Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 30 Apr 2018

1. Amber Rudd resigns after ‘misleading’ committee

Amber Rudd has stepped down as Home Secretary, admitting she should have known about deportation targets. Rudd denied such targets existed but leaked emails seemed to show otherwise. Accepting her resignation, Theresa May accused Rudd of “inadvertently misleading” the home affairs select committee on the issue.

2. ‘Unseasonable’ cold and wet weather forecast

Some parts of the UK could get one month’s rainfall in one day today, the Met Office says, with “unseasonably cold” weather, particularly in the south and east of England. The Environment Agency has issued a total of 31 flood alerts across England. Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express railways are all warning of delays.

3. Labour promises to cap overdraft fees

The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, says Labour would cap fees on overdrafts if it were elected. The party says it wants to end the “national scandal” of poor families getting deeper into debt – and claims its policy would save 2.7 million people who are stuck with permanent overdrafts the equivalent of £86 every year.

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4. Network rail has ‘secretive’ tree-felling policy

The Guardian reports that Network Rail has undertaken a “secretive” policy of cutting down millions of mature and smaller trees across the UK, in a bid to stop the nuisance of leaves on the line. The train network operator admits the trees it is felling are healthy but says its new “vegetation management” policy will end delays.

5. Macron’s tree removed from White House lawn

A tree planted on the White House lawn by French President Emmanuel Macron and US leader Donald Trump last week has since disappeared from view. The oak tree was a gift to Trump from Macron and came from a first world war battlefield where American servicemen died. No official explanation of its absence has been given.

6. Michel Barnier visits Ireland ahead of Brexit

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, begins a two-day visit to Ireland today, after warning that the UK government has contradicted itself when laying out its policy on a post-Brexit border between Northern Ireland and the republic. DUP leader Arlene Foster warned that Barnier “doesn’t understand” the unionist stance.

7. TV licence waived for royal wedding

The BBC says street parties and other community events will be allowed to screen the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle live without a TV licence. A premises usually has to have a TV licence to hold such an event but there will be a special waiver for the royal wedding, which takes place in Windsor on 19 May this year.

8. World’s oldest spider dies of wasp sting at 43

The oldest known spider has died at the age of 43, after being stung by a wasp. Identified by Australian scientists as Number 16, the female trapdoor spider was significantly older than the previous record holder, a 28-year-old tarantula found in Mexico. Number 16 was said to have lived a quiet and sedentary life in her burrow.

9. Australian university evacuated over rotting fruit

More than 500 students and teachers were evacuated from a university in Melbourne, Australia, last week because of a strong smell of “gas” which turned out to be a rotting durian fruit. The tropical fruit, known for its pungent smell even when not rotten, was in a cupboard in the RMIT library – but the smell was carried by air conditioning.

10. Briefing: vegetarian diet ‘could prevent one in three early deaths’

A third of all early deaths could be prevented by a vegetarian diet, according to a new scientific study.

The researchers at Harvard say their new findings indicate that people are vastly underestimating the benefits of a plant-based diet

Harvard says vegetarian diet could prevent one in three early deaths