Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 12 Sep 2011

David Cameron meets Dmitry Medvedev in Russia

published 12 September 2011

EXPLOSION AT FRENCH NUCLEAR PLANT KILLS oneAn explosion at a French nuclear plant has killed one person and injured four. There are no reactors at the Marcoule plant, in the Gard department in the southern Languedoc-Roussillon region, which produces MOX nuclear fuel. An official said there was no radioactive leak after the blast. UK POOR 'FACE GREATEST AUSTERITY SINCE WW2'Chancellor George Osborne is under increased pressure to stimulate economic growth after the Institute for Fiscal Studies warned that his austerity programme will cause British family living standards to fall by 10 per cent over the next three years. Those on the lowest incomes will suffer most from his spending cuts and tax increases, says the IFS. CAMERON HOLDS TALKS IN RUSSIADavid Cameron has become the first British prime minister to hold talks in Russia since 2005. Relations have been strained since the murder of dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006, and Cameron raised the issue with president Dmitry Medvedev. He later admitted there were "difficult issues that hamper mutual trust and co-operation" between the UK and Russia. COPYRIGHT BOOST FOR AGEING ROCKERSThe copyright on sound recordings has been extended from 50 to 70 years by the EU in a move that will benefit ageing rock stars like Cliff Richard, Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger. Under the 50-year rule, the copyright on songs by The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and The Who would have expired in the next few years. STORM HITS NORTHERN BRITAINThe remains of Hurricane Katia hit Britain today with winds of up to 80mph affecting Scotland, Northern Ireland, northern England and Wales. Flood alerts were issued in many areas and road, rail and ferry travel has been disrupted. Stage two of cycling's Tour of Britain, through Lancashire and Cumbria, was cancelled. SPARTACUS ACTOR DIES, AGED 39Andy Whitfield, the star of US TV drama Spartacus: Blood and Sand, has died of cancer at the age of 39. The Welsh-born actor, who lived in Australia, died in Sydney on Sunday, 18 months after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Whitfield shot to fame when the first series of the show aired in 2010, but he had to pull out of a second series because of his illness. AL-SHABAAB SUSPECTED OF KILLING BRITISH TOURISTA band of men suspected of belonging to the Somali Islamist group al-Shabaab shot dead British tourist David Tebbutt yesterday and kidnapped his wife, Judith, after landing a skiff on the beach and storming the exclusive Kiwayu Safari Village in Kenya, eight miles south of the Somali border. Tebbutt, 58, was the finance director of Faber and Faber. TUC chief attacks government riot responseBrendan Barber, the TUC general secretary has attacked the government's handling of the August riots as "profoundly wrong", at the start of the body's annual conference. He accused David Cameron of resorting to "simplistic cliches about moral decay" and urged him to tackle the underlying causes of the unrest. BANKS FACE RADICAL REORGANISATIONBritish banks should 'ring fence' their retail banking divisions from their investment operations by 2019 at the latest, the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB), led by Sir John Vickers, reports today. Chancellor George Osborne must decide whether to follow Vickers' radical advice. He has already called it a "good" report. Vickers’ banking reforms spark tussle over timing Five banking reforms from the Vickers Report 'SLAVES' RESCUED IN RAID ON TRAVELLERS' CAMPTwenty-four men believed to have been held against their will as "slaves" for as long as 15 years were freed yesterday in a police raid on the Greenacre travellers' site in Bedfordshire. Four men and a woman were arrested under the Slavery and Servitude Act. The men had been recruited from soup kitchens and benefit offices. Slaves freed from travellers camp: not the first time