Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 30 Nov 2017

1. Trump hits back at May on Twitter

Donald Trump yesterday hit back at Theresa May on Twitter, saying: “Don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism… within the UK.” The US president lashed out - initially at the wrong @theresamay - after Downing Street condemned him for retweeting Islamophobic videos originally posted by far-right group Britain First.

2. British man killed in Syria clearing mines

A British man who travelled to Syria this summer to fight alongside Kurdish forces against Islamic State has been killed while clearing mines in Raqqa. Oliver Hall, 24 and from Portsmouth, is the seventh Briton to be killed while fighting or working with the Kurdish YPG in Syria. He is thought to have had no previous military training.

3. Virgin rail strike to hit Christmas travel

Drivers on Virgin’s West Coast mainline services between London and Glasgow will stage six strikes in December and January, the RMT union says. A 24-hour stoppage on Friday 22 December will hit people going away for Christmas. The dispute is over pay and conditions.

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4. Early baldness is ‘risk factor’ for heart disease

Baldness or grey hair in men under 40 is more of a predictor, or “risk factor”, of heart disease than obesity, a study by the European Society of Cardiology has found. The British Heart Foundation stressed that the findings do not mean men should abandon plans to improve lifestyles to reduce high cholesterol, or blood pressure.

5. New migraine therapy hope

Drug firms are racing to develop life-changing new treatments for migraine that work by creating antibodies to neutralise the brain chemical calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). Two of the new drugs have undergone clinical trials, with King’s College Hospital calling the results a “huge deal”. One drug halved the number of attacks for 50% of subjects.

6. UK braced for snow and ice

Freezing temperatures are expected for large parts of the UK today. Between 2cm and 5cm of snow is expected in northern Scotland and northeast England – and there is also a risk of snow in the East Midlands and East Anglia. Central areas can expect temperatures as low as -4C overnight and there are warnings of surface ice.

7. Mystery over poison taken by war criminal

Investigators are puzzling over how Serbian war criminal Slobodan Praljak obtained the poison that he drank in court at The Hague yesterday. Praljak died after drinking a small bottle of liquid and declaring his innocence after the court upheld a 20-year sentence. Before collapsing, the 72-year-old said: “I just drank poison. I am not a war criminal.”

8. Actor Rush denies ‘inappropriate behaviour’

Oscar-winning Australian actor Geoffrey Rush has vehemently denied a claim of “inappropriate behaviour” that the Sydney Theatre Company says it received against him following a production of King Lear in January last year. Rush says he has not been told what he is alleged to have done, either at the time or now that the complaint has been made public.

9. Class action brought against Google

A class action lawsuit is being brought against Google in the UK, in the name of more than five million former iPhone users. Led by the former executive director of consumer body Which?, the suit says Google unlawfully harvested personal data from smartphone users between June 2011 and February 2012 by bypassing the default privacy settings on the Apple device.

10. Briefing: is £50bn divorce deal saving or selling out UK?

Britain has reportedly agreed to increase the Brexit “divorce bill” payment from £20bn to as much as almost £50bn to pay its debts to the European Union and it hopes, depart with a good EU-UK trade deal.

However, while Britain will pay its liabilities in full, “the actual divorce bill may never be known”, says Politico’s Jack Blanchard.

Brexit: Theresa May says ‘trust me’ to deliver