Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 7 Oct 2016

1. Ukip's Steven Woolfe says fellow MEP 'landed a blow'

Ukip leadership favourite Steven Woolfe is recovering in hospital after an alleged fight in the European Parliament yesterday. Woolfe claims fellow Ukip MEP Mike Hookem "came at me and landed a blow" in an argument over who will lead the party. Hookem denies the allegation.

2. Matthew hits Florida as Haiti death toll reaches 330

Hurricane Matthew is moving across Florida this morning, with winds of up to 130mph predicted. The storm hit Haiti on Tuesday but the extent of the damage is only now becoming clear as rescuers reach affected areas. It is thought that at least 330 people were killed. Cuba and the Bahamas were also affected by the storm.

3. Colombian President wins Nobel Peace Prize

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos has been awarded the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to draw his country's 52-year conflict with Farc rebels to a close. A peace accord with Farc was rejected by Colombians in a referendum last weekend, but the Nobel committee said it hoped the prize would give Santos "strength to succeed in this demanding task".

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

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos wins Nobel Peace Prize

4. 'Fat fingers' blamed for 6% drop in sterling

A modern-day "fat fingers" mistake - a faulty automated trading algorithm - is being blamed for the pound dropping by 6% in two minutes in Asian trading this morning. Naeem Aslam, of Think Markets, was among a group of experts citing fears the UK is heading for a "hard Brexit" for the drop, while others point to French President Francois Hollande's comments that the UK will have to "suffer" for the Brexit vote in order to ensure EU unity.

5. Corbyn names Diane Abbott shadow home secretary

Jeremy Corbyn has made his first re-shuffle since being re-elected as Labour leader, naming Diane Abbott shadow home secretary, Keir Starmer shadow Brexit secretary and Shami Chakrabarti shadow attorney general. Dame Rosie Winterton has been sacked as chief whip and replaced by Nick Brown.

6. Tony Blair: Return to politics an 'open question'

Tony Blair says he hasn't ruled out a return to UK politics, telling Esquire magazine: "I don't know if there's a role for me… [It's] an open question." The former prime minister said it was a "tragedy" that Britain had become a “one-party state” and that the Labour Party's policies were going "back to the sixties".

7. Girls spend 40% more time on chores

Girls around the world spend 40% more time doing chores at home than boys, says Unicef. A report from the charity found two out of three girls cook and clean at home and almost half collect firewood or water, adding up to an extra 160 million hours' of work a day.

8. Change honours system, says footballer

Liverpool's first black footballer says he turned down an MBE this summer because it was "against my values". Anti-racism campaigner Howard Gayle also called for the honour to be renamed so it does not refer to the British Empire. "If they want to be inclusive and accepting of black people around the UK and the Commonwealth, then they need to change the title of [the award]," he said.

9. Woman had six-inch hairball in her stomach

A woman had to have a six-inch ball of her own hair cut out of her stomach after suffering from "Rapunzel syndrome", which compelled her to pluck and eat strands over a long period. The woman, who is 38 and lives in the US, developed sudden vomiting and constipation as a result.

10. Briefing: Is the gold price heading 'much lower'?

Gold is fresh off the back of its worse fall for 15 months - but the price could be set to fall "much lower" yet, says Rupert Hargreaves on Value Walk. The precious metal fell sharply this week as the dollar surged and speculation of an increase in US interest rates continued to build ahead of the next month's meeting of the Federal Reserve.

Gold price waits for rates clues from Jackson Hole