Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 3 May 2018

1. Javid backs ‘hard-Brexiteers’ to halt May’s customs plan

New Home Secretary Sajid Javid yesterday sank Theresa May’s customs plan by siding with Leavers on the 11-member Brexit cabinet. During a three-hour meeting, Javid argued that the Prime Minister’s preferred option of a “customs partnership” with the EU was “unworkable”. Downing Street insists the option, under which the UK would levy tariffs for Brussels, is still on the table.

2. Trump ‘repaid lawyer $130,000 porn star money’

Donald Trump personally repaid his lawyer Michael Cohen the $130,000 hush money given adult film star Stormy Daniels, according to a member of the US president’s legal team. Trump had denied knowing a payment had been made to Daniels, who claims she had an affair with him, before the 2016 election.

3. Breast screening error ‘cost up to 270 lives’

As many as 270 women may have lost their lives because of an NHS computer error that meant 450,000 patients were not told to attend breast cancer screenings, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt told the Commons yesterday. Hunt apologised to the women and their families for the failure, which was caused by a bad algorithm.

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4. Elon Musk’s Tesla reveals record $710m loss

Electric car firm Tesla, owned by PayPal billionaire Elon Musk, has revealed a record loss of $710m (£522m) for the first quarter of 2018 – and a cash burn of $745m (£548m). The firm is struggling to produce large numbers of its latest Model 3 vehicle. During a conference with analysts yesterday, Musk said: “It’s high time we became profitable.” He vowed to restructure.

5. Parents of dog walker’s killer warned of knives

The mother and stepfather of a 24-year-old man who stabbed a stranger to death in Norfolk repeatedly warned mental health services that he was collecting knives and that experts had warned it was “inevitable” he would kill somebody. Alexander Palmer stabbed 83-year-old Peter Wrighton 45 times as he walked his dog in woodland last August.

6. Voters go to the polls for England’s local elections

English voters are choosing their local council representation and elected mayors today. Polling stations open at 7am and close at 10pm, with electors choosing 4,371 local council seats across England. The Guardian asks if Labour will make good on its boast that it will metaphorically steal the “crown jewels” from the Conservatives.

7. Australian academic to end own life aged 104

A celebrated Australian botanist and ecologist is to end his own life in Switzerland at the age of 104. Dr David Goodall, born in the UK, wants to die because of his diminishing independence – although he is still working at Perth’s Edith Cowan University. After a serious fall at home last month, he was forced to stop living alone.

8. Great-nephew of Profumo arrested after fighting Isis

The great-nephew of John Profumo, the former minister whose affair with 19-year-old Christine Keeler inspired the film Scandal, has been arrested after returning to the UK from fighting with Kurdish forces against Islamic State. Jamie Janson, 42, was arrested in Folkestone on a coach from France and held by police overnight.

9. Red Bull and others told to drop ‘energy drink’ label

Pakistan’s largest province has decided that so-called “energy drinks” may no longer make that claim. Red Bull and others will have to drop the word “energy” from their packaging because it is scientifically misleading. The Punjab Food Authority said the highly caffeinated drinks only stimulate the release of existing bodily energy.

10. Briefing: inheritance tax reform

Inheritance tax should be scrapped and replaced with a fairer system that would be harder to avoid, according to a leading British think tank.

The Resolution Foundation is calling for a new tax that “would raise more for the state and would encourage families to pass their wealth to younger members”, says The Times.

Calls for overhaul of inheritance tax system - how would it work?