Daily Briefing

Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Saturday 27 Oct 2012

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

1. SILVIO RAGES AGAINST JAIL SENTENCE
Silvio Berlusconi has described his jail sentence for tax fraud as "a political, incredible and intolerable judgement". The former Italian prime minister - who was sentenced to four years, later cut to one year - condemned the sentence as "intolerable judicial harassment". Commentators say Berlusconi, who will appeal against the sentence, is unlikely to go to prison.
2. CLARKE HINTS A TAX BREAK U-TURN
Kenneth Clarke has warned married couples not to expect the promised tax break before the next election as there is a “long hard road” of economic recovery ahead. The minister without portfolio told The Daily Telegraph the Tories had "never committed ourselves" to the reform in this parliament. Reminded that they had, he said: "I'm married, I'm not counting on it."
3. LEVESON 'OPTS FOR LIGHT REGULATION'
Lord Justice Leveson will recommend statutory intervention into the press, rejecting the industry's preferred model of enhanced self-regulation, reports The Times. Leveson's favoured model, based on the system in the Irish Republic, features the formation of a new press council and ombudsman. It will be presented to the industry as 'light touch' regulation.
4. ROMNEY SLAMS OBAMA 'STATUS QUO'
Mitt Romney has accused Barack Obama of distracting American's "attention from the biggest issues to the smallest". Speaking in Iowa, the Republican candidate called for "real change" against Obama's "status quo". Obama received a boost on Friday when figures showed the US GDP grew by 2% in the third quarter.
5. THE COLD CALL VICTIM WHO FOUGHT BACK
A businessman won £195 from a cold call company after informing them he would charge them for his time if they did not stop bombarding him with unwanted telephone calls. Richard Herman told the company he would charge them £10 per minute for future calls. He recorded the subsequent calls and subsequently won the fee in the small claims court.
6. MCKELLEN: 'BEING GAY MAKES ME BETTER ACTOR'
Sir Ian McKellen says being gay made him a better actor as it gives him experience of "trying to be someone else". The 73-year-old, who came out in his forties, said of gay actors of his era, "we spent so long pretending to be straight... that eventually we became very good at it". He said that earlier in his life he had felt isolated due to his sexuality, and "tried to choke a part of me".
7. EARLY WINTER COLD SNAP HITS BRITAIN
The first cold snap of winter has hit Britain with icy roads and snow fall expected to spread southwards during Saturday. Scotland and the north-east of England experienced snowfall on Friday evening. Councils in England and Wales have put hundreds of gritters and 1.3 million tonnes of salt on standby.
8. DOZENS MORE STARS 'FEAR SAVILE PROBE'
Dozens of stars from the 1960s and 1970s are "frightened to death" they will be implicated in the Jimmy Savile investigation, claims public relations guru Max Clifford. He told LBC that young girls had thrown themselves at the stars, who "never asked for anybody's birth certificate". He added: "No one had heard the word paedophile in those days, the 60s and 70s."
9. RESPECT OFFICER IN HITLER CONTROVERSY
George Galloway's Respect Party is facing fresh scrutiny after one of its officers was found to have claimed schools are "brainwashing" children into "thinking the bad guy was Hitler". Naz Kahn also asked "What have the Jews done good in this world?” in the same online discussion. Galloway insists Respect “abhors and campaigns against racism”.
10. LANCE TITLES WON'T BE REAWARDED
The seven Tour de France titles won by Lance Armstrong will not be reallocated to other riders after the cyclist was stripped of his yellow jerseys in the wake of the doping scandal. The UCI, the sport's governing body, said a "cloud of suspicion" remains over the "dark period" Armstrong rode in. It has ordered Armstrong to repay all his prize money.