Daily Briefing

Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Wednesday 28 Nov 2012

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

UK News
1. RICHARD O'DWYER BEATS EXTRADITION TO US
Richard O'Dwyer, the British student facing up to 10 years in a United States prison for setting up a website with links to television programmes and films stored online, will not be extradited to face trial. Home Secretary Theresa May had signed off on his extradition, but the BBC says the 24-year-old will pay a "small sum of compensation" instead of being sent to the US.
Richard O'Dwyer escapes 'film piracy' extradition to US
UK News
2. WALSH WINS €500K IN SUN LIBEL SETTLEMENT
X-Factor judge Louis Walsh has accepted a libel settlement of €500,000 from Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers, the publishers of The Sun, after the tabloid published a false story headlined: 'Louis probed over 'sex attack' on man in loo'. After the ruling, Walsh said: "I'm very satisfied with this total vindication for me, but I remain very angry at the treatment I received at the hands of The Sun."
X Factor's Louis Walsh settles Sun libel case for £430,000
3. BBC TO 'KEEP SAVILE EVIDENCE SECRET'
The BBC does not plan to publish the evidence it has collected for its inquiry into the Jimmy Savile scandal, even though licence fee payers are picking up the bill, The Times reports. The decision raises questions about the corporation's pledge to be transparent over its inquiry into why a Newsnight programme about the abusive DJ was mysteriously dropped.
Leveson Inquiry
4. LEVESON: PUBLIC IN FAVOUR OF REGULATION
A YouGov poll on the eve of the delivery of the Leveson report shows that 79% back statutory press regulation. Meanwhile a cross-party group of 86 MPs and peers have signed a letter urging David Cameron to reject any form of state regulation that would undermine press freedom. Cameron gets the report today, the rest of us tomorrow.
Press freedom: Cameron and Clegg face Leveson split
UK News
5. 'TWO FOR ONE' BOOZE DEALS FACE BAN
A plan to ban "two for one" sales of alcoholic drinks and other such deals offered by supermarkets have been included in government plans unveiled today to combat problem drinking and reduce health costs. A ten-week consultation will consider the proposals, which include a minimum price of alcohol set at 45p per unit.
Alcohol: 45p-a-unit minimum 'ineffective and unfair'
6. HEATING 'RATIONED' IN 90% OF UK HOMES
Ninety per cent of British households will be 'rationing' heating this winter, up from 75 per cent last year, as energy price hikes have increased the cost of heating a home, the energy watchdog website uSwitch reported last night. Overall, the typical household energy bill stands at £1,334 a year - showing a £515 increase in the space of five years.
7. CYRIL SMITH DID ABUSE BOYS, SAY POLICE
Sir Cyril Smith, the late Rochdale MP, was a repeat sex abuser of boys in the late 1960s, Greater Manchester Police said yesterday, and the Crown Prosecution Service said he should have been charged with the crimes more than 40 years ago. Police inquiries in the 1970s and 1990s would have resulted in prosecutions today after procedural changes.
UK News
8. TEXT SPAMMERS COP RECORD FINE
Two men who sent millions of spam text messages to phone users in the UK have been fined £440,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). It is the first time the watchdog has used new powers to impose hefty fines for the misuse of personal information, says the BBC.
Text spammers cop record fine as watchdog cracks down
9. MUSHROOM SOUP BRINGS FOURTH DEATH
A fourth person has died at a Californian retirement home after drinking soup made with poisonous mushrooms. Three residents of the Gole Age Villa home in Loomis, north of Sacramento, had already died after being taken ill two weeks ago before the fourth victim succumbed. A poisonous variety of the amanita species of mushroom could be to blame.
Restaurants
10. HOT TICKET: LONDON GETS TASTE OF LOIRE
The team behind the French restaurant Terroirs have opened a new bistro, the Green Man and French Horn, in St Martin's Lane, central London. It serves seasonal ingredients and wine from the Loire valley. Typical autumn dishes include rabbit with salsify and cider, and partridge with ceps. "Francophile heaven", says the Metro.
Rich taste of the Loire at Green Man and French Horn