Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 29 Sep 2017

1. May: UK still committed to European defence

Theresa May is attempting to reassure those eastern European nations that feel threatened by Russia that the UK is still committed to their defence, despite its approaching Brexit, at an EU summit in Estonia this morning. The Prime Minister will also meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines of the summit.

2. Patients ‘dying alone’ due to lack of nurses

Nursing shortages mean patients are dying alone in NHS hospitals, the Royal College of Nursing warns today. A survey of 30,000 nurses found many do not have time to give out medication, complete paperwork or offer comfort to patients. One quarter said they routinely have to care for 14 or more patients at the same time.

3. New UKIP leader could be anti-Islamist

UKIP will announce its new leader at its party conference in Torquay today – and the woman hotly tipped for the job, Anne Marie Waters, is considerably further to the political right than her predecessors. Waters has focused much of her campaigning on Islam, which she describes as “evil”. She has links to far-right organisations.

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4. Trump’s son-in-law faces email inquiry

The White House has opened an internal investigation after it emerged that US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, and other senior officials used private personal email for official business. During his election campaign, Trump repeatedly vilified Hillary Clinton for the same infraction.

5. Welsh climber killed in Yosemite rockfall

A climber from Wales, who has not been named, has died in a massive rockfall on the El Capitan rock face, one of the best-known landmarks in Yosemite National Park, California. His female partner is in a “critical condition” after being airlifted to hospital. The man was hit by a “sheet” of granite which fell 200m, rangers say.

6. Myanmar insists ‘there is no ethnic cleansing’

Myanmar has told the UN “there is no ethnic cleansing and no genocide” taking place against its Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority, despite consistent reports of murder and other abuses over the past several years. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the crisis “a humanitarian and human rights nightmare” yesterday.

7. Veep’s Julia Louis-Dreyfus facing breast cancer

Comic actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus has revealed she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The multi-award-winning star of Veep made her name as Elaine in classic sitcom Seinfeld. In a message on Facebook, she said the “good news” was she was lucky compared to many women, with “fantastic insurance through my union”.

8. Sketch of ‘nude Mona Lisa’ identified

A French art expert has claimed that a sketch previously attributed only to Leonardo da Vinci’s studio is at least partly by the master himself – and is a nude version of his famous Mona Lisa painting. Small holes pierced around the figure in the drawing suggest it was traced, probably to form the basis of an oil painting.

9. Hefner bought crypt next to Marilyn Monroe

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, who died on Wednesday at the age of 91, bought the crypt next to that of Marilyn Monroe in a Los Angeles cemetery, it has emerged. Hefner played $75,000 (£56,000) for the crypt in 1992. He never met Monroe but published nude photographs of her in the first issue of his magazine, to her dismay.

10. Briefing: May defends free market economy

The Prime Minister has championed free market economics, one day after Jeremy Corbyn attacked Britain’s “failed model of capitalism” and presented the Labour party as a government in waiting.

Theresa May’s comments, which The Daily Telegraph characterised as a “strong defence” of capitalism, were made in a speech to commemorate 20 years since the Bank of England was given the right to set interest rates.

May called capitalism the “greatest agent of collective human progress ever created” and said prosperity required a tough approach to ensure budgets are balanced.

Theresa May defends free market economy after Corbyn speech