Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 5 Nov 2010

Qantas 747

Our popular news catch-up service is posted Monday to Friday at 8.0 am. You can rely on it to keep you up to date through the working day with the main news talking points. ANOTHER QANTAS JET FORCED TO TURN BACKAnother Qantas airliner has been forced to return to Singapore's Changi airport because of an engine problem, a day after an Airbus A380 lost part of its engine in a mid-air explosion. Flight QF6, bound for Sydney, landed safely. This time, the aircraft was a Boeing 747. This is likely to increase speculation that the A380 incident could be a Qantas problem rather than an Airbus problem. Airbus A380: whose problem? DOZENS DEAD AS MT MERAPI ERUPTS AGAINAt least 60 more Indonesians have died after Mount Merapi erupted again, bringing the total death toll to more than 120 since the volcano became active last week. Emergency workers said villagers around the volcano were in flames. Many who died were burned beyond recognition. A government volcanologist said: "The heat clouds went down the slopes as far as 13km and the explosion was heard 20km away." ROYAL BOOK RAISES SWEDISH EYEBROWSKing Carl Gustaf of Sweden is a womaniser who frequents dodgy Stockholm nightclubs, according to biography by three journalists that has been flying off the bookshelves in Sweden. The authors claim that he also had a year-long affair in the 1990s with the pop star and model Camilla Henemark, lead singer with the Army of Lovers band. Queen Silvia has not commented. FIRE STRIKE OFF; BBC STRIKE ONThe firemen's union has called off its threatened bonfire night strike at the 11th hour, because of concern for public safety. London Fire Brigade had private contractors standing by but warned that on bonfire night they would not be able to rescue people stuck in lifts or help with flooding. A 48-hour strike by BBC journalists complaining about pension reform went ahead at midnight on Thursday. X FACTOR WAGNER WAR HOTS UPFans of the bizarre X Factor contestant Wagner Carrilho are joining online campaigns to back him all the way to victory in order to "throw a spanner in the works" of Simon Cowell's talent show. Meanwhile, The First Post has unearthed a tabloid counter-campaign of smear stories designed to ged rid of him before it's too late. Wagner ate Cher's hamster and other tabloid tales 45 DEAD IN PAKISTAN BOMB ATTACKA suicide bomber has killed more than 45 people in the village of Akhurwal in northwest Pakistan. He blew himself up outside the mosque just as worshippers were leaving after Friday morning prayers. Only one wall of the mosque remained standing. There were reports that a village elder, who had been urging people to stand up to the Taliban, was the target. ANOTHER 'VANITY APPOINTMENT' IN DOWNING ST Following the news that David Cameron's personal photographer and videographer had both been given contracts on the public payroll, it has emerged that Samantha Cameron's personal assistant has been given a special advisor's job in Downing Street. Isabel Spearman helps 'Sam Cam' choose outfits for official events, among other chores. Sam Cam's personal assistant now on payroll LOTTERY COUPLE GIVE IT ALL AWAYAn elderly Nova Scotia couple, Allen and Violet Large, are the talk of Canada after winning $11.2m in the lottery and then giving all of it away - apart from about $220,000 - to churches, hospitals, charities and family. With the media camped on her doorstep, Violet, who has cancer, said: "We didn't do this to get recognition. We did this because we wanted to... We're just country hicks." GERRARD SAVES LIVERPOOL, BUT CITY FLOPLiverpool talisman Steven Gerrard came off the bench to score a second-half hat-trick against Italian side Napoli in the Europa League at Anfield. The Reds were trailing 1-0 at half time but finished 3-1 winners. There was no glory for Manchester City however, who were beaten 3-1 by Polish side Lech Poznan, and have now lost three games in a row, leaving manager Roberto Mancini in fear for his job. Pressure mounts as City lose again ISLAMISTS WEBSITE URGES ATTACKS ON MPSRoshonara Choudhry, the 21-year-old woman jailed for life this week for attempting to murder Labour MP Stephen Timms, had visited a website, Revolutionmuslim.com, listing all MPs who voted for the Iraq war in 2003 and calling on Muslims to "raise the knife of jihad" against them. Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist unit is now investigating the site, reportedly hosted in the US.

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Jack Bremer is a London-based reporter, attached to The Week.co.uk. He has reported regularly from the United States and France.