Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Sunday 1 Dec 2019

1. Conservatives nervous as Labour cuts lead in new poll

Labour has slashed the Conservative lead to nine points, a narrowing of two percentage points since the last polling. In the new YouGov survey, the Tories are on 43% with Labour up two to 34%, the Lib Dems static on 13% and the Brexit Party down to just 2%. Although this would still hand the Tories a majority, it has taken the party into nervous territory.

2. Loud noise that woke north London ‘was sonic boom’

Police say a loud noise that woke people across north London was a sonic boom caused by RAF planes. Twitter became awash with reports of a loud “explosion” at around 04:20, with houses shaking and reports of police sirens straight after. It is claimed that the noise was caused by two RAF Typhoons launched from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire to an unresponsive aircraft.

3. Boris Johnson ‘ignored warnings about releasing terrorists’

Boris Johnson is proposing new anti-terror laws in the wake of the London Bridge attack. The prime minister said if the Conservatives win the general election, terrorists will be forced to serve their entire sentence. Meanwhile, a former top prosecutor says he personally warned Johnson about the risk posed by releasing terrorists who had not been deradicalised but was ignored.

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

4. North Korea threatens Japan with ‘a real missile’

North Korea has threatened Japan with a missile and branded the country’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe an “imbecile” and “political dwarf”. Abe has condemned the North for “repeated launches of ballistic missiles” but North Korea’s state media insisted the nation was testing a “super-large multiple-rocket launcher”. It said Japan “may see what a real ballistic missile is in the not distant future”.

5. Maltese businessman charged with murder of journalist

A leading businessman in Malta has been charged with complicity in the murder of a journalist who investigated corruption on the island. Yorgen Fenech is accused of involvement in the car bomb that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia two years ago. He has pleaded not guilty. The case of the murdered journalist has developed into a major political crisis in the country.

6. Eight-foot whale found washed ashore in London

An eight-foot minke whale has been discovered washed up on the shore of the Thames. It was found near Battersea Bridge by a Port of London Authority boat, but it is not yet known how it got there or why it perished. Minke whales, which can weigh up to 10 tonnes, are the most common baleen whale in UK waters.

7. Labour says figures show GP service declined under Tories

Labour says NHS data shows a decline of GP services under the Conservatives. The party has published figures showing that in October there were six million GP appointments for which patients had a wait of more than two weeks. The Conservatives say they plan to deliver 50 million more GP appointments by 2024-25 if elected.

8. Police in China beat protesters and fire teargas

Riot police in Southern China have fired teargas and assaulted protesters. Hundreds have demonstrated against plans for a large crematorium in an area officials had previously said would become an “ecological park”. Video shows riot police firing teargas, hurling rocks and beating protesters. The footage also showed residents throwing firecrackers at the police and tipping over a car.

9. Hamilton actor accuses London bar of racial profiling

Giles Terera, an actor in the musical Hamilton, has accused a bar in London's West End of racial profiling, alleging that it denied a group entry because they were black. Terera says the Ain’t Nothin’ But blues bar allowed 10 white people next to them to enter, but that the group of eight black actors were turned away. The bar described the claims as “unfair”.

10. Relic ‘from Christ’s manger’ arrives back in Bethlehem

A small wooden relic believed to come from Christ's manger has arrived in Bethlehem for the Christmas season. The item, first sent to the Vatican 1,400 years ago as a gift to the Pope, is now housed in an ornate case. It was greeted by crowds in the West Bank ahead of Advent, which will begin on Sunday 1 December and end on Christmas Eve.