Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 11 Sep 2017

1. Hurricane Irma hits west coast of Florida

Hurricane Irma made landfall in Florida yesterday with winds of 130mph and is still pummelling the US state. Downtown Miami is flooded and more than 3.4 million homes have no power. Analysts say the economic cost of the storm could reach $300bn (£228bn), with insurance firms paying out up to $150bn (£114bn).

2. Public sector pay cap to be lifted for police

The BBC says ministers will lift the 1% annual cap on public sector pay increases this week, for police and prison officers. The broadcaster says this will “pave the way for similar increases in other sectors”. Public sector pay was frozen in 2010 for those earning more than £21,000. Since 2013 rises have been allowed - but capped at 1%.

3. Warning of high winds in England and Wales

Parts of southern Wales and southwestern England could experience winds of between 55mph and 60mph today – and motorists have been warned to expect disruption at rush hour. The rest of the country can expect an “unsettled autumn day”, the Met Office says. On Tuesday night and Wednesday, gusts could reach 70mph.

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4. Farage accuses Proms crowd of ‘denial’

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage has said the audience for the Last Night of the Proms concert, in London’s Royal Albert Hall on Saturday night, were “in denial” about Brexit after TV pictures showed a sea of EU flags in the crowd, alongside the many Union flags. Pro-EU activists handed out 7,000 EU flags to the crowds beforehand.

5. New iPhone X details revealed in leak

Apple has suffered a major leak, with two news sites given access to an unreleased version of the tech giant’s iOS operating system. The code refers to two new iPhone 8 handsets and a device to be called the iPhone X. It also details the use of facial recognition software for phone security and to map users’ expressions onto emojis.

6. Mo Farah to run in 2018 London Marathon

Former track star Mo Farah will run in the 2018 London Marathon. It will be the Briton’s first marathon since changing his focus to road races this year. Farah retired from track events at 34 this year. He won the Great North Run – a half marathon – for the fourth time on Sunday. Farah said the marathon was his “home race” and “special”.

7. Birmingham: three injured in church stabbing

Three people suffered non-life threatening injuries on Sunday morning, stabbed in a Birmingham church. According to Kevin Hutchison, a minister at the New Jerusalem Apostolic Church, a man armed with a “large kitchen knife … stormed into our sanctuary”. John Delahaye, 47, from Aston, has been charged with attempted murder.

8. YouTube star PewDiePie makes racial slur

The highest-paid star on YouTube, a 27-year-old Swede known as PewDiePie whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, is in trouble after using a racial slur during a live-streamed broadcast. He apologised for using the “n-word” , saying: “I don’t mean that in a bad way.” Kjellberg has previously had to defend himself from accusations of anti-Semitism.

9. Beatles score for Eleanor Rigby auctioned

The original score for the Beatles song Eleanor Rigby is being auctioned today in Warrington – as are the deeds to the grave of a woman called Eleanor Rigby, in a Liverpool graveyard visited by Sir Paul McCartney as a young man. The songwriter denies that the grave had any conscious influence on his choosing the name.

10. The truth about NHS staff shortages

The Royal College of Nursing has warned that NHS staffing levels are reaching crisis point, but the Government insists that there are more doctors and nurses in work than ever before. Who is right?

The Conservatives maintain that NHS staff numbers have risen consistently since they came to power in 2010. Last month, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the health service “has seen more money, more docs and more nurses than ever in history” under the Tories.

But one doctor asked: “More docs than ever? Can you explain to me why I’m receiving multiple emails a day desperate for locums because of the shortage of A&E docs?”

Fact Check: The truth about NHS staff shortages