WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
Sturgeon cleared, power outage closes Heathrow, and US education shrinks

 
today's politics story

Sturgeon cleared after SNP fraud investigation

What happened
Former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has been cleared by a police investigation looking into the alleged mishandling of Scottish National Party funds, saying there was not a "scrap of evidence" of wrongdoing on her behalf.

Police Scotland also confirmed that it had ended its inquiry into Colin Beattie, the former SNP treasurer.

Who said what
Speaking to journalists outside her home near Glasgow, Sturgeon said she was "relieved" to have been cleared, and that the past two years had been "frustrating" and "difficult".

First Minister John Swinney said he hoped that Sturgeon and Beattie could now "move on from the difficulties they have faced while this investigation has been under way".

The confirmation came after it emerged that Peter Murrell, Sturgeon's estranged husband and the former SNP chief executive, had made no plea during his court appearance, a routine hearing that formally begins the prosecution process. The Crown Office has not yet released the charge against him.

Sturgeon, whose memoirs will be published in August, announced at the beginning of the year that she and Murrell were to divorce and said they had been living separate lives for some time.

What next?
For Sturgeon, "a political renaissance is now possible", said Alan Cochrane in The Telegraph. But another and "almost certainly more lucrative" route for her career "would be as a pundit".

 
 
today's international story

Trump gives order to shrink US education department

What happened
Donald Trump has signed an executive order to begin dismantling the Department of Education, fulfilling an election campaign pledge and a long-held dream of American conservatives.

Who said what
The policy will see Education Secretary Linda McMahon, a former wrestling boss, instructed to undertake "all necessary steps to facilitate the closure … and return education authority to the states".

The order is "one is of the most drastic steps yet" in the "brutal overhaul" of the government that Trump is carrying out with the help of Elon Musk, said France 24.

The policy was recommended in the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 manifesto that "Trump once distanced himself from", said The Independent.

What next?
Most experts say entirely scrapping the department would require an act of Congress. And Trump would also probably need a supermajority in the US Senate – 60 out of 100 senators, making this "a political longshot", said Ana Faguy on the BBC.

 
 
Today's transport story

Heathrow Airport closes all day due to power outage

What happened
Heathrow Airport has been shut down due to a power outage caused by a fire at a nearby electrical substation.

The London Fire Brigade said it had deployed 10 engines and about 70 firefighters to bring the blaze under control.

Who said what
In an advisory on its website, the airport said it had closed until midnight "to maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues".

The closure has thrown passengers' travel plans "into chaos", said Al Jazeera. Heathrow is Europe's busiest airport with more than 200,000 people travelling through it every day. Flightradar24 estimated that the shutdown would affect at least 1,351 incoming and outgoing flights. Consequently, it will likely bring "turmoil to global travel", said the Financial Times.

What next?
It is not yet clear when the power will be reliably restored, a Heathrow spokesperson told Reuters in an email.

 
 

It's not all bad

With the help of AI, weather forecasting is about to get faster, cheaper and more accessible. A new AI model, Aardvark Weather, can generate highly accurate forecasts in minutes using a standard desktop computer – replacing traditional supercomputers that take hours. Developed by Cambridge University and partners, this breakthrough could provide eight-day forecasts and hyper-local predictions, benefiting industries, emergency responders and developing nations. Experts say the technology could democratise weather forecasting worldwide.

 
 
under the radar

Polar scares: assault in the Antarctic

Scientists working at a remote research station in Antarctica have requested they be rescued after accusing one of their team of assault.

The nine-person team had only just arrived for a 13-month overwinter mission at South Africa's Sanae IV Antarctic base when officials in Pretoria received an email saying a team member had become violent. The man was "accused of physical assault, sexual harassment and 'deeply disturbing behaviour'", said Newsweek.

Things have settled a little since then. SA environment ministry officials "activated a response plan" and the alleged perpetrator has "shown remorse", written "a formal apology to the victim" and "willingly participated in further psychological evaluation", said the BBC. The allegations of sexual harassment are still being investigated.

The incident has drawn worldwide attention to the extreme challenges of living and working with others in a cold, dark and isolated Antarctic base.

Antarctic scientists are trained to be "physically and mentally prepared for the particular hardships of life" and must have "psychometric testing beforehand". But it's "a very, very extreme experience – there's no doubt about that", former Antarctic base commander John Dudeney told The Independent. Relationships within research teams can quickly become "challenging" and "sometimes, teams fragment".

Anyone who commits a crime in the Antarctic is subject to the law enforcement policies of their home country. But "extracting" any misbehaving individual is not easy given the climate and conditions. There has to be a "careful assessment of the risk" of sending people in, said Dudeney, "compared with the risk of taking no action".

 
 
on this day

21 March 2006

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey sent the first public tweet: "just setting up my twttr". The platform grew rapidly, boasting more than 360 million monthly active users by 2022. But since Elon Musk acquired it that year, usage has dropped by about 15%. This week X, as it is now known, soared back up to the valuation Musk paid for it in a reversal of fortune attributed to Donald Trump's election as US president.

 
 
Today's newspapers

Council tax has soared to a "record high", says the Daily Mail, but "the service you get" is "still rubbish". Labour has been accused of "hammering households" with a 5% increase, says the Daily Express. Defence Secretary John Healey has warned that Britain has the power to do "untold damage" to Russia with its nuclear arsenal if attacked, says The Times. Meanwhile, David Norris, who was convicted of killing 18-year-old Stephen Lawrence in 1993 "finally admits he was there on the night Stephen died", the Daily Mirror reports.

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Wild goose chase

Emergency services in Tauranga, a coastal city in New Zealand, responded quickly after someone reported seeing two swimmers in distress on Monday night. The helicopter rescue team and coastguard were likely surprised, then, when the supposed swimmers "turned out to be geese". But a spokesperson for the Tauranga Coastguard said the caller who mistook the birds for people had done the right thing by making the report: "It's always better to be safe than sorry."

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Arion McNicoll, Harriet Marsden, Ross Couzens, and Chas Newkey-Burden, with illustrations by Marian Femenias-Moratinos.

Image credits, from top: Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images; Grzegorz Bajor / Getty Images; Illustration by Marian Femenias-Moratinos / Getty Images.