Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 4 Oct 2013

1. MILIBAND: MAIL MUST ‘EXAMINE CULTURE’

Labour leader Ed Miliband has urged the owner of the Mail newspapers, Lord Rothmere, to “take a long, hard look” at their “culture and practice”. Rothmere apologised yesterday for the intrusion of a reporter who turned up at a private memorial service for Miliband’s uncle, seeking comment on his father.

Ed Miliband vs the Mail: who will win the media war?

2. MADELEINE MCCANN: PHONE RECORD PROBE

UK police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in Portugal in 2007 want to cross-reference the mobile phone records of tourists who were in the Praia Da Luz resort at the time and say they will reveal new information about the hunt in a televised appeal in 10 days. Six Portuguese officers are assisting them.

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What happened to Madeleine McCann? A timeline of the case

3. POLICE SHOOT WOMAN DEAD AT CAPITOL

Police in Washington DC yesterday shot dead a woman who drove into a barrier at the White House and then led officers on a car chase to the city's Capitol Hill. A one-year-old girl was rescued from the car. The woman is not believed to have had a gun. Two officers were injured and the area was placed into lock-down.

4. ITALY: MOURNING DAY FOR BOAT DEAD

Italy is holding a national day of mourning after a boat carrying 500 migrants sank on the crossing from Africa to Lampedusa, an island off Sicily often used as an entry point to Europe by makeshift boats. At least 150 people were rescued after a fire started and the engine failed. So far, 103 bodies have been found.

Italy boat sinking: hundreds of migrants feared dead

5. OBAMA CANCELS ASIA TRIP FOR SHUT-DOWN

Barack Obama has cancelled a planned trip to Asia which was to have taken in two summit meetings because of the “difficulty” of handling foreign travel in the face of the continuing shut-down, with government employees sent home after congress failed to agree a budget. Secretary of State John Kerry will go instead.

US shutdown: Is Republican party really to blame?

6. LONGER SENTENCES FOR CHILD RAPISTS

The Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, is announcing changes to the length of time served in prison by some offenders, including those convicted of child rape or terrorism. Prisoners serving Extended Determinate Sentences (EDS) will no longer be released automatically two-thirds of the way into their custodial sentence.

7. TWITTER TO RAISE $1BN AT FLOTATION

Micro-blogging website Twitter hopes to raise up to $1bn when it floats on the US stock market. The site revealed last month that it had started the process of becoming a public company. On Thursday it revealed it had earned first-half revenue of $254m for this year - double the income for the same period last year.

Twitter IPO: social network aims to raise $1bn

8. AMANDA HUTTON JAILED FOR 15 YEARS

Amanda Hutton has been jailed for 15 years for starving to death her four-year-old son Hamzah, preventing the burial of his body and neglecting five of her other children. The 43-year-old showed no emotion yesterday when she was found guilty by a jury at Bradford Crown Court.

9. PLANE LANDS ON STREET IN EMERGENCY

A light aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing on the public road in California’s Silicon Valley despite rush-hour traffic yesterday evening after the pilot spotted a malfunction shortly after taking off. He managed to avoid traffic as he brought the plane down on the highway, then turned onto a slip road.

10. HOT TICKET: JAMES MCAVOY IN FILTH

An adaptation of Trainspotting author Irving Welsh's comedy-crime novel Filth opens in UK cinemas today. James McAvoy stars as a rotten-to-the-core police officer intent on promotion whose life begins to spin out of control. "McAvoy is mesmerising," says the Times. "Gleefully lurid," says the Hollywood Reporter.

James McAvoy 'mesmerises' in Irvine Welsh cop shocker, Filth