Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Wednesday 14 Mar 2018

1. Professor Stephen Hawking dead at age of 76

The physicist and popular science writer Professor Stephen Hawking has died at the age of 76. His family said he died peacefully at his Cambridge home in the early hours of Wednesday, 54 years after he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease and told he had only a few years to live. Hawking was famous for his work on black holes.

2. Russia shrugs off May’s deadline on poisoning

Russia has refused to respond to Theresa May’s demand that it explain its role in the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury. The Russian embassy in London said it would not reply unless it was sent samples of the agent recovered from the crime scene. A total of 38 people needed treatment for poisoning.

3. Newly sacked Tillerson warns of Russia

Former US secretary of state Rex Tillerson has warned of the danger posed to America by Russia’s “troubling behaviour and actions”, in a parting statement after being sacked by Donald Trump yesterday. The BBC notes that Tillerson “pointedly failed to thank Mr Trump or praise his policies”. Trump told reporters that he and Tillerson had clashed.

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4. Austerity ‘will put 1.5 million children in poverty’

The Government’s austerity drive will have sent an extra 1.5 million children into poverty by 2021, according to the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The non-departmental public body says benefits cuts will adversely affect children living in single-parent and ethnic minority households – and will hit low-income families hardest.

5. Trump views border wall prototypes

Donald Trump yesterday viewed the prototype designs for his promised border wall between the US and Mexico. The US president, who promised on his first day in office to build the border barrier, told reporters that the state of California was “begging us to build walls in certain areas”, but would not make its desire for protection public.

6. Sajid Javid: 770,000 in UK speak no English

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has revealed that 770,000 people in the UK speak no English – and recalled his own childhood role as an interpreter for his Pakistani mother. Pledging to expand English tuition for immigrants, Javid said that his mother learnt English 15 years after arriving the UK and that it “transformed her life”.

7. English councils ordered to adopt integration policies

Five English local authorities have been told by the Government to adopt integration policies to deal with problems of segregation. They are Bradford, Blackburn, Peterborough, Walsall, and Waltham Forest in London. The Government will invest £50m in schemes to improve community relations over the next two years.

8. More high winds, rain and snow to come

Forecasters are warning that winter is not over yet, with high winds and rain expected across the country on Wednesday and Thursday, and snow on higher ground later in the week. Temperatures could fall as low as 5C in London by Sunday, the Met Office says. A weather warning has been issued for eastern Northern Ireland for Wednesday.

9. Dog dies in overhead locker on US flight

United Airlines has apologised after a French bulldog puppy died in an overhead locker on an internal US flight. Witnesses say a mother travelling with her two children was asked to put the animal’s carrier in the locker by a flight attendant. She reportedly objected, saying the puppy was inside, but the flight attendant insisted.

10. Briefing: Tiger Woods roars back - can he win the Masters?

Tiger Woods missed out on victory at the Valspar Championship last weekend, but his return to form proves there’s one big winner from his exploits in Florida: the game of golf and the economy it supports.

Finishing second may have been disappointing for Woods, who was looking for his first win since the 2013 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, but his involvement in the final hole drama brought huge excitement to sport’s fans. So can he build from this to win the Masters?

Tiger Woods roars back - can he win the Masters?