Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Tuesday 16 Jan 2018

1. Thousands may not be paid as Carillion collapses

Thousands of workers employed by major contractor Carillion, which yesterday went into liquidation, will receive no pay from Wednesday onwards unless other employers take them on. Britain’s second-largest construction firm, Carillion has spent almost £1bn a year on sub-contractors and employs 20,000 people in the UK.

2. California: 13 siblings found chained to beds

A couple have been arrested after police found their 13 sons and daughters, aged between two and 29, chained to their beds and malnourished in a dark, foul-smelling room at the California home. David Allen Turpin, 57, and Louise Anna Turpin, 49, have been charged with torture and child endangerment.

3. Cranberries singer died hours before rerecording hit

The Cranberries frontwoman Dolores O’Riordan was scheduled to rerecord one of their biggest 1990s hits, Zombie, the day after her unexplained death in a London hotel room at the age of 46, it has emerged. O’Riordan was found dead yesterday, just hours before she was due in the studio to perform the vocal with the band Bad Wolves.

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4. Thousands of fake degrees sold to Britons

Thousands of people in the UK have bought fake degrees from a multimillion pound “diploma mill” in Pakistan, a BBC investigation has revealed. Purchasers include NHS consultants and defence contractor FB Heliservices, which bought fake degrees for seven employees between 2013 and 2015, including two helicopter pilots.

5. US gymnast Simone Biles claims abuse by doctor

US gymnast Simone Biles, who won four gold medals at the Rio Olympics, says she was sexually abused by Team USA doctor Larry Nassar. The 20-year-old said she did not want the “horrific experience” to define her. Nassar was jailed for 60 years in 2017 for possessing child pornography and will be tried for sexual assault this month.

6. Supermarket Iceland to stop using plastic by 2023

Frozen foods retailer Iceland has pledged to stop using – or drastically reduce – plastic packaging in its own-brand products within five years, responding to growing public concern about pollution. The store says the packaging for more than 1,000 products will be changed, starting with a new range launching next month.

7. Star will donate fee from Woody Allen film

Actor Timothee Chalamet says he will donate his fee from Woody Allen’s upcoming film A Rainy Day in New York to charity, because he doesn’t want to profit from workiing with the controversial director. Allen’s adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, has accused him of decades of sexual abuse. The 82-year-old film-maker denies her allegations.

8. Man hospitalised after stifling sneeze

An otherwise “fit and well” 34-year-old man ended up in hospital for a week after blasting a hole in the back of his throat when he tried to stifle a sneeze, an article in the BMJ has revealed. The unnamed man held his nose and closed his mouth when sneezing – and ruptured his pharynx. The sneeze drove air bubbles into the deep tissue and muscles of the man’s chest.

9. Johnson insists £350m Brexit claim was ‘too low’

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has said the Leave campaign claim that £350m a week could be redirected to the NHS if Britain left the EU was a “gross underestimate”. Johnson claims around half of £438m - the amount the UK will be paying the EU each week by 2020-21 - could be redirected to public services. He admitted the £350m figure did not take into account the UK’s £75m-a-week rebate.

10. Briefing: what should Britons do in the event of a nuclear attack?

A false emergency alert that a ballistic missile was headed for Hawaii created mass panic on Saturday - and fuelled concerns about how prepared countries worldwide would be in the event of nuclear war with North Korea.

So what would happen in the unlikely event of a nuclear warning in the UK, and how should Britons react?

What should Brits do in the event of a nuclear attack?