Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 20 Sep 2019

1. Brexit secretary meeting EU’s chief negotiator amid fresh hopes of deal

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay is in Brussels today for talks with the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. The meeting comes after European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker insisted “we can have a deal” before the 31 October deadline for the UK to quit the bloc. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that he did not want to “exaggerate progress” but that there had been movement towards reaching a withdrawal agreement.

Juncker: I don't have erotic relationship with the backstop

2. Global day of action against climate change begins

Hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren worldwide are expected to walk out of their classes today as part of a global campaign for action on climate change. Protests are also being held in cities across the globe, with events in London and other UK hubs. Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg is set to address a rally in New York City.

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

Global Climate Strike begins: what are your rights for joining the workplace walkout?

3. Canada PM Trudeau: I can’t recall how many times I wore blackface

Canadian leader Justin Trudeau yesterday apologised again for wearing blackface in at least three separate incidents - and said he did not know how many times he had put on racist make-up. The Liberal Party leader is facing a deepening scandal in the run-up to a tightly contested federal election after photographs from his past emerged showing him with his skin darkened. Trudeau said his privileged background may have caused a “blind spot”.

Justin Trudeau apologises after ‘brownface’ image emerges

4. Rapper Dave wins Mercury Prize for debut album

Rapper Dave last night won the Mercury Prize for his debut album, Psychodrama. Accepting the award, the 21-year-old Londoner, full name David Orobosa Omoregie, said: “I did not expect this.” He dedicated his win to his brother, who is serving life in jail for murder. Judge Annie Mac said the album “showed remarkable levels of musicianship”.

5. US flight cancelled ‘because Muslim men were onboard’

Two Muslim men say their American Airlines flight from Birmingham in Alabama to Texas city of Dallas was cancelled because the crew “didn’t feel comfortable” flying with them. Abderraoof Alkhawaldeh and Issam Abdallah were travelling separately to the same event but recognised each other as they boarded the plane and waved hello. The flight was then halted and subsequently cancelled, and they were taken off for questioning by police.

6. Police text warnings to drug users from dealers’ phones

Police forces across the UK are trying to appeal to the consciences of the people who are encouraging child exploitation and other crimes by buying illegal drugs. The Times reports that one technique being used is to send text messages to all the contacts on the mobile phones of arrested dealers, telling them that their number is linked to “the supply of illegal drugs”.

7. Labour activists to push party to back Remain

Labour activists heading to the party’s conference in Brighton this weekend say they will push for a vote on making Labour an official party of Remain, The Guardian reports. Leader Jeremy Corbyn has refused to take sides, saying he wants a second referendum and wants to let the will of the people decide the UK’s future.

8. Cristiano Ronaldo offers fast food workers dinner

Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is to have a reunion with the fast-food workers who used to give him free leftover hamburgers when he was a child player growing up in Portugal. The Juventus star said he would like to invite a McDonald’s employee called Edna and two other women who worked alongside her to have dinner with him.

9. Toothache medication turns woman’s blood blue

Doctors in the US have reported the case of a 25-year-old woman whose blood turned blue overnight after she used a topical pain reliever for toothache. She arrived in hospital telling doctors: “I’m weak and I’m blue.” Staff diagnosed “acquired methemoglobinemia” - a rare, acquired disorder that impairs oxygen release to body tissues. The unnamed woman was given an antidote, sent home and told to see a dentist.

10. Briefing: is Indonesia becoming a sharia state?

The Government of Indonesia is preparing to implement a new criminal code that would severely restrict civil liberties, including banning sex outside of marriage.

After spending “decades revising its colonial-era criminal code”, Indonesia’s parliament has published a 628-article draft bill to replace the old legislation, The Guardian reports. So what is going on?

Is Indonesia becoming a sharia state?