Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Sunday 18 Aug 2019

1. Brexit commencement order signed as PM to demand new deal

The Brexit secretary, Stephen Barclay, has signed the commencement order that will end of the sovereignty of EU law in Britain on 31 October. The move comes as Boris Johnson prepares to tell EU leaders that there needs to be a new Brexit deal. In his first trip abroad as PM, he will insist that the UK will leave the EU on 31 October, with or without a deal.

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

2. Government document predicts no-deal chaos

Britain would suffer shortages of food, fuel and medicine, months of chaos at ports, a hard border with Ireland and rising costs in social care in the event of a no-deal Brexit, according to a government document. The leaked “Operation Yellowhammer” paperwork is marked “official-sensitive,” meaning it requires security clearance on a “need to know” basis.

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Operation Yellowhammer: ex-ministers accused of Brexit sabotage

3. Dozens die in bomb attack in Kabul wedding hall

At least 63 people have died and 182 are injured after an explosion in a wedding hall in the Afghan capital of Kabul. A presidential spokesman said the bombing was a “heinous crime”. The attack took place at the Dubai City venue in a district that is home to many members of the Shia Hazara community.

4. New knife-crime powers will target children

Children as young as 12 could be subject to a curfew under new powers designed to tackle knife crime. Young people who police believe to be carrying a knife could face new rules and restrictions, including being blocked from seeing and communicating with certain people. Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “We are cracking down on violent crime.”

5. Jihadi Jack “is stripped of his British citizenship”

Jack Letts, the Muslim convert suspected of leaving Britain to join Islamic State, has reportedly been stripped of his British citizenship. Letts, also known as “Jihadi Jack”, left his Oxfordshire home in 2014 at the age of 18. He married in Iraq and moved to Raqqa in Syria. He was caught by Kurdish forces as he attempted to flee to Turkey in May 2017.

6. FBI documents say Mountbatten “had lust for young boys”

Lord Mountbatten was a “sexually voracious man” with a “lust for young boys,” reports The Sunday Times. In FBI files, Elizabeth de la Poer Beresford, Baroness Decies, claims Lord Louis Mountbatten “was known to be a homosexual with a perversion for young boys”. The files state that “in Lady Decies’ opinion he is an unfit man to direct any sort of military operations because of this condition”.

Prince Andrew ‘appalled’ over Epstein sex scandal claims

7. French waiter shot dead “because of slow service”

A 28-year-old waiter in France has been shot dead by a customer who was reportedly angry because his sandwich was not served quickly enough. Police say a murder investigation has been launched after the incident on Friday evening in Noisy-le-Grand, on the outskirts of Paris. The suspect fled the scene and has not been caught.

8. Pig hearts could clear Britain’s donor waiting list

Pig hearts could be adapted for human use within the next three years, according to the surgeon who performed Britain’s first successful transplant. Sir Terence English believes the development could clear the UK donor waiting list. He said it is “likely” that pigs’ hearts would be used “with good effects in humans” within a few years.

9. Owen Jones is attacked in “premeditated assault”

Writer and activist Owen Jones has been physically assaulted in London while celebrating his 35th birthday with friends. The Guardian columnist said he was kicked, punched and thrown to the ground by a gang of men in the early hours of Saturday morning. He described it as “a blatant premeditated assault”. He says that he has been “repeatedly targeted in the street by far-right activists”.

10. Bank Holiday heatwave forecast after week of rain and wind

Britain could bask in temperatures as high as 30°C over the August Bank Holiday weekend. After strong winds and torrential rain this week, warmer weather could be on its way, with a forecaster predicting a final flush of summer thanks to high pressure pulling up subtropical air from the Azores.