Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 9 Mar 2018

1. Trump to meet Kim Jong Un for peace talks

Donald Trump has accepted an invitation to meet North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un by May. The US president tweeted the news, saying that “great progress” had been made in talks between North and South Korea. The meeting is a turnaround, coming after months of aggressive rhetoric between the two leaders, during which Trump threatening “fire and fury”.

2. Russian spy poisoning: 21 people hurt

A total of 21 people have been treated in hospital as a result of exposure to the nerve agent used to poison a former Russian spy and his daughter in Salisbury on Sunday, it has emerged. Police sergeant Nick Bailey, who was first at the scene of the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter, remains critically ill in hospital.

3. NHS staff to get pay rise but lose holiday

The Government is set to offer NHS staff in England a 6.5% pay rise over the next three years – but must give up one day of holiday in return, according to The Guardian. The deal would mean an extra £3.3bn of spending and would be the first meaningful pay rise for NHS staff in England since 2010.

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4. Wagamama fined over minimum wage

Restaurant chains Wagamama and TGI Fridays have been fined an undisclosed sum for failing to pay the minimum wage to some staff. Wagamama said the failure was the result of an “inadvertent misunderstanding” of the rules on staff uniforms, with employees being required to wear black jeans or a black skirt without being reimbursed the cost of buying them.

5. Ministers reject call for levy on coffee cups

The Government has rejected a call from a cross-party select committee for a so-called “latte levy” - a tax on disposable coffee cups, most of which are not recyclable. Labour’s Mary Creagh MP, who chaired the Environmental Audit Committee, said the response showed that “despite warm words, [the Government] plan no real action”.

6. Speaker John Bercow accused of bullying

The Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, is reportedly among MPs accused of bullying by female office workers in Parliament. Bercow has denied as “simply untrue” claims that he shouted at and belittled his former private secretary, Kate Emms, who left her job in 2011 blaming stress. The claims were made to the BBC’s Newsnight programme.

7. Calais boss warns of Brexit tailbacks

The manager of the French port of Calais, Jean-Marc Puissesseau, has warned there could be tailbacks of 30 miles in all directions after Brexit, if the UK’s trade deal with the EU involves mandatory sanitary and customs checks. Meanwhile, a leading local politician in Calais says the bureaucracy could be worse than the Irish border.

8. M25 rapist dies waiting for parole decision

A man known as the M25 rapist for a series of horrific attacks on women and girls as young as ten has died in custody while waiting for a parole board decision on his release. Former railway worker Antoni Imiela, 63, was given seven life sentences after being convicted in 2004. In 2006, his DNA was matched to samples taken after a 1987 rape and he was sentenced to a further 12 years.

9. Nuclear fusion ‘within 15 years’

The holy grail of power generation, nuclear fusion, could be achieved within 15 years, US researchers says. Fusion is safer and cleaner than the usual process of generating electricity by nuclear fission: splitting atoms. Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are working with a private firm to try to achieve fusion cheaply enough to make it worthwhile.

10. Briefing: Gibraltar and Brexit

The UK is believed to be negotiating with Spain for Gibraltar to be treated the same as Britain when it leaves the EU in March 2019, including admission to any deal for continued “barrier-free access” to the bloc’s financial markets.

The European Council sparked anger last April by offering Spain a veto over the territory’s fate after Brexit, the Daily Mail reports, but UK ministers are now working to ensure that Spain is unable to exclude the Rock from any post-Brexit deal Britain strikes with the EU.

Gibraltar and Brexit: what are the main issues?