Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Saturday 31 Jan 2015

1. ‘BLOODY’ WARS IN PRINCE CHARLES’ COURT

Rival camps in the court of Prince Charles are engaging in backstabbing, in-fighting and turf wars, claims a new book serialised in The Times. According to Charles: The Heart of a King, by Catherine Mayer, Clarence House is riddled with distrust and “glaring systemic weaknesses”. Scraps between rival camps are “common and bloody”.

2. ALL POLICE ‘SHOULD HAVE TASERS’

Tasers should be offered to all front-line police officers says the head of the Police Federation. As the terror threat increases, Steve White said the move would help protect against "dangerous people" who could be "preparing to attack police officers". White told The Guardian that every police officer is now a potential target.

3. ROMNEY WILL NOT RUN FOR WHITE HOUSE

Mitt Romney will not run for president again, he has announced. The Republican, who was beaten by Barack Obama in the 2012 election, said he had decided it was "best to give other leaders in the party the opportunity to become our next nominee". Ahead of yesterday’s announcement, the US media had confidently predicted he would run.

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

4. CUMBERBATCH SIGNS GAY PETITION

Benedict Cumberbatch has signed an open letter asking the government to pardon 49,000 men who were prosecuted for being gay. Stephen Fry and relatives of World War Two codebreaker Alan Turing have also added their names to the message. Turing, who was portrayed by Cumberbatch in the movie The Imitation Game, was pardoned in 2013.

5. CIA USED UK FOR SECRET INTERROGATION

The CIA did use UK territory for secret terror interrogations, according to a top US official. Lawrence Wilkerson, who was the chief aide to former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, will announce today that terror suspects held by the CIA were interrogated on the British‑owned island of Diego Garcia despite the repeated denials of the UK and US governments.

6. MIDNIGHT TAX RETURN DEADLINE LOOMS

Thousands of people are needlessly filling in tax returns, says the Daily Telegraph. As tonight’s midnight deadline looms for self-assessment tax returns, HMRC has announced that those earning less than £3,000 may not have needed to fill in the forms. However, a record 11m people are required by their tax arrangements to submit a return.

Top tips for filing your self-assessment tax form

7. ARMY TO USE ‘TWITTER TROOPS’

The British Army has formed a specialist unit of "creative" soldiers who will use social media as a battleground. Nicknamed the ‘Twitter troops’, 77 Brigade will use psychological operations and social networks to help fight wars "in the information age". It was inspired by the Chindits who fought in Burma in World War Two.

8. TIGER WOODS SHOOTS WORST ROUND

Tiger Woods has shot the worst round of his professional career, reports the BBC. The 39-year-old recorded an 11-over-par 82 in the second round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open. It was the former world number one’s first PGA Tour event of the season. "I've got to keep this in perspective. Sometimes that's hard to do," he said.

9. ISIS 'CHEMICAL EXPERT' IS KILLED

An ISIS chemical weapons expert has been killed in a coalition airstrike in Iraq, the US military has claimed. Abu Malik, who served as a chemical weapons engineer under former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, provided the militant group with "expertise to pursue a chemical weapons capability", a statement said. He is a former member of al-Qaeda.

10. LAMPARD RETURNS TO THE BRIDGE

Leaders Chelsea host second-place Manchester City today. City’s former Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard will return to his old club. This could be a crucial weekend in the battle for the title, as defeat for City would leave them eight points behind the Londoners. Elsewhere this weekend Southampton, Man Utd and Arsenal all playing at home as they fight over top four place places.

Stage set for Lampard to sink Chelsea in title showdown