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

1. US House condemns Trump’s ‘go back’ tweets

The US House of Representatives last night voted to condemn President Donald Trump for telling four congresswomen of colour to “go back” to the countries of their ancestry. Four Republicans joined 235 Democrats to vote for a resolution denouncing Trump’s tweeted “racist comments that have legitimised fear and hatred”.

The Squad: who are the four women targeted in Trump’s ‘racist’ tweets?

2. Detained British-Iranian woman ‘in psychiatric ward’

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman jailed in Iran for alleged spying, has been moved to a psychiatric ward. The 40-year-old mother-of-one, who has been imprisoned since 2016, went on hunger strike for 15 days last month. Her husband did the same in the UK.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Zaghari-Ratcliffe moved to psychiatric ward in Iran

3. Millennials ‘facing homeless old age’

More than 600,000 Millennials who have been unable to get onto the housing ladder will also be unable to afford rent on their pensions by 2038, a government inquiry has found. The research into the future of so-called Generation Rent found the number of older households in unfit accommodation is set to rocket as well.

4. Johnson ‘wants early election to hit Corbyn’

Boris Johnson intends to hold an early general election if he becomes prime minister, in an attempt to defeat Labour “while Jeremy Corbyn is still around”, The Times reports. The Tory leadership front-runner appeared last night with rival Jeremy Hunt at a £1,000-a-head fundraising dinner in central London to boost party coffers and build an election war chest.

Today’s newspapers: ‘Bullish Boris ready to walk away’

5. Menstrual cups ‘as reliable as tampons’

The first large scientific review of the effectiveness of sanitary products for women has found that menstrual cups are as leakproof as tampons and pads. The cups, which are reusable, fit into the vagina and collect blood, rather than absorbing it. However, while they have been gaining in popularity, the review found awareness of menstrual cups among women was relatively low.

6. Lack of sunshine triggers cucumber crisis in Japan

Low temperatures and a lack of sunshine have caused a crisis in Japanese agriculture that has sent prices of vegetables rocketing. Cucumber prices have risen by 70%, the authorities warn. The Asian nation has seen an average of just three hours of sunshine per day for the past three weeks, the lowest levels since records began in 1961.

7. US House to investigation ‘weaponised ticks’ claims

The US House of Representatives is to look into the possibility that Lyme disease was introduced into parasitic ticks by the Pentagon in the 1950s or 1960s. The idea that the spread of the disease is a result of an experiment in weaponising the arachnids has been proposed by a Republican congressman and will now be investigated.

8. Partial lunar eclipse on anniversary of Moon mission launch

Skywatchers across the UK witnessed a partial lunar eclipse yesterday, exactly 50 years after the first mission to land on the Moon blasted off. At the peak of the eclipse, at about 10.30pm, the surface of the Earth’s only permanent natural satellite appeared red or grey as our planet cast a shadow on the lunar surface where Neil Armstrong walked in 1969.

Apollo 11: the Moon landing conspiracy debunked

9. Snow Patrol song Chasing Cars most played in UK

The most played song on British radio so far this millennium is Snow Patrol’s ballad Chasing Cars, newly published figures reveal. The song was never No.1 and was only the 14th biggest-selling single in 2006, the year that the track was released. The second most-played song is I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas, followed by Pharrell’s Happy.

10. Briefing: what’s inside Area 51?

The US Air Force has published a warning to 1.2 million activists who have signed a petition in support of storming a notorious military base that has long obsessed alien conspiracy theorists.

In early July, the team behind a Facebook page dubbed “S***posting cause im in shambles” teamed up with a Twitch video game streamer named SmyleeKun to organise an event dubbed “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us”.

Area 51: what is inside the secret military base?