Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 19 Sep 2014

1. SCOTLAND VOTES ‘NO’ TO INDEPENDENCE

Scots yesterday rejected the SNP government’s call for independence, preserving the UK by voting 55% to 45% against the proposition ‘Scotland should be an independent country’. Both first minister Alex Salmond and PM Cameron have called this morning for unity, with the PM adding he was “delighted”.

Scottish independence final result: No voters keep Scotland in the UK

2. IS RELEASE NEW VIDEO OF UK HOSTAGE

IS (Islamic State) have published a new video on the internet showing a British hostage. The kidnapped man is John Cantlie, a photographer. Dressed in orange, Cantlie purports to tell viewers the “truth” about the Sunni militants. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he would look “very closely” at the video.

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John Cantlie: video of British hostage released by Islamic State

3. CONGRESS BACKS OBAMA’S SYRIA PLAN

Barack Obama has hailed Congress’s backing for his $500m plan to aid Syrian moderates against IS as showing the world the US is united against the Sunni militants. The US today has continued air strikes on targets in Iraq but intends to start similar operations in Syria in the near future.

4. REFERENDUM FRAUD PROBED IN GLASGOW

Election officials in Glasgow called police yesterday over 10 suspected cases of electoral fraud. They are now investigating what happened - it is thought that the cases involved voters being impersonated by other people, who then cast a vote in their stead. The problems arose at polls across the city.

5. FLORIDA MAN KILLS SIX GRANDKIDS AND SELF

A 51-year-old Florida man, Don Spirit, has killed his six grandchildren, his daughter and himself in a mass shooting, US police say. The children ranged in age from three months to ten years. Spirit had been sentenced to three years in jail in 2001 for accidentally shooting his son dead while hunting.

6. THE OTHER VOTE: R&A TO ADMIT WOMEN

As Scots voted in the referendum yesterday, the Royal and Ancient golf club in St Andrews held another ballot: its members voted to admit women members for the first time in the club’s 260-year history. Some 85% of the three-quarters of members who took part in the ballot were in favour.

7. ASSANGE: GOOGLE IS LIKE A PRIVATISED NSA

Julian Assange yesterday told Sky News that Google behaves like a private version of America’s National Security Agency, collecting and storing information on people and using it to create profiles of individuals it later sells. He said the internet giant’s actions are legal but highly questionable.

8. SLIPPERY BANANA STUDY WINS IG NOBEL

One of this year’s Ig Nobel prizes - the awards dedicated to silly scientific research - has been given to a Japanese team, headed by academic Kiyoshi Mabuchi, which investigated why it is easier to slip on a banana skin than on apple or orange peel. Another winner examined why Jesus ‘appears’ on toast.

9. HARRY STYLES DENIED USE OF TOILET

Harry Styles, as part of boy band One Direction one of the biggest heart throbs on the planet, was turned away from an LA nail bar after he popped in to ask to use the toilet. The shop manager didn’t recognise Styles, who couldn’t use a public toilet because he was being chased by press and screaming fans.

10. HOT TICKET: BRIT DRAMA THE RIOT CLUB

British drama The Riot Club is released in UK cinemas today. The film, based on Laura Wade’s play Posh, follows two upper-class Oxford freshers who are invited to join a Bullingdon-style club, but soon discover the group’s debauched antics can get dangerously out of hand. “Darkly funny,” says Time Out.

The Riot Club – reviews of ‘darkly funny’ class drama