Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 8 Aug 2019

1. Corbyn to ‘take taxi to Queen and offer to govern’

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn would jump in a taxi, drive to Buckingham Palace and tell the Queen “we’re taking over” if Boris Johnson loses a no-confidence vote, shadow chancellor John McDonnell has warned. His comments at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival yesterday follow reports that Johnson plans to simply ignore any such vote result in order to push through a no-deal Brexit.

2. Protests as Trump visits mass shooting towns

Donald Trump was met by protesters yesterday as he visited the two cities where a total of 31 people were killed and dozens more wounded in the latest mass shootings in the US. Demonstrators in El Paso in Texas and Dayton in Ohio accused the president of encouraging domestic terrorism with his racist rhetoric.

3. Storms set to batter Britain

Thunderstorms, rain and “unseasonably strong” winds are expected to hit the UK from Thursday evening, prompting extreme weather warnings. The Met Office has issued five separate yellow warnings, with parts of the UK expected to see up to 1.4in of rainfall in a 24-hour period.

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4. British woman missing in Greece ‘killed by rockfall’

A British scientist who disappeared two days ago while jogging on the Greek island of Ikaria may have been crushed by boulder that was dislodged as she fell 65ft down a ravine, local police say. Natalie Christopher, a 35-year-old astrophysicist from London, was found dead on Wednesday at the bottom of a ravine about a mile from the hotel where she was on holiday with her Cypriot partner.

5. Teenager murder suspects found dead in Canada

Two Canadian teenagers who went on the run after becoming the prime suspects in three murders have been found dead. Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, are said to have shot dead Australian traveller Lucas Fowler, his US girlfriend Chynna Deese and 64-year-old Canadian Leonard Dyck, in two separate incidents in July. Police say the bodies believed to be those of the two fugitives were found in dense brush in Manitoba province.

6. British man drowns in Austrian lake

A 33-year-old British man has drowned while swimming in a lake in Austria after suffering cramp, police say. The 33-year-old was in the water in the Schwarzindien beach area of Mondsee, east of Salzburg, when he complained of a cramp in his foot and then sank below the surface, according to his female companion, also from England. Other bathers were unable to save him.

7. Tool allows spread of ‘fake news’ on WhatsApp

A newly released software tool exploits a vulnerability in WhatsApp that allows hackers to “put words in people’s mouths”, researchers say. A team from cybersecurity firm Checkpoint has demonstrated how the text in forwarded messages can be manipulated and altered. Facebook, which owns the messaging app, says it cannot fix the vulnerability exploited by the new tool without reducing functionality.

8. Fake saffron discovery in UK leads to bust in Spain

The discovery of “fake“ saffron being sold in Sussex has resulted in the seizure of £750,000 worth of the counterfeit version from a factory in Alicante, Spain, following a two-year international investigation. Saffron, which costs about £6 to £8 per gram, is made from the stigmas of saffron crocuses, but spice being sold in shops in Worthing and Adur was found to be laced with other lower quality ingredients - prompting trading standards officers to alert the Spanish authorities.

9. Scientists produce radioactivity-free vodka with Chernobyl grain

A new brand of vodka called Atomik has been distilled by scientists working in the exclusion zone around the former Chernobyl nuclear reactor in Ukraine. The international team hope to sell the spirit to raise money for people displaced by the 1986 disaster. The distillation process removes radioactivity.

10. Gun violence: why does the US have so many mass shootings?

Two mass shootings within 24 hours have reignited the heated debate around gun violence and firearm laws in the US.

Gun violence: why does the US have so many mass shootings?