Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Wednesday 17 Apr 2019

1. London climate change protests: 290 people arrested

Police have arrested 290 people in London as protests demanding action on climate change enter their third day. Oxford Street and other central thoroughfares remained closed last night, with people refusing to move on. London mayor Sadiq Khan urged the Extinction Rebellion group not to attempt to disrupt the Underground.

2. Trump vetoes bill to end Yemen war support

US President Donald Trump yesterday used his presidential veto for the second time in his term of office. He blocked a bill passed by Congress which would have ended US support for Saudi Arabia’s proxy war with Iran in Yemen. America has provided billions of dollars of weapons and intelligence to the pro-government coalition.

3. Labour: we’ll scrap SATs for primary pupils

Jeremy Corbyn said yesterday that, if elected, Labour would scrap the SATs taken by primary pupils in England and Wales, in order to relieve the “extreme pressure” the tests place on children and teachers. He said the regime of testing seven- and 11-year-olds that has been in place for 30 years would be replaced with something more “flexible”.

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4. Assange denies faeces-on-walls allegation

President Lenin Moreno of Ecuador yesterday repeated his claim that Julian Assange had smeared faeces on the walls of the Ecuadorian London embassy, something the WikiLeaks founder’s lawyer has denied as an “outrageous allegation”. Assange faces extradition to the US after spending seven years holed up in the embassy.

5. One rasher a day “increases risk of cancer”

Previous research has shown that eating too much red or processed meat can be harmful. Now, a new study led by Oxford University suggests that even one rasher of bacon a day can increase the risk of bowel cancer. Looking at data from half a million people in the UK, researchers found an extra two rashers a day raised the risk by 20%.

6. Mastercard faces £14bn compensation case

Mastercard is once again facing a legal case which could lead to it paying £14bn in compensation to 46 million customers who paid high charges to use credit cards in shops. The case was thrown out by the Competition Appeal Tribunal two years ago but yesterday the Court of Appeal ruled the tribunal must now reconsider the challenge.

7. Teachers warn of schools mental health crisis

A survey of teachers in England suggests there is a crisis in the mental health of pupils. More than eight in 10 teachers from the National Education Union said the mental health of their charges has deteriorated in the past two years, reporting anxiety, self-harm and in extreme cases suicide. Some blamed funding cuts.

8. Macron: Notre-Dame will be “more beautiful”

France’s President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday that Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, badly damaged by a massive fire which started on Sunday, will be “more beautiful than before” within five years. Experts have said the reconstruction could take decades, however, with sourcing the correct materials one of the challenges.

9. Cheating men “have differently shaped faces”

Research led by an Australian team suggests that people can accurately predict if a man is likely to be unfaithful to his partners just by the shape of his face. Men and women were shown pictures of men and correctly identified that those with more “masculine” faces were more likely to cheat. The team stressed the effect was “modest”.

10. Should isolation in schools be banned?

The case of a young girl who attempted suicide after spending months in an isolation booth at school has reopened the debate on the practice of segregating children in education.

Should isolation in schools be banned?