Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 22 Apr 2013

1. BOSTON SUSPECT ‘AWAKE AND WRITING’

Teenager Dzokhar Tsarnaev, suspected with his late brother Tamerlan, of a terrorist attack on the Boston marathon and severely injured in a shoot-out, is awake in his hospital bed and has begun to answer questions - in writing. A bullet wound to his throat means he cannot speak. Police believe the two men acted alone not as part of a terrorist group.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev: seven key questions as bomb suspect wakes

2. NURSING BOSS: COALITION PLANS ‘STUPID’

Andrea Spyropoulos, president of the Royal College of Nursing, has described the coalition’s plans to make all trainee nurses spend a year working as healthcare assistants as “really stupid”. She added that it would not benefit patients and said she had been “astounded” when she heard the government was considering it.

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Nursing a grudge? Hunt hits back at union over training plans

3. SUAREZ SORRY FOR ‘INEXCUSABLE’ BITING

Liverpool striker Luis Suarez has apologised for his “inexcusable behaviour” after he bit Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic on the arm as their teams drew 2-2 at Anfield yesterday. The Uruguayan and former Ajax captain said he had said sorry to Ivanovic personally by telephone. He is expected to face a lengthy ban.

Suarez bite leaves Liverpool with plenty to chew on

4. REESE WITHERSPOON’S ‘DISORDERLY CONDUCT’

Legally Blonde actress Reese Witherspoon has been charged with disorderly conduct - and her husband James Toth with driving under the influence - after the couple were pulled over by police in Atlanta, Georgia on Friday, it has emerged. Witherspoon is to appear in court to face charges later today.

'Do you know my name?' Tipsy Reese Witherspoon arrested

5. HUHNE OFFERS £25,000 FOR LEGAL BILL

Disgraced former cabinet minister Chris Huhne is "sticking two fingers up" at taxpayers by offering to pay just £25,000 of a £100,000 bill for legal costs relating to his prosecution for perverting the course of justice, the political blogger Guido Fawkes says. The ex-Lib Dem MP was jailed for eight months in March, along with his ex-wife Vicky Price.

Huhne fights £100,000 legal bill and offers to pay £25,000

6. CLEAN-UP BEGINS AFTER SICHUAN QUAKE

As many as 200 are dead or missing, 100,000 homeless and 11,800 injured, in China’s Sichuan province after a 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit the region on Saturday. Premier Li Keqiang has flown to the area. The authorities were criticised for their handling of a quake which killed tens of thousands five years ago in the province.

Bride interrupts wedding to report on Chinese quake

7. RACE ROW: TORY COUNCILLOR RESIGNS

A Conservative West Sussex councillor, John Cherry, has resigned from the party - though he remains a councillor - after making remarks on race at a proposed boarding school for inner-city children in his South Downs ward. He said Chinese and Indian children would “rise to the top” but Pakistanis would not.

8. DUTCH POLICE CLOSE SCHOOLS AFTER THREAT

Police have closed every mid-school in Leiden, in the Netherlands, as a precaution after a threat to carry out a mass shooting was posted on an internet forum. It is not clear which school the threat to kill an unnamed teacher and "as many other pupils as possible" relates to, but the authorities are taking it seriously.

9. NO TRIPLE-DIP SAY SENIOR TORIES

Senior Conservatives are "privately confident" Britain has narrowly avoided a triple-dip recession. Ahead of this week's keenly-anticipated economic data, one senior figure in the party said "no one is talking about green shoots, but there are reasons to think that the worst might be over and a recovery can now begin".

Britain to avoid triple-dip recession, say senior Tories

10. HOT TICKET: GORKY PLAY REVIVAL

Howard Davies’s revival of Maxim Gorky’s play, ‘Children of the Sun’, has opened at the National Theatre. On the brink of a Russian uprising, a kindly scientist carries out experiments oblivious to the troubles brewing inside and outside his family home. “Richly rewarding,” says The Independent. Until 14 July.

Gorky's Children of the Sun gets 'masterful' revival at NT