Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Tuesday 28 May 2013

1. SYRIA: RUSSIA SEEKS TO DETER ‘HOTHEADS’

Russia is to go ahead with deliveries of S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to President Assad’s regime, saying the missiles are a “stabilising factor” which might dissuade “some hotheads” from intervening on the side of the Syrian rebels. The decision came the day after the EU agreed to lift its arms embargo on the rebels under pressure from Britain and France.

Crazy to arm Syrian rebels: we should try to influence Assad

2. PUBLIC MUST HELP MI5 – STELLA RIMINGTON

British people must inform the security services if they suspect their neighbours of extremism because "the enemy is everywhere", says former MI5 chief Dame Stella Rimington. Invoking a WW2 spirit in the wake of the Woolwich killing, she said MI5 could not be expected to spot every danger and the public had a duty to act as its "eyes and ears".

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Woolwich: ex-MI5 chief warns public 'enemy is everywhere'

3. ‘SEWER FOUNDLING’: THE MOTHER’S STORY

A newborn baby rescued alive from a 4in sewage pipe in Jinhua city was born “unexpectedly” to its 22-year-old mother while she was using the floor-level squat toilet. Police are looking into whether the mother had any “malicious intentions” – like purposefully disposing of the baby due to China’s strict one-child policy – before deciding whether to prosecute.

Mother of 'sewer foundling' had hidden her pregnancy, police say

4. AUSTRALIA HAPPIEST COUNTRY IN WORLD

Australia is the world's happiest nation among developed economies for the third year running, according to OECD's Better Life Index. Sweden and Canada came second and third. The UK came tenth behind Iceland. Australia was the only major developed nation to avoid the 2009 recession thanks to its wealth of natural resources.

Does Australian happiness have a downside? For me, it did

5. OSBORNE: ‘NO’ TO MORE WELFARE CUTS

Chancellor George Osborne has turned a deaf ear to Iain Duncan Smith’s offer to make a further £3bn cut in Britain’s welfare bill in order to protect spending on the armed forces and police. The Works and Pensions Secretary wanted to restrict housing benefit for the under-25s. Osborne says Whitehall departments must bear the brunt of further austerity cuts.

George Osborne defies right-wing Tory calls for more welfare cuts

6. ENGLAND BEAT NEW ZEALAND DESPITE RAIN

England beat New Zealand and the Yorkshire weather to secure a 2-0 series win over the Kiwis at Headingley today. Despite rain delays at Leeds there was enough time for England's bowlers to claim the last four remaining New Zealand wickets and wrap up a convincing 247-run win. Spinner Graeme Swann ended with match figures of 10-132.

7. PUSSY RIOT MEMBER MOVED TO HOSPITAL

Maria Alyokhina, 24, a member of the Russian feminist group Pussy Riot, has been moved to a prison hospital after starting a hunger strike because she was denied the right to appear at her own parole hearing. Alyokhina and fellow Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova are both serving two-year jail terms for protesting at Vladimir Putin’s relations with Russian Orthodox Church leaders.

8. CAMERON, BORIS & CO 'SPOILED BULLINGDON'

BBC Question Time host David Dimbleby says the Bullingdon Club at Oxford only achieved its notoriety for drunkenness and broken windows after David Cameron, George Osborne and Boris Johnson joined it in the 1980s. Dimbleby, 74, told the Radio Times it was a more gentlemanly group in the 1960s, to which he was proud to be elected.

Bullingdon went bad when top Tories joined, says Dimbleby

9. ROBERTO MARTINEZ SET FOR EVERTON JOB

Roberto Martinez looks set to become the new Everton manager after telling Wigan he wants to leave. Everton lost their last coach, David Moyes, to Manchester United, where he replaces Alex Ferguson. Wigan were relegated earlier this month, but not before they had won the FA Cup, proving Martinez was “destined for greater heights” as the Daily Telegraph put it.

Martinez set for Everton switch after asking to leave Wigan

10. HOT TICKET: AYAD AKHTAR'S DISGRACED

Ayad Akhtar's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama 'Disgraced' has opened at the Bush Theatre, London. A successful NY lawyer's charmed life unravels when a dinner party conversation reveals his hidden ethnic and religious identity. With Hari Dhillon and Danny Ashok. "Tough and compelling," says The Guardian. Until 22 June.

'Disgraced' feels urgent and relevant post-Woolwich