Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 14 Jan 2019

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1. May tells MPs: no Brexit more likely than no deal
2. Jailed British-Iranian mother to start hunger strike
3. HS2 to reduce number of trains to stay on budget
4. Mayor of Gdansk stabbed on stage at charity event
5. Trump: ‘We’ll devastate Turkey economically’
6. Logs and coal could be banned to cut pollution
7. Lion Air crash black box voice recorder found
8. Cathay sells first class tickets at economy prices
9. Robbie Williams ‘torments’ Jimmy Page with music
10. Briefing: the pros and cons of HRT

published 14 January 2019

1. May tells MPs: no Brexit more likely than no deal

Theresa May is making a last-ditch attempt to persuade Brexiteer Tories to back her EU exit plans. The prime minister has warned it’s now more likely Brexit will fail to happen than Brexit will go ahead with no deal. Last night, The Guardian reported that Brussels was expecting the UK to ask to extend the Brexit deadline from 29 March until July.

2. Jailed British-Iranian mother to start hunger strike

A British-Iranian charity worker who has been jailed in Iran since April 2016 is to begin a hunger strike in protest at being denied medical care. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe plans to refuse food for an initial three days, which she may then extend further. The 40-year-old is worried about lumps in her breasts, neck pains and numbness in her limbs.

3. HS2 to reduce number of trains to stay on budget

The government-run company building the new high speed rail link between London and the North, HS2, is considering reducing the number of trains it will run each hour in order to keep the project under its already-extended £56bn budget. The plan to run just 14 trains an hour each way would reduce capacity by 8,800 passengers an hour.

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4. Mayor of Gdansk stabbed on stage at charity event

The Mayor of Gdansk, Pawel Adamowicz, was stabbed on stage in front of an audience of thousands in the Polish city last night. He is now in hospital in a critical condition. A staunch supporter of LGBT rights, Adamowicz is one of the few powerful liberal voices in Poland. He has been mayor of the port city since 1998.

5. Trump: ‘We’ll devastate Turkey economically’

US President Donald Trump has threatened to “devastate Turkey economically” if it takes action against Kurds in Syria after he pulls out US troops. He also insisted that a “20 mile safe zone” would be created in the north of Syria, where Islamic State still has forces, but did not say who would create, maintain or pay for such a safe zone.

6. Logs and coal could be banned to cut pollution

The sale of ‘wet’ wood logs and bituminous house coal for domestic use is to be restricted in an effort to reduce air pollution. The Department for the Environment believes that reducing the sale of fuel for trendy stoves and open fires could cut the cost of air pollution to society by £1.7bn a year by 2020 – and as much as £5.3bn by 2030.

7. Lion Air crash black box voice recorder found

The voice recorder from the Lion Air flight which crashed into the sea near Indonesia in October, leaving no survivors of the 189 people on board, has been found. The Indonesian navy said the black box recorder was discovered under 26 feet of mud on the sea floor off Jakarta. The main body of the aircraft has not been found.

8. Cathay sells first class tickets at economy prices

For the second time this month, Cathay Pacific has sold first class tickets at economy prices. The airline says it will honour the tickets from Hong Kong to Lisbon via London, which cost £1,178 instead of £12,500. Cathay said they had been mispriced by mistake but the airline suffered a data breach earlier, raising suspicions of hacking.

9. Robbie Williams ‘torments’ Jimmy Page with music

The rift between London neighbours Robbie Williams of Take That and Jimmy Page, the Led Zeppelin guitarist, is deepening, according to a complaint sent to Kensington & Chelsea council. The letter claims Williams is tormenting Page by “blasting Black Sabbath music” in his direction and imitating his beer belly with a cushion.