Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 3 Apr 2017

1. Trump: US ready to act alone against North Korea

Donald Trump says the US is prepared to act alone against North Korea if China does not intervene over the hermit kingdom's nuclear programme. In an interview with the Financial Times, the US President, who meets Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, said: "If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you."

Donald Trump sued by two states over business links

2. May to discuss terror and trade on Middle East visit

Theresa May will discuss the fight against Islamic state and the Syrian refugee crisis when she begins a three-day visit to the Middle East today. The Prime Minister will announce a new joint anti-terror initiative with Jordan which will "strike at the heart" of IS, before flying to Saudi Arabia to discuss trade links.

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3. NHS 111 handler 'put suicidal caller on hold'

A report in The Sun claims NHS 111 call centre staff are putting suicidal patients on hold until they hang up. An undercover reporter for the paper also alleges that staff slept at their desks or put themselves down as being "busy" on the internal computer system to avoid new calls. The NHS is "urgently" investigating the claims, a Department of Health spokesman says.

NHS 111 staff 'put suicidal callers on hold until they hung up'

4. Police release images of Croydon attack suspects

Police have released images of three people they are seeking over a vicious assault on a 17-year-old Kurdish-Iranian asylum-seeker in Croydon. Witnesses say a group of up to 20 people watched as the teenager was punched and kicked at a bus stop, leaving him with a fractured skull and blood clot. Eight people are being questioned.

Five in court over Croydon asylum-seeker attack

5. Northern Ireland: Political parties hold new talks

A new round of talks starts today between Northern Ireland's political parties after last week's deadline to form a new power-sharing assembly at Stormont passed without success, with the DUP and Sinn Fein blaming each other. Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire says he believes there is little appetite for yet another election.

6. At least nine killed in St Petersburg subway blast

At least nine people have been killed and 20 injured by an explosion on the St Petersburg subway system. Russian anti-terror officials said the blast, thought to have been caused by a bomb, hit the train between Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologichesky Institut stations. Another explosive device was reportedly found and made safe at another station on the underground network.

St Petersburg investigates 'terror attack' on city's metro

7. Tax credit change 'will put 250,000 children into poverty'

Reforms to the welfare system will push a quarter of a million children into poverty and reduce the income of bereaved families by thousands, claims The Guardian. It says a family with a third child born after Wednesday's changes to the child tax credit system could be £50,000 worse off over 18 years.

Why is the government changing child tax credits and how will it affect families?

8. Inactive Brits 'cost NHS £1.2bn a year'

More than 20 million people in Britain are physically inactive, increasing their risk of heart disease and costing the NHS about £1.2bn a yeare, says the British Heart Foundation. It also says high levels of sedentary behaviour could cause as much damage as smoking and urged people to start moving.

9. Mexican newspaper closes after reporter is murdered

A major regional newspaper in Mexico has stopped printing after the murder of a reporter. Miroslava Breach, who wrote for Norte de Ciudad Juarez, was one of three journalists killed in the country last month. She was shot dead in Chihuahua city in her car. Breach had reported on the links between politicians and organised crime.

10. Briefing: How the world reacted to Brexit

The triggering of Article 50 was greeted overwhelmingly with disappointment and frustration from the world's press.

According to left-wing French daily Liberation, May's letter, with its repeated insistence on a "deep and special relationship", was "more conciliatory" than her previous bullish rhetoric.

However, it adds, a Eurosceptic press and hardcore Brexiters means the UK is "caught up in a fantasy of a return to the glory of a colonial Empire" and "one cannot hide the fear" that they will try to scupper negotiations.

Article 50: The world reacts to Brexit