EU asks for Brexit ideas, and Grenfell inquiry ‘frustration’

What’s next? The EU has urged the UK government to come up with fresh ideas over the next couple of days, as the two sides try to break the Brexit impasse. Brussels officials said they would work non-stop over the weekend if they received “acceptable” proposals by Friday on what to do about the Irish backstop.

Theresa May is seeking legally enforceable alternatives to the backstop – an insurance policy designed to prevent physical checks on the Irish border. She hopes that such changes will allow her to get her EU withdrawal agreement – reached last year with other EU countries, but rejected by MPs in January – through Parliament.

So what should we make of the latest move from the EU? BBC Brussels correspondent Adam Fleming said it was only a “notional timetable” and more flexibility could be possible. Meanwhile, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has met some Conservative MPs to discuss possible alternatives to the PM’s deal.

Criminal charges over the Grenfell Tower fire may not be brought until 2021, with Scotland Yard saying it would be “wrong” to do so until the public inquiry into the disaster finishes. The survivors’ group Grenfell United called the news “extremely frustrating and disheartening”. A total of 72 people died as a result of the fire, in west London, in June 2017. Here’s how the Grenfell disaster happened.

Haven Shepherd kneels on the school diving board, takes a deep breath and launches herself into the pool. “When I’m in the water I feel completely free, I get to feel completely myself.”

The pool gives Haven respite from her prosthetic legs. Wearing them all day can be “exhausting”, the 15-year-old says. It’s a long way from her training pool in Carthage, Missouri, to the hut in rural Vietnam where her father tried to end her life.

Stories on knife crime are on several front pages. The Daily Mirror leads on news that another young person was stabbed to death in east London on Wednesday, while the Sun’s headline asks: “When will it stop?” The i says Home Secretary Sajid Javid is “set for a further clash” with Theresa May over police numbers. Elsewhere, the Daily Telegraph says the cabinet is “resigned” to losing next week’s vote on the prime minister’s EU withdrawal deal. And the Times says a third of British billionaires have moved to tax havens during the past decade.

HRT Women told not to be alarmed by Alzheimer’s study

Investigation Teenager arrested after “sudden death” of woman and child

More waiting Northern’s long six-carriage trains delayed by two years

09:30 John Lewis Partnership – which includes Waitrose supermarkets and John Lewis department stores – publishes its annual results.

15:30 Theresa May hosts an International Women’s Day reception for female entrepreneurs and business leaders in Downing Street.

1969 Golda Meir is elected as prime minister of Israel, becoming the first woman to take on the role.