Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 23 Jul 2015

1. Greek MPs overwhelmingly back bailout deal

The Greek parliament has voted ‘yes’ to adopting measures required by Greece’s EU creditors in return for a new bailout deal. The vote was carried easily, 230 to 63. Even left-wing former finance minister Yannis Varoufakis backed the measures - after voting against austerity last week. Greece can now begin formal talks with lenders.

Greece crisis: has bailout ended threat of Grexit?

2. Liz Kendall: I won’t quit Labour leadership race

Labour leadership candidate Liz Kendall is resisting pressure to quit the race and throw her support behind either Andy Burnham or Yvette Cooper after polls showed left-winger Jeremy Corbyn in the lead, with Burnham second and Kendall last. The YouGov poll for The Times this week suggested Corbyn will finish six points ahead.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Jeremy Corbyn is a 'disaster', says Stephen Hawking

3. Police custody deaths to be investigated

Theresa May has announced an independent review into deaths and serious accidents in police custody, saying she has been “struck by the pain and suffering of families still looking for answers”. The charity Inquest, which works with relatives after such deaths, said it was too early to tell if the review was more than a PR exercise.

Home Secretary orders inquiry into police custody deaths

4. Bill Cosby: sex abuse lawsuit to go ahead

The California Supreme Court has allowed one of dozens of accusations of sexual abuse by the comedian Bill Cosby to come to court. More than 40 women have accused the veteran entertainer of crimes over decades. Many of the claims are too old to proceed but now one brought by a 60-year-old woman relating to 1974 will.

5. BBC appoints first female political editor

The BBC has appointed Laura Kuenssberg as its new political editor, taking over from Nick Robinson who is moving to Radio 4. She was the BBC's chief political correspondent from 2009 to 2011 before leaving for ITN to become their business editor. She returned to the BBC last year to work on Newsnight. Her salary will be around £200,000.

Laura Kuenssberg: BBC appoints first female political editor

6. Glasgow bin lorry driver 'had blacked out before'

The driver of the Glasgow bin lorry that killed six people had blacked out before, a court has heard. Harry Clarke was unconscious at the wheel of the bin lorry when it went out of control in the city centre on 22 December. A First Bus employee today told a fatal accident inquiry that former bus driver Clarke had blacked out at a bus stop in 2010.

7. Pearson sells the Financial Times to Nikkei

Publisher Pearson is to sell the Financial Times Group to Japanese media firm Nikkei for £844m. The deal does not include Pearsons's 50% stake in The Economist magazine nor its London office at One Southwark Bridge. Global education business Pearson has owned the FT newspaper for almost 60 years. It's shares jumped more than 2% on news of the deal.

Pearson backs up FT sale with premium on The Economist

8. British teen admits role in Australia terror plot

A 15-year-old boy from Blackburn has admitted being involved in a plot to kill police officers at an Anzac Day parade in Australia. The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted a count of inciting terrorism. The attack in Melbourne never took place. A second charge involving a planned beheading, also in Australia, was dropped.

9. Bag containing NZ$1m disappears at airport

A bag containing NZ$1m has disappeared en route from New Zealand to the Bank of China in Hong Kong. The bag was one of 13 carrying a total of NZ$10m on board a Cathay Pacific plane. Hong Kong airport footage apparently shows three bags falling from a cargo trailer. When staff realised the bags were missing they could only find two of them.

10. Briefing: new cycle bridge across the Thames

Proposals for a new Thames bridge in London geared specifically to cyclists and pedestrians have been whittled down to four shortlisted designs. The blueprints for the bridge, which will link Nine Elms in Wandsworth with Pimlico, all have spiralling staircases and winding ramps to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act. Slopes cannot be too steep for cyclists or pedestrians, but the bridge must be high enough to accommodate large boats passing below.

New London cyclist bridge finalists unveiled – pictures