Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 26 Oct 2012

Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been sentenced to four years in prison by a Milan court after being convicted of tax fraud. The 76-year-old, who announced earlier this week that he would not stand in forthcoming elections, will appeal. The case involved the purchase of rights to show US films on Berlusconi's TV networks.

Police investigating allegations of sexual abuse by Jimmy Savile will make arrests within days, the Daily Mail reports. Savile is believed to have had accomplices and up to 12 of the people police are planning to arrest are reportedly household names. Last night, Scotland Yard confirmed that the number of possible sexual abuse victims of Savile, over 40 years, has risen to 300.

Unions have accused Education Secretary Michael Gove of "muddled thinking" after he announced that aspiring state school teachers will face tougher entry tests to "raise standards". Teachers' unions pointed out that in July the government said that academies would be able to employ "brilliant people who have not got qualified teaching status".

Ziauddin Yousafzai, the father of Malala, the Pakistani schoolgirl shot by the Taliban for 'promoting secularism', has said he had been told to prepare for her funeral after the attack and her recovery was a "miracle". He was talking after visiting his daughter at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. He said Malala is walking and talking again, adding: "She is improving with encouraging speed and we are very happy."

Hurricane Sandy has killed around 20 people in Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica as it bears down on the Bahamas today with winds of up to 106 mph. There are fears it could cause a "perfect storm" off the east coast of America's mid-Atlantic states, including New York, inflicting at least $1bn in damage when it collides with Arctic winds.