Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 1 Feb 2010

published 1 February 2010

Slept through the Today programme? Never read the Sunday papers? Missed Murray being thrashed by Federer? Didn't realise it was February already? The First Post's Monday morning service, posted at 8.0 am, is designed to help... TEN US CITIZENS HELD OVER HAITI 'ORPHANS'Less than a week after The First Post warned that western couples were thought to be exploiting the Haiti earthquake to adopt children more easily, 10 US citizens are due to appear in court in Port-au-Prince this morning charged with attempting to take 33 children out of the country without the correct paperwork. According to an aid worker, some of the children, aged from 2 months to 12 years, have parents still alive. The Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho, some of who missionaries are among the 10 arrested, claims it is all a misunderstanding. BEYONCE QUEEN OF THE GRAMMYSBeyonce won six awards at the Grammys last night, including song of the year and best R&B song, both for Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It), and best pop vocal performance for Halo. The record-breaking haul takes her career total to 16 Grammys. But she lost in the record of the year category to the Tennessee rock band Kings of Leon for Use Somebody. Country album of the year went to Taylor Swift for Fearless and best pop vocal album to the Black Eyed Peas. More... '$100M BONUS' FOR GOLDMAN SACHS BOSS Investment bank Goldman Sachs is all set to pay its CEO Lloyd Blankfein (above) a super-bonus of $100 million, according to reports coming out of Davos only days after President Obama described bonuses paid out by some banks as "the height of irresponsibility" and "shameful". A banker at one of Goldman's rivals said: "This is Lloyd thumbing his nose at Obama." The news came as at least some bankers attending Davos began to see that "perhaps reform is a good idea after all", according to The First Post's Edward Helmore. More... MASTERCLASSES FROM MAN UTD AND FEDERERTwo sports masterclasses were laid on yesterday on opposite sides of the world. The Swiss tennis player Roger Federer dispatched Scotland's Andy Murray in three sets at the Australian Open, putting to a swift end to any hopes of a first British Grand Slam victory in more than 70 years. Later, Manchester United delivered a slick display to humiliate Arsenal 3-1 in their Premier League encounter at the Emirates Stadium. GORDON BROWN HIT OUT AT AIDEPrime Minister Gordon Brown is accused in a new book of hitting a senior adviser, pulling a Downing Street secretary out of her chair because she couldn't keep up with his dictation, and, on a trip to the States last September, verbally abusing aides after press reports emerged that he had been snubbed by President Obama who did not have time to see him. The claims come in a book, The End of the Party, by the Observer's political commentator Andrew Rawnsley. A Number Ten spokesman dismissed the claims saying: "Journalists are free to investigate whatever fanciful stories they wish". SMOKERS FACE DOORWAY BANOffice workers could be banned from smoking outside their buildings in order to prevent non-smokers having to walk through clouds of secondhand smoke. The measure is one of several being examined by Health Secretary Andy Burnham in a bid to halve the number of smokers in England over the next 10 years. Another radical plan is to force tobacco companies to package all cigarettes in plain brown paper to reduce their appeal to first-time smokers. USA-IRAN TENSION MOUNTSAccording to leaked media reports in the US, President Barack Obama is deploying a missile shield to protect American allies in the Gulf from attack by Tehran. Patriot defensive missiles are being sent to four countries - Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait - and two US warships capable of shooting down Iranian missiles are on station in the Gulf. The purpose is said to be two-fold: to deter an attack by Iran and to persuade Israel not to strike Iran by showing that Washington is prepared to contain any threat. JOHN TERRY'S WIFE 'WANTS DIVORCE' The wife of the England and Chelsea football captain John Terry is reported to have left the family home in Surrey with her children and is seeking to divorce him following revelations of an affair with lingerie model Vanessa Perroncel, the ex-girlfriend of his former team-mate Wayne Bridges. Toni Terry, 28, is quoted as telling friends: "He's humiliated me for ten years. But no more. This time I'm going to divorce him." More... PAKISTANI TALIBAN LEADER BELIEVED DEAD The Pakistani military is reported to be checking reports that Hakimullah Mehsud, head of the Pakistani Taleban, has died of injuries sustained in a US drone strike on January 15. Local sources in the Orakzai tribal area have been quoted by state television as saying that Mehsud died of injuries and has already been buried. TERRY PRATCHETT: LEGALISE ASSISTED SUICIDE The bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett will use the annual Dimbleby Lecture on BBC TV tonight to call for assisted suicide to be legalised. Pratchett, who suffers from early-onset Alzheimer's, will offer himself as a "test case" for an assisted suicide tribunal, the body he wants set up to give people legal permission to end their lives with medical help. An opinion poll for Panorama shows 73 per cent of British people believe that friends and relatives who help someone with a terminal illness to end their life should be spared prosecution.