Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Sunday 9 Oct 2016
- 1. Top Republicans desert Trump as new tape emerges
- 2. Cameron ally compares May policy to Nazi Germany
- 3. Moscow moves nuclear missiles to the West
- 4. Haiti holds three days of mourning amid humanitarian crisis
- 5. MPs want Commons vote on hard Brexit plans
- 6. Is Boris about to throw in the towel on Heathrow?
- 7. 'Ambulance chasers' charge £418m for NHS cases
- 8. Islamic State loses more than a quarter of its territory
- 9. UK home owners break rules to cash in on Airbnb
- 10. Abu Hamza 'launches bid to move to UK jail'
1. Top Republicans desert Trump as new tape emerges
Senior Republicans including John McCain, Condoleezza Rice and Arnold Schwarzenegger have withdrawn support for Donald Trump after his obscene remarks about women were revealed. The White House hopeful says he will never drop out of the race to be president and will never let his supporters down. Fresh reports this morning reveal he once agreed his daughter Ivanka is "a piece of a**".
2. Cameron ally compares May policy to Nazi Germany
A key ally of David Cameron has declared war on Theresa May, says The Sunday Times. Cameron’s former adviser Steve Hilton says plans to make every firm in Britain reveal the number of foreign workers they employ are "divisive, repugnant and insanely bureaucratic". The former No 10 policy chief said ministers might as well announce "that foreign workers will be tattooed with numbers on their forearms".
3. Moscow moves nuclear missiles to the West
Russia has moved nuclear-capable missiles near the Polish border, its defence ministry has confirmed. The Iskander missiles have a range of 450 miles, meaning they could hit Berlin. Germany's foreign minister warned that tensions between Moscow and the West were currently "more dangerous" than during the Cold War. The move came as Russia and the US prepared to clash at the UN with rival resolutions over Aleppo.
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4. Haiti holds three days of mourning amid humanitarian crisis
Haiti is holding three days of national mourning for the hundreds of victims of Hurricane Matthew. Almost 900 people died when the storm hit Haiti, with outbreaks of cholera in the aftermath claiming at least another 13 lives. The storm has killed at least 10 people in the US as it is moving along the country's south-east coast, say authorities.
5. MPs want Commons vote on hard Brexit plans
MPs are demanding that Theresa May allow them to vote on the hard Brexit plans for UK to leave single market. There is cross-party outrage at the prospect that parliament could be bypassed over the decision. Ed Miliband, who has been leading talks, told The Observer: "There is no mandate for hard Brexit, and I don’t believe there is a majority in parliament for [it] either."
6. Is Boris about to throw in the towel on Heathrow?
Boris Johnson is ready to concede defeat on the expansion of Heathrow, a move that would increase the chances of a third runway being built. The foreign secretary, who is the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, in west London, has made it clear that he will not resign from the cabinet if the third runway is given the green light later this month.
7. 'Ambulance chasers' charge £418m for NHS cases
Law firms charged a record £418m last year after pursuing cases of medical blunders against the NHS, says the Mail on Sunday. The report claims some greedy "ambulance chasers" are pulling in "grossly inflated" fees, many times what their clients actually received in compensation. Last summer, health minister Ben Gummer promised to cap the amounts law firms charged the NHS in cases where damages were under £100,000.
8. Islamic State loses more than a quarter of its territory
Islamic State has lost more than a quarter of the territory it once controlled, according to new data. Security and defence analysts say the group's control has shrunk by 28% since its heyday in January 2015. In the first nine months of this year, its territory fell from 78,000 sq km (30,115 sq miles) to 65,500 sq km - an area equivalent to the size of Sri Lanka.
9. UK home owners break rules to cash in on Airbnb
Hundreds of British home owners are thought to be breaking planning rules by converting residential properties into virtual hotels to exploit the popularity of Airbnb. An investigation by The Sunday Times uncovered evidence of widespread abuse of planning laws by Airbnb users, taking properties out of the squeezed housing market and turn them into money-spinning holiday rentals.
10. Abu Hamza 'launches bid to move to UK jail'
Abu Hamza has launched a legal fight to return from his maximum security US jail to a "softer" UK prison, according to reports this morning. Egyptian-born Hamza was jailed for life for terrorism offences last year, and has been serving his sentence at a high security prison in Florence, Colorado. His lawyer is set to launch an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
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