Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Saturday 5 Oct 2013

1. SYRIA DONATIONS ‘GOING TO TERROR’

Millions of pounds given to charities to help Syrian refugees is “undoubtedly” going to terror groups, says the head of the Charity Commission. “A lot of money is raised that goes to Syria, some of it undoubtedly goes to extremist groups … It is very hard for all organisations to determine that,” said William Shawcross.

2. MAIL MAN: WE ‘MISLABELLED’ ARTICLE

A Daily Mail executive has admitted that the newspaper may have “mislabeled” its controversial article saying Ed Miliband’s father “hated Britain”. Alex Brummer, the Mail’s City editor, told Channel 4 News: “I think [the article] just had the wrong label on it. Sometimes articles which are comment should be labelled and made clear that they’re comment.”

3. BRIT LINKED TO KENYA TERROR GROUP

A British man is suspected of developing chemical weapons for the terrorists behind the Kenyan shopping centre massacre, says The Times. Madhi Hashi, 24, was arrested while preparing to fly to Yemen to discuss the al-Shabaab terror group’s campaign. The Daily Mail says 'white widow' Samantha Lewthwaite has written that she is raising her children to murder "Islam's enemies".

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4. BLOOM: NIGEL FARAGE ‘OUT OF TOUCH’

Nigel Farage is out of touch with Ukip voters, says controversial MEP Godfrey Bloom, who resigned the party whip last month after addressing a room full of women as “sluts”. Bloom also tells The Times: “Nigel didn’t even want to be leader, it was only because there was no one else.” The FT says that Farage is targeting a seat in Kent at the general election.

5. LONDON NAMED UK’S CRAPPEST TOWN

London has been named the number one ‘crap town’ in Britain. The capital edged out Bradford and Chipping Norton to take top spot in the new book Crap Towns Returns. Among the aspects of the city that the book takes issue with are its night buses, which it says are “a must for all fans of vomit, paranoid schizophrenics and R&B played through tinny mobile-phone speakers".

6. ANALOGUE RADIO TO GO BY 2018

Analogue radio will disappear by 2018, says the head of Britain’s commercial radio trade body. Linda Smith predicts that digital radio will takeover completely during the first half of 2018. Commercial stations and the BBC are expected to confirm a switchover to digital services during an industry conference later this month.

7. MADONNA: ‘I WAS RAPED AT KNIFE-POINT’

Madonna has revealed she was once raped at knife-point. Writing in Harper’s Bazaar about her move from the Midwest to New York, she said: “New York wasn’t everything I thought it would be. The first year, I was held up at gunpoint. Raped on the roof of a building I was dragged up to with a knife in my back, and had my apartment broken into three times.”

8. SLICED BREAD SALES DECLINING

British consumers are buying fewer loaves of sliced supermarket bread than ever and switching instead to speciality loaves, bagels, wraps and pitta. After David Cameron was lambasted for being out of touch when he revealed he baked his own loaves, a report by the research group Mintel found that almost a third of Britons have made their own bread.

9. RAFAEL NADAL TO RECLAIM TOP SPOT

Rafael Nadal will return to number one in the world rankings after reaching the final of the China Open. The 27-year-old Spaniard, who won the French Open and US Open in 2013, was last top of the rankings in July 2011. He was leading the semi-final against fourth seed Tomas Berdych 4-2 in the first set when his Czech opponent was forced to retire injured.

10. ‘KING KENNY’ RETURNS TO ANFIELD

Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish has rejoined the club as a non-executive director. He made 515 appearances and scored 172 goals during his time as a player at Anfield, as well as managing the club over two reigns. Manchester United travel to bottom-placed Sunderland today, desperate for three points to lift themselves above their current unfamiliar mid-table position.