Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 28 July 2023

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1. UN says ‘global boiling’ is here
2. Trump faces new charges
3. Braverman orders migrant tents
4. Coutts boss quits
5. MoD makes email blunder
6. Bird flu warning for beaches
7. Council tells Dorries to go
8. Cleared man ‘sickened’ by costs
9. Vacuuming ‘can lower cancer risk’
10. City told women to do chores

published 28 July 2023

1. UN says ‘global boiling’ is here

The era of global warming has ended and “the era of global boiling has arrived”, said the UN secretary general, António Guterres. “Climate change is here. It is terrifying. And it is just the beginning,” he said, after scientists confirmed July was on track to be the world’s hottest month on record. “Leaders must lead,” he said, calling for urgent action. “No more hesitancy, no more excuses, no more waiting for others to move first.”

Donald Trump is accused of pressuring an employee to delete Mar-a-Lago security camera footage, according to new charges. In a revised indictment, the former US president is charged with three new counts: one of wilful retention of defence information and two of obstruction. A trial date has been set for 20 May next year. Trump, who has pleaded not guilty, could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted, said the New York Post.

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Suella Braverman has bought marquee tents to accommodate up to 2,000 migrants on disused military sites as part of “emergency plans”, said The Times. The marquees will start to be erected over the coming weeks ahead of an expected surge of small boat arrivals. Last year, 51% of the year’s record-breaking 45,755 small boat arrivals were in August, September and October. A Home Office source said that other European countries, including Ireland, have used tents to accommodate asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees.

The boss of Coutts has stepped down over the handling of Nigel Farage’s bank account closure. The lender said Peter Flavel’s resignation had been mutually agreed and would be immediate. As controversy builds over “de-banking”, the anti-Brexit activist Gina Miller revealed she had a bank account for her political party closed. Monzo initially refused to tell Miller why her party account would be closed but later said it did not allow political party accounts and had made a mistake in allowing it to be opened.

The Ministry of Defence has admitted that emails containing classified information were accidentally sent to a close ally. The messages were intended for the US military, which uses the domain name “.mil” but they missed out the letter i, so the messages went instead to the nation of Mali. As an investigation into the error is launched, defence officials insisted the emails did not contain any information that could compromise operational security. “You’ve got Mali,” quipped the BBC.

People are being warned to stay away from sick or dead birds washed up on UK beaches as avian flu continues to “ravage” wild populations, said the BBC. With thousands of infected seabirds found along the UK coastline, the RSPB has warned the spread among seabird populations is a “crisis that could become a catastrophe”, as the dead birds “could represent hundreds of thousands, potentially millions” of others. The UK Health Security Agency said the risk to humans is “very low”.

A local authority in Nadine Dorries’s constituency is calling for her to immediately resign as an MP, saying “residents desperately need effective representation now”. The former culture secretary has yet to resign, despite announcing on 9 June that she was standing down as the MP for Mid Bedfordshire “with immediate effect”. In an open letter to Dorries, Flitwick town council said “concerns and frustration about the situation” had been raised at a recent meeting, and councillors wanted her to “immediately vacate” her seat to allow a by election.

An innocent man who spent 17 years in prison for a rape he did not commit said he is “sickened” that he may have his prison accommodation and food costs deducted from any compensation. Andrew Malkinson, who is living on benefits, said this meant he would effectively have to fund the “torture” he suffered for almost two decades. The 57-year-old, who continuously maintained his innocence, had his conviction for an attack on a woman in Salford, Greater Manchester, in 2003, overturned by appeal court judges on Wednesday.

Tasks such as vacuuming the living room or carrying heavy bags of groceries can significantly reduce the risk of cancer as long as they are performed with “gusto”, according to a study. Just four minutes a day of household activities that made men “huff and puff” was linked to an 18% lower overall risk of cancer. The study, published in JAMA Oncology, analysed data from 22,398 adults with an average age of 62, none of whom did regular exercise such as jogging.

A city in Japan has apologised after advising pregnant women to cook, clean and give husbands massages. Onomichi city, in Japan’s Hiroshima prefecture, published flyers saying wives may irritate their husbands if they are “busy taking care of the baby and not doing chores”. It added that new mothers can please their husbands, by giving them massages, preparing their lunch every day, handling the childcare and housework, greeting them with a “welcome home” and always having “a smile on her face”. The city’s mayor has apologised after an outcry.

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