Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Sunday 13 Jan 2019

1. MPs in 'bombshell plot' to sideline Theresa May

There is a “bombshell plot” among MPs to “seize control of Brexit negotiations” and “sideline” Theresa May, claims The Sunday Times. The cross-party senior backbenchers plan what one figure branded a “very British coup” if the PM loses the crucial vote on her Brexit deal on Tuesday. They hope to put Brexit on hold or force another referendum.

2. Trump erupts at 'insulting' claim he works for Moscow

Donald Trump has described as an “insult” the New York Times story that alleges the FBI launched an investigation into whether the he was acting as a Russian stooge. During a live phone interview with Fox, the US President said the story was “the most insulting article ever written”. He added angrily: “If you read the article you’ll see that they found absolutely nothing.”

3. Row over Church's appointment of resurrection denier

Controversy has erupted after the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby appointed as his ambassador to the Vatican a priest who denies the physical resurrection of Jesus. The Rev Dr John Shepherd said that the resurrection of Jesus “ought not to be seen in physical terms but as a new spiritual reality”. A former chaplain to the Queen said: “You cannot call yourself an orthodox Christian if you don’t believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus.”

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4. Fresh evidence links RAF veteran to UN murder

New evidence links an RAF veteran to the death in 1961 of the UN secretary general Dag Hammarskjöld in a mysterious plane crash in southern Africa. The Observer says that Jan van Risseghem had a British mother and wife, trained with the RAF and was honoured by Britain for his service in the second world war. A new documentary claims the pilot confessed to shooting down the UN plane.

5. Met warns of potential new Beast from the East

In one of the longest-range warnings it has issued, the Met has said that blizzards and freezing temperatures are likely to hit Britain in early February. A heat surge in the Arctic saw air temperatures over the North Pole rise by 65C in two days, increasing the risk of wintry blasts hitting Britain. “This is what preceded last year’s Beast from the East,” said the head of long-range prediction.

6. Rise in UK children in gender-title switches

Children as young as 10 are having their gender changed by deed poll. Over the past five years, the UK Deed Poll Service has seen a surge in the number of parents paying £35 to alter their child’s title from “Miss to Master” or “Master to Miss”. Around one under-16-year-old is making the change every day.

7. NHS landed with £1m compensation bill for Savile victims

The NHS has a £1m bill for compensating victims of Jimmy Savile after the late broadcaster’s estate contributed just £53,000. Over a 50-year period, the TV and radio personality raped and assaulted scores of patients, staff and visitors in 41 hospitals, a children’s home and a hospice. He passed away in 2011 before his crimes were revealed, and was reported to have had an estate worth at least £4m.

8. Scientist stripped of honours over race comments

The scientist James Watson has been stripped of several honorary titles by the laboratory he once headed over his views about intelligence and race. The 90-year-old Nobel Prize-winning Watson has said he is “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” as “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - where all the testing says not really”.

9. Teen patients given controversial electroconvulsive treatment

Patients as young as 16 have been given electroconvulsive therapy for mental health problems. One in six NHS Trusts has administered the controversial treatment - which sends an electrical current through the brain to trigger seizures - to under-18s, despite concern that it causes memory loss and accelerates dementia. In more than one-third of cases it is given without patient consent.

10. Arrest after child killed in hit-and-run collision

Detectives have arrested a man after an 11-year-old boy was killed in a hit-and-run collision in Manchester. The child was treated by paramedics at the scene in the Beswick area of the city but died of his injuries later in hospital. Police have arrested a 31-year-old man on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.