Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 13 Jul 2018

1. Trump: ‘Boris Johnson would make a great PM’

In an interview in today’s Sun, conducted while he was in Brussels for a Nato summit yesterday, Donald Trump says Boris Johnson would make a “great prime minister” while Theresa May’s version of Brexit will “probably kill” any separate deal with the US. Trump is in the UK today, attending a black tie dinner as May’s guest last night.

2. NHS surgery waiting lists reach 10-year high

The number of patients waiting for an NHS operation is at a 10-year high in England, new figures show. Some 4.3 million people are on the list, with many waiting longer than the supposed maximum times for their procedure, as former culture minister Matt Hancock becomes health secretary, replacing the unpopular Jeremy Hunt.

3. Battle of Britain ace Tom ‘Ginger’ Neil dies at 97

One of the last remaining Battle of Britain ‘aces’ – a fighter pilot who shot down five enemy aircraft or more – has died at the age of 97. Wing Commander Tom ‘Ginger’ Neil died peacefully on Wednesday, three years after the death of his wife Eileen, whom Neil met when she was a WAAF officer. Neil flew 141 combat missions.

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4. Petrol bombs thrown at police in Londonderry

Police have been attacked in Derry City, with 74 petrol bombs and two improvised explosive devices thrown on Thursday night, the sixth night of violence in the city this week. Barriers were also set on fire, police fired rubber bullets in response, and three men were arrested. Loyalists are protesting attempts to police their bonfires.

5. Presidents Club for ‘slimeballs’ failed as charity

MPs investigating the ‘Presidents Club’, a charity black tie dinner for men only, held at the Dorchester Hotel in London and exposed by secret filming in January, say it failed as a charity and broke “key charity law duties”. The MPs said the event, at which women were subject to alleged sexual harassment, was for “slimeballs”.

6. Novichok poisoning: police chief ‘needs help’

Wiltshire’s police and crime commissioner, Angus Wilson, has appealed for extra help for his local police force as they struggle to investigate the poisoning by Novichok of an Amesbury couple, while still policing major events including the visit of US President Donald Trump. He said police faced an “extraordinary level of demand”.

7. Johnson & Johnson to pay £3.6bn talc damages

Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay damages of $4.7bn (£3.6bn) to 22 women in Missouri who say its talc gave them ovarian cancer. The firm said it was “deeply disappointed” by the verdict and would appeal. The women’s lawyers claimed Johnson & Johnson knew its product was contaminated with asbestos.

8. Iceman’s last meal was high-calorie animal fat

A man who lived 5,300 years ago and bled to death on a glacier after an arrow fight has been found to have enjoyed a last meal of goat’s fat and wild venison, with wheat and toxic bracken. The contents of the so-called Iceman’s stomach have been analysed at last, after his body was found in 1991 embedded in ice in the Austrian Alps.

9. Spicer: ‘Trump is a unicorn riding a unicorn’

US President Donald Trump’s former press spokesman, Sean Spicer, has described his old boss as “a unicorn, riding a unicorn over a rainbow” in his new memoir. Spicer means that Trump is a rare and talented politician because of his “ability to pivot from a seemingly career-ending moment to a furious assault on his opponents”.

10. Briefing: why expats are leaving Saudi Arabia in droves

Hundreds of thousands of expatriates have been leaving Saudi Arabia as the economy stagnates and the authorities impose more fees on foreign workers.

The collapse in oil prices has seen the biggest Arab economy losing much of its appeal to expats previously lured by petrodollars. According to figures released in April by the Directorate General of Passports (Jawazat) in Riyadh, an average of more than 1,500 foreign workers have left the country every day since the last quarter of 2016.

Why expats are leaving Saudi Arabia in droves