Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Tuesday 29 Aug 2017

1. Floods still rising in Houston catastrophe

Flooding in Houston, Texas, is expected to worsen in the coming days. More than 3,000 people have already been rescued, some air-lifted from rooftops by helicopter, and at least nine are confirmed dead. Reservists have been called up to help manage the emergency. Thirty inches of rain have fallen – and another 25 are expected.

2. Trump and Abe react to North Korea missile

Donald Trump and Japanese leader Shinzo Abe shared a 40-minute phone call yesterday, then asked for a meeting of the UN security council to discuss North Korea's latest missile launch. The test firing passed over Japan's northern Hokkaido island yesterday, to land in the sea on the other side. Japan warned its citizens to take shelter.

3. Warning that pensions gap is widening

Consulting firm Barnett Waddingham says the pensions gap in FTSE 350 companies – the difference between their pensions obligations and the money they have put aside to meet them – has risen to £62bn, or 70% of their profits. In 2011 the gap was just 25%. The firm says slowing life expectancy because of austerity will relieve pressure.

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4. London: Cartoonist's 1987 murder investigated

Police are appealing for information about the 1987 murder of a Palestinian cartoonist in London, after re-opening the case. Naji Salim Hussain Al-Ali, who worked for a Kuwaiti newspaper, was shot in the back of the neck as he walked to work in Knightsbridge. His cartoons were sometimes critical of the Palestinian leadership.

5. Sea Shepherd to stop chasing whalers

The organisation Sea Shepherd, which does its best to disrupt Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean each year, will not chase whalers this season. Captain Paul Watson said the co-operation of "hostile governments … in league with Japan" – including those of Australia, New Zealand and the US – means the task is now impossible.

6. Barnier: UK must begin 'serious' negotiations

The EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said at a joint press conference with Brexit Secretary David Davis yesterday the UK must begin "serious" talks, as the third round of discussions started in Brussels. It is thought Davis is pushing to start discussing trade, despite an EU timetable saying that will come later.

7. Trump reverses Obama police weapons ban

US President Donald Trump has overturned a ban imposed by his predecessor, Barack Obama, on the transfer of some surplus equipment from the military to the police. The ban was imposed after the unrest in Fergusson, Missouri, that followed the shooting of an unarmed black man in 2014, in order to make police seem less militaristic.

8. Photos 'prove' Russian involvement in plot

Sky News says it has received photographs which "appear to be further proof" that Russian intelligence services plotted to assassinate the Prime Minister of Montenegro last year. Taken in neighbouring Serbia, the images show two Russian men meeting. Eduard Shishmakov and Vladimir Popov are said to be intelligence officers.

9. Actor Ed Skrein quits role over 'whitewashing'

British actor Ed Skrein has announced he is pulling out of a role after criticism his casting was 'whitewashing'. Skrein said he was not aware that the character Major Ben Daimio was of Asian heritage in the comic on which the upcoming Hellboy remake is based. The 34-year-old said he hoped quitting would "make a difference".

10. Briefing: How the Barcelona attacks could affect Catalonian independence

The terror attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils are a reminder that Spain is not immune to the large-scale atrocities that have plagued its European neighbours. In fact, the nation has a "long and bloody history of domestic terrorism", writes Martin Evans in the Daily Telegraph.

Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (Eta), the now-disarmed Basque separatist group, killed more than 800 people and wounded thousands over a 40-year period. The Madrid bombings of 2004 – linked to al-Qaeda – remain the deadliest terrorist attack in Europe this century, notes The Independent.

Although Spain has recovered from previous terrorist atrocities, the consequences of these latest attacks are unclear. The violence in Barcelona and Cambrils – which took place against a backdrop of tension between Spain's conservative Popular Party and the regional Catalan government – may have a political impact on Catalonia's independence referendum on 1 October.

How the Barcelona attacks could affect Catalonian independence