Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 15 Mar 2018

1. US backs UK over Russian spy attack

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, made an unambiguous statement of support for the UK yesterday over its response to the attempted murder of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter. Haley told the UN Security Council: “The United States believes that Russia is responsible for the attack on two people in the United Kingdom using a military-grade nerve agent.” Russia denies the attack, in which a nerve agent called Novichok was used.

2. Syrian forces break through to Eastern Ghouta

Russia-backed Syrian troops have broken through into a key town in the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta, the scene of appalling state-inflicted carnage in recent weeks. More than 1,220 civilians have been killed there since 18 February. Ground troops have re-entered Hamouriyah, a town held by the Faylaq al-Rahman rebel faction, after launching an attack earlier this week.

3. Law change to enable British spaceport

The prospect of a spaceport on British soil moves closer to becoming a reality today as the Space Industry Bill receives Royal Assent. Transport Minister Jo Johnson said the Bill would put the UK “at the forefront of the new space race … helping us compete as the destination of choice for satellite companies worldwide”. The move could create hundreds of jobs.

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4. YouTube prankster jailed for shooting boyfriend

A 20-year-old woman who shot dead her boyfriend while filming a YouTube prank has been jailed for six months – to be served in blocks of ten days so that she will not lose contact with her two young children. Monalisa Perez, from Minnesota, fired a handgun at Pedro Ruiz, who wrongly believed an encyclopaedia he was holding would stop the bullet.

5. Marmite maker moves HQ to Rotterdam

Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever is to close its London base and move operations to its Rotterdam HQ. The firm, maker of brands including Marmite, Persil and Dove, says it will become a single Dutch entity in a drive to be “more agile”, after 88 years of dual nationality. The company insists the decision is “not about Brexit”.

6. Parents fined £24m for truancy and holidays

Parents in England and Wales have been fined a total of £24m in three years for taking their children out of school for holidays, or failing to stop them play truant, the BBC says. An investigation by the broadcaster found that there are wide variations in how strictly local councils enforce the rules, with some fining parents five times more than the national average.

7. Grenfell firefighter: ‘We could have saved more’

A firefighter who tackled the blaze at Grenfell Tower in west London last year has said that fire crews were not given good enough equipment – and could have saved more people. Speaking anonymously to Sky News, the firefighter said he felt like a “completely changed man” as a result of the horror he witnessed in the blaze at the high-rise block.

8. Platypus milk can help fight superbugs, say scientists

Australian molecular biologists who analysed the protein structure of duck-billed platypus milk believe its unique shape can be synthesised to create new antibiotics to fight resistant bugs. Platypuses excrete their milk, with powerful antibiotic properties, onto their bellies for their young to drink, as they have no teats.

9. Pierce Brosnan ‘cheated’ by Indian tobacco firm

Actor Pierce Brosnan says he was “cheated” by an Indian tobacco firm that agreed a contract with him to advertise a breath-freshening spray which is branded to match its carcinogenic chewing tobacco product. Brosnan was condemned in Indian media in 2016 for endorsing the Pan Bahar spray, but says he was not told about the link.

10. Briefing: could England boycott the World Cup?

The United Kingdom’s diplomatic crisis with Russia has spilt over into the world of football with questions surrounding England’s participation at the 2018 Fifa World Cup this summer.

In parliament yesterday, Prime Minister Theresa May said it was “highly likely” that Russia was responsible for the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury. Then today Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told MPs that Russia would face a “robust” response from the UK and that it would be “very difficult” to imagine UK representation at the World Cup could go ahead in the “normal way”.

Russian spy attack: could England boycott the World Cup?