Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Wednesday 9 Aug 2017

1. North Korea threatens US base on Guam

North Korea says it is considering a missile strike on the US military base on Guam following Donald Trump's vow that Washington will react to any threat against it with "fire and fury like the world has never seen". Pyongyang also criticised the UN vote to impose sanctions on the country, saying they were a "violent violation of our sovereignty".

We'll hit North Korea with fire and fury, vows Trump

2. Darling tells regulators to stay vigilant on debt

Alistair Darling has warned the UK's financial regulators to remain "very vigilant" over mounting levels of consumer debt. Speaking ten years after the financial crisis, the former Labour chancellor told the BBC there was no room for "complacency" and although the economy had grown, Brexit was causing "massive uncertainty".

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Lord Darling: 'Alarms bells ringing for UK economy'

3. Call for tougher sentences for animal abuse

People who abuse animals should face up to five years in jail rather than the maximum of current six months, say a new report. According to the Centre for Crime Prevention, 92% of people convicted or cautioned for animal cruelty "are getting away with it" due to the "leniency" of UK courts.

4. Kenya's Raila Odinga rejects 'fake' election results

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga has condemned yesterday's general election results as "fake" after early reports suggested he lost. President Uhuru Kenyatta is said to have received 54.8% of the vote to his rival's 44.3%, with 85% of results in. Odinga said the results were "the work of a computer" and did not show the will of people.

Kenya's Supreme Court rules presidential election invalid

5. Rhinestone Cowboy Glen Campbell dies aged 81

Country singer Glen Campbell has died following a six-year battle with Alzheimer's disease. He was 81. Best known for the songs Rhinestone Cowboy and Wichita Lineman, Campbell made more than 70 albums and sold some 45 million records. Dolly Parton called him "one of the greatest voices of all time".

Five things you didn't know about Glen Campbell

6. Tories 'paid Crosby millions for election campaign'

Sir Lynton Crosby's firm was paid millions by the Tories for their "strong and stable" general election campaign, a source told The Sun. It "was easily £4m and when the final invoices are totted up it could be much more", the unnamed Conservative told the paper, which says a "significant amount" was spent on focus groups, polling and call centres.

7. Mazda unveils 30% more efficient petrol engine

Mazda has revealed a radical new type of petrol engine it claims is 30% more efficient than existing systems. In a similar way to a diesel engine, the vehicle compresses the fuel to the point where it ignites spontaneously, without the need of spark plugs. Analysts say the invention will speed up the decline of diesel.

8. Fossil named after Motorhead star Lemmy

Scientists have named a crocodile fossil from the Jurassic era after heavy metal star Lemmy Kilmister, who died in 2015. The 19ft fossil needed a new name after being wrongly classified. Natural History Museum curator Lorna Steel suggested the name Lemmysuchus as she is a big fan of Kilmister's former band, Motorhead.

9. Protester stencils offensive tweets outside site's HQ

A German satirist has spray-painted stencils of hate-speech tweets on the pavement outside Twitter's headquarters in Hamburg. Shahak Shapira said he created the #HeyTwitter campaign after reporting 300 offensive messages to the microblogging site and receiving responses about just nine of them.

10. Briefing: Ghana joins the space race

Ghana's space programme took one small step last week and one giant leap into the sub-Saharan space race.

The successful orbit of GhanaSat-1, its first space satellite, means the tiny West African nation is now one of dozens of nations competing to occupy the low and high Earth orbits and to further the scientific discoveries of humanity.

GhanaSat-1 launched from Kennedy Space Center in June and was released from the International Space Station nearly a month later. It began orbiting last week.

Africa joins space race: Should Ghana be over the moon?

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