Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Tuesday 8 Oct 2019

1. No-deal ‘would take national debt to 1960s level’

Leaving the EU without any deal for future trade or other relations would push the UK’s national debt up to levels last seen in the 1960s, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has calculated. The debt would increase because the Government would be forced to bring in emergency tax cuts and increase public spending in order to prevent an economic crash.

What is a national unity government and who would lead it?

2. Syria: Kurdish troops alone as US retreats

Donald Trump’s surprise decision to withdraw US troops from the Turkey-Syria border leaves the fate of tens of thousands of suspected Islamic State fighters and their families uncertain, Kurdish troops are warning. The prisoners were to face war crimes tribunals but the invasion of Turkish forces to fight Kurds could prevent the prosecutions.

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US abandons Kurds in Syria: what it means for the Middle East

3. Johnson: protesters are ‘uncooperative crusties’

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has described climate change protesters who have begun two weeks of action in central London as “uncooperative crusties”. Police in the capital arrested 280 demonstrators yesterday. Protests also took place in Berlin, Amsterdam and Sydney.

What is Extinction Rebellion and what does it want?

4. Fears for humpback whale in Thames

A humpback whale spotted in the Thames is swimming “in the direction we don’t want it to”, experts said yesterday. It is feared the 30ft-long animal, which is swimming with the tides between Woolwich and Gravesend, could end up in shallow waters.

5. PM to ask Trump about diplomat’s wife

Boris Johnson has said he will personally speak to Donald Trump about the controversial granting of diplomatic immunity to a US diplomat’s wife accused of killing a British teenager in a road collision. Anne Sacoolas and her US intelligence officer husband fled the UK last month, days after 19-year-old motorcyclist Harry Dunn was killed in the head-on crash.

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

6. MI5 ‘destroyed files on Pat Finucane murder’

MI5 erased the hard drives of a judge who was investigating alleged collusion by the security forces in the 1989 murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, according to the BBC. Retired Canadian judge Peter Cory was appointed in 2002 to rexamine the murder, but his files were then confiscated and deleted by the security service, the broadcaster has learned.

7. Prisoner identified as deadliest US serial killer

A 79-year-old US man jailed in 2012 for the murders of three women is the country’s deadliest serial killer, the FBI believes. Samuel Little has now confessed to killing 93 others across the US between 1970 and 2005. He says he strangled most of his victims, the majority of whom were black and many of whose bodies were never found.

Samuel Little named America's deadliest serial killer

8. Thomas Cook passenger: ‘I’m stuck in Tunisia’

A woman who booked a flight with collapsed travel agent Thomas Cook has said she is “stuck” in Tunisia without enough money to return home. Julie Paige, a nurse, says her flight was not covered by the Atol repatriation scheme under which other Thomas Cook customers were repatriated.

9. South Park issues mock ‘apology’ to China

The makers of South Park have mocked the Chinese authorities for banning the satirical US cartoon series because an episode showed a character being subjected to forced labour and re-education in the Asian nation. A so-called apology issued by Trey Parker and Matt Stone reads: “We welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and hearts. Long live the Communist Party!”

10. Briefing: can the Queen sack Prime Minister Boris Johnson?

Boris Johnson is prepared to “squat” in Downing Street and “dare” the Queen to sack him if MPs try to unseat him in order to avoid a no-deal Brexit, according to government sources.

The row centres around the prime minister’s repeatedly stated intention of leaving the European Union with or without a deal on 31 October. If Brussels rejects his proposals for the Irish border, new legislation known as the Benn Act requires Johnson to ask for a three-month Article 50 extension by 19 October.

Can the Queen sack Prime Minister Boris Johnson?