Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Wednesday 21 Sep 2011

Kate Middleton, Catherine Duchess of Cambridge

published 21 September 2011

CABINET 'SEEKS £5BN SPENDING BOOSTCabinet ministers are seeking to inject £5bn into the economy without compromising Chancellor George Osborne's "rock of stability" austerity policies, according to the BBC. The money would go to road, rail and internet projects following the International Monetary Fund's call yesterday for UK action to improve growth and prevent a double-dip recession. MPS TELL MET TO EXPLAIN ITSELF OVER GUARDIAN THREATThe Commons home affairs committee is to summon the Met police to explain its actions after it threatened to use the Official Secrets Act to force journalists at the Guardian to reveal their sources within the force for stories about phone hacking. Earlier Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger welcomed the Met's decision to "withdraw this ill-judged order". CLEGG: RIOTERS HAD 'NOTHING TO LOSE' Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg told the Lib Dems' party conference in Birmingham today that riots and looting in England this summer were the result of victims of "injustice" in opportunity with "nothing to lose", who have "slipped through the cracks of society". He also announced plans for remedial summer schools. TRAVELLERS 'FLEECED' FOR FOREIGN CURRENCYConsumer Focus, the consumer watchdog, yesterday launched a "super-complaint" to the Office of Fair Trading charging that banks are fleecing British travellers who buy euros and other foreign currencies with a range of fees and hidden mark-ups worth £1 billion a year. As a result, converting £500 into euros costs between £10 and £30. ‘Super complaint’ over high exchange rates KATE GETS LESSONS ON THE ESTABLISHMENTTo prepare her for a life of royal duty, the Duchess of Cambridge (above) is being given private tutorials on how the Establishment operates. Experts on government, the arts and the media have visited St James's Palace, according to aides. The programme is a response to Princess Diana's complaints of being "thrown in" without coaching. KUTCHER REPLACES SHEEN ON TWO AND A HALF MENAshton Kutcher made his debut on CBS comedy show Two and a Half Men as nearly 28 million viewers in America tuned in to the first episode of the new series, which featured the funeral of Charlie Sheen's character, Charlie Harper. Sheen was fired from the show in March and replaced by Kutcher, who was afforded positive reviews. TROY DAVIS FACES EXECUTION IN GEORGIATroy Davis, who has been on death row in Georgia for 20 years, was due to be executed at 7pm local time tonight, despite the protests of supporters worldwide, including Jimmy Carter and Pope Benedict XVI. Davis was convicted of the murder of policeman Mark MacPhail in 1989, but many witnesses now say their testimony was wrong. Despite worldwide calls, Troy Davis faces execution TYPHOON ROKE HEADS FOR FUKUSHIMAAt least five people have been killed in Japan after Typhoon Roke brought high winds, torrential rain and floods to the main island of Honshu. There were fears today that the storm would cause more damage to the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant in the north of the country that was struck by a tsunami in March. Japan on alert as Typhoon Roke heads for Fukushima INTERNET POKER GAME A 'GIANT PONZI SCHEME'Full Tilt Poker, an internet gambling site based in the Channel Island of Alderney, has been charged with fraud by the US Justice Department claiming it was a Ponzi scheme which had defrauded players of at least £289m. Gamblers' accounts were milked to pay directors, including professional poker stars Christopher Ferguson and Howard Lederer. FREUD'S UNFINISHED LAST PORTRAIT AT NPGThe last painting made by Lucian Freud before his death in July at 88 will go on show at the National Portrait Gallery next February as part of its retrospective of 100 portraits, planned before his death. The unfinished painting, Portrait of the Hound (2011), depicts Freud's assistant David Dawson nude, with his dog Eli.