Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 8 Aug 2011

published 8 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. MARkets DOWN as EUROPEAN BANK INTERVENES The European Central Bank has announced that it will buy the bonds of eurozone countries to shore up confidence that they will not default. Analysts expect the ECB to buy Spanish and Italian bonds in particular. Despute the move European markets fell and there were also large drops in Asia. New York's Dow Jones index opened lower. Economic crisis is inevitable and it will get worse THERESA MAY CUTS SHORT HOLIDAY AFTER RIOTSHome secretary Theresa May has cut short her holiday to meet police chiefs after a second night of violence in London following the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan in Tottenham last week. Mobs fought officers, set fire to cars and looted in Enfield and Brixton on Sunday. It was claimed today that the bullet found in a policeman's radio after Duggan was shot came from a police weapon. Tottenham riots – a result of Tory spending cuts? In pictures: London's burning Mark Duggan: gangster, family man, or both? BRITISH SOLDIER ACCUSED TO STEALING TALIBAN FINGERSThe Ministry of Defence is investigating claims that a soldier in the British Army cut the fingers off dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan and kept them as souvenirs. The soldier, from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, is said to have taken the gruesome souvenirs during the unit's tour, which ended in April. SAUDIS WITHDRAW AMBASSADOR FROM SYRIASaudi Arabia is withdrawing its ambassador from Syria in protest at Bashar al-Assad's violent crackdown on anti-government demonstrators, which King Abdullah said was "unacceptable". The Arab League has issued an official condemnation of Assad's regime. At least 50 people were killed yesterday as the Syrian army stormed Deir al-Zour with tanks. POLAR BEAR SURVIVOR HAD TEETH REMOVED FROM SKULLRoutine security measures either failed or were not in place when a polar bear killed British schoolboy Horatio Chapple, 17, and left four others injured at a camp organised by the British Schools Exploring Society in the Norwegian Arctic, local police said yesterday. One of the victims had to have some of the bear's teeth removed from his skull. US 'SUPERCOP' WILLING TO TAKE OVER THE METUS 'supercop' Bill Bratton, credited with cutting the New York murder rate by half, says he would "consider" leading the Metropolitan Police if he is allowed to apply. David Cameron is believed to have been referring to Bratton when he suggested that the job should be open to overseas candidates. But home secretary Theresa May says only Brits should be considered. Top US cop Bill Bratton keen on Met police job BBC DISCOVERS ZIMBABWE 'TORTURE CAMP'As the EU pushes to lift the ban on diamonds from Zimbabwe the BBC has claimed that security forces are running a torture camp where inmates are severaly beaten and raped in the country's Marange diamond fields. Civilians found illegally mining is sent there, although the practise is common among the police and military. PUPILS 'SHOULD STUDY MATHS UNTIL 18'A report from Carol Vorderman commissioned by David Cameron and education secretary Michael Gove says that British schoolchildren should study mathematics up to the age of 18. Vorderman, former co-host of Countdown, found that almost half of 16-year-olds fail to reach grade C at GCSE, while 24 per cent of Britons were "functionally innumerate". TIGER OUT OF TIME ON $10M TAG HEUER DEALLuxury watch maker Tag Heuer dropped golfer Tiger Woods from a long-term sponsorship deal that had been worth $10 million when his current contract expired, Golf World magazine reports today. The Swiss firm is the sixth major sponsor to drop Woods since revelations of his multiple sexual affairs two years ago. CHER LLOYD HITS THE TOP OF THE CHARTSCher Lloyd, 18-year-old finalist in last year's The X Factor, yesterday reached the top of the singles chart with her debut release Swagger Jagger. She took over the top spot from previous X Factor finalists JLS. In the album charts, Amy Winehouse's Back to Black remained at number one for a second week, with her debut album Frank at number three.