Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Tuesday 4 Oct 2016

1. May to exempt soldiers from human rights convention

Theresa May and Defence Secretary Michael Fallon are to announce a plan to opt the British military out of the European Convention on Human Rights for future conflicts to avoid what the Prime Minister called an "industry of vexatious [legal] claims" against soldiers. Human rights groups insist there is no such problem.

2. Politicians and press 'are fuelling racism'

"Worrying examples of intolerance" in the media and from politicians are fuelling a rise in racist attacks and attitudes in the UK, say human rights experts at the European Council. In a report out today, they say new laws are needed to tackle racism and discrimination, citing anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and anti-EU feeling.

3. Hunt to train 25% more doctors

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is to increase the number of student doctors in the UK by 25%, starting in 2018, in an attempt to make the country "self-sufficient" for medical staff. Prime Minister Theresa May told the BBC: "We want to see the NHS able to recruit doctors from this country. We want to see more British doctors in the NHS."

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4. Colombian President tries to save peace deal

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos is scrambling to save a historic peace deal with the rebel group Farc after it was rejected in a national referendum as being too lenient. He is now negotiating with the country's opposition to modify the deal's terms.

5. Pressure to look 'perfect' harms girls

Girls in the UK are under increasing pressure to look "perfect" and it is hurting their confidence, says Girlguiding. The group found 61% of girls were happy with their bodies, down from 73% in its last Girls' Attitudes Survey in 2011. The survey found 36% of girls said they were made to feel their looks were the most important thing.

6. Vice-presidential debate for Pence and Kaine

US vice-presidential hopefuls Tim Kaine and Mike Pence will hold their only TV debate tonight, at Longwood University in Virginia. Republican Pence, who is deeply religious and conservative, will have to defend a presidential candidate who is in many ways his antithesis as a politician.

7. Planet at its hottest for 115,000 years

The Earth is the hottest it has been for 115,000 years, the climate-change expert widely credited with bringing the phenomenon to public attention has said. Former Nasa scientist James Hansen and 11 other experts have published a new paper warning the world has heated up by 0.18C each decade over the past 45 years.

8. Monty Python to 'rally round' Terry Jones

Michael Palin says the Monty Python comedy team will "rally round" member Terry Jones, who has been diagnosed with a form of dementia. The globetrotting actor said the illness was a "terribly sad thing to befall anyone" but the Pythons were "not a sentimental bunch". On Saturday, Palin presented Jones with a Bafta for 50 years of comedy and documentary work.

9. Indian police arrest pigeon carrying threatening note

Police in India took a pigeon "into custody" yesterday after it was found to be carrying a threatening note apparently signed by Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba and addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The note warned that "each and every child is ready to fight against India". Pakistan and India fought their last war in 1971.

10. Briefing: When will the UK leave the EU?

Theresa May has set out the government's timetable for leaving the EU,

telling the BBC she will trigger Article 50 to start the two-year

process by the end of next March. Speaking as the Conservative Party

conference got underway, the PM also promised a bill to remove the

European Communities Act 1972 from the statute book, which she said

would make the UK an "independent, sovereign nation".

Brexit: Theresa May says ‘trust me’ to deliver