Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 4 Sep 2017

South Korea has responded to yesterday’s nuclear test by
its northern neighbour with a huge show of force, simulating an
attack on North Korea with ballistic missiles. Tremors detected by
seismologists yesterday were a successful hydrogen bomb test, state
media in North Korea claimed. The US threatened indirect
sanctions.

Staff shortages and rising crime are creating a “perfect
storm” for police in England and Wales, the president of the Police
Superintendent’s Association of England and Wales will say today.
Policing is now based on fewer officers working longer hours, Gavin
Thomas will warn. He will say that model is “fundamentally
flawed”.

McDonald’s staff in Cambridge and south-east London are on
strike today in the first industrial action the burger giant has
ever faced in the UK. About 40 workers are walking out, with Jeremy
Corbyn’s backing, demanding better pay, more secure contracts and
union recognition. They are asking to be paid at least £10 an
hour.

A survey of economists conducted by the BBC found most do
not expect the Bank of England to raise interest rates until 2019
at the earliest, even though inflation is above the Bank’s target.
The experts believe the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee will be
unwilling to raise the rate during the uncertain period of Brexit
negotiations.

The youngest-ever Nobel laureate, Malala Yousafzai, has
urged her fellow peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi to end the
“shameful” treatment of the Muslim Rohingya ethnic group in
Myanmar. Writing on Twitter, Yousafzai told Suu Kyi the “world is
waiting” for her to intervene after mass killings and other
atrocities.

Unrest at a privately-run Midlands prison has come to an
end, staff say. A stand-off involving a “small number of prisoners”
in one wing of HMP Birmingham, operated by G4S, was “successfully
resolve[d]” without any injuries to prisoners or guards, the firm
says. In December, the jail saw the worst riot at a UK prison since
1990. 

Prince George has no “idea what’s going to hit him” when
he starts school this week, his mother has joked. The Duke and
Duchess of Cambridge are sending their four-year-old to a school in
Battersea, central London, where fees are nearly £18,000 a year. A
significant security operation has been planned to keep him
safe.

Architect Kevin McCloud, presenter of Channel 4’s Grand
Designs, is seeking £50m from investors to build 600 houses a year.
The schemes are to include social housing and the idea is to build
“beautiful and sustainable” homes which The Guardian says will
“challenge the soulless, identikit estates built by conventional
developers”.

Japan’s Princess Mako has formally announced she is
engaged to marry a commoner, after being given the go-ahead by her
grandfather, Emperor Akihito. The 25-year-old is marrying Kei
Komuro, a law student she met when they studied together. Female
members of the royal family forfeit their status if they marry a
commoner.

As one of the most vulnerable US states, Texas should expect to
get hit by a hurricane about once every nine to 16 years, according
to climatecentral.org.

Houston, in the southeast corner of the state, is one of the top
five US cities most at risk, perched as it is on the edge of the
Gulf of Mexico, directly in the path of oncoming storms. But
despite the well-documented risk of coastal flooding, about 40,000
people live below the 100-year flood level in Houston.

As a result, when category four Hurricane Harvey blew through
Texas this week, it killed at least 39 people, caused an estimated
$90bn (£70bn) in damage, triggered chemical fires, shut down oil
refineries and left at least 30,000 homeless in its wake.