Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 6 August 2022

1. Truss takes aim at Bank of England

Liz Truss has accused the Bank of England of “talking Britain into a recession”. The Tory leadership hopeful shrugged off the bank’s warning that the UK would slip into negative growth at the end of this year amid the worst squeeze on living standards for more than 60 years, saying “forecasts are not destiny”. Truss suggested that the way to head off recession was by “keeping taxes low” but her rival, Rishi Sunak, who wants to prioritise tackling rising prices before cutting taxes, said the Tories can “kiss goodbye” to winning the next election if inflation is not brought under control quickly.

2. China suspends co-operation with US

China has announced new countermeasures against the US, including the suspension of climate talks, in response to Nancy Pelosi’s controversial visit to Taiwan. Beijing, which also announced it was sanctioning the senior Democrat and her family, will suspend co-operation on military issues and efforts to combat international crime. China’s Foreign Ministry condemned Pelosi for what it described as her “vicious and provocative actions,” saying her trip to Taiwan amounted to “seriously interfering in China's internal affairs”. Taiwan is a self-ruled island, but it is claimed by China, which sees it as a breakaway province.

3. Cyber attack hits NHS helpline

A major cyber attack on the NHS 111 system left patients struggling to get urgent appointments and ambulance call-outs. Hotline staff across the country were forced to use pens and paper after a crucial system was shut down by hackers, who are believed to be linked to a hostile state. The Telegraph said the Five Eyes international intelligence alliance – made up of Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the US – has warned of the risk of state-sponsored cyber attacks coordinated from Moscow following the UK’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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4. Israel launches attack on Gaza

Israel has launched a series of air strikes on Gaza that killed a senior Palestinian commander and a five-year-old girl. Palestinian officials in the territory said that a total of 10 people, including the child, were killed and dozens had been injured. Observers told Al-Jazeera that Israel’s attack on Gaza was “weeks in the making” and “a deliberate act to gain legitimacy with its public” as the nation braces for new elections in November. Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said: “Israel carried out a precise counter-terror operation against an immediate threat.”

5. Starmer visited picket line in 2020

Leaked footage has shown that Sir Keir Starmer promised during his leadership campaign that he would stand with striking workers. Sir Keir has banned his frontbench from appearing on the picket line during recent industrial action, but the video shows that the Labour leader joined members of the University and College Union on the picket line on February 26, 2020, two days after online voting opened for party members. He told lecturers they had his “full support” and told them: “It’s really important you get politicians to come out and support you and stand with you in this.”

6. Archie’s family have ‘no more options’

Archie Battersbee’s family has been told his life support will be withdrawn at 10am today. The 12-year-old’s mother, Hollie Dance, told Sky News that the hospital “have made it very clear that we've got no more options”. Archie has been in a coma since he was discovered unconscious by his mother in April. Doctors say he is “brain stem dead” and he is being kept alive by medical interventions including ventilation and drug treatment at the Royal London Hospital. With all legal routes now exhausted, Dance said: “I’ve done everything that I’ve promised my little boy I’d do.”

7. Jury orders Jones to pay $49.3m

A US court has ordered Alex Jones to pay $49.3m (£41m) in damages after falsely claiming a 2012 school shooting was a hoax. A jury in Texas ruled the radio host must pay $45.2m in punitive damages, in addition to $4.1m in compensatory damages they awarded a day earlier. The defamation trial was brought by the parents of a child killed in the attack. They said they had endured harassment and emotional distress because of the Infowars founder's misinformation. Twenty children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook in Connecticut.

8. ‘Bleak’ winter ahead for NHS

Ministers have been warned that as few as six patients in 10 will be dealt with by hospital A&E departments within four hours this winter. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine described the 60% projection as “optimistic” and a senior government figure said the winter looked “incredibly bleak” with Covid cases and a resurgence of winter flu expected to push the NHS to breaking point. Australia has experienced a dramatic rise in flu this year, with 10 times more cases than the five-year average. The Australian flu season is often an indictor of how bad the British one will be, said The Times.

9. Shapps vows to close cyclist loophole

Cyclists who kill pedestrians could face tougher sentences under a new law planned for England, Scotland and Wales. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is vowing to close a legal loophole that means cyclists who kill pedestrians can only be jailed for two years. He said the law change will “impress on cyclists the real harm they can cause when speed is combined with lack of care”. The move comes four years after the government ran a consultation on proposals for new offences of causing death or serious injury while cycling. Meanwhile, new data suggests cycling levels are surging in England as “cash-strapped consumers cut back on driving,” said Sky News.

10. Teacher ‘admitted abusing boys’

Court documents show that a retired teacher fighting extradition from South Africa has admitted abusing schoolboys in Edinburgh. The BBC broadcaster, Nicky Campbell, is one of a number of former pupils who have made allegations about the 83-year-old, who taught at Fettes College and Edinburgh Academy. South Africa approved the UK’s extradition request in 2020 but the man lodged an appeal, which is due to be heard in October. In documents related to extradition proceedings, the man said that while teaching at Edinburgh Academy he had “urges to touch the students inappropriately and on occasion I did so”.