EU expects May to request delay to Brexit, Centrica loses 742,000 customers, and more top news

The news professionals are talking about now, curated by LinkedIn’s editors. Join the conversation on today's stories in the comments.

The EU is preparing for Theresa May to request a three-month delay to Brexit, Bloomberg reports, citing two EU officials. The “technical extension” would give UK Parliament time to agree an exit deal. Last week, MPs voted to reject a motion endorsing the government’s revised Brexit strategy, dealing another blow to May’s negotiations with the EU as she continues to seek changes to the Irish backstop. MPs will hold a vote on February 27 on what to do if no deal is reached.

Centrica lost 742,000 customers last year, as CEO Iain Conn warns the company faces a “huge number of headwinds”. Shares in the owner of British Gas fell to a 20-year low after the company warned that the government’s price cap on energy bills would result in a ￡300m hit to profits. The comments come days after British Gas announced plans to hike energy bills by ￡119 for more than 3 million households. Customers to be hit with 10.5% price rise from 1 April.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg will meet with the UK’s culture secretary in California to discuss online security. The announcement comes days after the release of a scathing UK parliamentary report about Facebook, which called for the “digital gangster” to be more heavily regulated. Zuckerberg has previously declined multiple invitations to face a UK parliamentary committee investigating data privacy.

The government posted a record budget surplus last month, offering Chancellor Philip Hammond a pre-Brexit boost. Income from self-assessed income tax and capital gains tax receipts outstripped public spending by ￡14.9bn, the biggest January surplus since records began in 1993. The official figures are the last to be released before next month’s Spring Statement and indicate the government could be on track to reduce the deficit close to its target of ￡25.5bn

Breakdancing could be the newest sport at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Organisers will pitch the athletic street dance to the International Olympic Committee, along with surfing, climbing and skateboarding. The Olympics is the world’s biggest sporting event but has struggled to appeal to millennials. The median age of US viewers for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics was 52.4 years, up 6% from London (49.5 years) and 15% from the 2000 Sydney Olympics (45.5 years).

Idea of the Day: Forgoing sleep to get more done will only lead to a decrease in productivity, says Dr Travis Bradberry.

“Skipping sleep … slows your ability to process information and problem solve, kills your creativity, and catapults your stress levels and emotional reactivity.”

What's your take on today’s stories? Share your thoughts in the comments. 

— Natalie MacDonald