Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 31 Oct 2019

1. Corbyn challenges Johnson to TV debate

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says he wants a live TV debate with Prime Minister Boris Johnson before the next general election, expected on 12 December. Corbyn is positioning Labour as the party of the people against the “corrupt few”. Johnson, meanwhile, said he hadn’t wanted an election and blamed Corbyn for Brexit delay.

General election 2019: MPs at risk of losing their seats

2. Nicky Morgan quits over abuse directed at MPs

Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan has announced she is leaving politics, because of the abuse MPs have faced since the Brexit referendum. Former work and pensions secretary Amber Rudd is also quitting Parliament, after leaving the party over Brexit. The Times says Boris Johnson is seeing “an exodus of moderate Conservatives”.

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Why more than 50 MPs are standing down

3. Twitter to ban all political advertising

The CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, has announced the micro-blogging site is to ban all political advertising, worldwide, from 22 November. The re-election campaign manager of US President Donald Trump decried the move as an “attempt by the left to silence Trump” and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said it was undemocratic.

Why Twitter is banning political advertising

4. US general fails to back up Trump claim

When US President Donald Trump revealed former Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had blown himself up in his compound in northern Syria, he said the 48-year-old had died “whimpering and crying and screaming”. Yesterday, however, one of Trump’s top generals said he was not able to “confirm that one way or another”.

5. Trump’s top Russia adviser to depart

US President Donald Trump’s top adviser on Russian affairs is leaving his job, days before he is due to give evidence to the inquiry considering impeaching his boss. It is not clear if Tim Morrison’s departure is a resignation or sacking, says The Guardian, but it suggests the testimony he is due to provide will be unhelpful to Trump.

Donald Trump's impeachment claims, examined

6. Bronze Age monument found in Forest of Dean

Archaeologists have announced the discovery of a previously unknown Bronze Age monument in the Forest of Dean, calling it a “very significant” find. A circle of banked-up earth with several small limestones on top, the “ring cairn”, was found by scanning woodland with lasers from the air and dates back to around 2,000BC.

7. Mary Beard: Heathrow staff made me strip

Broadcaster and academic Mary Beard says staff at Heathrow Airport left her in her “scrappy undies” in public, telling her to remove a tunic which they said was a jacket. The 64-year-old took to Twitter to reprimand the airport but declined to identify staff. She said she was not easily humiliated but had been “a bit surprised”.

8. World’s first western ‘filmed in Lancashire’

A new contender for the first cinema western has been discovered – and it was filmed in England. The one-minute film, titled Kidnapping By Indians, was shot in 1899 by the Lancashire filmmakers Mitchell and Kenyon four years before the film thought until now to be the world’s first western. The film is to be screened in Blackburn.

9. Robin tracked as it makes North Sea dash

For the first time a robin has been fitted with a radio tag. Previously the tags were too big for small birds but new technology allowed scientists to track one bird as it migrated from northern Germany to England. The 0.67oz bird, wearing a 0.01oz tag, stopped off in Holland, from where it took around four hours to get to Suffolk.

10. Briefing: how the Chilean protests began

Fresh fires and unrest have broken out in cities across Chile this week despite efforts by the embattled president to quell the country’s biggest political crisis in three decades.

Protesters clashed with riot police in the capital Santiago, which has been engulfed by tear gas and smoke. Here is what you need to know.

How the Chilean protests began