Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Wednesday 22 Apr 2015

1. TESCO: £6.4BN LOSS ONE OF UK’S WORST

Tesco has announced an annual loss of £6.4bn, one of the worst in UK business history. The figure is a statutory pre-tax loss for the year to the end of February – and marks the third year in a row the supermarket giant has reported falling, or negative, profits. Annual group trading profit was down 60% at £1.4bn.

Tesco ends sale of 5p single-use carrier bags

2. UN: 200,000 SYRIANS A YEAR NEED ASYLUM

The UN’s special rapporteur on the rights of migrants, Francois Crepeau, says wealthy countries need to take one million migrants from Syria over the next five years to end the repeated tragedies of people seeking asylum drowning in the Mediterranean. He said the plan could be widened to include Eritreans.

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3. HATTON GARDEN HEIST PICTURES RELEASED

Police investigating the Hatton Garden safe deposit heist have released images of the crime scene. The pictures show the hole that the thieves drilled through a thick concrete wall in order to gain access to the vault over the Easter weekend. The Met police are investigating why an alarm that went off during the raid was ignored.

How the real Hatton Garden robbery played out

4. SAUDIS END YEMEN REBEL AIR STRIKES

A spokesman for the coalition of Middle-Eastern and north African countries led by Saudi Arabia says their campaign of air strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen is at an end. He insisted the operation had destroyed the Shia rebels’ military capabilities and would now be scaled down. He added rebuilding would start.

Yemeni government rejects US ceasefire

5. GRANT SHAPPS DENIES WIKIPEDIA FIDDLING

Tory party chairman Grant Shapps had denied meddling with Wikipedia entries about himself and other MPs in an attempt to make himself look better. A Wikipedia administrator yesterday told The Guardian they believed the account which made the changes was run by Shapps, or somebody working for him.

6. FRENCH FOIL 'PARIS CHURCH PLOT'

French police have arrested a man who was allegedly preparing to attack churches in Paris. The 24-year-old Algerian accidentally shot himself as he prepared for the attack on Sunday and called an ambulance. Police found guns notes and relating to Islamic State and al Qaeda in his car. He has also been detained over the murder of a 32-year-old woman.

7. CLAUDIA LAWRENCE: THREE MEN ARRESTED

Police investigating the disappearance of chef Claudia Lawrence six years ago have arrested three men on suspicion of murder. The men are all in their 50s and from the York area. Another man, arrested last month, remains on police bail. Detectives say Lawrence, who was 35 when she went missing, has not been found.

8. CHELSEA: 10-TONNE FATBERG IN SEWER

A 10-tonne ‘fatberg’ has been removed from a sewer in Chelsea. The massive lump of toxic congealed fat, wet wipes pantyliners and other household waste broke the one-metre diameter sewage pipe it formed in. Thames Water say it will cost £400,000 and take more than two months to replace the damaged pipe.

9. BRITISH TRADER ON 'FLASH CRASH' CHARGE

A lone British trader from Hounslow, west London, has been charged by US authorities over the 2010 Wall Street 'flash crash', when the Dow Jones lost 1,000 points in 20 minutes. Navinder Singh Sarao has been accused of market manipulation. He reportedly made $40m over five years using illegal trading techniques.

UK trader charged by US over Wall Street 'flash crash'

10. BRIEFING: SOLAR POWER TO RIVAL COAL

Renewable energy has long been seen as an expensive alternative to fossil fuels – especially coal, the cheapest and dirtiest among them. Yet new manufacturing techniques could soon mean that electricity generated by solar power is cheaper than that which comes from coal.

Solar power will be 'as cheap as coal' amid new advances