Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Wednesday 8 Nov 2017

1. Priti Patel: more secret meetings revealed

International Development Secretary Priti Patel is “on the verge of leaving the cabinet”, says The Guardian, after it emerged that she held meetings in September with Israeli officials without adhering to proper procedure. She has already apologised for meetings held in August, about which she did not notify the Foreign Office.

2. NHS boss to bring up £350m Brexit promise

In what Sky News calls a “strikingly political intervention”, the head of NHS England will today call on the government to honour the promise made by the Leave campaign before the EU referendum to give more money to the NHS. Simon Stevens is not expected to call for the full £350m a week which was pledged, however.

3. Sky News ‘may close’ to aid Fox takeover

Sky has threatened to shut down Sky News to facilitate a long-contested takeover by Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox. The merger has been resisted by politicians and the monopolies watchdog, partly because of the control over UK media it would give Murdoch. Sky News loses millions every year, so the threat is credible.

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. Prince Charles accused of conflict of interest

A former chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, Sir Alistair Graham, says Prince Charles is guilty of a serious conflict of interest, after the Paradise Papers leak revealed the heir to the throne had lobbied on climate change without revealing that his private estate would benefit from policy changes through an offshore fund.

5. Trump tells North Korea: ‘Do not try us’

US President Donald Trump, speaking to the South Korean parliament, today warned North Korea: “Do not underestimate us. Do not try us.” He addressed Kim Jon-un directly, telling him: “The weapons you are acquiring are not making you safer.” Trump then travelled to China where he will discuss North Korea and trade with Xi Jinping.

6. Five train companies face strikes today

RMT rail union members at Southern, Greater Anglia, South Western, Merseyrail and Northern are all on strike today – and the latter two operators will face another 24-hour walkout tomorrow. The dispute concerns driver-only trains, which the union says are unsafe and will lead to job losses. Contingency timetables are in operation.

7. ‘Most wanted’ fugitive hands himself in

A man wanted for fraud in Croatia, who was on Europol’s ‘most wanted’ list handed himself to police in London yesterday. Ivica Todoric, 66, says he will fight extradition. He is wanted on charges related to an alleged €110m (£127m) fraud at the family business he ran until April, Croatia’s largest privately-owned company.

8. Facebook asks users to send nude pictures

Facebook has asked users in Australia to send it nude or compromising pictures of themselves, in an effort to fight ‘revenge porn’. The trial will ‘hash’ the pictures – extracting a unique digital fingerprint, which can then be used to stop anybody else from sharing them. The social network already allows users to flag up unsuitable images.

9. Twitter to double length of contributions

Twitter is to double the potential length of tweets for the majority of users, from 140 characters to 180, after a trial in September. The micro-blogging site believes the change will attract new users and boost growth. During the trail, only 5% of tweets took advantage of the increased length – and only 2% were longer than 190 characters.

10. Briefing: Do terrorists exploit the US green card lottery?

US President Donald Trump has urged Congress to scrap the so-called green card lottery after it emerged that the New York truck attack suspect used the system to enter the country.

Uzbek national Sayfullo Saipov - charged with killing eight people after mowing down cyclists in Lower Manhattan last week - arrived in the US in 2010 under the Diversity Visa Lottery programme.

Less than 24 hours after the attack, Trump called for the scheme to be replaced with a “merit-based” system. But is there any evidence that terrorists are taking advantage of the visa lottery?

Fact Check: Do terrorists exploit the US green card lottery?