Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 29 Oct 2018

1. Leicester helicopter crash victims named

It has been confirmed the owner of Leicester City FC, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, died in a helicopter crash outside the stadium on Saturday, with two staff, pilot Eric Swaffer, and Swaffer’s partner. According to the Daily Mail, experts say Swaffer deliberately steered the stricken helicopter away from the crowd outside the stadium.

2. Jet carrying 189 crashes into sea off Jakarta

A jet carrying 189 people on an internal flight in Indonesia crashed into the sea early this morning, shortly after take off. No survivors have been found but items belonging to passengers including ID cards have been found in the water. The plane was a Lion Air Boeing 737, a new type of aircraft, and the reasons for the crash are unknown.

3. Pittsburgh synagogue massacre ‘darkest hour’

The mayor of Pittsburgh, Bill Peduto, has described a synagogue massacre as the city’s “darkest hour”. A 46-year-old man who had expressed anti-Semitic views online, Robert Bowers, has been charged with 11 murders of Jewish victims aged 54 to 97. Four days earlier a white gunman shot dead two African-Americans in Kentucky.

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4. Far-right Bolsonaro wins Brazil presidency

The far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro has achieved a decisive victory in Brazil’s presidential election. After campaigning on a promise to fight crime and eradicate corruption, Bolsonaro won 55.2% of the votes, compared to 44.8% for his left-wing rival, Fernando Haddad. Bolsonaro is a retired army officer and social conservative.

5. Consultants paid £1.6m a month to plan Brexit

New figures from the Cabinet Office show consultants including American firms were paid £1.6m last month for their work advising UK officials drawing up plans to take the UK out of the EU. The Times points out that multimillion pound contracts have also been signed by various government departments with Brexit consultants.

6. Anjem Choudary to take anti-extremism course

Radical Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary, who was jailed for proselytising for Islamic State but is now free again, must take an anti-extremism course as part of his probation. The 51-year-old will be required to receive mentoring and theological “advice” as one of the first to take the new Desistance and Disengagement Programme.

7. Meghan Markle praised for speaking Maori

The Duchess of Sussex won praise in New Zealand yesterday by using the Maori language in a passionate speech on women’s suffrage she gave in Wellington. Meghan Markle praised New Zealand for giving the vote to women 125 years ago and becoming a world leader in gender equality, saying: “Feminism is about fairness.”

8. Sound engineer who saved Hoddle ‘no hero’

A television sound engineer who saved former England manger Glenn Hoddle’s life on Saturday by performing CPR after he had a heart attack in the BT Sport studio has insisted he is “no hero”. Simon Daniels is also a special constable and said his first aid training “kicked in” automatically. Hoddle, 61, is in a serious condition in hospital.

9. Nerve taken from ankle to restore eye sensation

Surgeons at a UK hospital have begun performing a pioneering operation to restore sensation to the eyes of patients by taking a nerve from their ankles to graft into the eye. The surgery has now been performed on 13 patients at Queen Victoria Hospital in West Sussex. People who have lost sensation in corneas risk becoming blind.

10. Briefing: what are the blasphemy laws around the world?

Irish voters head to the polls today to decide whether or not to remove the offence of blasphemy from their constitution.

Although “the publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious, or indecent matter” as a crime was enshrined in the constitution in 1937, “no one has ever been prosecuted under it”, says CNN.

What are the blasphemy laws and punishments around the world?