Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 10 May 2010

Slept through the Today programme? Missed the papers because you couldn't stand reading another column on the subject of coalition government? The First Post's catch-up service, posted at 8.0 am, is designed to help... CLEGG-CAMERON PACT NEARS AGREEMENTA deal to allow David Cameron to run a minority Conservative government, with the Lib Dems agreeing not to vote against key bills, appeared closer to reality after meetings in Westminster yesterday. This was despite the leak to the Observer of a top-secret letter laying out how the Tories plan to take a hard line on Europe, firmly opposed to any further integration. The Mole... ASIAN MARKETS OPEN CAUTIOUSLYAs the City tensed for the London stock market to open today, with no resolution to the hung parliament, overnight trading in Asia reflected a positive but cautious reaction to the joint EU/IMF deal to stop the spread of the Greek debt crisis and rescue the euro. The €750bn total deal involves €440bn available from European governments, with €60bn more from the EU's budget and an additional €250bn from the IMF. More... CHELSEA TAKE PREMIER LEAGUE TITLEManchester United beat Stoke 4-0 at Old Trafford on the final day of the Premier League season - but it was not enough to leapfrog them over Chelsea who thrashed Wigan 8-0, showing once again that under manager Carlo Ancelotti they can score with abandon and keep a clean sheet at the other end of the pitch. So Chelsea take the Premier League title, ending Man Utd's three-season reign as champions. More... FALKLANDS OIL FINDThe Argentine government has attacked Britain for "illegally appropriating its natural resources" after the British oil exploration company Rockhopper discovered oil under the sea in the long-disputed waters around the Falkland Islands. Rockhopper has confirmed that the find was a "high quality reservoir interval with very good porosity and permeability". More tests are needed to establish the commercial viability of drilling. More... TALIBAN 'BEHIND' TIMES SQUARE BOMBThe botched attempt to explode a car bomb in Times Square last weekend was not the work of "lone wolf" US citizen Faisal Shahzad, but was planned by a Pakistani Taliban group, according to US attorney general Eric Holder. Shahzad is said to have provided valuable information since being taken into custody last Monday. "We know that they [the Taliban] helped facilitate it," said Holder. "We know that they probably helped finance it. And that he was working at their direction." SNOOKER STAR HIGGINS 'CAUGHT AGAIN'The News of the World claims that snooker star John Higgins tried to bet against himself in last year's World Championship final, calling Ladbrokes to ask for odds on him losing against Shaun Murphy at some stage in the match. "I was stunned," said the Ladbrokes clerk who took the call. "I told him he wasn't allowed to bet because it was a match he was involved in. He just said, 'Oh, I didn't realise that'." The revelation follows the paper's report last Sunday after Higgins was caught on camera apparently agreeing to lose four frames in return for a £261,000 backhander. The three-times world champion was suspended from the sport last week. FAYED SELLS HARRODS FOR £1.5 BILLIONMohamed Fayed, the eccentric Egyptian tycoon, has suddenly sold Harrods to Qatar's ruling family, having only recently promised that he would give "two fingers" to any foreign investors trying to buy his famous Knightsbridge department store. Fayed, who also owns Fulham FC, said that after 25 years he wanted to spend more time with his children. More... DEEPWATER CRISIS: STEEL 'BOX' FAILSThe huge steel box constructed in a bid to block the leaking BP oil pipe at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico failed to work after it was lowered into place on Saturday. A build-up of crystallised methane gas made the experiment too dangerous and the 'box' - the height of a four-storey building and weighing 100 tonnes - had to be lifted off the seabed. Pictures... BRITISH SAILORS HIT 'TITANIC' ICEBERGA British peer and his family were rescued by the Navy on Saturday after their yacht hit an iceberg in the South Atlantic. Lord and Lady Hollinsclough were sailing their 55ft oyster cutter sloop, with their two teenage daughters aboard, when it hit what is termed a "growler' - an iceberg that shows just its tip above the water, but is massive under the surface. "It is very similar to what the Titanic hit," said a coastguard spokesman. The family were picked up by the Falklands protection vessel HMS Clyde and their yacht was left to sink. VOLCANIC ASH PROBLEM RETURNSAsh from the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull returned to cause travel chaos at the weekend, with airports in Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Portugal and Italy affected. The cloud had cleared by 7.0am today, but forecasters warn of further disruption this week. Fulham FC manager Roy Hodgson has asked for Wednesday's Europa League final in Hamburg to be cancelled should the ash cloud prevent flights into Germany.

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