Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 8 Mar 2010

Slept through the Today programme? Never read the Sunday papers? Didn't know the Oscars were happening? The First Post's Monday morning service, posted at 8.0 am, is designed to help... BULGER KILLER 'IN JAIL FOR CHILD PORN'Jon Venables, one of the murderers of toddler James Bulger, was returned to custody on child pornography charges, according to the Sunday Mirror. The Observer claims that Venables, who was given a new name for his own protection after being released in 2001, has a history of revealing his true identity to strangers. More… WINE DRINKERS LESS LIKELY TO BECOME FAT Women who drink wine are less likely to gain weight than those who are teetotal according to a new study. Lu Wang of Brigham and Women's hospital in Boston, United States carried out a 13-year study of more than 19,000 women aged over 39. The researchers found that while all groups tended to gain weight, those who drank red wine gained the least, while teetotallers put on the most fat. THE HURT LOCKER CLEANS UP AT OSCARSKathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win a best director Oscar last night as her film, The Hurt Locker, picked up six Academy awards, including best film. Jeff Bridges won best actor for his part as an alcoholic musician in Crazy Heart while Sandra Bullock won the best actress Oscar for playing a Sarah Palin-esque character in The Blind Side. Avatar won only three awards in technical categories. More... BERLIN POKER HEISTFour robbers armed with hand guns and a machete stormed a hotel in Berlin on Saturday, making off with £700,000 in cash. The Grand Hyatt hotel was hosting the European Poker Tour – the biggest poker tournament in Germany with a E1m prize -when the four men burst in. A security guard tackled one of the robbers, but was forced to release him when threatened with the machete. AL-QAEDA'S US BORN SPOKESMAN ARRESTEDAl-Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn (above), an American who grew up in California, was arrested in Karachi yesterday by Pakistani intelligence. He had been wanted by the FBI for treason since 2004 and was detained just hours after a video of him urging Muslims serving in the US Army to plan attacks on "high-value targets" had been posted on the internet. He faces the death sentence if tried in America. POLLS POINT TO HUNG PARLIAMENTAs Samantha Cameron was forced to issue a denial that she had ever voted for Labour, three new polls had mixed news for her husband David's party. While a BPIX poll for the Daily Mail put the Tories just two per cent ahead of Labour, a YouGov poll has the two parties five points apart and an ICM poll puts the gap at nine points. All three polls translate to a hung parliament. The Mole... Hundreds dead IN NIGERIA MASSACRE At least 500 people have been killed after a band of machete-wielding Muslims attacked and burned Christian villages near Jos in Nigeria's central Plateau state. It is the latest flare-up in ongoing inter-communal violence and is thought to be in revenge for the deaths of Muslims in four days of riots in January. More... WILL CHERYL COLE GET BACK WITH ASHLEY?Cheryl Cole is still to consult a divorce lawyer, despite separating from her cheating husband Ashley two weeks ago. The tabloids are speculating that a planned "secret meeting" between the two could result in a reunion. On Friday, Cheryl performed at the Danish X-Factor in Copenhagen and on her way back through Heathrow was photographed with a cold sore – an ailment "commonly triggered by stress" as the Daily Mirror helpfully pointed out. IRAQIS VOTE DESPITE VIOLENCE Turnout was strong in yesterday's Iraqi general election, despite mortar and bomb attacks killing 35 people. The Sunni-led insurgency had warned people to stay away from polls, but 70 per cent of registered voters in Baghdad defied them – along with 50 per cent in Sunni-dominated Anbar province, which saw a mass boycott in the 2005 election. Nuri al-Maliki looks likely to remain prime minister. EARTHQUAKE HITS TURKEY A strong earthquake has struck eastern Turkey killing at least 57 people. The magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit at 4:32am local time toppling mud-brick homes in villages around Kovancilar. Yadin Apaydin, in the village of Yukari Kanatli, told AP: "Everything has been knocked down, there is not a stone in place."

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