Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 16 Jun 2014

1. US PONDERS IRAN TALKS AS IRAQ CITY FALLS

Barack Obama may hold direct talks with Iran to discuss the possibility of military support to help Iraq fight the Islamist Isis militia. Meanwhile, the Iraqi army says pictures released yesterday showing its unarmed soldiers undergoing mass execution are genuine, and militants were today reported to have seized the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar.

Iraq picks Fouad Massoum as president in bid to unite nation

2. BORIS JOHNSON: TONY BLAIR IS ‘UNHINGED’

The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has accused Tony Blair of being “unhinged” and advised him to “put a sock in it” after he said events in Syria, and not the 2003 US-UK invasion, had caused Iraq’s problems. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Johnson said Blair had “finally gone mad”.

Subscribe to 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

Is Blair mad – or just defending himself ahead of Chilcot report?

3. KENYA: ‘ISLAMISTS’ KILL 47 IN COAST TOWN

Unidentified ‘Islamists’ have been blamed for a massacre in the Kenyan coastal town of Mpeketoni. A group of men yesterday attacked as locals watched a World Cup match, hijacking a van and using it to attack several locations, setting fire to hotels and a petrol station, before fleeing after gun battles.

4. RUSSIA HALTS GAS SUPPLIES TO UKRAINE

Russian energy giant Gazprom has cut off all gas supplies to Kiev, says Ukraine, after it failed to meet a 6am GMT deadline to pay its £1.15bn bill. Gazprom has been demanding that Ukraine pays for its gas in advance but Kiev has refused in protest at a recent 80% price hike. Supplies to the EU, which transit through Ukraine, will continue says Gazprom.

5. GOVE ALLY LAYS INTO 'SHAMBOLIC' CAMERON

A former special adviser to Education Secretary Michael Gove has claimed that David Cameron's Government is a "shambles". Dominic Cummings attacked the PM's senior aides describing one as a "sycophant presiding over a shambolic court" and told The Times that Cameron had "no sense of purpose", describing him as "a sphinx without a riddle".

6. PHOTOS SHOW PRINCE GEORGE WALKING

Prince George, fast approaching his first birthday, has been pictured walking for the first time - at a polo match. Clarence House said the royal baby was enjoying an “impromptu family day out”, watching his father and uncle take part in the Jerudon Trophy at the Cirencester Park Polo Club.

Prince George ‘played sheep in school nativity’

7. RIK MAYALL SINGLE REACHED TOP TEN

A football ‘song’ adapted from Shakespeare, released by comic Rik Mayall four years ago, has reached the UK Top Ten after a campaign to get it to number one by fans saddened by his untimely death at the age of 56. In Noble England, Mayall recites a stirring speech adapted from the bard’s Henry V.

8. SCHUMACHER MOVED TO SWISS HOSPITAL

Michael Schumacher has left the hospital in Grenoble where he has spent the last five-and-a-half months, and his family say he is no longer in a coma. The 45-year-old F1 champion has been transferred to Lausanne university hospital in Switzerland, say his family. He has been in hospital since a skiing accident in December last year.

Schumacher out of hospital but is 'cynical' update misleading?

9. CUSTOMERS TOLD TO STOP WASHING CHICKEN

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has warned people not to wash raw chicken because doing to actually increases the risk of spreading food poisoning. The agency says washing chicken spreads campylobacter, the most common food poisoning bug, onto hands, work surfaces, clothing and crockery.

10. HOT TICKET: FATHERS AND SONS AT DONMAR

Brian Friel's stage adaptation of Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons has been revived at the Donmar Warehouse, London. A young university graduate returns to his father's country estate with a radical friend, stirring up tensions between the generations. "Outstanding," says the Daily Telegraph. Until 26 July.

Fathers and Sons – reviews of Donmar's 'outstanding' revival