Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 18 Nov 2013

1. GOOGLE HIDES CHILD ABUSE SEARCH RESULTS

Google and Microsoft will now hide images of child abuse if users search for them, in a move welcomed by the Prime Minister. The firms, which will join other key internet players at a summit on internet safety at Downing Street today, say as many as 100,000 search terms will no longer work.

Google and Microsoft pledge to block child pornography

2. DEADLY TORNADOES HIT U.S. MIDWEST

At least five people are dead, with hundreds feared injured and some trappd in buildings, after unusually powerful tornadoes swept through Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky with winds of up to 111km per hour. Forecasters believe the unseasonable weather could affect 53 million Americans.

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US tornadoes: town flattened and six dead in 'freak' storms

3. BRITON DIES IN RUSSIAN PLANE CRASH

A British woman is believed to have died when a Boeing 737 crashed at a Russian airport yesterday. Donna Carolina Bull, 53, was among the 44 passengers and six crew members killed when the plane exploded reportedly after its nose hit the runway at Kazan airport.

British woman among 50 killed in Russian plane crash

4. 'OLYMPIC STADIUM UNDERUSED' SAY LORDS

A committee of peers has criticised the Olympic legacy, saying the main £429m stadium built for the 2012 games is not being used as well as it should be. The lords say the stadium is a "national asset" but they are "unconvinced" that the present strategy is "effective and robust".

5. COLD SNAP TO BITE ACROSS UK

Meteorologists expect a cold snap, bringing lower-than-average temperatures and snow, to affect most of the UK for the next two weeks. The cold weather will start in northern Scotland today, where snow is expected, then spread south across the rest of the country, with temperatures as low as zero.

6. ROY HARPER FACES SEX CHARGES

Folk-rock singer Roy Harper has appeared before Hereford Magistrates Court to face nine sexual offences charges. The 72-year-old is charged with two counts of indecent assault on a girl under the age of 14, four counts of gross indecency with a girl under 14, two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 13 and one count of indecent assault on a girl under the age of 14.

7. AUTHOR DORIS LESSING DEAD AT 94

Nobel-winning British author Doris Lessing, author of more than 50 novels, has died peacefully at home in London at the age of 94, just three weeks after the death of her son Peter, whom she had cared for through years of illness. Tributes are being paid to one of the world's literary giants.

Doris Lessing Q&A: five facts about Nobel winning author

8. DENIS MACSHANE ADMITS BOGUS EXPENSES

The former Labour minister Denis MacShane has pleaded guilty to making nearly £13,000 of bogus expenses claims. The ex-MP admitted false accounting by putting in fake receipts for £12,900 for "research and translation" services. He used the money to fund trips to Europe, including one to judge a literary competition in Paris.

9. NASA MARS MISSION TO BLAST OFF

The US space agency is readying is latest mission, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft (Maven) for blast off from the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch this afternoon starts a ten-month journey to orbit Mars and study its geological history.

10. HOT TICKET: WEST END MOJO REVIVAL

A revival of Jez Butterworth's Mojo has opened at the Harold Pinter theatre, in London's West End. Skyfall's Ben Whishaw and Harry Potter's Rupert Grint star in a tale about rock 'n' roll wide boys struggling for power in 1950s gangland Soho. "Wickedly funny," says the Daily Telegraph. Until 25 January.