Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 18 Feb 2016

1. Cameron 'has not secured treaty change'

The Guardian has seen leaked documents it says show David Cameron has not secured one of his key demands to reform the European Union and suggest widening division on the matter within the government. The files show that EU leaders have not agreed to alter the Lisbon Treaty to cement the changes Cameron would like to see.

Remain-voting City lobby group calls for 'dramatic Brexit U-turn'

2. Snow and ice warnings for most of UK

Commuters and motorists have been warned their journeys will be hazardous today, thanks to rain yesterday followed by an overnight freeze. The Met Office has issued two yellow warnings for ice, covering most of mainland Britain and Northern Ireland. There is also a yellow warning for snow in East Anglia and Lincolnshire.

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

3. Barack Obama to visit Cuba 'within weeks'

Barack Obama is to become the first US president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge in 1928. He will make the trip in the next few weeks. Obama met Cuba's President Raul Castro in Panama last year and the two nations have re-opened embassies in each other's capitals. The White House is expected to announce the details today.

4. Turkey: car bomb attack kills 28

A car bomb in Ankara has left at least 28 people dead and another 61 injured. No group has claimed responsibility yet but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed revenge, saying Turkey would use its "right to self-defence at any time, any place or any occasion". Sources have blamed either Islamic State or Kurdish separatists.

Turkey vows retaliation after Ankara car bomb kills 28

5. British Gas profits up 31 per cent as jobs go

British Gas has revealed its profits for 2015 were £574m, 31 per cent more than the £439m it made in 2014. The rise, which the firm says is partly due to customers using more energy, comes the week after 500 job cuts were announced. Parent company Centrica, meanwhile, saw profits fall 12 per cent as wholesale gas prices rose.

6. Police 'sleepwalking' into isolation, watchdog says

Police forces in England and Wales are at risk of "sleepwalking" back to an older model of policing in which they are "isolated" from the communities they serve, warned HM Inspectorate of Constabulary. Zoe Billingham said officers are being taken off the beat and moved to desk duties and that preventative work is suffering.

7. Jeb Bush gun tweet provokes mockery

US Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush has provoked mockery - and some support - after he tweeted a picture of his new gun, the first he has owned, with the single-word caption: "America." Replies to the tweet have included a cup of tea labelled "The UK", a lightsaber with "Tatooine" and a bicycle captioned "Netherlands".

Five best parodies of Jeb Bush's 'America' gun tweet

8. Rail passengers in south-east are 'least satisfied'

A poll of almost 7,000 travellers has found Southeastern, and Thameslink and Great Northern rail customers are the least satisfied in the UK. The survey, carried out by Which?, found overcrowding, poor value for money and dirty trains among the biggest peeves. Grand Central was top of the poll, with 79 per cent satisfaction.

Where are the UK's unhappiest train commuters?

9. Apple resists FBI order to hack gunman's phone

Apple is to challenge a court order instructing it to help FBI investigators access a phone that belonged to San Bernardino gunman Syed Rizwan Farook, who killed 14 people last December. Apple says the demand sets "a dangerous precedent", although others, including the family of murdered soldier Lee Rigby, have called for Apple to co-operate with the authorities.

iPhone 'can be unlocked with £120 high street device'

10. Briefing: why buy-to-let landlords are setting up companies

From April 2017, under proposals announced by George Osborne last summer, landlords will no longer be able to offset mortgage interest against their tax bill. Instead, they will be handed a flat rate 20 per cent tax rebate that will halve the relief – and thus significantly reduce the profit margin – for higher-rate taxpayers. An increasing number of landlords are reportedly setting up company structures to manage their rental properties. But is this option open to you, and should you join the move to incorporation?

Buy-to-let mortgages pulled at fastest rate since 2009