Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Tuesday 28 Jul 2015

1. Lord Sewel resigns from Lords over drug claims

Lord Sewel, former chairman of the peers’ conduct committee, has resigned from the House of Lords after the Sun published video allegedly showing him taking drugs with prostitutes. In his resignation letter, he admits his behaviour will “undermine public confidence in the House” and has caused “pain and embarrassment”.

2. Cameron: I’ll clamp down on dirty money buyers

The PM is announcing new measures to stop foreign investors buying property in the UK with “plundered or laundered cash”. He is linking corruption to poverty, lack of economic growth, the migrant crisis and religious extremism. The Land Registry will start publishing information on property owned by foreign companies this autumn.

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Cameron launches crackdown on 'dirty money' from abroad

3. Obama warns Africa over corruption and elections

Barack Obama has told Africa's leaders to step down from office when their terms end. In an address to the African Union, the US president said that leaders who overstayed their welcome had "failed" to build their nations. He said there was more to democracy than simply holding elections and claimed that Africa could only progress without the "cancer" of corruption.

4. Nato meets to discuss Turkish strikes on Syria

All 28 member states of Nato are holding an emergency meeting in Brussels to discuss Turkey’s air strikes against Islamic State (IS) and Kurdish militants in Syria. The summit was called by Turkey after it began bombing raids in the last few days. It is only the fifth time in Nato’s history that such a meeting has been requested.

Nato backs Turkey in fight against Islamic State in Syria

5. 'Timid' Labour less electable than it was in May

An opinion poll says 76% of British people think the Labour Party is less electable now than it was at the general election in May, while another survey says Labour must widen its appeal and secure the backing of Tory supporters if it is to win in 2020. Leadership hopeful Andy Burnham today said Labour had become too timid and was "frightened of its own shadow".

Jeremy Corbyn is a 'disaster', says Stephen Hawking

6. Madeleine McCann: police investigate Australia body

UK police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have contacted the Australian authorities after the decomposed remains of a fair-haired girl between two and four were found in a suitcase by a motorway near Adelaide. Officers stress that there is “absolutely no evidence” at the moment to suggest the body is Madeleine’s.

What happened to Madeleine McCann? A timeline of the case

7. 'Serial killer cover-up' on the London Underground

A serial killer may have pushed more than a dozen people to their deaths on the London Underground in the 1970s, it has been claimed, but the murders were covered up by police to avoid a mass panic. Former detective Geoff Platt says violent drifter Kiernan Kelly confessed in 1984 to pushing his victims onto the Tube tracks.

London Underground 'serial killer': was there a cover-up?

8. Gaddafi son sentenced to death in Libya

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has been sentenced to death for war crimes during the country's revolution in 2011. He was one of 30 Gaddafi supporters on trial and one of eight to be handed a death sentence, along with the regime's intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi and former PM Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi.

9. Briefing: Amazon enters the music-streaming race

Online shopping giant Amazon has entered the British streaming audio market with the launch today of Prime Music, a UK service cheaper than Apple Music or Spotify, but with a significantly smaller selection of songs. The service, available as a free add-on to Amazon Prime subscribers, gives access to a library of one million songs by popular artists including Royal Blood, George Ezra, Paolo Nutini, One Direction and Ella Henderson, as well as classic albums from Bob Dylan, Madonna and David Bowie. However, there are some "big holes" in Amazon's catalogue

Prime Music: Amazon enters music-streaming market

10. Android security flaw puts 950m phones at risk

Nearly a billion Android phones are at risk from a security flaw that can be exploited by a text that does not even need to be opened, it has been claimed. Hackers have been able to send malicious code within a multimedia message that can access a service within Android called Stagefright, which can then access other data and apps on the handset.

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