Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 29 Mar 2010

published 29 March 2010

Forgot to put your clocks forward one hour on Saturday night? Didn't realise the general election campaign was turning ugly - even though it has yet to be called? The First Post's Monday morning service, posted at 8.0 am, is designed to help... SUICIDE BOMBERS HIT MOSCOW UNDERGROUNDAt least 38 people are reported dead after two female suicide bombers - possibly Islamist rebels from Chechnya - attacked the Moscow Metro system during this morning's rush-hour. The first blast occurred at the central Lubyanka station, beneath the headquarters of the FSB - the modern version of the KGB - killing 24 people. About 40 minutes later, a second blast killed 14 people at the Park Kultury station. Many others have been injured. More... TORIES GO on the offensiveDavid Cameron's Conservatives are raising their game with a vow to halve Labour's planned National Insurance rise. The proposal is intended to give a lift to shadow chancellor George Osborne, seen as a weak link in the Tory campaign, and comes as a new series of hard-hitting billboards aims to "tear lumps" out of Gordon Brown. The Mole... OBAMA VISITS US TROOPS IN AFGHANISTANPresident Barack Obama paid a flying visit to US forces fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan yesterday - his first trip to the country since being elected - and told them they were helping Afghans forge a "hard-won peace". Obama met President Hamid Karzai and pressed him to crack down on corruption. The meeting came as a leaked memo revealed that Prince Charles was unable to meet the Afghan president on his trip to Helmand last week, due to the "incompetence" of Karzai's team. More... DANNII MINOGUE FACES X FACTOR AXEDannii Minogue, who recently announced she was pregnant, faces the chop as a judge on The X Factor because she is due to give birth during the auditions for the next series of the talent show. The Sunday Mirror claims producer Simon Cowell's first choice for her replacement will be Paula Abdul, who was a judge on American Idol. The paper also claims Cowell plans to hire his fiancee, Mezhgan Hussainy, as the show's make-up artist. TWO MORE MINISTERIAL 'CABS FOR HIRE'A week after the Sunday Times exposed the 'sting' that caught three former Labour ministers offering 'access for cash', including former transport secretary Stephen Byers who described himself as "a cab for hire", the same paper has revealed that two other ex-ministers told an undercover reporter they could exploit their government contacts in return for fees of up to £2,500 a day. Adam Ingram, the former armed services minister, and Richard Caborn, the former sports minister, both offered their services, the paper claims. JENSON BUTTON WINS AUSTRALIAN GPBritish driver Jenson Button won the Australian Grand Prix for Mclaren on Sunday. In an incident-packed race at Melbourne, dominated by changing weather, Button grabbed the lead after Sebastian Vettel, driving for Red Bull, went out with brake failure. But it was not a happy event for Button's team-mate Lewis Hamilton: he was challenging Ferrari's Fernando Alonso for fourth position when he was hit by Mark Webber's Red Bull. Michael Schumacher, still looking for his old championship form, came in 10th. More... THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP IS 'OVER'Britain's special relationship with the United States, dating back to World War II, no longer exists and it would be best if we stopped talking about it, according to a report from the House of Commons foreign affairs committee. "Over the longer term the UK is unlikely to be able to influence the US to the extent it has in the past," the committee said. Referring to Tony Blair's decision to back George Bush's invasion of Iraq, the committee said there was a "widespread" perception that the British government had become "a subservient poodle to the US administration" and that a new policy was needed. DENNIS HOPPER UNVEILS HOLLYWOOD STAR The terminally ill actor Dennis Hopper, who last week was reported to be too weak to meet his wife's divorce lawyers, has made what is likely to be his final public appearance - attending the unveiling of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Helped by his Easy Rider co-star Jack Nicholson, Hopper thanked Hollywood for giving him "a life I could never have seen as a boy in Dodge City, Kansas." MCKINNON's prospects LOOK GRIMFamily and friends of Gary McKinnon, the Asperger's syndrome sufferer who faces extradition to the United States for hacking into Nasa and Pentagon computers, are known to be downhearted by the news that another hacker, who also claimed to be suffering from Asperger's syndrome, has just been sentenced in the US to two concurrent 20-year jail terms. Albert Gonzalez was said to have made $2.8m from hacking into commercial sites and stealing personal identities. BRITISH SUMMER TIME - WHAT SUMMER? Clocks in Britain were supposed to be put forward one hour on Saturday night/Sunday morning for the start of British Summer Time. Summer itself, however, could be some way off: the Met Office is forecasting rain and snow in northern England and southern Scotland this week.