Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Wednesday 21 Nov 2018

1. Cabinet fears May won’t be ready by Sunday

Sky News reports that Theresa May’s cabinet fear she will not be in a position to sign off the draft Brexit deal in time for Sunday’s EU summit. The PM is in Brussels today to flesh out the declaration and the broadcaster says her cabinet have urged her to adopt “bolder language” when she meets EU leaders in preparation for Sunday.

2. French rugby stars to wear rainbows for Thomas

The French national rugby team will wear rainbow bootlaces when they play Fiji in Paris on Saturday to support former Wales captain Gareth Thomas who was the victim of a homophobic attack in Cardiff last weekend. Thomas spent three years playing with Toulouse before coming out as gay after his playing days were over.

3. Trump: ‘I back Saudis, despite Khashoggi death’

The US President announced yesterday that he intends to maintain close links with Saudi Arabia even if de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was behind the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Trump said the prince could very well have authorised the killing but it would be “foolish” to extend sanctions.

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4. Yemen: 85,000 children have starved to death

Save the Children estimates that 85,000 children under the age of five have starved to death in Yemen since Saudi Arabia and Iran began fighting a proxy war there in order to back the existing regime and Houthi rebels respectively. Despite hopes of a ceasefire, fighting resumed in the port city of Hodeidah yesterday.

5. Russian police chief loses Interpol presidency

International policing agency Interpol has elected a new president, South Korean Kim Jong-yang, to replace China’s Meng Hongwai, who is being detained in China on corruption charges. The front-running candidate had been Alexander Prokopchuk of Russia but there were fears he would use the position to target critics of Vladimir Putin.

6. Environmental activists to block traffic today

Activists from the Extinction Rebellion campaign group are blocking major junctions in London today in an attempt to raise awareness of climate change. The group, which began its protests at the weekend, wants the UK to set far more ambitious targets for the reduction of fossil fuel use and says the country should be carbon-neutral by 2025.

7. Former gangster shot dead after book launch

Nedim Yasar, a reformed gang leader in Denmark, was shot dead yesterday after leaving the book launch for his memoir about escaping a life of crime. Yasar, who came from Turkey to Denmark at the age of four, reported an attack last month. The 31-year-old was shot one day before the publication of his non-fiction book Roots.

8. Venus Williams settles crash lawsuit out of court

Tennis ace Venus Williams has settled a lawsuit out of court relating to a car crash in which a 78-year-old man died. Police had cleared Williams of wrongdoing in the incident – and had also said the driver of the car in which Jerome Barson died was not to blame. A third vehicle was also involved in the Palm Beach crash in June.

9. Attlee homed Jewish boy in months before war

It has emerged after 79 years that Labour leader Clement Attlee took a Jewish child refugee into his home for four months just before the second world war began – and kept his charitable action secret. Paul Willer is now 90 and has remained in the UK ever since. He is scheduled to meet Attlee’s granddaughter later this month.

10. Briefing: is it safe to travel to Egypt?

Egypt’s tourism industry is at a critical juncture as resorts try to win back visitors driven away by fears of civil unrest, religious intolerance and terrorism.

Just as the dust began to settle after the Arab Spring, the reputations of major Egyptian resorts were hit by reports of foreigners dying as a result of food poisoning, shark attacks and even murder. So is it safe to travel to Egypt?

Is it safe to travel to Egypt?