1. Trade talks to start after Brexit deal struck
The UK has reached a draft agreement with the EU on the first phase of Brexit talks following a long night of negotiations. Theresa May flew to Brussels this morning for a meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who said negotiations could now move on to the terms of the new UK-EU trade deal. May has promised there will be no hard border for Ireland.
2. Storm Caroline brings snow and ice
Snow fell across many parts of the country last night and the Met Office is warning that further flurries in Scotland, Northern Ireland, the north-west Midlands and Wales could bring four to eight inches today. Elsewhere, there could be one or two inches of snow, and icy conditions. Road, air and rail travel are likely to be disrupted.
3. More than a third of right-to-buy homes ‘rented privately’
Four in ten former council houses or flats in England bought by tenants on the right-to-buy scheme introduced by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s are now in the hands of private landlords, with tenants paying more than twice the rent charged by local authorities. The Guardian points out that the Government pays large amounts of housing benefit as a result.
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4. Johnson to seek release of Briton in Iran
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson will travel to Iran this weekend in an attempt to secure the freedom of jailed British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. He will attempt to settle a long-running £400m dispute between the UK and Iran, which experts say may prompt her release, and try to put British-Iranian relations on a new footing.
5. Anorexic student ‘failed by NHS’, regulator says
A review by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman says a teenager who died with anorexia weeks after leaving university was failed by “every NHS organisation that should have cared for her”. Averil Hart, from Colchester, died of a heart attack brought on by her eating disorder in Norwich in 2012. Her death was “needless”, said the regulator.
6. Nearly 200,000 evacuate as wildfires hit California
Almost 200,000 Californians have now been evacuated from their homes as a fifth huge wildfire breaks out, north of San Diego. One death has been reported so far, in Ventura County. Around 5,000 firefighters are tackling the blazes, in the south of the state. The flames reached the wealthy Bel Air area of Los Angeles on Wednesday.
7. Trump ‘did not understand Jerusalem decision’
Advisers to Donald Trump who spoke to The Washington Post yesterday said the US president did not seem to fully understand the potential consequences of his decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The sources told the paper: “The decision wasn’t driven by the peace process [but instead] by his campaign promise.”
8. Pound falls despite Brexit talks breakthrough
The value of the pound dropped against the dollar by half a cent this morning, and remained flat against the euro, despite the good news that the UK has agreed a Brexit divorce deal with the EU. Market experts said this reaction could be a result of “investors ‘going long’ on sterling and taking some money off the table”, according to Sky News.
9. Man cements microwave to head in Midlands
Firefighters in Wolverhampton freed a man who used Polyfilla to cement his head into a microwave oven. The man was helped in the stunt by his friends for a YouTube prank. The microwave was used as a mould – but he quickly became stuck and a fire service crew had to dismantle the oven around his head to free him.
10. Briefing: Hamilton’s first London reviews are in
Hamilton, the hip-hop musical based on the life of a US founding father, made its West End debut - and the verdict is that the London production is a true showstopper.
The first preview performance, attended by the show’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, took place on 6 December at the newly-refurbished Victoria Palace Theatre.
So how did it go? At the end of the performance, “the audience rose instantly to give a standing ovation to the cast,” says The Daily Telegraph.
Hamilton London: how to get tickets to the Olivier award-winning West End musical
