Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 11 Oct 2012

1. PUTIN CANCELS TURKEY TRIP AFTER 'AIR PIRACY' ROW

Vladimir Putin has postponed a trip to Turkey next week. The Russian president did not give a reason for his decision, but tensions between the two countries are high after Turkey forced a Syrian passenger jet en route from Moscow to Damascus to land in Ankara. Turkish officials said they found "illegal cargo", thought to be Russian military communications devices, on the plane. Syria described the incident as "air piracy".

Syria and Turkey 'close to war’ after 'air piracy’ incident

2. JIMMY SAVILE 'WARD ROUNDS' WARNING

Stoke Mandeville Hospital is under pressure to set up an inquiry following reports that the late Jimmy Savile went on 'ward rounds' to find young victims to sexually abuse, and that nurses were aware of his activities. Staff at the Buckinghamshire hospital allegedly told girls to "pretend to be asleep" when Savile approached.

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Girls told 'pretend to be asleep' as Jimmy Savile visited hospital

3. HEATHROW SUSPECT COULD BE NHS DOCTOR

Police are investigating whether a 26-year-old British man arrested at Heathrow on suspicion of terror offences is an NHS doctor who led a militant group in Syria involved in the abduction and wounding of Sunday Times photographer John Cantlie, Scotland Yard has confirmed. The man and a woman arrested with him remain in police custody.

Heathrow arrests: are Islamists training in Syria for attacks in UK?

4. THOUSANDS TO RE-SIT ENGLISH GCSEs

More than 45,000 students are to re-sit their English GCSEs next month after a row about marking. The figure represents about 1 in 14 of students who sat the exam earlier this year, according to exam board figures. They were offered the chance to re-sit the exam after being given D grades which teachers claim should have been Cs.

5. MEGAN TEACHER REMANDED IN CUSTODY

Jeremy Forrest, 30, the teacher who travelled to France with 15-year-old pupil Megan Stammers, has been remanded in custody after appearing in court charged with child abduction. He was extradited back to the UK from France last night. The pair triggered a Europe-wide search last month when they disappeared, before being tracked down to Bordeaux.

6. FRENCH PRESIDENT 'SHARED' HIS MISTRESS

French president Francois Hollande "shared" his one-time mistress and now partner Valerie Trierweiler in a 'Jules-et-Jim' triangle with Patrick Devedjian, a former economic recovery minister in the Sarkozy government, in the early 2000s. The charge is made in La Frondeuse (The Troublemaker), a new biography of France's First Lady.

Hollande 'shared' mistress Trierweiler with Sarkozy aide

7. MO YAN WINS NOBEL LITERATURE PRIZE

Author Mo Yan, whose pen name translates as 'don't speak', has become the first Chinese resident to win the Nobel Prize for literature. The Academy described his work as "hallucinatory realism" and compared him to William Faulkner and Gabriel García Marquez. Mo's latest novel, Frog, tackles China's 'one child' policy.

Ai Weiwei angered by Mo Yan Nobel Prize for Literature

8. MEGA-REPORT BURIES LANCE ARMSTRONG

Lance Armstrong's reputation is in tatters after a 1000-page report from the US Anti-Doping Agency claims his cycling team ran sport's "most sophisticated, professional and successful doping programme". Eleven team-mates of the seven-times Tour de France winner testified. Armstrong's lawyer called it "a one-sided hatchet job".

Lance Armstrong 'serial cheat' who enforced doping - report

9. UK SOUGHT PARDON FOR ABU QATADA

Home Office ministers asked Jordanian authorities to consider pardoning terror suspect Abu Qatada in a bid to deport him from the UK, a tribunal heard today. The radical cleric is challenging Home Secretary Theresa May's decision to order his deportation to Jordan.

10. HOT TICKET: LATE GREAT HAMILTON

A posthumous exhibition of the late works of influential pop artist Richard Hamilton has opened at the National Gallery. On show are 30 works selected by the artist before his death, many of which have never seen before in Britian. "A startling legacy", says The Guardian. Until 13 January.

Richard Hamilton's great Late Works at the National Gallery