Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 24 Oct 2014

1. FIRST EBOLA CASE IN NEW YORK

The mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio has said there is “no reason for alarm” after a doctor became the first person in the city to test positive for the Ebola virus. Dr Craig Spencer is thought to have caught the virus in Guinea in West Africa where he was treating sufferers. He is being treated in isolation.

2. CAMERON WON'T PAY £1.7BN EXTRA TO EU

Prime Minister David Cameron says he will not pay an extra £1.7bn to the EU in December. The UK's contribution was increased because the country's economy has grown faster than was anticipated when the contributions were originally calculated. Cameron said the demand from Brussels was "totally unacceptable".

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I won't pay, says Cameron, after £1.7bn EU 'ambush'

3. MET PAYOUT FOR UNDERCOVER PC BABY

The Met police will pay £425,000 to a woman who’s child was fathered by one of its officers while he was living undercover to spy on political organisations. Scotland Yard said it "unreservedly apologises for any pain and suffering" caused to the woman who did not know her partner was already married.

4. OTTAWA SHOOTER HAD CRIMINAL PAST

The man suspected of shooting dead a Canadian soldier at a war memorial in Ottawa before entering the parliament building and conducting a gun battle with police had a criminal record for violent and drug-related offences. Police say Muslim convert Michael Zehaf-Bibeau wanted to travel to Syria to fight.

Michael Zehaf-Bibeau: gunman 'furious' over passport delay

5. EBOLA VACCINE TRIALS SET TO BEGIN

An experimental Ebola vaccine is set to be tested on healthcare workers in West Africa by the end of the year, says the World Health Organization, and millions of doses of the vaccine are likely to have been produced by the end of 2015. The programme is pushing ahead even though not all the data from earlier trials has been collected.

'Ebola racism': how the world is discriminating against Africans

6. ASDA FACES LEGAL ACTION OVER EQUAL PAY

As many as 10,000 Asda staff could join a mass legal action concerning equal pay for women. Female warehouse workers claim that they are not paid the same as their male counterparts despite their jobs being of "equivalent value". The case could be largest of its kind in the private sector. More than 1,000 employment tribunal claims have already been lodged.

7. UK GDP GROWS 0.7% IN THIRD QUARTER

The UK remains on course to be the fastest-growing advanced economy in the world this year, despite a slowdown in growth in the third quarter. The ONS figures show that the economy grew 0.7% in the three months to September, down from 0.9% in the second quarter. GDP was 3% higher in the three months than the same period in 2013.

8. CLIFF RICHARD RAID ‘DAMAGED REPUTATION’

The Commons Home Affairs committee of MPs says a police raid on the home of veteran pop star Sir Cliff Richard after an allegation of sexual abuse was “inept” and the South Yorkshire force’s decision to allow a BBC reporter to accompany them caused “irreparable damage” to the singer’s reputation.

9. QUEEN SENDS HER FIRST EVER TWEET

The Queen has sent her first ever tweet at the opening of a museum exhibition London. It read: "It is a pleasure to open the Information Age exhibition today at the @ScienceMuseum and I hope people will enjoy visiting. Elizabeth R." However, it has been pointed out that the Queen did not write the message, but simply pressed send.

Twitter reacts to the Queen's first tweet - was it genuine?

10. HOT TICKET: HORROR FILM THE BABADOOK

A new psychological horror film, The Babadook, opens in UK cinemas today. A distraught mother struggles to cope with the death of her husband, while dealing with her son's nightmares about a monster, which gradually seem to be becoming real. "A shadowy treat," says Time Out.

The Babadook – reviews of 'riveting' family terror tale

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