Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 15 June 2022

1. Court grounds Rwanda flight

The government’s plan to send the first flight of refugees to Rwanda was abandoned on Tuesday night after a last-gasp ruling by the European Court of Human Rights. Up to seven people who had come to the UK seeking refuge had been expected to be deported to the east African country but a ruling by the court on one of the cases allowed lawyers for the other six to make successful last-minute applications. Detention Action said the intervention “shows how potentially dangerous” No. 10’s Rwanda plan is, but home secretary Priti Patel simply remarked that “preparation for the next flight begins now”.

Rwanda deportations: the legal bids to stop first flight explained

2. Russia bans UK journalists

Russia has barred top UK-based journalists, including reporters from Sky News, the BBC, The Times, The Guardian, Channel 4 and ITV, from the country. “The British journalists included on the list are involved in deliberate dissemination of false and one-sided information about Russia and events in Ukraine and Donbas,” a spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry said. The spokesperson added that “with their biased assessments”, the barred journalists “contribute to fuelling Russophobia in British society”.

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How Ukraine and Russia are both breaking the law on prisoners of war

3. Warning over rising sea levels

Rising sea levels in England will force 200,000 people to abandon their homes, new data suggests. The Guardian said the homes would either be impossible to save, or too expensive to try to save. The areas most at risk include North Somerset, Sedgemoor, Wyre, North East Lincolnshire and Swale. The study, by researchers at the Tyndall Centre in the University of East Anglia, comes after similar warnings were issued last week by the head of the Environment Agency. He said whole communities would have to move inland, describing this as “the hardest of all inconvenient truths”.

4. Pharmacies to check for cancer

People with potential cancer symptoms will be able to get assessed and referred for a hospital checkup in high street pharmacies under NHS plans, said The Guardian. The scheme will mean people with lumps, a cough, problems swallowing or blood in their urine will soon be able to be referred for scans and checks by a pharmacist, rather than having to wait to see their GP. The hope is that more cancers will be diagnosed earlier under the scheme, when there is a better chance of a cure. The health service will also send out more “roaming trucks” to perform scans in the community.

The UK’s ‘emergency’ cancer battle

5. PM wants to scrap Sunak plan

Boris Johnson wants to reverse Rishi Sunak’s planned multibillion-pound tax raid on business, according to a report in The Times. The PM’s allies said that Johnson is determined to stop next year’s six-percentage-point rise in corporation tax, announced by the chancellor last year. The PM is keen to “firm up support on the Tory right”, said the paper, but any changes to the planned rise could leave the Treasury with a £15bn-a-year black hole at a time when growth is stagnating.

6. Airlines told to cancel ‘undeliverable’ flights

Airlines in the UK have been told to cancel flights they can’t deliver to prevent a repeat of May’s travel chaos. The aviation regulator and ministers have written to airline bosses telling them to ensure their summer timetables are “deliverable”, arguing that earlier cancellations are “better” than axing flights at the last moment. Tens of thousands of passengers have been affected by cancellations and delays at airports, with airlines and unions warning that the staffing shortages causing the issues are likely to persist this summer.

Is Brexit to blame for the travel chaos?

7. More people avoiding news

An increasing number of people are turning away from the news because it lowers their mood, according to the Reuters Institute’s digital news report. The study found that almost 38% of respondents often or sometimes avoid the news – up from 29% in 2017. Researchers found that the number of people avoiding reading or watching the news has doubled in the UK over the past five years. More than 93,000 people in 46 countries took part in the survey.

8. Internet Explorer closes today

Microsoft will kill off its internet browser Internet Explorer today nearly 27 years after it first graced desktop computers in 1995. The Guardian said the “much-maligned” desktop app will be disabled and users will be redirected to Microsoft’s Edge browser instead. Internet Explorer’s user base started to decline drastically as competitors released new browsers with better user interfaces, faster internet speed and smoother performance, said Business Standard.

9. First pedestrian death from an e-scooter

A grandmother has become the first pedestrian in Britain to be killed after being hit by an e-scooter. Linda Davis, 71, was walking in Rainworth, Nottinghamshire, on 2 June when a 14-year-old boy riding a privately owned electric scooter collided with her on the pavement. In 2021, nine people were killed in collisions involving e-scooters in the UK, all of whom were riders. A total of 223 pedestrians were wounded by the devices last year, according to Department of Transport figures, including 63 people who were seriously hurt.

The e-scooter invasion: can we cope?

10. Vets warn against buying bulldogs

Vets have urged the public against buying a bulldog because their flat faces can lead to a “lifetime of suffering”, with a study finding that the bulldog has twice the health risks of other dogs. Royal Veterinary College experts want people to stop buying English bulldogs until breeding issues are addressed. “For breeds such as English bulldogs where many dogs still have extreme conformations (a dog's structure and appearance) with poor innate health, the public have a huge role to play by demanding dogs with moderate and healthier conformations,” said a spokesperson.