Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 31 May 2013

1. ASSAD: 'WE HOLD BALANCE OF POWER'

The Syrian army now holds the "balance of power" in the country's bloody civil war, President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview on Lebanese TV. He also suggested Syria may have received the first shipment of an advanced Russian air defence system and warned Tel Aviv there was "public pressure" to open a military front against Israel in the Golan Heights.

Syria's Assad threatens Israel with Russian S300 missiles

2. HOT TICKET: FEMINIST VAMP FILM BYZANTIUM

Neil Jordan’s new vampire film ‘Byzantium’ opens in UK cinemas today. Gemma Arterton and Saorise Ronan star as mother and daughter vampires, hiding out in a shabby seaside town from a brotherhood of male vampires who seek to destroy them. With Sam Riley. “Hypnotic,” says Den of Geek.

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Byzantium: gritty vampire film is Twilight for grown-ups

3. BA JET COULD HAVE LOST BOTH ENGINES

A British Airways jet could “easily have lost both its engines” after large flaps on its turbines were left open during maintenance, a report says. An official investigation into the emergency landing by the BA Airbus at Heathrow airport last week suggests it came much closer to disaster than previously acknowledged.

4. WOOLWICH DEATH 'NO EXCUSE FOR REPRISALS'

The family of Drummer Lee Rigby say the murdered soldier would not have wanted his death used as an excuse for reprisal attacks. They say Rigby never let culture or religion affect his friendships. They spoke out in the wake of a series of anti-Muslim incidents reported since the 25-year-old was hacked to death in Woolwich last week.

5. PISTORIUS PICTURES ANGER LAWYERS

The release of graphic images of the bathroom in which Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius shot dead his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, has infuriated the South African sprinter’s lawyers. Two pictures showing bloodstained marble tiles and a broken door were obtained by Sky News and posted on its website.

6. TORY STANDS DOWN OVER NEWSPAPER STING

Patrick Mercer, a senior Tory MP, today resigned the Conservative party whip after allegedly being caught in a Daily Telegraph/Panorama ‘sting’. The newspaper is investigating a “major lobbying scandal” and was planning to publish a story about the MP tomorrow. A Panorama programme is scheduled for Monday. The former army major is an outspoken critic of David Cameron.

Downing St not sorry as MP quits over lobbying scandal

7. BADGER CULLS WILL BE 'DISRUPTED'

Battlelines are being drawn ahead of the start tomorrow of badger culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire. Farmers and the government say the culls - allowing up to 5000 badgers to be killed - are essential to stop the spread of TB to cattle. Protesters say they will disrupt the marksmen using noise and powerful torches.

Badger cull: Brian May says he was banned from Springwatch

8. AMELIA EARHART: IS THIS HER PLANE?

The Lockheed Electra plane flown by Amelia Earhart when she disappeared in 1937, flying from Papua New Guinea to California, may have been discovered at the bottom of the Pacific. Specialists in historic aircraft recovery believe a sonar image captured off the lsland of Nikumaroro could represent a wing or part of the fuselage. "It's the right size, it's the right shape, and it's in the right place."

9. FRENCH FIND WORD FOR FRENCH KISS

France has finally found a word for the intimate kiss that has been synonymous with Gallic passion for years. Apparently the people who invented the most sensual of smooches never had a real word for it in their native tongue. Now, the Petit Robert 2014 French dictionary, out this week, will include the verb galocher, meaning “to kiss with tongue".

Incroyable! French finally find word for French Kiss

10. BBC INTERVIEWEE FACES TERROR CHARGES

Abu Nusaybah, the London man arrested after recording an interview with BBC Newsnight about the Woolwich killing, has been charged with three offences under the 2006 Terrorism Act. Nusaybah admitted on Newsnight being a friend of Michael Adebolajo, one of the suspects in Lee Rigby’s murder. The charges, which Nusaybah denies, relate to lectures and written material.