Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Wednesday 21 May 2014

1. CHARLES ‘COMPARES PUTIN TO HITLER’

Prince Charles has compared Russian actions in Ukraine to those of Nazi Germans, say reports. A woman who fled the Nazis during the Second World War says the Prince of Wales told her that “Putin is doing some of the same things that Hitler was doing”. Marienne Ferguson met the Prince during a visit to a museum in Nova Scotia. Clarence House said it would not comment on the private conversation.

Prince Charles 'compares Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler'

2. PLEBGATE OFFICER’S ‘TOPPLING TEXT’

One of the police officers involved in the ‘Plebgate’ incident sent a text message which boasted of “toppling the Tory government”, it is claimed. Former minister Andrew Mitchell says the text was revealed in a private internal disciplinary hearing at Scotland Yard. The MP said he is making the information public to vindicate his claims he was the victim of a political plot.

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Plebgate officer 'boasted of toppling the Tory government'

3. OSBORNE: UKIP THREATENS ECONOMY

Britain’s open, free-market economy is under threat from the rise of Ukip, says George Osborne. The chancellor will tell the CBI that business leaders must speak up for the free market and free trade. Otherwise, he will warn, the country will slide into an “anti-business” era of regulation, trade barriers, and high taxation.

4. WAS LED ZEP'S STAIRWAY RIFF STOLEN?

An American lawyer is preparing to sue Led Zeppelin, alleging that the introduction to Stairway To Heaven was stolen from Randy California. Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page has always been considered the composer of the song, which has earned more than half a billion dollars in royalties.

Listen: is Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven a 'rip-off'?

5. LLOYDS CAPS LARGE HOME LOANS

Lloyds has banned home loans of more than four times a borrower’s income, reports The Times. In an effort to stave off rising house prices, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender made the move to pre-empt an expected crackdown by regulators. Lloyds is responsible for one in five mortgages and has often lent five times incomes and sometimes more.

6. TWIN BOMB ATTACKS HIT NIGERIA

The Nigerian president has condemned bombings in the central city of Jos, in which at least 118 people were killed. Goodluck Jonathan described the attackers as “cruel and evil”. The country has been enduring a prolonged terror campaign by the Boko Haram Islamist group. Last month the group abducted 200 girls from a boarding school.

Suicide bomber kills 47 at school assembly in Nigeria

7. EBAY USERS TOLD TO CHANGE PASSWORDS

Auction site eBay has urged its users to change their passwords after a cyberattack compromised one of its databases, containing encrypted passwords and other non-financial data. The company revealed that it had been hacked between late February and early March and said changing passwords was "best practice" and would "enhance security for eBay users".

eBay hack 'one of the biggest data breaches in history'

8. MCILROY CALLS OFF WOZNIACKI ENGAGEMENT

Golfer Rory McIlroy has split from his fiance, tennis player Caroline Wozniacki, admitting he realised he was "not ready for marriage" when invitations to the couple's wedding were issued last week. "The problem is mine," said the 25-year-old Northern Irishman after calling time on the couple's two-and-a-half year relationship.

Rory McIlroy calls off wedding to Wozniacki as invites go out

9. HOSNI MUBARAK JAILED FOR CORRUPTION

Hosni Mubarak, the former president of Egypt, has been sentenced to three years in prison after convicted of corruption. His sons Alaa and Gamalwere jailed for four years. They were fined £1.8m and ordered to repay the $10.4m they embezzled. Mubarak is also on trial for abuse of power and plotting to kill protesters during his overthrow in 2011.

10. HOT TICKET: NICK PAYNE'S INCOGNITO

Nick Payne's new play, Incognito, has opened at the Bush Theatre, London. Payne weaves fact and fiction into three stories about identity and memory, from a man with no past to a scientist who steals Albert Einstein brain. "Astonishing," says the Daily Telegraph. Until 21 June.

Incognito – reviews of Nick Payne's 'astonishing' new play