Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 29 Sep 2017

Theresa May is attempting to reassure those eastern European
nations that feel threatened by Russia that the UK is still
committed to their defence, despite its approaching Brexit, at an
EU summit in Estonia this morning. The Prime Minister will also
meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines of the
summit.

Nursing shortages mean patients are dying alone in NHS
hospitals, the Royal College of Nursing warns today. A survey of
30,000 nurses found many do not have time to give out medication,
complete paperwork or offer comfort to patients. One quarter said
they routinely have to care for 14 or more patients at the same
time.

UKIP will announce its new leader at its party conference in
Torquay today – and the woman hotly tipped for the job, Anne Marie
Waters, is considerably further to the political right than her
predecessors. Waters has focused much of her campaigning on Islam,
which she describes as “evil”. She has links to far-right
organisations.

The White House has opened an internal investigation after it
emerged that US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior
adviser, Jared Kushner, and other senior officials used private
personal email for official business. During his election campaign,
Trump repeatedly vilified Hillary Clinton for the same
infraction.

A climber from Wales, who has not been named, has died in a
massive rockfall on the El Capitan rock face, one of the best-known
landmarks in Yosemite National Park, California. His female partner
is in a “critical condition” after being airlifted to hospital. The
man was hit by a “sheet” of granite which fell 200m, rangers
say.

Myanmar has told the UN “there is no ethnic cleansing and no
genocide” taking place against its Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority,
despite consistent reports of murder and other abuses over the past
several years. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the
crisis “a humanitarian and human rights nightmare” yesterday.

Comic actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus has revealed she has been
diagnosed with breast cancer. The multi-award-winning star of Veep
made her name as Elaine in classic sitcom Seinfeld. In a message on
Facebook, she said the “good news” was she was lucky compared to
many women, with “fantastic insurance through my union”.

A French art expert has claimed that a sketch previously
attributed only to Leonardo da Vinci’s studio is at least partly by
the master himself – and is a nude version of his famous Mona Lisa
painting. Small holes pierced around the figure in the drawing
suggest it was traced, probably to form the basis of an oil
painting.

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, who died on Wednesday at the age of
91, bought the crypt next to that of Marilyn Monroe in a Los
Angeles cemetery, it has emerged. Hefner played $75,000 (£56,000)
for the crypt in 1992. He never met Monroe but published nude
photographs of her in the first issue of his magazine, to her
dismay.

The Prime Minister has championed free market economics, one day
after Jeremy Corbyn attacked Britain’s “failed model of capitalism”
and presented the Labour party as a government in waiting.

Theresa May’s comments, which The Daily Telegraph characterised
as a “strong defence” of capitalism, were made in a speech to
commemorate 20 years since the Bank of England was given the right
to set interest rates.

May called capitalism the “greatest agent of collective human
progress ever created” and said prosperity required a tough
approach to ensure budgets are balanced.