Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 24 Aug 2017

1. Pupils in England await GCSE results

More than half a million children in England will receive their GCSE results today. It is the first set of results under a new system with grades between 1 and 9, with 9 the top result. According to some experts, exams were the hardest since the 1980s – and there have been complaints pupils did not have long enough to prepare for the changes.

2. Trump 'could exercise nuclear option'

James Clapper, a former US director of national intelligence, warned yesterday that there was "very little" to stop Donald Trump launching a nuclear attack "in a fit of pique", describing the possibility as "pretty damn scary". Democrats have written a bill calling for Trump to have to seek permission from Congress for nuclear action.

3. Dutch gig cancelled over terror fears

A gig by a band in Rotterdam last night was cancelled when a Spanish-registered van was found near the venue containing gas canisters, after tip-off from Spanish police. The band who were scheduled to play, the Allah-Las, often receive threats because of their name. It is not thought there was a link to the Barcelona attacks.

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4. May admits deportation letters were mistake

Theresa May admitted yesterday the Home Office sent letters to as many as 100 EU nationals living legally in the UK, ordering them to leave the country or be deported. The Prime Minister said the letters were an "unfortunate mistake". The Home Office would not say if it would cover the legal costs of those to whom they were sent.

5. Chronic lack of exercise killing over-40s

At least six million people over the age of 40 are suffering from a chronic lack of exercise, not even walking 10 minutes continually each month. Public Health England says a brisk 10-minute walk every day reduces the risk of dying prematurely by 15%, improving fitness, weight and mood. It has launched an app to help.

6. Charlottesville statues covered up

Two satues of Confederate generals in Charlottesville, Virginia, have been covered with black tarpaulins by order of city councillors. A public debate over whether to remove the statues because the Confederate side in the US civil war fought to preserve slavery led this month to the death of a woman, killed by a white supremacist.

7. CCTV shows Spain suspects joking together

CCTV footage has surfaced in Spain, said to show three of the five attackers believed to have driven a vehicle at people outside a restaurant in Cambrils, near Barcelona, last week, killing one and injuring six. The young men are pictured joking and laughing together in a petrol station, hours before police shot them dead.

8. Man who kidnapped athlete free after 32 years

A man who kidnapped a world-class US athlete on a training run in Montana in 1984, wanting her to become his son's wife, has been released from prison after 32 years. Don Nichols, now 86, shot dead a friend of Kari Swenson who came to rescue her, Alan Goldstein. His son also accidentally shot Swenson, ending her career.

9. Bodies of climbers killed in 1995 found

The bodies of three climbers thought to have died together on Mont Blanc in 1995 have emerged from the ice of a glacier on the Italian side of the mountain. Efforts to recover them are under way. This is the latest of several such discoveries as glaciers retreat. In July the bodies of a Swiss couple who disappeared in 1942 emerged.

10. Briefing: Brexit and the ECJ

It has been described as among the most "intractable disputes of the Brexit process" by The Times and "one of the totemic aims of Eurosceptics" by The Guardian.

Theresa May's pledge that the UK will take back "control of our laws" has been one of the defining characteristics of her unfolding Brexit plan for Britain. What had been understood by that pledge is that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) would no longer have any influence over UK law.

To many Brexiters it seemed obvious: the UK voted to leave the European Union, so there would be no reason for its court to have any say in our laws.

But Britain wants a trade deal with Europe, with "frictionless" borders, a "deep and special" partnership and a "transitional" deal that mimics much of the current arrangement, according to a Brexit position papers published last week.

Brexit and the ECJ: What's at stake?