Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Saturday 27 Jun 2020

1. UK set to open up European holidays from 6 July

Restrictions on non-essential overseas travel will be relaxed in the UK from 6 July. Under the changes, holidaymakers are expected to be allowed to travel to certain European countries without having to spend 14 days in quarantine when they return. According to reports, the countries will be Spain, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Finland, Belgium, Turkey, Germany and Norway - but not Portugal or Sweden.

2. Police officer stabbed in Glasgow is named

The police officer seriously injured in a stabbing attack at a Glasgow hotel has been named as Constable David Whyte. The 42-year-old is being treated in hospital where his condition has been described as “critical but stable”. Whyte was one of six people injured in the attack at the hotel, which is currently housing asylum seekers.

3. Merkel hardens tone in warning to UK over Brexit

Angela Merkel says the UK will have to “live with the consequences” of Boris Johnson ditching Theresa May’s plan to maintain close economic ties with the EU after Brexit. “If Britain does not want to have rules on the environment and the labour market or social standards that compare with those of the EU, our relations will be less close,” she said.

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4. Pence claims ‘truly remarkable progress’ despite record cases

Mike Pence has claimed that the US has made “truly remarkable progress” in battle with the coronavirus pandemic, despite it reporting a record 40,000 new cases in the previous 24 hours. Meanwhile, US health expert Dr Anthony Fauci said: “We are facing a serious problem in certain areas.” There have been 126,000 deaths in the US so far.

5. Welby: we should reconsider depicting Jesus as white

The Archbishop of Canterbury says the church should reconsider portraying Jesus as white. The Most Rev Justin Welby said the church should also think “very carefully” about its controversial monuments in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests and added that “some will have to come down”. Howeer, he added that monuments would be put “in context”.

6. Boris Johnson to make pledge on austerity

Boris Johnson is to pledge that those who faced the worst cuts from austerity will not be made to pay for repairing the coronavirus-hit economy. On Tuesday, the prime minister will promise to usher in a “decade of investment”, revealing an economic recovery plan that will bring forward infrastructure spending and speed up the planning system.

7. Minister plans radical overhaul of university admissions

The government is planning a major overhaul of England’s university admissions system, with students applying after A-level results and the start of the academic year possibly being moved to January. The Guardian says civil servants at the Department for Education have modelled a shift to post-qualification admissions to improve social mobility and help disadvantaged school-leavers.

8. Ecclestone says black people ‘more racist’ than white people

Bernie Ecclestone says black people are “more racist” than white people. The former chief executive of Formula One said that racism makes him “upset” but the sport has been “too busy” to deal with it. He also said he did not think Lewis Hamilton’s experiences of racism had affected the driver. Hamilton recently said he had felt the “stigma of racism” throughout his career.

9. Government may end MOT holiday early after warning

The government may end drivers’ MOT holiday early amid fears more than a million unsafe cars could be back on the roads. Leading groups including the AA and RAC have asked ministers to axe the six-month extension on safety checks granted in March as part of the coronavirus lockdown. Edmund King, president of the AA, says the current exemption “could lead to many more unsafe cars on the road”.

10. Bieber files $20m defamation lawsuit after assault allegations

Justin Bieber has filed a $20 million defamation lawsuit against two women who accused him of sexual assault. The two women posted the allegations on their respective Twitter accounts earlier this week. The pop star’s lawsuit, which was filed on Thursday, describes the allegations as “fabricated”. His complaint also calls the allegations “factually impossible”.