Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Sunday 12 Oct 2014

1. UKIP: WE’LL WIN 25 SEATS IN 2015

UKIP is on track to win up to 25 seats at the next election and could even overtake the Liberal Democrats, according to secret party polling data leaked to The Sunday Times. The party believes the results of last week’s by-elections in Clacton and Heywood show Ukip is “competitive” in twice as many seats as it had previously thought.

Ukip hails Clacton by-election triumph

2. SECOND SCANDAL HITS BROOKS NEWMARK

Brooks Newmark MP, who resigned as a minister over explicit images, has said he will stand down at the next election after a second woman revealed he had sent her intimate personal photos. Writing in the Mail On Sunday, the Tory said he had been "battling demons". In a letter to the prime minister, Newmark said he would quit due to "continued media intrusion".

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Brooks Newmark sting: Mirror apologises for using women's photos

3. WARSI: LET’S RECOGNISE PALESTINE

Lady Warsi is calling on MPs to recognise the state of Palestine in tomorrow’s historic Commons vote. She tells The Observer: “Somehow we have to breathe new life into these negotiations, and one of the ways we can do that is by recognising the state of Palestine.” Although Monday’s vote is not binding it could have significant symbolism on the world stage.

Palestine: is vote to recognise state courageous or harmful?

4. BRITISH TROOPS TRAIN IRAQI KURDS

UK troops are training Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq, says the Ministry of Defence. Yorkshire Regiment troops are teaching Iraqi Kurds to use UK-supplied heavy machine guns, it said. There is strong domestic resistance to UK ground forces being used in the fight against the Islamist group, which controls areas of Iraq and Syria.

5. BRITS ASK GOOGLE TO ‘FORGET’ THEM

Ten per cent of requests for web links to be removed from search results under European "right to be forgotten" laws have come from the UK, says Google. The search engine company said it had removed 498,737 links from search results since May - including 63,616 pages following requests from the UK. The UK’s tally of requests was the third highest in the EU, it said.

6. U2’S BONO BACKS IRISH TAX LAWS

U2 singer Bono says Ireland’s controversial tax laws – which help multinational companies avoid billions in tax – have brought Ireland rare prosperity. “We are a tiny little country, we don’t have scale, and our version of scale is to be innovative and to be clever, and tax competitiveness has brought our country the only prosperity we’ve known,” he said.

7. CALL TO SCRAP THE CLIMATE ACT

Britain must scrap the Climate Change Act to keep the lights on, the former environment secretary will warn this week. Owen Paterson will say the act, which ties Britain into strict environmental measures, should be suspended if other countries refuse to agree legally binding targets. If they refuse, he will add, it should be scrapped altogether.

8. REVENGE PORN COULD CARRY JAIL

‘Revenge porn’ is to be made a criminal offence potentially carrying a two-year prison sentence, says Sky News. The issue – which involves uploading intimate images onto the web to shame an ex-partner – has become a hot potato. There is currently no law to address it but reform could be made through an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill.

9. MALALA WAS IN CHEMISTRY CLASS

Malala Yousafzai was in a chemistry class when she learned she had won the Nobel prize. “We were learning about electrolysis of copper,” she tells The Sunday Times. “I don’t have a mobile phone so my teacher had said she’d come if there was news.” The 17-year-old, who was shot by the Taliban for standing up for the right of girls to education, said she is “just beginning” her work.

Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi win Nobel peace prize

10. ADOLF HITLER ‘USED CRYSTAL METH’

Adolf Hitler used the crystal meth drug, claims the Mail On Sunday. According to a wartime dossier compiled by US military intelligence, the hypochondriac Fuhrer took 74 different medications including crystal methamphetamines. The highly-addictive drug has become more famous in recent times as it features on the TV series Breaking Bad.