Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Wednesday 11 Mar 2015

1. WESTMINSTER ABUSE RING: MURDER CLAIM

Police investigating an alleged 1980s paedophile ring including MPs have heard claims a Lambeth council official was murdered because he was about to reveal the abuse. Bulic Forsythe’s death in 1993 sparked a nationwide appeal. Forsythe’s claims were investigated at the time but the report was not published.

2. TOP GEAR SCRAPPED FOR CLARKSON ‘PUNCH’

The BBC is expected to scrap the rest of the current series of its macho driving show, Top Gear, after allegations that presenter Jeremy Clarkson punched a producer. It has been claimed a row broke out over lack of catering on set. A petition calling for Clarkson to be reinstated has been signed by 150,000 people.

3. IRAN: US LETTER IS UNDIPLOMATIC

Iran’s foreign minister has said an open letter sent by 47 Republican senators in the US which warned that any nuclear deal reached with Barack Obama could expire as soon as the Democrat president leaves office is “unprecedented and undiplomatic”. Mohammad Javad Zarif added: “We cannot trust the US.”

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4. JURY: BLURRED LINES STOLEN FROM GAYE

A jury in the US has found that songwriters Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke plagiarised Marvin Gaye with their hit Blurred Lines, one of the best-selling singles ever. The late soul singer’s family has been awarded $7.3m (£4.8m) in damages. Williams denied copying Gaye’s 1977 song Got To Give It Up.

5. NO TERROR CHARGES FOR GIRLS LURED BY I.S

The three missing east London schoolgirls believed to have travelled to Syria to become ‘brides’ of IS fighters will not face terrorism charges if they return home, the UK’s top police officer says. The girls families have denied claims that they stole jewellery to fund their trip to Syria, which they made via Turkey.

6. BERLUSCONI ESCAPES BUNGA BUNGA TRIAL

Italy’s Court of Cassation has rejected requests from prosecutors to hold a fresh trial for Silvio Berlusconi in the ‘bunga bunga’ case. The ex-PM was acquitted of paying for sex with an underage girl known as Ruby the Heart-stealer and abusing his office on appeal in 2014, one year after his original conviction.

7. UTAH DEBATES USE OF FIRING SQUADS

The US state Utah’s senate has passed a bill to reinstate the use of firing squads for capital punishment after ten years because of a nationwide shortage of the drugs used for lethal injections. It is not known if the measure will become law. Inmates who were injected have taken hours to die in botched executions.

8. FIRST UK-FARMED TRUFFLE HARVESTED

Entrepreneur Dr Paul Thomas says he has harvested the first truffle farmed in the UK, six years after the sought-after culinary fungus was seeded under a holly-oak tree in Leicestershire. The specimen weighs 39g and Thomas hopes to command prices of around £400 per kg. Truffles are notoriously hard to grow.

9. DRUGS LEGAL IN IRELAND FOR 36 HOURS

More than 100 previously controlled substances including ecstasy and ketamine have inadvertently been made legal in Ireland - and will remain so until midnight on Thursday. A court struck down part of the country’s drug law in an appeal against a drugs conviction. Parliament is scrabbling to pass emergency laws.

10. BRIEFING: OBAMA BLACKLISTS VENEZUELA

Washington has declared Venezuela a national security threat and imposed a new round of sanctions against the country in an escalating diplomatic dispute. Barack Obama signed an executive order to impose travel bans and asset freezes on seven Venezuelan law enforcement and military officials.

Why has Obama declared Venezuela a national security threat?