Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 28 January 2023

1. ‘Horrific’ video shows police beating

Video footage of a traffic stop that led to five ex-Memphis police officers being charged with murder shows them kicking and punching a motorist for several minutes as he cries out for his mother. In the footage from the 7 January arrest, officers are seen beating Tyre Nichols, 29, with no evidence of him resisting. The Nichols family lawyer compared the assault to the 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King. US President Joe Biden said he was “deeply pained” by the “horrific” footage. Demonstrations are planned in several US cities over the weekend.

2. Seven dead in synagogue shooting

Seven people have been shot dead at a synagogue in Jerusalem. The incident happened in the Neve Yaakov neighbourhood in the east of the city last night. Police said the attacker was a “terrorist” and said he had been “neutralised”. The congregation had gathered at the start of the Jewish sabbath in a synagogue in the Jewish settlement. The terrorist was identified as Kheiry Alkam from east Jerusalem, said the Jerusalem Post. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “I call on citizens not to take the law into their own hands, for that we have an army and police.”

3. Oil companies to reveal profits

Oil giants are preparing to announce an “obscene” £160bn “profit bonanza”, reported the Daily Mirror. As five of the world’s biggest producers prepare to reveal their figures, analysts predict the annual haul will have doubled. The forecast combined profits for BP, Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Total Energies would equate to more than £5,000 a second. “Let’s not forget that these companies are richer because the rest of us are poorer,” said Alice Harrison, from the group Global Witness.

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4. Maxwells claim photo ‘clears Duke’

The family of Ghislaine Maxwell have released a photograph they claim discredits Prince Andrew’s accuser. The image shows the bath in which the Duke is alleged to have engaged in sexual activity with a teenage girl. Two people are sitting in the bath, fully clothed, wearing masks depicting the royal and Virginia Giuffre. The Maxwells hope to show that the bath was too small for the kind of behaviour alleged by Giuffre. Ian Maxwell, brother of the jailed socialite, told The Telegraph: “I am releasing my photographs now because the truth needs to come out.”

5. MPs’ standing ‘dangerously low’

The reputation of MPs has dropped to “dangerously low” levels, said Westminster’s new standards chief. Speaking to The Times, Daniel Greenberg said “it is impossible to overstate the importance of politicians who are more senior, and who are therefore inevitably more visible to the public, setting an example to the public and setting an example to their more recent or junior colleagues”. However, he added, the reputation of politicians was “significantly undeserved” and the majority played by the rules.

6. Carrick raped fellow officer

A Metropolitan Police officer has revealed she was raped by David Carrick in 2004 but did not come forward at first because she feared she would not be believed. Speaking to The Times, the woman said was horrified when she learned that Carrick, a firearms officer, went on to attack a number of other women. Explaining why she did not come forward sooner, she said: “It’s not because I didn’t want to, I didn’t think I would be believed.” Carrick has pleaded guilty to more than 80 sex offences, including 48 rapes.

7. Tory donors ‘have offshore links’

Donors who have collectively handed the Conservative party more than £21m since 2001 have been declared as the ultimate owners of UK properties held through offshore companies, claimed The Guardian. Among those listed in the new government register are the Reuben brothers, David and Simon. Holding properties through offshore companies is legal. A spokesperson for the Reuben brothers said: “All the entities are all liable to UK taxes and any taxes due have been paid in compliance with HMRC.”

8. Ex-serviceman charged with terror

A serviceman has been charged with terrorism and explosives offenses, said the Metropolitan Police. Daniel Abed Khalife, 21, from Stafford, was charged in connection with two incidents in Staffordshire in 2021 and earlier this month. Khalife was charged with eliciting or attempting to elicit “information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism,” and placing an article “with the intention of inducing in another a belief that the said article was likely to explode or ignite and thereby cause personal injury or damage to property”.

9. Urinal crushes man to death

A worker was crushed to death by a pop-up urinal in London on Friday afternoon. The man was working on the hydraulic urinal near the Palace Theatre in the West End, when the accident happened at around 1pm. Rescue teams eventually managed to free the man with the help of a winch but he was pronounced dead at the scene, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement. Pop-up toilets are stored underground and raised hydraulically to street level at night for people to use.

10. Sinn Fein says united Ireland is close

Sinn Fein’s president said a united Ireland is within “touching distance”. In a lecture to commemorate Bloody Sunday, Mary Lou McDonald told the audience that “a new Ireland is now in touching distance” and “we must reach with confidence and hope for tomorrow”. The Republican also accused Britain of trying to “whitewash” its war with “disgraceful” amnesty laws to protect UK soldiers from prosecution for wrongs committed during the Troubles. Her party is predicting unity referendums in Ireland and Northern Ireland by 2030.