Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Wednesday 23 May 2018

1. England ‘running out of water’ as climate changes

The Environment Agency is warning that England will face serious water shortages by 2050 unless action is taken. The system loses three billion litres a day to leaks, while an increasing population and changing climate mean ground water is being used at an unsustainable level. The agency wants people to use water more wisely.

2. Trump says Kim Jong Un summit may not happen

Donald Trump has admitted there is a “very substantial chance” that next month’s much-vaunted summit with North Korea may not happen. Speaking as South Korean leader Moon Jae-in arrived at the White House for talks, the US president said that North Korea’s Kim Jong Un must denuclearise before their meeting can take place – and added it might happen “later”.

3. ‘Cocaine wars’ driving murder spate in London

The UK is fast becoming Europe’s cocaine capital – and the trafficking of the drug is driving serious violence, Security Minister Ben Wallace has warned. Wallace is calling for urgent action in response to the 67 murders in London so far this year, and says smartphones and encryption are making it easier to deal in hard drugs.

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. Boris Johnson wants own ministerial jet

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said yesterday that he thinks he should be given his own ministerial private jet – and argued that it would boost Britain’s post-Brexit trade prospects. He said the official Voyager plane used by the prime minister and the Royal Family was too difficult to get hold of, adding: “And also, why does it have to be grey?”

5. Marks & Spencer profits fall on closure costs

High-street stalwart Marks & Spencer has announced a 62% slump in profits, to £66.8m before tax, driven in part by £321.1m in costs related to its attempts to restructure. The retailer announced yesterday that it will close 100 stores by 2022, putting thousands of jobs at risk. Trading profits were down 5.4%, with weaker food margins.

6. Author Philip Roth dead at 85

Prize-winning US author Philip Roth has died at the age of 85. Roth’s sexually frank novel Portnoy’s Complaint made him a celebrity when it was published in 1969, and he went on to win the Pulitzer, National Book Award and Man Booker International prizes. A friend of the writer told The New York Times that Roth had died of congestive heart failure.

7. Judge orders 30-year-old out of parents’ house

A US judge has told a 30-year-old man he must move out of the family home after he repeatedly ignored formal letters from his parents telling him to leave. Michael Rotondo argued in court he should be allowed to stay with his parents for another six months in Syracuse, New York, but the judge said the demand was “outrageous”.

8. Temperatures to hit 30C during bank holiday

Britain is on course for the second very hot bank holiday weekend of the year, with forecasters expecting 30C in the southeast of England from Friday onwards – double the average temperature for this time of year. However, a northeasterly wind will keep Scotland at around 18C. The early May bank holiday set new records this year.

9. Elderly couple who lost car appeal for help

An elderly couple are asking for help finding their car after forgetting where it is parked. Emmanuel Elliott, 81, and his partner Hilda Farmer, 79, left the car in a street “with really nice houses on one side” during a visit to Cheltenham General Hospital. They are offering a £100 reward for finding it, following an unsuccessful four-day search by friends and family.

10. Briefing: how the US intends to contain Iran

Mike Pompeo has used his first big speech as US secretary of state to set out the Trump administration’s “Plan B” for dealing with Iran following its decision to withdraw from the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal.

Speaking at the conservative Heritage Foundation policy group in Washington, the former CIA director said the US would never allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon and would impose the “strongest sanctions in history” to force the regime to submit to its demands.

‘Nuclear plan B’: how the US intends to confront Iran