Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 18 Oct 2019

1. Johnson facing Commons battle to pass Brexit deal

The prime minister has 24 hours to persuade MPs to back his new Brexit deal ahead of a knife-edge vote in the Commons on Saturday. The proposed new agreement sees the Irish backstop dropped in favour of a plan under which Northern Ireland would remain aligned to the EU from the end of the transition period for at least four years. The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg warns that “for some Brexit purists and unionists too, it’s a breach of some of the promises” made to them by Boris Johnson.

How Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal could slip through parliament

2. David Cameron: greased piglet Johnson will pass withdrawal agreement

Former prime minister David Cameron yesterday said he believes Boris Johnson will get his Brexit deal through Parliament. Addressing an audience at a literary festival in Harrogate, Cameron said: “The thing about the greased piglet is that he manages to slip through other people’s hands where mere mortals fail.” Johnson has previously called Cameron a “girly swot”, in leaked papers discussing the prorogation of Parliament.

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

3. Turkey suspected of using white phosphorus on Kurds

Turkish forces in northern Syria have been accused of using white phosphorus on Kurdish civilians, in contravention of the Geneva Convention. One UK expert told The Times that photographs of badly burned children supported the claims. Turkey has agreed to a 120-hour ceasefire brokered by the US, in order to allow Kurdish troops to withdraw.

Trump celebrates as Turkey calls ceasefire in Syria

4. Trump-Ukraine: White House admits withholding aid

The White House’s acting chief of staff seemed to make a misstep yesterday when he told reporters the US had withheld military aid from Ukraine as a quid-pro-quo to encourage the European nation to investigate the business affairs of the son of Donald Trump’s Democrat rival Joe Biden. Mick Mulvaney subsequently tried to retract his remarks over why the aid was withheld, an issue that is central to an impeachment inquiry against the president.

What Donald Trump said to the Ukrainian president

5. Savile Row tailors reeling from US import tax

London’s celebrated Savile Row tailors say they feel like “collateral damage” in a US-EU trade war after Donald Trump imposed a 25% tariff on suits imported to the US from the EU. The previous tax on suits was just 13%. The surprise tariff is a response to a long-running row over illegal EU subsidies to plane-maker Airbus that hurt US rival firm Boeing.

6. Police release e-fit of man who fell from plane

Police have released an e-fit image of an unidentified man whose frozen body fell into a south London garden from the landing gear of a plane on 30 June. The man is believed to be a Kenyan in his early 30s. Police said: “This man has a family somewhere who need to know what has happened to their loved one.”

7. Mexico: heavy fighting after drug lord’s son detained

The capture and arrest of the son of drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman triggered a gun battle in the Mexican city of Culiacan on Thursday. Ovidio Guzman Lopez is one of the leaders of the Sinaloa drug cartel, which launched a massive attack on security forces after he was detained. Guzman, who is wanted in the US on drug trafficking charges, was subsequently released.

8. Sainsbury’s to stop selling fireworks over pet worries

Sainsbury’s has announced that fireworks will no longer be sold in any of its 2,300 stores, in response to widespread concern for pets. Animal charity the Dogs Trust congratulated the supermarket giant on the decision and noted that fireworks can be “very distressing for dogs”. The Co-op stopped selling fireworks five years ago.

9. Viral post sparks confusion over feeding ducks bread

A photograph of a poster in a park that went viral after being posted on social media has sparked confusion about feeding ducks bread. The official-looking flyer says ducks are dying of starvation because people have stopped giving them bread - but some experts say this is untrue. The poster appeared in the Pavilion Gardens in Buxton, Derbyshire, but park managers insist it is not their doing.

10. Briefing: what will happen to Syria?

In the wake of Donald Trump’s decision to hastily withdraw all US troops from Syria, much attention has been heaped upon the subsequent assault on Kurdish positions by Turkish armed forces and Washington’s withering diplomatic standing in the Middle East.

But by upending the balance of power in Syria, Trump appears to have left the door open for an old foe to take full advantage of the power vacuum that appears to be forming: Russia. What happens next?

What will happen to Syria?