Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Wednesday 7 May 2014

1. OBAMA: WE’LL FIND NIGERIA KIDNAP GIRLS

Barack Obama has pledged that the US will do “everything we can” to help find at least 276 schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamist terror group Boko Haram in Nigeria. He is sending military personnel and FBI agents with expertise in hostage negotiation. The militants said yesterday they would “sell” the girls.

Suicide bomber kills 47 at school assembly in Nigeria

2. CO-OP ‘NEEDS MORE EXPERIENCED BOARD’

Reporting on the troubled Co-op Group, Lord Myners says it needs a smaller, more experienced board of directors. He criticises the “limited shared purpose” among the directors and recommends a board of businessmen run the group, with elected members reduced to “advising” on ethical matters.

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Co-op Group: urgent reform needed to avoid ‘grave harm’

3. NATO ‘MAY DEPLOY TROOPS OVER UKRAINE’

Nato says it will consider permanently deploying troops in parts of eastern Europe in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Top military commander US general Philip Breedlove said the troops would be sent to reassure Nato allies alarmed at the increased tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

4. NHS TOLD CARERS ‘MUST SPEAK ENGLISH’

An adviser to the Department of Health says agencies recruiting carers must make sure they speak English before placing them in vulnerable people’s homes. Dr Shereen Hussein says poor language skills can lead to bad care and even abuse. It’s thought that 20 per cent of carers are migrant workers.

5. LEGAL CHALLENGE TO PRISON BOOK BAN

The government’s ban on prisoners being sent books and other small items will face a legal challenge, the BBC reports. A female life prisoner who says she has been left “in despair” by the ban is to appeal it. Meanwhile, the Howard League is to mount a separate challenge, claiming the ban is unlawful.

6. MADELEINE MCCANN: PORTUGAL DIG TO BEGIN

After UK police said yesterday that “activity” would soon begin in their search for Madeleine McCann, who went missing in Portugal in 2007, Sky News says Portuguese officers have confirmed that the intention is to dig for evidence at the resort where she vanished, using ground-penetrating radar.

What happened to Madeleine McCann? A timeline of the case

7. MONICA LEWINSKY BREAKS SILENCE AT LAST

Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, whose infamous affair with president Bill Clinton led to him being impeached, has broken her public silence, writing in Vanity Fair magazine that she deeply regrets the fling. Now 40, she says that the affair was consensual but Clinton “took advantage” of her.

Monica Lewinsky blows back: what's she trying to prove?

8. KIDNAPPER CASTRO ‘LET WOMEN ESCAPE’

A lawyer for Ariel Castro, who kept three women prisoner in his home for most of a decade, beating and raping them, says his late client intentionally let the women escape, lacking the courage to go to police but wanting the situation to end. Carl Weintraub was speaking one year after the escape.

9. AL FAYED: JACKSON STATUE HURT FULHAM

Mohamed Al Fayed has said the decision to remove a larger-than-life-size statue of Michael Jackson which he installed outside Fulham’s Craven Cottage ground when he was the club’s owner is behind its recent poor fortunes. Fulham were relegated at the weekend after 13 years in the Premiere League.

Jacko snub cost Fulham Premier League slot – Fayed

10. HOT TICKET: THEBANS OPERA AT COLISEUM

The ENO's new opera based on Sophocles’ tragedies, Thebans, has opened at the Coliseum, London. Julian Anderson and Frank McGuinness combine Sophocles’ trilogy of Greek tragedies about Oedipus and his daughter Antigone into a single tale of cyclic revenge and suffering. “Dazzling,” says The Guardian. Until 3 June.

Thebans – reviews of ‘dazzling’ new Sophocles opera