Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Tuesday 5 Jun 2018

After years of debate and consultation, a Cabinet sub-committee
is expected to approve plans to build a third runway at Heathrow
airport today. The signed-off proposal will then be sent to the
full Cabinet for approval. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, whose
constituency is under the flightpath,  has promised to “lie
down in front of bulldozers”.

Comedian Michael McIntyre is “fine”, his publicist says, after
being robbed by two men on a moped outside his children’s school in
north London yesterday. The pair smashed McIntyre’s car windows
with a hammer before taking his watch and driving off. No arrests
have been made. McIntyre reportedly earned £21m for his last
tour.

The Times reports that MI5 officers posed as an Islamic State
commander and a fighter’s widow to learn details of an all-female
terror plot which was to have been carried out in London. Safaa
Boular, who was then 17, was convicted of the plot with her mother
and sister yesterday. The trio were recruited online by an IS
commander.

A manhunt is underway after a woman and a one-year-old boy were
stabbed in west London. The child is said to be in critical
condition in hospital, while the woman’s injuries are not
life-threatening. Police believe the attacker was known to the
woman and are hunting for a man who lived at the same address in
Feltham.

The RAC says the price of petrol rose by an average 6p per litre
in May, the largest increase since the motoring group began
tracking the price at the pump 18 years ago. The average price of a
litre of petrol reached 129.4p last month, while the price of
diesel was also up 6p, at 132.3p per litre. The weak pound
exacerbated the rising cost of oil.

Retailers had one of their best months for several years in May,
with the Royal Wedding and good weather bringing people back into
shops. Total sales in the UK were up 4.1%, according to the British
Retail Consortium (BRC) and accountants KPMG. But the BRC warned
that the outlook for retailers is still tough, with store closures
ahead.

US First Lady Melania Trump was seen in public yesterday for the
first time in almost a month. Her long media silence had prompted
speculation and rumours – exacerbated by the announcement she will
not attend her husband’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong
Un on 12 June. Yesterday, CNN reports, she attended a White House
event.

A soldier from Niger once held hostage by the Islamic State
group which killed four US special forces in his country last
October has told The Guardian the group has no demands and simply
wants to kill foreign soldiers. Abdoul Wahid, 28, says he was taken
prisoner in a surprise attack similar to the one which left US
servicemen dead.

A 51-year-old Frenchman set off from Japan yesterday, attempting
to become the first person to swim the Pacific Ocean. Ben Lecomte
will swim for eight hours each day, shadowed by a support vessel,
for more than six months to reach the west coast of the US. He will
face very low water temperatures, sharks, storms and jellyfish.

The 2018 Fifa World Cup kicks off on 14 June when host nation
Russia take on Saudi Arabia in the opening match at the Luzhniki
Stadium in Moscow.

Russia 2018 will be the 21st Fifa World Cup finals and features
32 national teams from five confederations. Matches will be held at
12 stadiums in 11 host cities across Russia.