Your morning briefing: what you should know for Wednesday, June 12

Boris faces bid to block No Deal as he launches leadership campaign

Boris Johnson today faces a cross-party attempt to block his plans for a no-deal Brexit as he officially launches a campaign to replace Theresa May.

The former foreign secretary will later deliver his pledge to take Britain out of the European Union on October 31 with or without a deal.

In his speech later, Mr Johnson is expected to say: "Delay means defeat. Delay means Corbyn. Kick the can and we kick the bucket."

UK commits to 'net zero' emissions by 2050

The UK has toughened its climate targets by promising to reach "net zero" carbon emissions by 2050.

Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed the UK will legislate for the new legal target to be hit by the middle of the century.

It comes after the existing goal to cut pollution by 80 per cent within that time was agreed under the Climate Change Act in 2008.

Campaigners said the previous target did not go far enough to meet the Paris agreement pledge to limit a rise in global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Protestors surround Hong Kong government to block extradition law debate

Hundreds of protesters surrounded Hong Kong’s government headquarters in a bid to block a debate on a highly controversial extradition law.

Demonstrators have overturned barriers and tussled with police as they sought to enter government HQ and offices of the Legislative Council.

Lawmakers are set to debate proposals to allow the accused in Hong Kong to be extradited to mainland China for trial.

Hundreds of thousands join call to save free TV licences for pensioners

Hundreds of thousands of people have signed petitions to save free TV licences for those above the age of 75.

The Government is facing calls to take back responsibility for funding free TV licences for the over-75s amid an outcry over plans to strip the concession.

Funding the free licences is due to be transferred from the Government to the BBC next year as part of an agreement hammered out in 2015.

The petitions and critics are warning that the move "will only penalise the poorest old-age pensioners".

UK ticket holder scoops £123m EuroMillions jackpot

A huge £123 million EuroMillions jackpot has been won by a ticket holder in the UK.

A spokesman for the National Lottery said the win put the ticket-holder in third place among the biggest ever lottery wins in the UK.

The winning main numbers on Tuesday night were: 25, 27, 39, 42 and 46. The Lucky star numbers were 11 and 12.

On this day...

1458: Magdalen College, Oxford, was founded.

1839: Abner Doubleday was credited with inventing baseball in Cooperstown, New York.

1908: The Rotherhithe-Stepney road tunnel under the Thames was opened.

1922: Insulin, the treatment for diabetes, was patented by Frederick Banting.

1930: Germany's Max Schmeling won the world heavyweight boxing title against Jack Sharkey in New York on a disqualification in round four - and is the only man to win the title in such a manner.

1965: The Beatles were made MBEs in the Queen's Birthday Honours.

1987: Princess Anne was made Princess Royal, the title awarded to the monarch's eldest daughter.

1989: MPs voted 293 to 69 to allow television cameras into the House of Commons.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT