Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Saturday 3 Aug 2013

1. TELECOM GIANTS COLLUDE WITH GCHQ

BT and Vodafone are secretly colluding with GCHQ and passing on details of their customers' phone calls and email messages, reports The Guardian. The firms fear a customer backlash as leaked documents show they have given GCHQ secret unlimited access to their network of undersea cables. The cables carry much of the world's phone calls and internet traffic.

2. M&S FACES ENERGY MIS-SELLING SCANDAL

Marks and Spencer is facing a mis-selling scandal after it was accused of misleading customers over savings being offered through its energy wing. More than 200,000 households now get their gas and electricity through M&S Energy and each could be paid compensation of up to £5,000 if successful claims are made.

3. ADVISER LAMBASTS PM'S PORN PLAN

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, one of David Cameron's technology advisers, has described the prime minister's plan to introduce online porn filters as an “absolutely ridiculous idea that won't work”. Wales told Channel 4: "When Cameron uses the example of paedophiles who are addicted to internet porn – all that these plans would do is require them to opt in.”

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4. ED MILIBAND FACES NEW UNITE ROW

Ed Miliband is facing allegations of a “union stitch up” after it emerged that all but one of Labour’s top candidates for the European elections has links to Unite, Britain’s biggest trade union. A total of 22 Labour candidates have links to Unite. The Labour leader had vowed to loosen his party's ties with the unions after the Falkirk vote-rigging scandal.

5. COURT COULD FORCIBLY STERILISE MAN

A man with learning difficulties could become the first in the country to have a vasectomy on the orders of a judge. The 36-year-old has a young son with his girlfriend, who also has learning difficulties. The court of protection heard it was "inevitable" that if they had another baby it would be taken into care, causing significant psychological distress.

6. PRINCE HARRY: THE PRESSURE'S OFF ME

Prince Harry has joked that the “pressure's off” him to settle down and have children now that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have had a baby. As he visited Royal Marines and their families at the Devonport naval base in Plymouth, he told a visitor that Prince Charles is “over the moon” to have a grandson, adding: “Now he's got one he'll be fine - pressure's off."

7. RENT YOUR DRIVEWAY, SAYS ERIC PICKLES

The government is encouraging householders to turn their driveway into a car park to help tackle the excessive on-street charges imposed by town halls. Communities secretary Eric Pickles will say today that he is allowing homeowners to rent out their drives for up to £2,400 a year without planning permission.

8. ROUHANI IN ISRAEL CONTROVERSY

Hassan Rouhani is set to officially replace Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president of Iran when he is endorsed by the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a ceremony in Tehran. The cleric sparked controversy yesterday when he described Israel as an "old wound on the body of the Islamic world", echoing remarks of other Iranian leaders.

9. TOP UNIS OFFER CLEARING PLACES

Leading universities including Warwick, Nottingham, Birmingham and Leeds are to make an unprecedented amount of places available through clearing this year. Courses at the usually over-subscribed institutions have been left unclaimed because of reforms to the admissions system and student concerns over annual tuition fees of up to £9,000.

10. SUAREZ CONSIDERS COURT ACTION

Luis Suarez will consider taking legal action if his transfer dispute with Liverpool is not resolved, according to sources close to the player. The striker believes Arsenal's bid of just over £40m triggered a clause in his contract that allows him to leave but Liverpool rejected that offer and refused to sell him.