Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 2 Sep 2011

published 2 September 2011

Our popular news catch-up service is posted Monday to Friday at 8.0am. You can rely on it to keep you up to date through the working day with the main news talking points. Man arrested in phone hacking investigationA 34-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to intercept voicemail messages and attempting to pervert the course of justice by police investigating phone hacking at the News of the World. Police have not named the man, who is the 15th to be arrested in the scandal. LIBYA: REBEL LEADERS EXTEND SURRENDER ULTIMATUM David Cameron has defended Britain's role in toppling Colonel Gaddafi in Libya, telling the BBC: "A lot of armchair generals who said you couldn't do it without an aircraft carrier, they were wrong." He added that the Americans see Britain as "their strongest ally". Meanwhile, Gaddafi, still not found, has made an audio broadcast threatening "gang and guerrilla war". Will the curtain come down in Bani Walid? UN criticises eviction of dale farm travellers The United Nations has criticised Basildon Council for its planned eviction of travellers from the Dale Farm camp in Essex. The Guardian reports that the committee on racial discrimination said the authorities should provide "culturally appropriate accommodation" before proceeding with demolishing the illegal homes. Dale Farm eviction: the battle lines are drawn BBC PROM DISRUPTED BY ANTI-ISRAELI PROTESTSThe live radio broadcast of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra's concert at the London Proms was interrupted twice last night because of shouting from pro-Palestine protesters in the Albert Hall. The UN will today release a report saying Israel's use of force against the 'Gaza freedom flotilla' last year was "excessive and unreasonable". University fights FOI request by Tobacco giantStirling University is fighting attempts by tobacco giant Philip Morris to access data on children's attitudes to smoking, the Independent reports. Academics have been told to hand over the data under Freedom of Information law, but they are objecting, saying tobacco companies would get into trouble if they tried to conduct such research themselves. FORMER MI5 CHIEF BLAMES IRAQ WAR FOR BRITISH TERRORBritain's involvement in the Iraq war galvanised support for al-Qaeda among Muslims in Britian, former MI5 chief Dame Eliza Manningham Buller said in her Radio 4 Reith Lecture last night. It "increased the terrorist threat by convincing more people of Osama bin Laden's claim that Islam was under attack was correct". THE GIRL WITH THE DAMIEN HIRST TATTOOArtist Damien Hirst has contributed to the launch edition of Garage magazine, the latest project from Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich's girlfriend Dasha Zhukova, with a tattoo of a butterfly, 'inked' onto the genitalia of 23-year-old Londoner Shauna Taylor. It is hidden behind by a green butterfly sticker with a sign "Peel slowly and see". Cunning stunt by Damien Hirst to launch new mag Five examples of the tattoo fine art crossover OBAMA GIVES GLOOMY PREDICTION FOR US GROWTHPresident Obama yesterday slashed White House estimates for US economic growth to just 1.7 per cent for 2011 and 2.6 per cent for 2012. He also predicted that unemployment would remain at nine per cent next year – bad news for his re-election prospects. Markets dropped as the new figures were released. MADONNA'S WALLIS SIMPSON FILM LAMBASTEDThe Venice premiere of Madonna's new film, W.E., which recasts Mrs Wallis Simpson of the Royal abdication crisis into a romantic heroine and the late Queen Mother into a bitchy sister-in-law, was met with giggles from the audience and stinking reviews from critics. The Guardian called it "jaw-dropping" and "risible". Is it time for Madonna to abdicate as a film director? In pictures: 68th Venice Film Festival BRITISH DRUG GANG BUSTED IN IBIZAThirteen members of a British gang of drug traffickers supplying the rapacious summer market on the Spanish island of Ibiza were arrested yesterday in a series of armed raids. More than 3,600 ecstasy pills were seized, along with cocaine and £60,000 in cash. The UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) was involved. BANKERS 'STUPID AND ARROGANT' SAYS DARLINGBritish bankers were "stupid and arrogant" as the country was plunged into financial crisis, and Sir Fred Goodwin, former RBS chief executive, "deserved to be a pariah" for his role in its collapse, the former Chancellor Alistair Darling writes in a memoir, Back From The Brink: 1000 Days At No 11, to be published next week. Darling slams 'arrogant, stupid' bankers in memoir