withdrawal agreement back to the Commons for a fourth attempt at winning MPs' backing. After her plan was defeated by 58 votes on Friday, the PM said the UK would need “an alternative way forward”. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called on May to change her deal or resign immediately.
The main parties are making preparations for the European parliament elections in May, drawing up lists of candidates and approaching MEPs to see if they are willing to stand again. The moves come after May’s deal was rejected for a third time. The PM said a further extension to the Brexit deadline was “almost certain to involve the UK being required to hold European parliamentary elections”.
Congress will be given a redacted version of Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia report by mid-April, US attorney general William Barr said on Friday. Barr said he plans to censor some of the report to protect the privacy and reputations of some people mentioned. He added that there are no plans for Donald Trump to add his own edits.
Bookmakers are preparing to shut outlets as they prepare for curbs on fixed-odds betting terminals that take effect next week. The industry complains that government’s move to reduce the terminals’ stakes from £100 to £2 to protect vulnerable people would trigger store closures and job losses. Ladbrokes has already chosen 71 out of 1,000 shops that are likely to close.
NHS patients will be offered a “revolutionary” treatment for chronic back pain in a trial at a London hospital. Using an implant that delivers small electrical currents to the cord, spinal cord stimulation disrupts the transmission of pain signals to the brain. Its developers say it could enter more widespread use, bringing hope to the 10m people who suffer back pain.
Samuel Smiths pubs have banned people from using phones in a move to encourage “social conversations”. Venues across the country have been sent a memo stating that people should not be allowed to use their phones in the bar. The ban includes online chatting on phones and tablets, as well as including specific bans on “pictures of sport” and “music apps”.
More than one thousand dead dolphins have washed up on French beaches so far in 2019, sparking concern that the species could be wiped out in the Bay of Biscay. Experts say four times as many carcasses sink in the ocean without trace. Most of the dolphins died after being caught up in trawler nets designed to catch hake and sea bass in the bay.
A former Nevada state assemblywoman said former Vice President Joe Biden left her feeling “uneasy, gross, and confused” at a campaign event in 2014 where she says he kissed her on the back of her head. A spokesman for Biden says he “does not recall what is described”. In 2015, the Washington Post published an article titled “What are we going to do about Creepy Uncle Joe Biden?”
Dominic Grieve has lost a vote of no confidence by his local Conservative Party. The Remain-supporting Conservative MP, who has said he felt ashamed of his party, is facing deselection after losing the confidence vote by 182 to 131 votes. The local campaign against Grieve was led by the man who stood as the Ukip candidate for Beaconsfield in 2017.
Will.i.am has defended the playing of Michael Jackson's music by referring to the Holocaust, saying: “You're not talking about banning Bayer that made the chemicals to kill all the Jews.” The Black Eyed Peas star also said that allegations against Jackson are part of a “smear campaign“ and “just the black artists“ are targeted.
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