Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 18 Apr 2019

1. Farage’s new party takes lead in EU elections

Two polls have put Nigel Farage’s newly formed Brexit Party in the lead for the EU elections, suggesting it has leapfrogged Labour and the Conservatives. In two polls carried out by YouGov, one poll for The Times put the Brexit Party on 23%, Labour on 22% and the Tories on 17%, while the other gave the same parties 27%, 22% and 15% respectively.

2. Climate change protests enter fourth day

Major routes in central London were still closed this morning, as protests demanding action on climate change entered a fourth day. Yesterday, members of Extinction Rebellion locked themselves to Jeremy Corbyn’s house while others glued themselves to a Docklands Light Railway train. Police have arrested nearly 400 people and say they need reinforcements.

3. Trainspotting 2 actor shot dead in Edinburgh

Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh has paid tribute to his “beautiful friend” Bradley Welsh, not thought to be a relative, a sometime actor who was shot dead in Edinburgh yesterday. The 42-year-old appeared in Trainspotting 2 as gangland figure Mr Doyle and also starred in an episode of the TV show Danny Dyer’s Deadliest Men.

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4. North Korea claims new weapon test-firing

North Korea claims it has test-fired a new “tactical guided weapon” with a “powerful warhead”, the first such claim since talks between Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump failed in February. It is though that the missile would not have been a long-range ballistic weapon of the sort previously interpreted as threatening the US.

5. Madeira bus crash: at least 29 people killed

At least 29 people have been killed, and another 27 injured, after a bus carrying German tourists left a road on the Portuguese island of Madeira and rolled down a hillside, coming to rest on a house. Local mayor Filipe Sousa said all of the people killed on the bus were tourists but some locals on ground could also be among the casualties.

6. Children’s TV star Mya-Lecia Naylor dies at 16

The actor Mya-Lecia Naylor, well known to children for her work on CBBC shows Millie Inbetween and Almost Never has died suddenly at the age of 16. Her management said she collapsed and died on 7 April. CBBC said she was a “much-loved part of the BBC Children's family and a hugely talented actress, singer and dancer”.

7. Trump-Russia: Mueller report to be released

The report into alleged links between Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign and Russia, compiled by special counsel Robert Mueller, is expected to be released today, with redactions. Trump has claimed the report “totally exonerated” him but others say this is not the case. It is not clear how much of the report will have been censored.

8. Ex-president of Peru shoots himself dead

A former president of Peru has died after shooting himself in the head before he could be arrested on corruption charges. Alan Garcia, 69, served as president twice, from 1985 to 1990 and from 2006 to 2011. An MP with his centre-left Apra party said Garcia had “made the decision of a free man…in the face of a fascist, sick persecution”.

9. Samsung folding phone snaps in reviewers’ hands

The intriguing new folding phone developed by Samsung seems to be having teething trouble: several of the review handsets sent out to media organisations ahead of its launch have broken after a few days’ use. Samsung said some of the problems might have been caused because reviewers removed the protective film thatcovered the screen.

10. Extinction Rebellion: who are they and what do they want?

More than 400 people affiliated with climate change activist group Extinction Rebellion have been arrested after protests caused significant disruption in central London this week.

What is Extinction Rebellion and what does it want?