Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 10 December 2022

1. Nurses says minister is ‘bullyboy’

The health secretary, Steve Barclay, is a “bullyboy”, said the leader of Britain’s nurses’ union. Pat Cullen also accused the government of “particularly macho” behaviour towards the Royal College of Nursing because ministers see nursing as “female work” that it does not value properly. Meanwhile, says the ipaper, a “winter crisis” is erupting in the NHS after “years of warnings”. One paramedic said they are “afraid the service will collapse”.

2. Musk may lose top slot

Elon Musk’s status as the world’s richest man is at risk after Tesla lost nearly half its market value. Shares in the electric car company traded at $340.79 on 13 April, before his bid for Twitter was announced. Since then the Tesla share price has plunged by 49% to $173.44. France’s Bernard Arnault, chief executive of the luxury group LVMH, is now “snapping at his heels” for the title of the world’s richest man, said The Guardian. On Wednesday, share movements meant Arnault briefly took top spot.

3. Braverman adviser quits on radio

An adviser to Suella Braverman has resigned, saying she is on a “completely different planet” from the home secretary. Nimco Ali, who advised on tackling violence against women and girls, was asked on Times Radio if she was happy to remain in the post despite her disagreements with Braverman. She said: “Suella and I are on completely different planets when it comes to the rights of women and girls — and also the way that we talk about ethnic minorities and specifically people like me who are from a refugee background.” Ali added that she “wouldn’t feel comfortable” staying on.

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4. RMT chief calls for Sunak meeting

The general secretary of the RMT has called on the prime minister to meet him in an attempt to resolve the long-running strike action. In a letter to Rishi Sunak, Mick Lynch, said: “I now believe that a meeting with yourself represents the best prospect of any renewed progress.” RMT members have been striking for months in a dispute over pay, jobs and conditions. There are two 48-hour strikes set for this week and more due over Christmas and in January.

5. Met apologises to black brothers

The Metropolitan police have apologised to two young black men who were stopped and searched after officers saw them bump fists and wrongly suspected them of dealing drugs. Brothers Dijon and Liam Joseph, 33 and 31, sued for false imprisonment, assault and racial bias. Lawyers for the Met contested but asked to change their defence after evidence began to be heard. The Met agreed to pay damages and the legal costs of the two men, and to issue an agreed statement which said the two men “did nothing wrong to cause the police to stop them”.

6. Ex-president of Panama summoned

A judge has summoned a former president of Panama to stand trial for money laundering, investigators have said. Ricardo Martinelli, who was president between 2009 and 2014, is accused of laundering public funds through the purchase of a news outlet. Martinelli and his sons, Luis and Ricardo, are also charged in Panama for their alleged involvement in laundering millions of dollars in bribes from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.

7. Floyd officer sentenced

A former US police officer who knelt on George Floyd’s back has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for his role in Floyd’s death in May 2020. J Alexander Kueng, one of four officers involved in the arrest, pleaded guilty to a state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. “We hope the conclusion of this case reaffirms that peace officers cannot treat citizens in crisis as non-people, or second-class citizens,” said a prosecutor.

8. Activists attack weapons plant

Protesters wielding sledgehammers smashed their way into a weapons plant in Wales because of its reported connection to Israel. The activists from Palestine Action targeted Teledyne Technologies’ weapons plant in Presteigne, Powys, and claimed to “thoroughly dismantle the factory of the American-owned firm, forcing closure of a site used to supply military hardware to Israel”. They said Teledyne Technologies supplies surveillance equipment for Israel’s “apartheid wall” and “targeting systems for their fleet of combat drones”.

9. Pop show scrapped after rape claim

A Backstreet Boys television special has been cancelled following allegations that singer Nick Carter raped an autistic 17-year-old with cerebral palsy and infected her with HPV during a 2001 tour. ABC scrapped the show after Shannon Ruth, now 39, filed a civil suit seeking unspecified damages from Carter in a Las Vegas court. Carter has previously faced unproven claims of sexual assault, which he denied, noted The Telegraph. A lawyer for Carter, 42, said the claims in the lawsuit were “legally meritless” and “entirely untrue”.

10. ‘Mentality key’ for crunch tie

England face France in the World Cup quarterfinals this evening – the “toughest test so far for Gareth Southgate and his Three Lions”, said the BBC. It will be the first time the men’s sides have met in a knockout game in any competition, and the first time at a World Cup since 1982. “The biggest thing for me in the game is going to be our mentality,” Southgate said.