Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 6 Jun 2013

1. US CONDEMNS SYRIA ATTACK AT QUSAIR

America has said it is “very concerned” about Qusair, an opposition stronghold in Syria retaken after three weeks by government troops with the help of fighters from Lebanese group Hezbollah. The White House called on Hezbollah and Iran to withdraw from the region. More than 80,000 people have died in the Syrian conflict.

US condemns Assad for using Hezbollah to retake Qusair

2. GOVERNMENT ISSUES APOLOGY TO MAU MAU

Foreign Secretary William Hague announced today that compensation of £19.9m will be given to the survivors of torture meted out by the British administration in Kenya during the Mau Mau uprising in the 1950s, after years of campaigning. Hague expressed Britain’s “sincere regret”.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Justice for Kenya's Mau Mau as UK offers cash and apology

3. STEPHEN FRY ATTEMPTED SUICIDE

Stephen Fry has revealed he took a “huge number of pills and a huge [amount] of vodka” while filming abroad last year in a suicide attempt which was nearly successful. The mixture made him convulse so hard he broke four ribs. Bipolar, Fry said that, as president of mental health charity Mind, he had to be frank.

Stephen Fry's producer saved his life after suicide attempt

4. ANTI-FASCIST STUDENT LEFT BRAIN-DEAD

Rising tensions between Left and Right over gay marriage and other social issues has been blamed for the street attack in Paris that left anti-fascist activist Clement Meric brain-dead. The 18-year-old was set upon last night by three "skinhead types". Police are treating the assault as a "politically motivated incident involving the far right versus the far left".

French student left brain-dead: is gay marriage row to blame?

5. 'THREESOME' CLAIM UNTRUE: MP CLEARED

Tory MP Richard Drax and his wife Elsbet have welcomed the finding of an employment judge that their lesbian housekeeper fabricated a story that they had asked her for a threesome. The Draxes, whose identities were kept a secret until the end of the case brought by Anne Lyndoe-Tavistock, said: "We have strenuously denied the allegations over many months."

6. 'BLOTT' AUTHOR TOM SHARPE DIES

British author Tom Sharpe, whose 1975 novel Blott on the Landscape was made into a six-part BBC series in 1985, has died at the age of 85. London-born Sharpe also wrote Porterhouse Blue, the story of Skullion, the head porter of a fictional Cambridge college Porterhouse and the Wilt series of comedy books.

Five facts about novelist Tom Sharpe, the man behind Wilt

7. EX-DJ CHRIS DENNING HELD IN YEWTREE PROBE

The man arrested this week for questioning over alleged sex offences is Chris Denning, the former radio DJ, the BBC reports. He is the 13th person to be held under Operation Yewtree. Now 72, he was was one of the original DJs when Radio 1 was launched in 1967. As a music producer, he helped launch the careers of the Bay City Rollers and Gary Glitter.

8. US: NSA COLLECTING DATA ON MILLIONS

A top secret US court order seen by The Guardian shows the National Security Agency requiring mobile phone provider Verizon to hand over the call records of millions of customers, regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing. Critics says the revelation raises new questions about President Obama’s supposed liberal credentials.

Obama phone call surveillance 'scandal' - five key questions

9. LABOUR: WE’D CAP SOCIAL SECURITY SPEND

Ed Miliband said today that Labour would cap spending on social security in order to "turn the economy around". Local councils would also be allowed to cut housing benefit, negotiate lower rents with landlords and free up money for housebuilding. Earlier this week, Ed Balls said the party would end winter fuel payments to pensioners paying high tax rates.

10. HOT TICKET: PATRICK CAULFIELD AT TATE

A new survey exhibition of celebrated British painter Patrick Caulfield has opened at Tate Britain. Caulfield is known for his colourful stylised still lifes and interiors from the 1960s onwards. The show runs in parallel with an exhibition by YBA painter Gary Hume. “Quietly magnificent,” says the ArtsDesk. Until 1 September.

Patrick Caulfield and Gary Hume side by side at Tate