1. REBEKAH BROOKS 'GOT £7 MILLION PAY-OFF'
Rebekah Brooks, former chief of Rupert Murdoch's newspaper operations in Britain, received a total pay-off of £7m after resigning at the height of the Milly Dowler phone-hacking scandal in July 2011, far more than the £1.7m suggested at the time, the Financial Times reports. The figure surfaced on the eve of the News Corp annual shareholders' meeting.
Rebekah Brooks' £7m pay-off set to overshadow News Corp AGM
2. GARY MCKINNON'S US EXTRADITION BLOCKED
Home Secretary Theresa May has decided to block the extradition of Pentagon computer hacker Gary McKinnon to the US. Home Office psychiatrists had agreed with his family that McKinnon, who has Asperger's Syndrome, would be a "significant" suicide risk if he were to be jailed in the States.
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McKinnon extradition blocked as May invokes human rights
3. ART WORKS STOLEN FROM DUTCH MUSEUM
Paintings by artists including Picasso, Matisse, Monet, Gauguin and Freud have been stolen in a raid at the Kunsthal Museum in Rotterdam. The seven missing works were part of an exhibition marking the 20th anniversary of the Triton Foundation. It was the first time its entire collection, featuring 150 artists, had been shown.
4. SAVILE SCANDAL: BBC BOSS TO FACE MPS
BBC director-general George Entwistle has offered to face MPs on the Culture Committee as early as next week over the allegations against the late Jimmy Savile and in particular why a Newsnight investigation was dropped last year. Meanwhile, Labour leader Ed Miliband has said the BBC should not be leading their own inquiry into the scandal.
Savile TV mystery: MP piles pressure on BBC DG Entwistle
5. NEW HILLSBOROUGH INQUEST APPLICATION
The Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, will apply to the High Court to have the verdicts of the Hillsborough inquests quashed. The move comes after an independent report last month said that 41 of the 96 victims could have been saved. Inquiries into the actions of police during and after the disaster in 1989 have already been announced.
6. CUBANS CAN TRAVEL WITHOUT PERMITS
In the latest reform introduced by President Raul Castro, younger brother of Fidel, Cuban citizens have been told they will no longer need to obtain exit permits before travelling abroad. From 14 January next year, the hated permits will be abandoned and Cubans will need only a valid passport to leave the country.
7. STONES ANNOUNCE NY AND LONDON DATES
The Rolling Stones yesterday announced four concerts in London and New York at the end of the year to mark their 50th anniversary as a band. They will play London's O2 Arena on 25 and 29 November and the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on 13 and 15 December. Tickets for the UK dates go on sale on Friday with prices from £106 to £406.
Are the Rolling Stones really worth a £1,000-plus ticket?
8. RADOVAN KARADZIC BEGINS HIS DEFENCE
Opening his defence today against ten charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic told the court in The Hague that he he should have been rewarded for all the good things he did over the period. He denies all charges, including the massacre of 7,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebenica.
Genocide? I should be rewarded for good works, says Karadzic
9. SEPTEMBER INFLATION DOWN TO 2.2%
The UK inflation rate, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index, dropped to 2.2% in September, its lowest level for nearly three years, according to the Office for National Statistics. The Retail Prices Index measure of inflation, which includes mortgage payments, fell to 2.6%. The Treasury said the fall would bring "welcome relief to the budgets of families and businesses".
10. HOT TICKET: TATE'S DOUBLE VISION
A dual retrospective of celebrated photographers William Klein and Daido Moriyama has opened at Tate Modern. The exhibition explores modern urban life in New York and Tokyo through their work, and includes Klein's films and fashion photography. "Exhilarating", says the Financial Times. Until 20 January.
Tate Modern's double vision: William Klein, Daido Moriyama
