Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 25 Mar 2019

1. Trump cleared of conspiracy with Russia

US President Donald Trump was yesterday cleared of conspiring with Russia to win the 2016 election after a lengthy inquiry by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller’s report does not, however, exonerate Trump of obstructing investigators – although Attorney General William Barr says it fails to provide evidence of this.

2. Knives drawn for May as cabinet meets

Theresa May is under intense pressure to resign as cabinet meets this morning. Newspapers including The Sun are urging the Prime Minister to step down and some commentators say promising to go could win support from Conservative MPs for her Brexit deal. Senior ministers denied at the weekend that there is a plot to oust her.

3. Charles and Camilla are first royals in Cuba

Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, yesterday began a four-day visit to Cuba, making history as the first royals to visit the communist state in an official capacity. They flew in from Barbados and went straight to a wreath-laying ceremony for national hero poet Jose Marti, then to an official dinner with the country’s president.

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4. Dead rats used by prison drug smugglers

Prison officers at HMP Guys Marsh in Dorset found a large amount of drugs, including cannabis and spice, and five mobile phones inside dead rats, which had been thrown over the fence from outside, apparently for a prisoner to find and sell. The animals had been disembowelled, filled with contraband and sewn back together again.

5. Pilot flies plane into club in attempt to kill

A South African pilot died on Saturday when he crashed a small passenger plane into a flying club in Botswana, apparently in an attempt to kill his wife who was having a party inside. Guests evacuated the baby shower at Matsieng aerodrome after Charl Viljoen made several “menacing” fly-pasts and no-one but Viljoen was hurt.

6. Christchurch terror attack: inquiry ordered

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has ordered the highest level of public inquiry into the white supremacist terror attacks on two mosques in which 50 people died earlier this month. A royal commission will ask whether more could have been done to prevent the shootings, with Ardern promising a “comprehensive” report.

7. Cyclone Veronica lashes coastal Australia

A second cyclone in 48 hours is lashing the coast of Australia with wind and rain. Cyclone Veronica is no longer expected to make landfall but is lingering about 60 miles off the north-west coast of the country. Cyclone Trevor hit the Northern Territory state on Saturday, snapping trees and outing power. Veronica is expected to cause floods.

8. Chat with Queen ‘helped MPs’ expenses story’

Former Daily Telegraph editor Will Lewis has said in a TV documentary that a private conversation with the Queen during the MPs’ expenses scandal ten years ago left him “full of resolution” to continue unearthing the story “right until the end”. Lewis said he would not reveal what the Queen said to him – but it seems to have helped.

9. Study finds male-female brain split in womb

A new study has caused controversy by suggesting that differences between male and female brains begin in the womb. The brains of 118 foetuses in the second half of pregnancy were scanned by the team from New York University Langone and lead researcher Moriah Thomason says their results suggest sex differences begin before birth.

10. Who’s the richest woman in the UK?

Online gambling mogul Denise Coates is the best-paid woman in the world and the sixth richest person in the UK, according to the latest issue of Forbes magazine.

Coates, who founded the gambling group Bet365 and is worth an estimated $6.5bn, is the only British woman to make Forbes’s richest people in the world list who isn’t ranked alongside a spouse or other family members.

Who’s the richest woman in the UK?