Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 23 May 2014

      
   
       ELECTION: UKIP PUNISHING MAIN PARTIES      Ukip is gaining council seats across England as all three main parties suffer at the polls. Labour has been unable to make the gains it hoped for, the Conservatives have lost seats to Ukip, and the Liberal Democrats continue to be punished at the polls. Sky News says if the results in at 7am were repeated at the 2015 general election there would be a hung parliament.      
 
     
   
       GENDER-SELECTION ABORTIONS BANNED      Gender-selective abortions are to be made illegal in Britain, reports the Daily Telegraph. In announcing the reform, health secretary Jeremy Hunt will also declare that sex-selective abortion is “unacceptable”. MPs have described a loophole which allows the practice as “utterly preposterous”. Abortion clinics will be required to explicitly recognise the reform to get a licence.       
 
     
   
       THAI COUP: ARMY SUMMONS POLITICIANS      The ousted Thai leader Yingluck Shinawatra will hold talks with the military in Bangkok, a day after the army seized power in a coup. More than 100 political figures have been summoned by the army which has banned 155 people, including several politicians, from leaving the country. General Prayuth Chan-ocha is suspending the country’s constitution.       Thai army takes power in televised coup d'etat       
 
     
   
       RUSSIA HITS BACK AT PRINCE CHARLES      Russia has hit back at Prince Charles after his comment comparing Vladimir Putin to Hitler. Russia's foreign ministry said the remark was “unacceptable, outrageous and dishonourable” and “not worthy of a future British monarch”. Russian diplomats held a 40-minute meeting with Foreign Office officials in London yesterday.      
 
     
   
       EU IMMMIGRATION RISES BY 27% SAYS ONS      The number of immigrants arriving in Britain from the EU rose by 27% last year, according to official figures from the Office for National Statistics. Some 201,000 EU citizens arrived in the UK, compared with 158,000 the previous year. The “significant increase” had been fuelled by the number of people coming to Britain to look for work, says the ONS.       EU immigration: 27% surge hands Ukip election day bonus       
 
     
   
       POLICE PROBE MOYES ‘BAR BRAWL’      Police are investigating claims former Manchester United manager David Moyes attacked a man in wine bar. Witnesses say that Moyes reacted after 23-year-old Joshua Gillibrand “gave him some stick” over his disappointing reign at Old Trafford. Moyes had been enjoying a drink with a friend at the Emporium Wine Bar in Clitheroe, Lancs.       
 
     
   
       REPORT TO REVEAL UK OIL DEPOSITS      There are seven billion barrels worth of oil in shale rocks under the south of England, a report will claim today. The British Geological Survey’s study covers several areas including Sussex, Hampshire, Surrey and Kent. To get the oil out of the ground will require the controversial ‘fracking’ process. Opponents say that fracking damages water supplies and can cause earthquakes.      
 
     
   
       YACHT SEARCH TO BE CALLED OFF TODAY      The renewed search for the missing yacht Cheeki Rafiki will be called off within 24 hours if it makes no progress by then, says a US official. Meanwhile, relatives of the sailors on board say there were approached by Tomnod, an American company that previously organised an online “search party” for the missing Malaysian Airlines plane.      
 
     
   
       MCCARTNEY ‘TO MAKE FULL RECOVERY’      Paul McCartney is expected to make a full recovery after falling ill in the middle of the Asian leg of his world tour. The former Beatle is in a Japanese hospital being treated for a viral infection. The 71-year-old withdrew from tour dates in Japan and South Korea this week. He is said to be “extremely moved” by the messages of support he has received.        Paul McCartney cancels whole tour of Japan due to illness       
 
     
   
       HOT TICKET: X-MEN RETURN TO THE PAST      Superhero film X-Men: Days of Future Past has opened in UK cinemas. The X-Men ensemble sends Wolverine into the past to join forces with their younger selves in a species war against a robot army. With Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lawrence and James McAvoy. "Fantastic," says Empire.       X-Men: Days of Future Past – reviews of latest Marvel film