Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 6 Sep 2018

1. Britain to accuse novichok poisoners at UN

The UK has called a meeting of the UN Security Council today to discuss the novichok poisonings in Salisbury earlier this year, and will repeat the findings revealed by Theresa May in the Commons yesterday. The prime minister said that two men identified as suspects in the attack are believed to be officers in the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence organisation.

2. Senior Trump officials ‘have formed a resistance’

An anonymous senior official in the White House claims members of the administration have formed a “quiet resistance” to protect the US from the “amorality” and “impulsiveness” of President Donald Trump. In an article published in The New York Times, the official says he and his colleagues take active steps to undermine and frustrate Trump’s policies. Trump said the writer was “gutless”.

3. Indian court verdict makes gay sex legal

India’s Supreme Court has ruled that gay sex is no longer a criminal offence in the country. The landmark verdict overturns a law introduced more than 150 years ago during British rule that criminalised sexual intercourse “against the law of nature”, known as Section 377. Although rarely enforced, the law has created a “culture of fear and repression”, according to CNN.

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4. UK astronomer to donate £2.3m prize to charity

Leading astronomer Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell is to donate her £2.3m winnings from a major science prize to fund a scholarship to help women, refugees and ethnic minority students become physicists. Burnell has been awarded a Breakthrough Prize for the discovery of radio pulsars in 1974, for which her male collaborators received a Nobel Prize.

5. World’s biggest offshore windfarm opens in UK

The biggest offshore wind farm in the world is opening off the coast of Cumbria today. The Danish-owned Walney facility covers an area the size of 20,000 football pitches and already had 102 turbines before the completion of a further 87 earlier this year, at an overall cost of £1bn.

6. Raise marriage age to 18 to prevent abuse, says minister

The legal age for marriage could be raised to 18 to prevent forced weddings, under new proposals by Equalities Minister Baroness Williams. At present, people aged 16 and 17 can be married if they have parental consent. The Times says it has uncovered cases where young women were sent overseas, forced to marry and raped, so that their new husbands could gain UK visas.

7. US judge to sue Sacha Baron Cohen for stunt

Roy Moore, a failed Republican candidate for the US Senate, is suing Sacha Baron Cohen after being duped into appearing on the British comedian’s TV show Who Is America?. Baron Cohen plays an Israeli anti-terror expert using a “paedophile detector” in the episode. It goes off near Moore, who was dogged by sexual misconduct allegations.

8. Woman charged twice for £18,000 Mercedes

A Surrey woman was charged double for an £18,000 car as a result of a computer glitch affecting thousands of people who made debit card payments last week. Francesca Brady, from Camberley, bought the car on 29 August - the day the error occurred due to an issue with a card terminal run by Cardnet, a joint venture between Lloyds Bank and First Data. Lloyds says all customers have now been refunded.

9. Plastic tunnel named top attraction in Bude

The unexpected popularity of a Perspex tunnel in a supermarket car park in Cornwall is causing amusement online. The 230ft rain shelter between a Sainsbury’s and its car park is the now the most popular attraction in Bude, as listed by TripAdvisor. Online reviewers have praised its “handcrafted Cornish Perspex” and good views.

10. Briefing: do fertility apps work?

An advert for a mobile phone app that provides a natural alternative to contraception has been banned in the UK, reigniting the debate surrounding their reliability.

As the popularity of these apps continues to grow, The Week examines how effective they really are.

Fact check: do fertility apps work?