Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Tuesday 5 Sep 2017

1. US says Kim Jong-un is 'begging for war'

North Korean despot Kim Jong-un is "begging for war" with his latest nuclear bomb and missile tests, US envoy Nikki Haley told the United Nations yesterday. The US is to table a resolution calling for tougher sanctions today. Meanwhile, a South Korean minister refused to rule out hosting American nuclear weapons in his nation.

2. Davis to give returning MPs Brexit update

MPs return to Westminster today after their summer break and will receive an update on the progress of the Brexit negotiations from David Davis, the Brexit Secretary. They will also hear about the government's EU withdrawal bill, which they will debate on Thursday. It has been said some Tory rebels may vote to ammend the bill.

3. Hurricane Irma heads towards Caribbean

Puerto Rico, other Caribbean nations and the US state of Florida have declared states of emergency, closed schools and frozen prices on essentials as Hurricane Irma gathers force out at sea. It is now a category four storm and could bring 10 inches of rain, landslides, floods and 23ft waves, forecasters warn.

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

4. Man jailed for rapes 4,000 miles away

A paedophile from County Durham, 32-year-old Paul Leighton of Seaham, has been jailed for 16 years after admitting rape, despite being thousands of miles away from the offences. Leighton blackmailed teenagers in North America into abusing relatives, threatening he would otherwise post compromising pictures of them.

5. Azerbaijan slush fund 'linked to president'

The ruling elite of Azerbaijan operated a £2.2bn slush fund from 2012 to 2014 to pay off favourable European politicians and buy luxury goods, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project says. In its report, the newspaper consortium says there is "ample evidence" the fund was connected to the family of President Ilham Aliyev.

6. 'No progress' five years after Alps murders

The brother of a British man shot dead with his wife and mother-in-law on a family holiday in the French Alps in 2012 has told the BBC he is frustrated by the lack of progress made by French police in five years. The bodies of Saad and Iqbal al-Hilli, and Suhaila al-Allaf, were found in a car, with their two young daughters still alive.

7. Northern lights blamed for whale strandings

The Aurora Borealis could be responsible for the strandings of 29 sperm whales in the North Sea early last year, some on the UK coast. Previous theories included climate change and poisoning but German researchers now think large-scale solar storms distorted the Earth's geomagnetic field – and think the whales must navigate by it.

8. Peppa Pig spider episode aired in Australia

An episode of the children's TV show Peppa Pig has provoked complaints in Australia because it features two small children befriending a spider. Parents complained the show teaches children spiders are "very small" and "can't hurt you" in a country where around 1,000 people are hospitalised with spider bites every year.

9. Corbyn 'going through process' of veganism

Labour has issued a statement denying that Jeremy Corbyn is becoming a vegan, after the party leader told an audience that he was "going through the process" when asked if he would ever make the move to veganism. A vegetarian for several decades, Corbyn simply meant that he was now eating more vegan food, the statement said.

10. Briefing: The pros and cons of privatising the NHS

One of the world’s most respected scientists, Professor Sir Stephen Hawking, is also a long-term user of the NHS, having lived with motor neurone disease for more than 50 years.

Hawking warned last month the government is taking the NHS "towards a US-style insurance system, run by … private companies" and insisted: "We must prevent the establishment of a two-tier service."

Since then, he has continued a public argument with Jeremy Hunt, saying the Health Secretary has shaken public trust in science by selectively quoting from research on health provision to boost his case for new ways of working.

Hawking's is just the latest of many assertions that the NHS is being privatised by stealth. But what are the arguments around privatising the health service? Should we consider it?

Pros and cons of privatising the NHS