Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 23 Mar 2018

1. EU recalls Moscow ambassador over poisoning

The EU has recalled its ambassador from Moscow, after the European Council agreed it was “highly likely” that Russia was behind the attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with nerve agent in Salisbury on 4 March. A statement from the EU leaders said there was “no plausible alternative explanation” for the attack.

2. Trump sacks McMaster as security adviser

Less than 15 months into his US presidency, Donald Trump has appointed a third national security adviser, replacing H.R. McMaster with John Bolton. Bolton was US ambassador to the UN under George W. Bush and has been described as a “hawk’s hawk” for his extreme neo-conservative views, including support of the Iraq war.

3. Obesity may soon be biggest cause of cancer

Smoking remains the biggest cause of preventable cancer, says Cancer Research UK, but could soon be overtaken by obesity. Nearly 40% of cancers could be avoided by lifestyle changes including losing weight or giving up smoking, says the charity. According to 2015 figures, nearly 135,500 cancer cases a year are preventable.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

4. Toys R Us founder dies as company collapses

The founder of Toys R Us has died at the age of 94, one week after the toy chain announced it would close all its US and UK stores. Charles Lazarus founded the store in 1957, and once said: “Toys are a great kind of thing to sell, because they don’t last that long.” The firm said the news of his death after ill health was “heartbreaking”.

5. Australia: 150 whales stranded en masse

Around 150 short-finned pilot whales have become stranded at the same time on a beach in Western Australia. About half of the animals were already dead when they were found a by a fisherman at Hamelin Bay, 180 miles south of Perth early this morning. Attempts are being made to refloat the surviving whales, with dozens helping.

6. Smith calls on Corbyn to offer Brexit vote

Former Labour leadership contender Owen Smith has called on Jeremy Corbyn to offer to hold a referendum on the final Brexit deal if Labour comes to power. Writing in The Guardian, the Welsh MP and shadow Northern Ireland secretary urged Corbyn to reopen the debate on whether leaving the EU is “the right choice for the country”.

7. Playboy model says Trump ‘tried to pay me’

A former Playboy magazine model, Karen McDougal, has told CNN that US President Donald Trump had sex with her “many dozens of times” during a year-long affair from 2006, and tried to pay her after they had been intimate. She said the businessman conducted the affair with her in his family home. Trump has denied the affair.

8. Rape victim of 14 dies giving birth in Paraguay

The Guardian reports that a 14-year-old girl who was raped by a 37-year-old man has died in Paraguay, where abortion is illegal unless the mother’s life is in danger. Hospital director Hernan Martinez told local media: “Her body was not ready for a pregnancy.” In 2015 a Paraguayan 10-year-old gave birth after incestuous rape.

9. Paris rules that sex doll centre ‘is not a brothel’

Paris councillors have refused to close down a centre which charges clients £78 to spend an hour with a sex doll worth thousands of pounds, rejecting an assertion that it was a brothel and therefore illegal. Groups which had called for the closure of Xdolls said it was demeaning to women but police said no laws were being broken.

10. Briefing: How to protect your data on Facebook

Revelations that the Trump-linked political data firm Cambridge Analytica circumvented Facebook’s privacy policies in order to harvest the data of more than 50 million Americans has sparked several users to leave the platform in an attempt to protect their privacy.

So how can you protect your Facebook data? For starters, after logging in to Facebook, visit the App setting page. Unclick any category that you don’t want an app to access such as bio, birthday, family, religious views, if you are online, posts on your timeline, activities and interests.

How to protect your data on Facebook