Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 18 Mar 2019

1. Ardern: ‘New Zealand gun laws will change’

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today that changes to her country’s gun laws are to be announced within days, following a white supremacist terror attack on two mosques in Christchurch on Friday that left 50 people dead. Australian national Brenton Tarrant, 28, has been charged with murder. Police say the killer used military-style assault weapons modified to make them more deadly.

2. NZ mosque attack: husband forgives gunman

A man whose wife died as she tried to rescue him from Christchurch’s Al Noor mosque as a gunman fired at worshippers says he has forgiven the killer and prays for him. Farid Ahmed, who uses a wheelchair, told reporters: “I think somewhere along in his life maybe he was hurt.” Wife Husne, 44, had led other women to safety before returning to help her husband.

3. May in last-minute DUP talks on Brexit

Theresa May’s team is negotiating with the DUP today in a bid to persuade the Northern Irish party to back the prime minister’s Brexit deal ahead of another Commons vote on the plan. May is thought to have won over around 15 Tory rebels over the weekend. The vote is expected to take place this week but Chancellor Philip Hammond told the BBC’s Andrew Marr that it would only be put to MPs if “enough of our colleagues and the DUP are prepared to support it”.

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4. Johnson calls for more negotiations with EU

Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson is insisting that it is not too late for “real change to the backstop” before MPs vote for a third time on Theresa May’s Brexit deal. Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Johnson says he wants to see more negotiations with the EU on the contingency plan for the Irish border before the Commons votes again.

5. Eurostar warns passengers not to travel

Cross-channel train operator Eurostar has warned passengers not to travel from Paris to London unless their journeys are “absolutely necessary”. Cancellations, delays and long queues are being caused by industrial action by French customs officials. The problems will affect services leaving Paris station Gar du Nord until Tuesday.

6. Three teens die after ‘crush’ at St Patrick’s Day party

Two boys aged 17 and 16 and a 17-year-old girl have died following a crush at the entrance of a venue hosting a St Patrick’s Day disco in Northern Ireland. According to reports, dozens of youths were pushed to the ground on top of each other as a large crowd surged forward to get into the Greenvale Hotel in Cookstown, County Tyrone. A 16-year-old girl is in a stable condition in hospital.

7. Surf guitar legend Dick Dale dead at 81

US guitarist Dick Dale, known as the King of Surf Rock, has died at the age of 81. His cause of death has not yet been announced. Dale created the Surf Rock genre in the early 1960s and is best known for his version of Greek folk song Misirlou, which features in the opening credits of Quentin Tarantino’s film Pulp Fiction.

8. Dead whale had 88lbs of plastic in stomach

A whale that washed up dead in the Philippines on Saturday was killed by eating 88lbs (40kg) of plastic bags, scientists say. The juvenile curvier beaked whale died of gastric shock. Philippines-based biologist Darrell Blatchley said that over ten years, his team have found 57 whales and dolphins which have died after ingesting plastic bags.

9. London station renamed ‘Tottenham Hotspur’

The underground station nearest to Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium is to be named after the club, following an apparent U-turn by London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Transport for London. Khan had insisted that the club should pay £14.7m for the privilege of renaming White Hart Lane for a ten-year period, but that fee would no longer apply under a deal now being worked out, according to The Guardian.

10. Briefing: the key points of Theresa May’s Brexit deal

Theresa May is gearing up for a third attempt to get her EU withdrawal deal through Parliament, after the plan was rejected by MPs once again this week.

The Withdrawal Agreement, as it is officially known, is the modified version of the prime minister’s so-called Chequers Plan, agreed with the EU in November.

Theresa May’s Brexit deal: what is the withdrawal agreement?