Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 29 May 2015
- 1. CAMERON LOBBIES MERKEL ON EU REFORM
- 2. BLATTER FACES VOTE AS SCANDAL RAGES
- 3. NAVY RESCUES BOAT OF MIGRANTS IN MED
- 4. NORTH KOREAN HACKERS ‘COULD KILL’
- 5. ASIA MIGRANT CRISIS: TALKS IN BANGKOK
- 6. LEGAL HIGHS BAN INCLUDES LAUGHING GAS
- 7. SUN REPORTER GETS SUSPENDED SENTENCE
- 8. FACE TRANSPLANT: WOMAN SEES ‘BROTHER’
- 9. TOP GEAR CLEARED OF ARGENTINA JIBE
- 10. BRIEFING: LONDON AIRPORT EXPANSION
1. CAMERON LOBBIES MERKEL ON EU REFORM
David Cameron has beem meeting with German leader Angela Merkel in Berlin today to lobby her on reforms he believes will keep the UK within the EU. The PM wants reforms including tougher rules to stop migrants claiming benefits and new rules on the City of London. Merkel says she will work with the UK.
Remain-voting City lobby group calls for 'dramatic Brexit U-turn'
2. BLATTER FACES VOTE AS SCANDAL RAGES
Fifa boss Sepp Blatter is today seeking re-election, despite a corruption scandal at the international football body. US prosecutors have indicted 14 top officials with racketeering, money laundering and fraud, and sponsors have threatened to cancel deals. Prince Ali bin al Hussein of Jordan is standing against Blatter.
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Michel Platini will resign at Uefa's next congress
3. NAVY RESCUES BOAT OF MIGRANTS IN MED
The Royal Navy flagship HMS Bulwark has rescued another load of migrants in the Mediterranean, some of them “horrifyingly young” children. Five landing craft intercepted the boat with 369 people onboard off the coast of Libya and moved them to HMS Bulwark. It is not yet clear where they will be put ashore.
4. NORTH KOREAN HACKERS ‘COULD KILL’
A high-profile defector from North Korea, Prof Kim Heung-kwang, has warned that the country’s 6,000 military hackers are capable of attacks that could damage critical infrastructure and even kill people. The former computer science professor told the BBC the hackers had designed malware to “destroy a city”.
North Korea detains another US citizen
5. ASIA MIGRANT CRISIS: TALKS IN BANGKOK
South-east Asian nations, the UN and the US are holding talks in Bangkok to debate the crisis of Rohingya Muslim refugees and Bangladeshi economic migrants. Thousands have been stranded at sea by people-smugglers and mass graves have been found on the border between Thailand and Malaysia.
6. LEGAL HIGHS BAN INCLUDES LAUGHING GAS
Laughing gas is to be outlawed as part of a government crackdown on so-called legal highs. Nitrous oxide, also known as 'hippy crack', is the second-most popular recreational drug in the country after cannabis, but will be banned under new legislation that makes it illegal to produce, distribute, sell or supply "new psychoactive substances".
What are legal highs and has the government ban worked?
7. SUN REPORTER GETS SUSPENDED SENTENCE
A reporter from The Sun newspaper has been given an 18-month suspended prison sentence after being convicted of by paying an anti-terrorism officer for information. Anthony France was found guilty of aiding and abetting PC Timothy Edwards, who worked at Heathrow Airport, to commit misconduct.
8. FACE TRANSPLANT: WOMAN SEES ‘BROTHER’
A woman has been filmed meeting the man who was given her dead brother’s face in a transplant operation. Rebekah Aversano’s brother Joshua, 21, was run over and killed while crossing the street. His face, teeth, jaw and tongue muscles were given to Richard Norris, 39, who had accidentally shot himself in the face.
9. TOP GEAR CLEARED OF ARGENTINA JIBE
The BBC Trust has ruled that the producers of motoring show Top Gear did not deliberately select a provocative licence plate for a trip to Argentina. The plate H982 FKL on a Porsche that Jeremy Clarkson and crew filmed led local people to throw rocks, believing it was a reference to the date of the Falklands War.
Jeremy Clarkson to become a character in Amazon Prime’s The Grand Tour Game
10. BRIEFING: LONDON AIRPORT EXPANSION
British business leaders have urged the new Conservative government to fast-track plans for a new runway in the southeast of England. But the group doesn't answer the big question: where should the runway be built? While many elected opponents of a new runway at Heathrow lost their seats at the general election, expanding London's biggest airport remains highly contentious.
'Third Heathrow runway is not enough,' say business leaders
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