Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 16 Mar 2018

1. Corbyn: ‘Don’t rush to judgement on Russia’

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has defended his stance on the nerve agent poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, in an article published in The Guardian today. Corbyn says the Government must avoid “hasty judgements” and “rushing ahead of the evidence” in a “fevered parliamentary atmosphere”.

2. ‘Mini beast’ to bring more snow to UK

The Met Office has issued yellow weather warnings for snow over the coming days, with up to 20cm expected to fall in eastern Scotland and eastern and northeastern England. The same conditions that led to the Beast from the East earlier this month are recurring, with some dubbing the latest weather pattern the “Mini Beast”.

3. Britons are rubbish at recycling, survey finds

A survey has found that more Britons than ever understand the need to recycle – but none of the 2,000 people who answered the British Science Association poll correctly answered all the questions about which items can be recycled. One of the most common misconceptions was that used kitchen roll can be.

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4. Invisible Irish border ‘impossible’, MPs say

A report by the cross-party Northern Ireland Affairs committee has found there is no evidence to support claims by Boris Johnson and others that the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic could be invisible. The MPs insist that checkpoints will be needed post-Brexit if the UK leaves the EU single market and customs union.

5. NHS doctors ‘creating drug addicts’

The NHS is in danger of increasing drug addiction through a large rise in prescribing powerful painkillers such as tramadol, codeine and morphine, the Royal College of GPs has warned. One former addict, now a drugs counsellor, told the BBC that NHS doctors are “creating drug addicts” by overprescribing the opioids.

6. Donald Trump Jr and wife Vanessa to split

The US president’s son Donald Trump Jr and his wife of 12 years, Vanessa, are to divorce. A former Miss USA contestant, Vanessa Trump said in a joint statement with her husband that her priority was their “five beautiful children”. Last month, she was taken to hospital after opening a letter to her husband containing a white powder, which proved to be harmless.

7. Cars trapped as bridge collapses in Florida

Four people died in Florida yesterday when a newly installed concrete pedestrian walkway collapsed onto a busy highway, trapping several cars. Firefighters worked through the night at the scene, near Florida International University, in Miami, to free people trapped under the 950-tonne structure. Two victims are in a critical condition in hospital.

8. Anger over Topman’s ‘Hillsborough’ shirt

Relatives of the 96 people who died in the Hillsborough stadium disaster in 1989 have expressed disgust over a Topman shirt that they believe refers to the deaths. The shirt bears the number 96 and the phrase, “What goes around comes back around”, said to have been used to taunt Liverpool fans by opponents. It has been withdrawn from sale on the fashion retailer’s website.

9. Gold bars scattered across Russian runway

A cargo plane shed part of its load of gold and silver bars on take-off yesterday, scattering the runway of Yakutsk Airport, in Siberia, with precious metals. Police immediately sealed off the area to prevent people from picking up the bars, and later reported that all the metal had been recovered. A problem with the cargo door was blamed.

10. How is St Patrick’s Day celebrated?

Ireland’s long-standing affiliation with the shamrock is said to have originated from the teachings of St Patrick, who used its three leaves as a metaphor for the Holy Trinity - the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To celebrate, it has become customary to “drown the shamrock” on St Patrick’s Day. This sees revellers bid the night farewell by taking their national plant and dropping it into their final drink.

When is St Patrick’s Day and how is it celebrated?