Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 8 Nov 2012

Justin Welby, a 56-year-old Old Etonian and former oil company executive, has accepted the post of Archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual leader of the 77-million-strong Anglican Communion, according to well-sourced press reports. He has been the Bishop of Durham for only a year. His appointment will be made official tomorrow.

Wall Street and London's Stock Exchange both fell sharply yesterday as a re-elected President Obama returned to the White House to face a looming crisis over the 'fiscal cliff', with Republicans in Congress still threatening to refuse tax increases. The Dow Jones fell 312 points, the steepest drop this year, and London's FTSE 100 fell by 93.27 points.

David Cameron was handed a list of alleged Tory paedophiles live on TV today by This Morning host Philip Schofield. It was claimed that names on the piece of paper were visible momentarily to viewers. The PM cautioned against rushing to identify alleged abusers, saying: “There is a danger, if we're not careful, that this can turn into a sort of witch-hunt, particularly against people who are gay.”

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said he will "live and die in Syria" just days after David Cameron said he would give the despot safe passage out of the country if it would end the bloodshed. Assad told Russian TV channel Rusiya al Yaum today: "I think that the cost of a foreign invasion of Syria - if it happens - would be bigger than the entire world can bear."

Lawyer Dmitry Vinogradov, 30, said to be suffering from unrequited love, yesterday stormed into the Moscow offices of a pharmaceutical firm where he worked and fired numerous shotgun rounds, killing five co-workers and injuring two more, including the target of his affections. Police who took him into custody said he had been drinking for five days.