Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 22 Feb 2019

1. May warned of no-deal Brexit rebellion

Theresa May has been warned that “dozens of normally loyal Conservative MPs” are set to rebel against the Government if she moves towards a no-deal Brexit, the BBC reports. The broadcaster says “numerous” Leaver and Remainer Tories have united under Andrew Percy, one of the leaders of the Brexit Delivery Group, to back an amendment that would block quitting the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

2. Corbyn facing revolt over second referendum

“Senior” Labour MPs have warned leader Jeremy Corbyn that there will be more defections from the party if he does not back a proposal to hold a second national referendum on leaving the EU, according to The Times. The newspaper says Corbyn’s office has been told “dozens” of MPs are prepared to join the new Independent Group.

3. One in 13 teens ‘has experienced PTSD’

One in 13 of all 18-year-olds in England and Wales has experienced post-traumatic stress disorder - half of them within the past year, a study by a team from King’s College London has found. Researcher Andrea Danese said the findings should serve as a “wake-up call”, with many young people failing to get the support they need. The causes of trauma ranged from sexual assault and bullying to car accidents and the death of a loved one.

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4. Shamima Begum: lawyer considers options

Lawyers acting for Shamima Begum say the 19-year-old Isis bride will fight Home Secretary Sajid Javid’s decision to strip her of her British nationality, leaving her stateless. Begum ran away from her east London home to join Islamic State in Syria at the age of 15 but now wants to return. She is currently in a Syrian refugee camp, where she gave birth to a son last weekend.

5. Japanese spacecraft lands on tiny asteroid

A Japanese spacecraft called Hayabusa 2 has successfully landed on an asteroid just 3,000ft in diameter, some 186 million miles from Earth. The probe is scheduled to make three landings on the surface, taking samples, and will then return to Earth by 2020. One researcher said it was a “very ambitious mission” with “many firsts”.

6. Police call for laws to allow discrimination

The chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council has called for changes to the law to allow forces to bring in positive racial discrimination when recruiting, to increase diversity among officers. Sara Thornton says that without legal changes it will take “decades” for the racial make-up of police to accurately reflect society.

7. Jussie Smollett: judge says ‘fake’ abuse story is despicable’

Empire star Jussie Smollett’s alleged staging of a racist attack on himself was “despicable” and “utterly outrageous” if true, a Chicago judge has said. The 36-year-old actor is accused of filing a fake police report claiming he was the victim of a homophobic and racist assault. Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke said the “most vile” part of the incident was the use of a noose. Smollett denies the accusation.

8. Bear Grylls in hot water over Bulgarian boiled frog

Bulgarian officials are considering taking legal action against TV adventurer Bear Grylls over an episode of his Running Wild series in which he killed a frog and boiled it on a camping stove. The country’s environment ministry said this was a breach of rules in a protected national park. Grylls also broke rules by lighting a fire and swimming in the water basin of a lake in the park.

9. Welsh upset by cookery show mistakes

TV chef James Martin has apologised after angering Welsh viewers with a series of geographical errors in his ITV culinary travel series James Martin’s Great British Adventure. The mistakes included incorrectly describing Wales as a “principality”, exaggerating the size of Pembrokeshire on a map, and mixing up two villages of the same name. Martin said some of the resulting online abuse was “vastly uncalled for”.

10. Briefing: how can you lose your British citizenship?

The case of Shamima Begum, the jihadi bride who wants to return to the UK, has become shrouded in controversy after the Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped her of her British citizenship.

Javid used his powers under the British Nationality Act 1981 as he claims she is eligible for Bangladeshi citizenship. But Begum denies this claim and says she is only a citizen of the UK.

Should terrorists lose their British citizenship?