Daily Briefing

Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 18 Oct 2012

The Week’s super-quick catch-up on the main news talking points, available from 8am daily

1. PM MAKES 'QUICKEST U-TURN' OVER ENERGY

Labour has accused David Cameron of making "probably the quickest U-turn in British history" after an energy policy disappeared suddenly. The PM told the Commons yesterday that power companies will be forced to put customers onto their lowest gas and electricity tariffs, but today Energy Minister John Hayes would only say a number of options are being considered.

David Cameron accused of energy 'omnishambles'

2. MAN HELD IN FEDERAL RESERVE BOMB PLOT

A Bangladeshi man was charged in New York yesterday with plotting to blow-up the Federal Reserve Bank building close to Wall Street with a 1,000lb truck bomb. Quazi Ahsan Nafis, 21, charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and aiding al-Qaeda, was caught in an FBI sting after arriving in New York looking for accomplices.

Federal Reserve bomb suspect is latest victim of FBI sting

3. GREEKS STAGE 20TH GENERAL STRIKE

A general strike is underway in Greece as European leaders gather for a summit meeting in Brussels where they will once again discuss how to deal with the eurozone crisis. The anti-austerity strike is the 20th national stoppage in Greece since the crisis began two years ago. More than 80,000 people turned out to protest in Athens.

Media

4. NEWSWEEK TO DITCH PRINT EDITION

After 80 years on the newsstands, the American magazine Newsweek is to halt print publication on 31 December. It will become available online only. A report that The Guardian and Observer newspapers might go “digital only” has been dismissed as “wholly inaccurate” by Guardian media blogger Roy Greenslade.

Printless Guardian story panned - but something has to give

5. APPLE LOSES SAMSUNG TABLET APPEAL

Apple has lost an appeal against a ruling that rival tech manufacturer Samsung did not copy the design of its iPad. The Court of Appeal upheld a ruling from July that Apple must run ads in the press admitting that Samsung's Galaxy Tab is not too similar to the iPad.

6. EMMANUELLE ACTRESS KRISTEL DIES

Sylvia Kristel, star of the soft-porn Emmanuelle films, has died at the age of 60. The original film, about a sexually promiscuous Western housewife in Thailand, was one of the first erotic films to get a mainstream release. It became a cult classic and spawned several sequels. The Dutch actress had been suffering from cancer.

racism in sport

7. JOHN TERRY ACCEPTS FOUR-GAME BAN

Former England captain John Terry will not appeal against his four-match ban and £220,000 fine from the FA for racially abusing QPR player Anton Ferdinand during a match last year. The Chelsea defender also apologised, but not directly to Ferdinand, for his offensive language. His club revealed they had also disciplined him.

John Terry finally apologises, but not to Anton Ferdinand

8. POLICE TASER BLIND STROKE VICTIM

Colin Farmer, 61, left blind and disabled by two strokes, was felled on his way to the pub in Chorley, Lancashire, with a 50,000-volt Taser shot from a policeman who apparently mistook his white cane for a samurai sword. Lancashire Police have referred the case to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

9. SAVILE CASE: CLAIM AGAINST STEPTOE STAR

The late Wilfrid Brambell, star of the BBC comedy series Steptoe and Son, has been accused of child abuse. Police in Jersey have confirmed they are investigating allegations from two men that they had been his victims in the 1970s, at the same theatre where Jimmy Savile is alleged to have preyed. Brambell, a homosexual who died in 1985, played "dirty old man" Albert Steptoe.

Theatre

10. HOT TICKET: EUGENE O'NEILL REVIVAL

A revival of Eugene O'Neill's 1924 play 'Desire Under the Elms' has opened at the Lyric, off West End. In O'Neill's retelling of the Greek myth of Phaedra, an ageing New England farmer's young wife falls for his son and their affair leads to tragedy. Until 10 November. "Enthralling", says The Independent.

Lyric revives Eugene O'Neill's classic Desire Under the Elms