Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 18 Aug 2011

A girl comforts a friend after receiving A-Level results

published 18 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. OBAMA TELLS ASSAD TO STAND DOWNSyrian leader Bashar al-Assad is under immense pressure after he was told to stand down by the US, UK, France, Germany and the EU. President Obama said: "The time has come for President Assad to step aside." The UN says that the suppression of protestors in the Arab nation could be a crime against humanity. Around 2,000 people are thought to have been killed since March. Assad claims his onslaught has ‘stopped’. Really? A-LEVEL RESULTS TRIGGER UNIVERSITY SCRAMBLE The number of students passing their A-levels has increased for the 29th year in a row. The results have triggered an unprecedented scramble for university places as students try to beat the rise in tuition fees, which next year will cost £17,000 more. The Ucas Track website, which tells students if they have secured a university place, went down for a while under the strain. DEADLY ATTACKS IN SOUTHERN ISRAEL At least five people have been killed following a coordinated terrorist attack on both civilian and military vehicles in southern Israel. Mortars were fired from the Egyptian side of the border, explosive devices were detonated on roads and gunmen ambushed a passenger bus. At least 20 people have been injured. DUNCAN SMITH LINKS RIOTS TO THATCHER Work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith says in the Spectator that the "social crisis" at the root of the riots goes back to the Thatcher government which may have "freed up the markets", but "missed the next bit". Thatcher knew reform was needed to bring those "locked away in welfarism" into the new economy, but she "never got there". Riots: were they Mrs Thatcher’s fault or not? INDIAN HUNGER STRIKER DUBBED NEW GHANDI A political activist is troubling India's ruling class with a hunger strike over a new anti-corruption law. Anna Hazare's fast in April prompted the ruling coalition to draft legislation addressing government corruption. But the 73-year-old activist will fast again to protest the proposed legislation he called a "cruel joke". Corruption hunger striker has India's rulers rattled phone hacking: Former Notw US editor arrested Police have arrested the News of the World's former Los Angeles-based US editor on suspicion of phone hacking. The Guardian says the arrest of James Desborough, made over alleged criminal activities committed in Britain, is significant because it raises the question of whether he hacked phones in the US. News of the World’s US editor arrested in London STOCKS PLUNGE ON RECESSION FEARS Global stock markets crashed again on Thursday amid fears that the world is sliding towards a double-dip recession. The FTSE in London, Germany's Dax and the French CAC all recorded five per cent drops. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones plummeted 500 points in early trading. Investors fleeing the stock markets sent the price of gold to a record high. DEPARDIEU TAKEN OFF PLANE AFTER URINATING IN AISLE Film star Gerard Depardieu was ordered off an Air France flight from Paris to Dublin yesterday after relieving himself in the aisle when cabin staff refused to allow him to go to the bathroom as they awaited take-off. "I need to piss! I need to piss!" he is said to have shouted. The flight was delayed while the carpet was cleaned. Mon dieu Depardieu! Actor pees on plane STEVE JOBS BIOGRAPHY BROUGHT FORWARD The release date for ailing Apple CEO Steve Jobs's official biography has been brought forward by New York publisher Simon & Schuster from March 2012 to November this year, Fortune magazine reports. Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs: A Biography, claims the new date is "actually not related to any decline" in Jobs's health. Early release for Jobs biography sparks gossip SEXTING AND WOOT IN THE CONCISE OXFORD DICTIONARY The latest edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, with 400 new words, has been published. New technology has created many of the new entries. They include 'retweet' (to forward a message on Twitter), 'sexting' (send a sexual text message), 'cyberbullying' (harass someone using new technology) and 'woot' (the internet's version of hooray).