Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Tuesday 18 Oct 2011

published 18 October 2011

1. LIAM FOX 'BREACHED MINISTERIAL CODE' Sir Gus O'Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary, concludes in his 10-page report published this morning that Liam Fox broke the ministerial code of conduct by failing to declare the arrangements surrounding his friend and unofficial adviser Adam Werritty. However, there is no evidence that the former Defence Secretary profited financially. The Mole: Fox-Werritty and the questions O'Donnell didn't address 2. ISRAELI PRISONER SWAP UNDER WAY Prison vans have been seen in action in Israel today as the authorities begin to trade 477 Palestinian prisoners for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, 25 (above). Another 550 will be freed next month as long as Shalit is safely returned. The Israeli Supreme Court turned down an appeal for a delay from Israelis who oppose the release. Why Gilad Shalit's release is so important to Israelis 3. NEW YORK STOCKS FALL ON EURO CAUTION Wall Street's Dow Jones index tumbled 247 points last night after Germany warned that hopes of a deal to solve the Eurozone debt problem by next Monday were "dreams". The DIW institute, an official adviser to Berlin, warned that boosting Euro bail-out funds to €2 trillion to save southern Europe would be "poisonous" to France's credit rating. 4. DSK NAMED IN PROSTITUTION SCANDAL After being named named as one of the elite customers of a French under-age prostitution ring centred in the northern French city of Lille, Dominique Strauss-Kahn is demanding that prosecutors "put an end to these insinuations". A police commissioner, Jean-Christophe Lagarde, is accused of delivering women to the former IMF chief. 5. OUTCRY OVER CHINESE HIT-AND-RUN CHILD Surveillance video capturing the death of a two-year-old child, Yue Yue, who was hit by a van and then by another vehicle, neither of which stopped, and who was ignored by passers-by in the Chinese city of Foshan, led to an outcry yesterday when it spread across the media. Commentators decried a Chinese "loss of conscience". 6. BOTSWANA SAFARI CRASH: PILOT NAMED A British pilot died yesterday with seven passengers, one of them also British, when his light aircraft crashed after take-off from a remote safari airstrip in Botswana's Okavango Delta. He has been named as Martin Gresswell, a former British Army Intelligence Corps officer. Four passengers, two of them French, survived. 7. MPs DEMAND RELEASE OF HILLBOROUGH PAPERS MPs yesterday demanded the release of all documents relating to the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, in which 96 Liverpool fans died, after an online petition with more than 100,000 signatures prompted a Commons debate. All papers have gone to the Hillsborough Independent Panel and Home Secretary Theresa May promised help to "get the truth." 8. BEN BOATENG DENIES SEXUAL ASSAULT Benjamin Boateng, the 27-year-old son of Lord Boateng, once Britain's first black Cabinet minister, sexually assaulted a 23-year-old woman sleeping on a sofa after a party, Kingston Crown Court heard yesterday, pulling down the victim's underwear while she was "dead to the world". Boateng denies "assault by penetration". 9. NEW YORKERS SUPPORT 'OCCUPY WALL ST' A majority of New Yorkers told a survey yesterday that they support the Occupy Wall Street protest which has spread to London and other cities. The Quinnipiac University poll found 67% agreed with their views on "banksters" and inequality, and 72 per cent said they should be allowed to demonstrate as long as they remain peaceful. Talking Point: Global protests 'spring from failure of the Left' 10. HOT TICKET: JERUSALEM BACK IN TOWN Back in London after its acclaimed 20-week run in New York, Jerusalem is receiving rave reviews once again. Mark Rylance reprises his Tony-winning performance as Johnny Byron, a ne’er-do-well and modern day Pied Piper in this black comic hymn for rural England. Runs until 14 January at London’s Apollo Theatre.