Your noon Briefing: ‘Hold new referendum for Brexit delay’

Your 2-minute digest of the day’s top stories.

Hello readers. Donald Trump tells Theresa May: ‘I told you so’ and students play truant to protest against climate change.

British Prime Minister Theresa May gets into a vehicle at Downing Street, as she faces a vote on Brexit, in London, Britain March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls - RC1555DD68C0

‘Hold new referendum’

EU leaders will reportedly allow Theresa May to delay Brexit if she agrees on a second referendum or softens her withdrawal deal. I told you so, says Donald Trump.

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School children protest at Parliament during a strike and protest by students highlighting inadequate progress to address climate change at Parliament grounds in Wellington on March 15, 2019. (Photo by Marty MELVILLE / AFP)

Temperature truants

Students begin climate protests in more than 55 locations across Australia causing traffic delays and road closures. Bella D’Abrera writes that many teachers and lecturers see themselves as agents of change, not instructors.

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Smaller W

Woolworths could be forced to close down one third of its Big W outlets at a cost of almost $800m, says Macquarie.

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A handout photograph released by the UK Parliament on March 13, 2019 shows Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May speaking during the weekly Prime Ministers Questions session in the House of Commons in London on March 13, 2019. - Britain's finance minister and business chiefs on Wednesday urged the country to avoid a "no deal" Brexit after another crushing parliamentary defeat for Prime Minister Theresa May over her EU-divorce deal with Brussels. The fast-moving Brexit saga largely overshadowed the government's budget update that slashed the 2019 economic growth forecast, with the UK economy also hit by China's slowdown and trade war tensions. MPs will decide later Wednesday whether the country should leave the European Union without a deal, with analysts expecting parliament instead to favour delaying its departure beyond the March 29 exit date, in a further vote due Thursday. (Photo by JESSICA TAYLOR / UK PARLIAMENT / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - NO USE FOR ENTERTAINMENT, SATIRICAL, ADVERTISING PURPOSES - MANDATORY CREDIT " AFP PHOTO / JESSICA TAYLOR / UK Parliament"

The long read: Mayday

Lurching endlessly from one political disaster to another, writes Max Colchester, Britain’s Theresa May is unmoved as her authority erodes day after day.