Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 1 Sep 2017

1. Fox: 'EU must not blackmail UK'

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has said the UK must not allow itself to be "blackmailed" by the EU. He suggested that talks on a future EU trade deal could begin before the Brexit 'divorce bill' is agreed – something the EU opposes. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said yesterday the UK approach was nostalgic and unrealistic.

2. UN contradicts Trump's claims on Iran

The UN has said Iran is sticking to its 2015 multilateral agreement to limit its nuclear programme, after US President Donald Trump insisted it was not. The UN says Iran's stockpiles of low-enriched uranium and heavy water are below the agreed limits. Trump is said to be looking for a justification to withdraw from the agreement.

3. Dozens more troops head to Iraq

Forty-four Royal Engineers will be sent to western Iraq for six months to build infrastructure at a coalition camp in Anbar province, Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon has said. Their arrival will bring the total number of British personnel serving in Iraq to around 600. They are helping to train Iraqi forces to fight Islamic State.

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4. Trump's border wall prototypes ordered

Four US companies have been commissioned to build a 30-foot prototype segment of border wall between the US and Mexico at a cost of $500,000 each, to be tested for security. The wall was one of Donald Trump's main election promises but critics say it is unnecessary and impractical, with some claiming it will never be built.

5. Low-paid workers 'penalised for hospital visits'

A study by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has found employers are punishing their workers for taking sick children to hospital. One low-paid mother said she was "threatened with a disciplinary" after her baby stopped breathing. The study found that 29% of parents had to use annual leave last year when one of their children was ill.

6. Myanmar: Nearly 400 Rohingya killed in one week

Nearly 400 members of Myanmar's Muslim ethnic minority Rohingya community have been killed in one week, after Rohingya insurgents attacked security forces in the north-west Rakhine state. Two dozen bodies believed to be of Rohingya women and children have washed up on a riverbank in Bangladesh, raising fears of atrocities.

7. Trans teenager took life over name change

A transgender teenager who took his own life at the age of 15 was angry with his all-girl grammar school because it would not give him permission to change his name until he was 16. Leo Etherington had been told he would not be eligible for gender reassignment surgery on the NHS but his father said he had promised to pay for it.

8. 'Deplorable' conditions on stranded flights

Canada's air transport authority is holding an inquiry into two Air Transat flights which were kept on the tarmac at Ottawa for hours on 31 July, with passengers so distressed by conditions that one eventually called the emergency services. The two flights were stranded without adequate air conditioning, food, water or hygiene on 31 July.

9. Rains wash out bumper wildlife season

It had been hoped this summer would be a much-needed bumper one for birds, insects and plants across the UK – but the August rains have put paid to that, the National Trust says. After a normal winter and a mild spring, wildlife was poised for a bonanza. However, the autumn is expected to be a good one for fungi, the experts say.

10. Briefing: Does militarising the police make civilians less safe?

The world was stunned when rifle-toting police officers in masks and body armour rolled up in Ferguson, Missouri, in armoured vehicles, to stop the 2014 street protests over the police shooting of black teenager Michael Brown.

Following the public backlash, then-president Obama signed an executive order in 2015 limiting police access to equipment that belonged "on the battlefield".

Fast forward two years to Donald Trump. This week the US President promised to make it legal again for surplus military equipment, including grenade launchers and tanks, to be passed on to law enforcement agencies.

Does the militarisation of police make us less safe?