News Daily: Supreme Court decision and Thomas Cook customers’ anger
Your morning briefing for 24 September 2019. …
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Parliament suspension: Supreme Court to give ruling
Did Boris Johnson act within or against the law when he suspended Parliament for five weeks? At 10:30 BST the UK Supreme Court delivers its decision.
If it finds against the prime minister, Parliament could be reconvened immediately. It’s currently meant to return on 14 October – 17 days before Brexit is due to happen.
The government says suspending – proroguing – Parliament is not a court matter, but it has promised to abide by the Supreme Court’s decision. Critics argue that ministers are trying to limit scrutiny of their Brexit plans.
Here’s what happened when judges heard the arguments last week. Plus, find out what the Supreme Court is and how it works.
Thomas Cook: Customers complain over replacement flight cost
Customers who booked flights with the now-collapsed travel firm Thomas Cook are complaining that other airlines are charging too much for replacement journeys. Angela Mills told the BBC the price of a flight from Glasgow to Rhodes, Greece, had been £280 on Sunday, but was now £1,000. Tourists were in a “state of shock”, she added.
Find out here what your rights are when it comes to cancellations. And we report on what happened on board Thomas Cook’s last flight, with one staff member described as being “in floods of tears”.
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Obesity ‘not caused by lack of willpower’
Obesity levels increased by 18% in England between 2005 and 2017, and the story was similar in the rest of the UK. So what’s causing this change? It’s not simply a “lack of willpower”, according to the British Psychological Society. Genetic risk of obesity, work and social environments and lack of opportunity for physical activity also play a part, it adds.
Plus, here’s what some people are saying about so-called “fat-shaming”.
How do you survive 25 years debunking fake news?
By Dhruti Shah
The Snopes website and social feeds have become a reservoir of bizarre facts, political nuggets, investigative journalism into hard-hitting subjects – as well as the most weird stories you can imagine.
From questions around President Donald Trump’s tweeted policy suggestions to queries around Disney’s Goofy and whether he is actually a cow, there seems to be very little the fact-checkers haven’t had to cast a sceptical eye over.
News events keep the trending list of top 50 rumours current with a question over the veracity of images emerging as a result of Hurricane Dorian popping up. But often older debunks turn up again and again, such as ones focusing on a story about “dangerous cosmic rays passing close by the earth” and viral “deathbed warnings” by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
What the papers say
The collapse of Thomas Cook leads several newspapers, with the Daily Mail, Daily Mirror and Daily Express calling for bosses at the travel firm to pay back millions of pounds in salaries and bonuses. Meanwhile, the Sun accuses other airlines of “daylight robbery” in hiking the prices for replacement flights. Elsewhere, the Guardian concentrates on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn defeating an attempt to change the party’s Brexit stance at its conference in Brighton. And the i reports on climate change activist Greta Thunberg’s “powerful” address to the UN General Assembly.
Daily digest
Climate change Scientists to report on “threat to humanity” caused by ocean warming
Labour Party plans more investment in offshore wind and electric cars
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe PM to call for jailed British-Iranian national’s release
IRA Brighton bomb Ex-priest admits link to 1984 attack that targeted Margaret Thatcher
If you see one thing today
‘I turn neighbours’ rubbish into cash’
If you listen to one thing today
The Mississippi: Pushed to the brink
If you read one thing today
Why Chanel Miller wants you to know her name
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Lookahead
09:00 Spain’s Supreme Court rules on an appeal against the exhumation of former dictator Francisco Franco’s remains.
14:00 Secretary-General Antonio Guterres gives the opening speech of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
On this day
1976 The Rhodesian government agrees to end white minority rule in the country within two years.
From elsewhere
Why two million people signed up to storm Area 51 (National Geographic)
How can evolutionary biology help to get rid of antibiotic-resistant bacteria? (Oxford University)
The end of an American tradition: The Amtrak dining car (Washington Post)
The story behind Merseyside artist’s John Lennon stained glass business success (Liverpool Echo)