Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 5 Feb 2016

1. Cameron travels to Poland and Denmark for EU talks

David Cameron is today visiting Poland and Denmark as he tries to win support for the reforms he hopes will persuade voters to keep Britain in the European Union. Yesterday, the Prime Minister met European Parliament President Martin Schulz at Downing Street. Schulz said he was "optimistic" of finding a compromise.

Brexit: Theresa May says ‘trust me’ to deliver

2. Zika virus: Colombia confirms three deaths

Colombia has confirmed its first three deaths of patients known to have been infected with the Zika virus. While the virus causes birth defects, it has not so far seemed to be serious for adults. The three deaths are thought to have been caused by a seemingly related disease that attacks the nervous system and causes paralysis.

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Zika virus: everything you need to know about the disease

3. Julian Assange ruling is 'ridiculous', says Hammond

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has dismissed as "ridiculous" the ruling of a United Nations legal panel that Julian Assange has been arbitrarily detained. The WikiLeaks founder, who faces sexual assault charges in Sweden, claimed asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London in 2012, while on bail. He faces arrest and extradition if he leaves the building.

Will Julian Assange be forced to leave Ecuador’s London embassy?

4. Weekend Tube strike called off, but more planned

A 48-hour Tube strike due to start on Saturday evening has been suspended after a breakthrough in negotiations between London Underground and the RMT union over job losses. However, the decision comes just hours after the union announced seven other strikes planned for the coming months. The next planned strike is due to take place on Friday 12 February.

Tube commuters face more delays as engineers begin industrial action

5. Stranded sperm whale dies on Norfolk beach

A whale which beached in Norfolk has died, despite attempts by volunteers to refloat the animal and make it comfortable. The 46ft sperm whale is one of 29, thought perhaps to be from the same pod, found on beaches around the North Sea since 12 January, six of them in England. The animal was found at 7.30am yesterday.

6. 15,000 Syrian refugees gather at Turkish border

More than 15,000 refugees fleeing fighting in Syria have gathered at a border crossing with Turkey, say United Nations and Turkish officials. They have left the Aleppo province, where the Syrian army, backed by Russian air power, has made advances in recent days. The refugees have not been allowed to cross the border but have been given food and shelter.

7. Germany: schoolgirl allowed to keep gold bar

A 16-year-old girl who found a gold bar in a German lake has been allowed to keep it, after nobody came forward to claim it for six months. The teenager, who spotted the bar lying in 6.5ft of water in the Koenigssee lake in Bavaria while on holiday, has not been publicly named. The bar is worth roughly £14,000.

8. One dead in New York crane collapse

One person has been killed and at least two others injured after a crane collapsed in the Tribeca neighbourhood of Manhattan, New York. Construction workers were in the process of lowering the machine due to high winds when the incident happened. All cranes in New York have been ordered to be lowered after the incident.

9. France: hackles raised as circumflex ditched

Language purists in France are up in arms after the education ministry decided to use drop the circumflex accent - ˆ - from many words in school textbooks. Some unusual spellings have also been standardised, provoking outrage on Twitter. One user insisted he would continue to use the symbol and "judge those who don't".

10. Briefing: why interest rates may come earlier than markets expect

A rise from record-low interest rates in the UK is some way from happening, the Bank of England confirmed yesterday. But despite the overall hawkish tone, the Bank of England suggested the ultra-dovish expectations of markets were still under-estimating when rates might move.

Pound plunges after Bank of England's dovish rates signal