Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Wednesday 21 Sep 2016

1. Russia denies hitting Syria aid convoy

Russia denies carrying out an airstrike on an aid convoy in Syria on Monday and says armed militants were using the convoy for cover. The US says the attack, which killed around 20 aid workers, was carried out by two Russian Su-24 jets. The UN Security Council will discuss the issue later today.

2. Unrest in North Carolina after fatal shooting

Protesters and police in Charlotte, North Carolina, have clashed after officers shot and killed a black man, mistaking him for a wanted man. Keith Scott, 43, was killed by officer Brentley Vinson, who is also black, yesterday afternoon. In a video of the incident, Scott's daughter can be heard begging police not to plant a gun on his body.

3. Obesity gene 'no barrier to weight loss'

People with a gene linked to obesity are just as likely to benefit from a weight loss programme of diet and exercise as those without, Newcastle University researchers say. It was already known that those with the FTO gene are more likely to gain weight, but whether it would make it harder to lose that weight was an unknown quantity.

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4. Gerry Adams 'sanctioned killing of MI5 agent'

A man claiming to be a former IRA member told the BBC that Irish politician Gerry Adams sanctioned the 2006 killing of Denis Donaldson, a senior Sinn Fein official who was killed months after admitting he had been working as an undercover MI5 agent for 20 years. Adams denies any involvement in his death.

5. Entire UN agrees to fight antibiotic resistance

All 193 UN states will sign a declaration today agreeing to fight antibiotic resistance, describing it as "the biggest threat to modern medicine" and putting it on a similar footing to climate change. It is thought at least 700,000 people die every year because of drug-resistant "superbugs".

6. Rahami charged with planting NY bombs

US authorities have charged Ahmad Khan Rahami with planting bombs in public places in New York and New Jersey, in addition to his existing charges of murder. Thirty-one people were injured when a bomb, thought to be made from a pressure cooker, went off in Manhattan on Saturday. Another six devices were found.

7. Final hours of Labour leadership election vote

Voting in the Labour leadership election ends at noon today, with the result to be announced at the party conference on Saturday. Incumbent Jeremy Corbyn, the favourite to win, last night visited members of the Unite union, who were making last-minute calls to party members, while challenger Owen Smith wrote an open letter to the undecided.

8. LA Confidential director Curtis Hanson dies

Writer and director Curtis Hanson, who won an Oscar for his screenplay for the 1997 crime noir LA Confidential, has died at the age of 71. Originally a film journalist, Hanson found success in 1992 when he directed The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, 20 years after he first began screenwriting and directing. A police spokeswoman said he died of natural causes.

9. Chinese space station to crash into Earth

Chinese authorities have admitted their first space station, Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace, will crash into the Earth next year after breaking up on re-entry. The admission is fuelling months of speculation that scientists have lost control of the module after it suffered a technical failure. China says its mission is complete.

10. Briefing: The Dakota pipeline protests

A group of Native Americans and environmental activists have pledged

to continue demonstrations against the controversial Dakota Access oil

pipeline until the project is shut down. Senator and former

presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has joined a chorus of high

profile voices urging President Barack Obama to intervene after taking

part in a protest outside the White House last week.

The Dakota pipeline: Native Americans vow to fight on