Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 9 May 2019

1. Grenfell: £200m fund to replace unsafe cladding

The Government is creating a £200m fund to replace unsafe cladding on around 170 high-rise blocks in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire. Announcing the move, Communities Secretary James Brokenshire said: “If these reckless building owners won’t act, the Government will.” He accused landlords of “delay tactics” and trying to make residents foot the bill for replacing aluminium composite material cladding.

2. Flood defences ‘will cost £1bn a year’

The Environment Agency is warning that Britain will be spending £1bn a year on flood defence within decades if global warming continues along current lines. Chair Emma Howard says that some communities will have to be moved wholesale – and that flooded properties must now be rebuilt with flood defences incorporated into them.

3. US Congress holds William Barr in contempt

The US Congress yesterday voted to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt for his failure to hand over the full, unredacted text of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on alleged collusion between Donald Trump’s election team and Russia. The House Judiciary Committee, led by Democrats, passed the motion.

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4. High-street chain to stop selling wet wipes

Health food chain Holland & Barrett is to become the first major UK store to stop selling wet wipes, in an attempt to fight the phenomenon of fatbergs in sewers – blockages composed of fat and grease that often contain the wipes. The chain will remove all 34 branded and own-label products in its wet wipe range from its 800 UK and Ireland stores from July.

5. Essex burial site held ‘Britain’s Tutankhamun’

An Anglo-Saxon grave discovered in Essex in 2003 is Britain’s answer to Tutankhamun’s Tomb, museum curators say. The site, found between an Aldi and a pub in Southend by builders, is now thought to have contained the body of Seaxa, brother of Saebert, the Saxon king of Essex from AD604 to AD616. Artefacts go on show in Southend today.

6. Archie Harrison: royal baby name was 100-1

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have signalled their readiness to forget royal tradition by naming Meghan’s new son Archie Harrison – and have confounded the bookies in the process. The name Archie, originally short for Archibald, was a 100-1 outsider in the betting. The Palace noted that the baby’s middle name literally means “Harry’s son”.

7. Magic mushrooms decriminalised in US city

Denver has become the first city in the US to decriminalise the use of so-called magic mushrooms, fungi with natural hallucinogenic properties, after the proposal was passed by 50.6% in a public referendum. Using or possessing the mushrooms, which contain the psychoactive ingredient psilocybin, will still be technically illegal but police will tolerate it.

8. Australia: 46 million bank notes misspelled

The Australian mint has confirmed that a print run of 46 million $50 notes contains a typo. The word “responsibility” appears as ‘responsibilty’ in the “micro-text” on one side of the note. A spokesperson for the Reserve Bank of Australia said it was aware of the mistake and added that “the spelling will be corrected at the next print run”.

9. Ed Sheeran overtakes Adele on Rich List

Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran has overtaken Adele in The Sunday Times’s annual Rich List, to become the 17th-richest musician in the UK, after doubling his estimated worth to £160m. The two musicians are among the few young people on the list but have been joined by grime MC Stormzy, thought to have amassed £16m.

10. Briefing: the NXIVM trial begins

A self-proclaimed self-help guru turned young women into sex slaves as head of a cult-like organisation, New York prosecutors have said in opening statements at his trial.

Keith Raniere, 58, faces life in prison if convicted of the charges against him, which include racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. Here is what you need to know.

The NXIVM trial: what you need to know