Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Tuesday 5 Mar 2019

1. Brexit backstop talks resume in Brussels

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox are meeting EU officials in Brussels today for talks on the Irish border backstop. The pair hope to get a guarantee on limiting the arrangement, in order to persuade Brexiteer MPs to back Theresa May’s Brexit deal. MPs are due a second vote on the exit agreement by 12 March.

2. ‘Treat knife attacks like terrorism’, says MP

Labour MP Vernon Coaker is calling for the Government to treat knife crime with the same urgency that it does terrorism. Coaker says the Cobra emergency committee should meet to respond the “national crisis”, following a spate of stabbing deaths among young people. Police yesterday arrested six people after a knife-wielding gang began threatening students at a college in Lancashire.

3. Council tax bills to rise by 4.5%

The average council tax bill in England is set to rise by 4.5% from April - the second-biggest yearly increase of the past decade, according to analysis by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (Cipfa). The Local Government Association says austerity cuts have left councils “with little choice”.

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4. Carrying car seats ‘could injure new mums’

An association of physiotherapists is warning that new mothers should not lift baby car seats for at least six to eight weeks after birth. The group says the seats are too heavy and awkward for a new mother to carry and could cause or worsen pelvic organ prolapse. Manufacturers say they cannot reduce seat weights because of safety standards.

5. Royal Family warns trolls of police action

The Royal Family has issued new guidelines for users of its social media accounts, with so-called trolls who post offensive or abusive messages set to be blocked or even reported to police. The rules have been published in response to an online war between fans of the Duchesses of Cambridge and Sussex.

6. Schools ask parents to pay hundreds a year

Some state schools in England are relying on donations from parents to pay for equipment, repairs, textbooks and even staff salaries, The Times reports. The newspaper says one school in north London asks parents for £1,260 per year per family. Of about 700 schools that provided data in response to Freedom of Information Act requests, more than 200 had asked for parental donations in the past year.

7. Prince Charles linked to Russian network

Newly leaked data on 1.3 million banking transactions shows that Prince Charles received donations from an offshore company that was used to funnel vast amounts of cash from Russia and is now under investigation by prosecutors, The Guardian reports. The donation was used by a charity set up by the Royal to save a stately home for the nation.

8. London man free of HIV after transplant

A man in London is the second person in the world known to have been declared free of HIV following a stem cell transplant. The unidentified patient contracted HIV in 2003 and later developed cancer. He was given a stem cell bone marrow transplant from a donor with immunity to HIV in 2016 and, three years later, is clear of the virus.

9. Older people ‘see the world as happier’

New research has found that as people age, they become less likely to notice when other people are angry – but still perceive their happiness just as acutely. The result could be that older people see the world as a happier place, says Laura Germine of Harvard Medical School. Almost 10,000 people took part in the study.

10. Briefing: what are the symptoms of MS?

US actor Selma Blair is battling to raise awareness of multiple sclerosis (MS) after walking the Oscars red carpet with the aid of a cane in her first major public appearance since revealing she has the chronic illness.

After going public with the diagnosis in October, the 46-year-old star described how she had suffered mysterious symptoms for years and had cried tears of “relief” when doctors were finally able to pinpoint the cause.

What is multiple sclerosis and what are the symptoms?