Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Wednesday 24 Aug 2011

Anne Sinclair and Dominique Strauss-Kahn

published 24 August 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. LIBYA: FIGHTING CONTINUES IN TRIPOLIColonel Gaddafi remains at large after an audio tape was released on which he claimed that he had abandoned his Tripoli compound in a "tactical" move and pledged "martyrdom or victory". Earlier, rebel forces had stormed the compound, burning the dictator's Bedouin tent and destroying statues. But there were running battles in Tripoli on Wednesday as loyalists fought back. Qatari special forces led Libyan attack on compound 35 trapped at gunpoint in Tripoli's Rixos hotel MAGNITUDE 5.9 QUAKE SHAKES US EAST COAST An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale shook America's east coast yesterday, prompting evacuations of the US Capitol and the Pentagon in Washington and skyscrapers in New York. A pinnacle on the tower of Washington's National Cathedral fell, but there were no reports of injuries. In pictures: US hit by mild earthquake STRAUSS-KAHN FREED FROM 'NIGHTMARE'Dominique Strauss-Kahn is free to return to France after a New York appeals court denied his accuser Nafissatou Diallo's request for a special prosecutor, meaning that the judge's earlier order to drop all criminal charges closed the case. In his first statement since being charged with sexual assault, DSK said the past months had been "a nightmare". Diallo’s ‘dramatic’ rape lie doomed case against DSK MAN LOSES FACE IN 'SICKENING' NIGHTCLUB ATTACKA man had his ears, nose and lip bitten off in an attack outside a nightclub in Liverpool on Saturday morning, police have revealed. The "horrific, sickening and barbaric" attack took place outside Funky Box in the city centre. Two men have been arrested and the club has had its liquor licence suspended. The victim is still in hospital. NEET NUMBER HITS RECORD HIGHAlmost a million 18- to 24-year-olds in England are not in employment, education or training (neet) according to official figures. The number of so-called neets now stands at 979,000, or 18.4 per cent, according to the Department for Education. The figure is the highest since the second quarter of 2006. SAMSUNG GALAXY PHONES BANNED IN PATENT ROWSamsung has been banned from selling some of its Galaxy smartphone models in Holland over a patent dispute with rival Apple. The dispute relates to the way photographs are displayed on the devices. The injunction was handed down by a court in the Netherlands. As Samsung's EU distribution centre is based there the ban will affect other European markets. POLICE TO QUESTION BREIVIK'S ENGLISH 'MENTOR'Paul Ray, the former member of the English Defence League understood to be the man described by confessed killer Anders Breivik as his "mentor", will voluntarily submit to questioning by police in Norway today. Ray runs the 'Knights Templar' movement and the blog 'Richard the Lionhearted' but denies knowing Breivik. COULSON PAYMENTS FROM MURDOCH A 'PRIVATE MATTER'Conservative Party officials say payments from News International to Andy Coulson after he was hired as communications chief were "a private matter". The Electoral Commission is considering a letter from Labour MP Tom Watson questioning whether the payments amounted to "part funding" of Coulson by Rupert Murdoch. First Reaction: Payments from Murdoch appear unseemly JACQUI SMITH 'HIRED PRISON LABOUR AT HER HOME'The Prison Service has launched a "full internal investigation" into how the former Labour home secretary Jacqui Smith used two "work release" prisoners at her home in Redditch in exchange for a contribution to a local charity. She admitted to the Sun that they had redecorated a bedroom last month. Jacqui Smith used convicts to paint her home FACEBOOK IMPROVES PRIVACY CONTROLSFacebook yesterday unveiled changes to its privacy controls which mean that users will have the power to vet posts in which they are "tagged" before they appear on their profile pages. The 'Pending Posts' change comes in response to mounting complaints over the complexity of Facebook's privacy settings. Facebook announces new privacy settings for users