Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Wednesday 27 Jun 2018

Residents have been forced to flee 34 homes near Stalybridge,
Greater Manchester, as a huge fire spreads across Saddleworth Moor.
The blaze began on Sunday night and has been exacerbated by hot
weather and winds. The fire, which measures 3.7 miles across the
tinder-dry hills, has been declared a “major incident”, with the
Army on stand-by to help tackle it.

Seventeen US states are taking legal action against the Trump
administration for its “cruel and unusual” separation of migrant
children from their families at the nation’s southern border. At a
news conference in Brazil yesterday, Vice President Mike Pence
warned families not to “risk the lives of your children” by coming
to the US.

A report by cross-party committees of MPs recommends the
over-40s and richer pensioners should pay extra tax to help meet
the increasing cost of social care for Britain’s growing elderly
population. Payments would start at 40 and end at 65, for those
above a low earnings threshold. Inheritance tax should also be
increased, the MPs say.

A former maker of improvised explosive devices for the Taliban,
used to kill British and US troops, was arrested with knives within
yards of 10 Downing Street in April last year, it has emerged.
Khalid Ali, 28, detonated some 300 devices in Afghanistan. He was
placed under surveillance by MI5 when he returned to the UK in
2016.

The Government has dropped plans for five community prisons for
women and will instead open residential centres for female
offenders where they will be offered support with finding work and
quitting drugs. The decision earned praise from the liberal Howard
League, which warned the new centres must be properly funded to
work.

Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft has arrived at its target
asteroid, dubbed the ‘cosmic diamond’ because of its shape, after a
journey of four years. The probe will now fire a projectile into
the surface of the Ryugu asteroid, digging out samples of rocks and
soil from beneath the surface. The plan is to bring these to Earth
for study.

Spanish is close to becoming the most-taught language in British
schools, as the popularity of French diminishes, the British
Council says. If current trends continue, the world’s second-most
spoken language will be the most-popular at A-level by 2020 and
GCSE by 2025. There are 437 million native Spanish speakers
worldwide.

A 44-year-old man born without a penis, and with his bladder
outside his body, is looking forward to having sex for the first
time after having a pioneering implant. Andrew Wardle of
Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, told the Daily Mail he was “very
excited” but added that sex is “not the be-all and end-all”. He has
a girlfriend, Fedra Fabian.

A slice of a ‘fatberg’ on show in the Museum of London is now
one of the most popular exhibits there, curator Vyki Sparkes has
said. The lump of congealed fat and wet wipes, found in a London
sewer, is now growing mould and acting as a nursery for flies. It
was cut from an 820-foot long congealed mass found under
Whitechapel.

The row over UK’s defence spending is growing as a new report by
MPs warns that the country faces being left behind unless more
money is pumped into the Armed Forces.

The Commons Defence Committee report says the UK’s defence
budget needs to rise from 2% of GDP (£40bn) to 3% (£60bn) if
Britain is to maintain its influence in the global sphere.