Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 14 Feb 2019

1. Labour MPs to push for second referendum

Up to ten Labour front bench MPs are threatening to resign if Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t push for a second Brexit referendum in an amendment to be voted on later this month, according to The Guardian. The Commons will today debate and vote on several other amendments to Theresa May’s deal, with some Tories expected to rebel.

2. Airbus scraps world’s largest airliner

European aerospace leader Airbus is scrapping production of its A380, the world’s biggest airliner, following a slump in sales. The firm says the cuts could affect up to 3,500 jobs, including around 300 at its factory in Broughton, north Wales. The last of the A380s, which can carry 544 passengers on two decks, will be completed in 2021.

3. Isis schoolgirl wants to return to London

One of three east London schoolgirls who made headlines in 2015 when they travelled to Syria to join Islamic State has been found in a refugee camp. Shamima Begum, now 19, says she does not regret her decision but wants to come home as she is nine months pregnant. She claims to have had two other children who both died.

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4. Doctors urge patients to learn their cholesterol numbers

People should know their cholesterol and blood pressure numbers as well as they know their bank Pin code, in order to spot cardiovascular disease early, Public Health England and NHS England have said. The two organisations are urging more people to take up the offer of a free health check, available to all over-40s at their GP surgery.

5. House price growth hits five-year low

The latest monthly snapshot from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) shows a further weakening of the UK housing market, with demand, prices and sales expectations all down. Government figures show that price growth is at its lowest since 2013.

6. Most English councils ‘plan to raise tax’

Most local authorities in England are planning to raise council tax this year but warn they will also have to cut services, according to the Local Government Information Unit (LgiU). Eight in ten local authorities believe the current level of funding is “unsustainable”. Almost a third say they will reduce spending on adult social care.

7. Anger at plan to cut BBC News at Ten

BBC staff are up in arms over plans to shorten the flagship News at Ten bulletin by ten minutes, to make more space for youth programming. Leading on-screen presences including Jeremy Bowen have written to BBC director-general Tony Hall to protest against the move.

8. FBI publishes serial killer’s drawings of victims

A former boxer feared to be America’s most prolific serial killer has drawn more than a dozen sketches of women he says murdered. Samuel Little, 78, is serving a life sentence for the murder of three women but has confessed to a total of 90 killings. The FBI hopes making the drawings public could lead to identification of victims.

9. Trump aide Manafort lied to prosecutors, says judge

A US judge has ruled that US President Donald Trump’s former aide Paul Manafort lied to prosecutors, breaching the plea deal he reached with special counsel Robert Mueller as part of the Trump-Russia inquiry. Judge Amy Berman Jackson says Manafort intentionally “made multiple false statements” to the FBI, to Mueller’s office and to a grand jury. The ruling means Manafort may face a harsher sentence following his conviction for financial fraud in August.

10. Briefing: do video games cause aggression?

Violent computer games do not encourage aggressive behaviour in teenage players, a new study suggests.

Researchers surveyed 1,000 British youths aged 14 and 15 and found that around half of the girls and two-thirds of the boys played video games, The Independent reports. As with previous such studies, each teen was quizzed about their personality and gaming habits.

Do violent video games make teenagers more aggressive?