Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 21 Jan 2019

1. May to lay out Brexit plan B in Commons

Theresa May will lay out her so-called plan B for Brexit today – and is expected to abandon efforts to build cross-party consensus and instead try to win over Tory rebels and the DUP by renegotiating the Irish backstop with Brussels. Senior Tories had suggested they might start a new party if May committed to a customs union.

2. Brexit fears wipe 25% off priciest homes

House prices in some of the wealthiest areas in England and Wales have fallen by up to 25% in the past 12 months under Brexit uncertainty, according to estate agent Your Move. In some areas, the average price drop was around £500,000. In London’s Kensington and Chelsea, prices fell by 21.2%. Nationwide, prices rose by an average of 0.3% in December - a fall in real terms when adjusted for inflation.

3. Israel attacks Iranian targets in Syria

Israel has said it is carrying out strikes on Iranian targets in Syria, after intercepting a rocket fired from Syrian territory on Sunday. Israel is attacking sites including weapons stores, an Iranian military training camp and a site near Damascus airport, and has warned the Syrian military against returning fire.

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4. Customers still paying card surcharges

Many retailers and organisations are still charging customers to make credit and debit card payments, even though such surcharges have been illegal since January 2018, a BBC investigation has found. The broadcaster says shops, letting agents and even Hull University were discovered to be breaking the rules. When challenged, many of the organisations said the charges were made in error.

5. Soldier sues MoD after contracting Q fever

A former soldier in the British Army is suing the Ministry of Defence after contracting Q fever while serving in Afghanistan. Wayne Bass says his life has been ruined as a result of the Army’s failure to provide antibiotics that would have protected him from the disease, which leads to chronic fatigue and is caused by bacteria most commonly found in cattle, sheep, and goats.

6. China: growth at weakest since 1990

China’s economic growth was the weakest since 1990 in the last quarter of 2018, newly published data reveals. In the last three months of the year, the Chinese economy grew by 6.4%, down from 6.5% during the same period in 2017. Overall, it grew by 6.6% in 2018. The figures will add to worries about the effect of the country’s trade war with the US.

7. Spice Girls T-shirts made in sweatshop

T-shirts with a Spice Girls slogan sold to raise money for Comic Relief’s “gender justice” campaign were made in a factory in Bangladesh by women paid equivalent to 35p per hour, The Guardian has discovered. The newspaper says the £19.40 tops were designed and commissioned by the band. The charity is due to receive £11.60 for each T-shirt sold but says it has not yet been given any money.

8. Mike Ashley in talks to buy HMV

Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley is in talks to buy struggling music retailer HMV, which went into administration last month for the second time in six years. Ashley is a significant shareholder in Game Digital and could pursue a move to merge it with HMV, which employs a total of around 2,200 people in its 125 UK stores.

9. Welby: ‘I speak in tongues every day’

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has revealed that he speaks in tongues every morning as part of his prayer routine. The 63-year-old religious leader has long been associated with the Church of England’s evangelical wing, in which speaking unintelligibly while “possessed” by the Holy Spirit is commonplace.

10. Briefing: who are al-Shabaab?

The death toll from last Tuesday’s terrorist attack on a hotel and office complex in Nairobi has reached 15, according to authorities.

Responsibility for the attack has been claimed by Somalia-based Islamist militant group al-Shabaab, which continues to pose a significant threat in east Africa. So what does the militant organisation want and how did they become such a prominent force in the region?

Who are al-Shabaab and what do they want?