Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 8 September 2023

1. Cops ‘scour’ park for Khalife

Police have said there have been no confirmed sightings of Daniel Abed Khalife in the 36 hours since he escaped from Wandsworth prison. The Met described Khalife, who is accused of trying to spy for an enemy state, understood to be Iran, and plotting a fake bomb hoax, as “very resourceful”. Officers were “scouring” Richmond Park this morning, said the Daily Mail, following suggestions the former soldier could be using his army training to hide out there.

Daniel Abed Khalife: how did terror suspect escape from Wandsworth prison?

2. Kim unveils nuclear sub

Kim Jong Un has revealed that North Korea has built a “tactical nuclear attack submarine”, a new weapon that is capable of both a “preemptive” and “retaliatory” strike. Named “Hero Kim Kun Ok”, the submarine is the first of its kind and would “perform its combat mission as one of the core underwater offensives means of the naval force”, said state newswire KCNA. It was unveiled as North Korea “gears up” to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the country’s founding tomorrow, The Telegraph reported.

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Would North Korean weapons tilt the war Russia’s way?

3. Labour donations surge

Labour has “raked in” a record £6.4 million in private donations in just three months as business chiefs “fill its coffers” ahead of the next election, said The Telegraph. After Keir Starmer set out on a corporate charm offensive dubbed the “smoked salmon and scrambled eggs offensive”, the party made more from individual benefactors between April and June this year than it did in the whole of 2022. However, Labour’s donations were still outflanked by the Tories, who attracted £2.4 million more in the latest quarter.

What the Labour reshuffle tells us about Keir Starmer’s plans

4. King praises ‘devoted’ mother

King Charles III has released a short tribute to Elizabeth II to mark the first anniversary of his mother’s death. The King said he recalled the late Queen’s “devoted service and all she meant to so many of us”, and he thanked the nation for the “love and support” shown to him and Queen Camilla during the past 12 months. The monarch will be spending the day “quietly and privately” at Balmoral, said the BBC, with prayers and reflections on the life of his mother.

Queen Elizabeth II: stories from an extraordinary life

5. Discarded vapes pile up

A recycling campaign group said five million disposable vapes are thrown away each week in the UK. The figure represents a fourfold increase over the past year, said Material Focus. Disposable vapes, cheap plastic devices designed to give “a few hundred puffs of nicotine vapour before being thrown away”, are often “discarded in bins and on roadsides”, the BBC reported. The UK Vaping Industry Association said many independent vape shops now had recycling facilities in place.

The dramatic rise of vaping in the UK

6. Police join new maternity probe

Detectives will investigate claims of a far-reaching cover-up by hospital managers as part of a criminal inquiry into the largest NHS maternity scandal. A major review will explore cases involving more than 1,700 mothers or babies who have potentially suffered avoidable harm at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust over the past 10 years. Nottinghamshire police announced yesterday that they would work alongside that review. The news comes after failures at the Countess of Chester Hospital, which allowed the neonatal nurse Lucy Letby to continue murdering babies.

7. ‘Monster’ hurricane intensifies

Hurricane Lee has strengthened from a Category 1 to a Category 5 storm, packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 160mph as it approaches the Caribbean. Lee has been “intensifying with exceptional speed” in the “warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean”, said CNN, doubling its wind speeds in the last 24 hours. The storm will become a “monster”, said Insider Times.

The world’s most extreme weather events in 2023

8. China move hits Apple hard

More than $200 billion (£160 billion) has been wiped off the value of Apple amid reports that Beijing has banned government officials from using the company’s smartphones. Apple’s share price dropped more than 3% yesterday, and the company’s share price has now fallen 7.3% since Tuesday. US Representative Mike Gallagher said Beijing was unfairly punishing Western businesses to try and boost local competitors. He told Reuters this is “textbook Chinese Communist Party behaviour”.

9. BBC disinformation figure ‘lied on CV’

The BBC’s disinformation correspondent has been accused of lying about her experience on her CV. While applying for a previous job, Marianna Spring, who reports on the way social media has been used to promote false information, claimed she had worked alongside BBC correspondent Sarah Rainsford on the “perception of Russia”. According to The New European, her would-be boss rebuked Spring after checking out the claim. Spring reportedly apologised for her “awful misjudgement”.

10. Less fiction on sale at Foyles

Bookshop Foyles “appears to have cut back on its fiction” in order to prioritise non-literary products, to the “confusion of customers and upset of staff”, said The Times. A Foyles bookseller in London told the paper that the provision of fiction in the branch she worked in had decreased by more than 50% in three years, as gift products, such as calendars and book lights, became more prominent. She said it was “quite depressing” that the store had been turned into a “souvenir shop”. The chain said fiction remains “pivotal” to its success.