Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 15 Aug 2014

1. IRAQ: MALIKI QUITS TO END DEADLOCK...

Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki has been praised by the US and the UN for resigning to end a political deadlock, saying he did not want to cause a “single drop of blood” to be shed and was stepping down in favour of rival Haider al-Abadi. Maliki has been criticised during his eight years in power for sectarian policies.

Iraq's political power struggle ends as Maliki stands down

2. FERGUSON: POLICE OFFICER IDENTIFIED

The police officer who shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouroi, on Saturday sparking days of riots has been identified as Darren Wilson. He was described as a six-year veteran of the police force with no disciplinary record. Calm has been restored since state police took over the investigation.

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Ferguson: state of emergency declared as protests continue

3. ROBIN WILLIAMS HAD PARKINSON’S DISEASE

Robin Williams’ widow has said her husband was suffering from the early stages of Parkinson’s disease when he took his own life. Susan Schneider said her husband’s sobriety was “intact”. The 63-year-old had returned to rehab earlier this year. One symptom of the degenerative disease is depression.

4. EBOLA: CONTROL SIX MONTHS AWAY

The World Health Organization says the number of deaths from Ebola, and of confirmed cases of the disease in the current West African outbreak, has been vastly underestimated. The official death toll is around 1,000, with 2,000 probably cases. Charity Medecins Sans Frontieres says it will take six months to bring the outbreak under control

Ebola: US suit stockpile causes shortage in Africa

5. MET POLICE NAMES UNDERCOVER OFFICERS

The Met police has for the first time confirmed the names of some of its undercover officers, identifying Jim Boyling and Bob Lambert as two officers accused of deceiving women by having relationships with them while they were living under assumed identities to infiltrate political activist groups.

Police reveal identities of undercover officers in sex case

6. MURDER ARREST AFTER POOL DEATH

A woman has been arrested on suspicion of murder and neglect after a three-year-old girl drowned in a hotel pool near Blackpool. The girl is believed to have been staying with her parents at the Dalmeny hotel in St Annes when she got into difficulties in the pool. She died later in a Manchester children’s hospital.

7. ... AS EU DISCUSSES PLAN TO ARM KURDS

EU foreign ministers have today held emergency talks to discuss plans to arm Iraq's Kurds as they fight Islamic State (IS) militants in the north of the country. France and the US are already supplying weapons to Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, countries including the UK have made aid drops for civilians and the US has ombed IS positions.

Yazidis on Mt Sinjar 'don't need rescuing': how very convenient

8. STARDUST IS ‘OLDER THAN SOLAR SYSTEM’

Scientists have identified the first known dust particles from outside our solar system from samples brought back to earth by Nasa’s Stardust space mission in 2006. The region between stars is not entirely a vacuum but is filled with microscopic particles long ago ejected from the hearts of other stars.

9. SHRIEN DEWANI FIT TO STAND TRIAL

Shrien Dewani the British businessman accused of having his wife killed while on their honeymoon in 2010 has been declared fit to stand trial for murder in South Africa. He was deported to South Africa in March of this year and will now appear in court in September after undergoing a 30-day mental health evaluation.

10. HOT TICKET: GUY PEARCE IN THE ROVER

Brutal post-apocalyptic thriller The Rover has opened in the UK. Set in the Australian outback, the film stars Guy Pearce, who puts in an "intense, sensitive performance", as a man who will stop at nothing to retrieve his stolen car. "Atmospheric and brutal," says The Guardian.

The Rover – reviews of brutal, dazzling Guy Pearce thriller