Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Wednesday 3 Aug 2011

published 3 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. HOSNI Mubarak appears in court on hospital bedDeposed Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak has appeared in court today to deny charges of corruption and ordering the murders of protesters, which carries the death penalty. Many Egyptians feared the 83-year-old would avoid trial on health grounds - but he was wheeled into the courtroom on a hospital bed. Will Hosni Mubarak’s ‘show trial’ backfire? In pictures: The trial of Hosni Mubarak Obama SIGNS DEBT CEILING BILL HOURS BEFORE DEFAULTPresident Obama signed the bill to raise the US debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion yesterday with 10 hours left before the deadline to avoid default on the national debt. Obama warned that the next round of negotiations over spending cuts would include a new attempt to raise taxes on the rich. Has US debt crisis boosted Obama’s re-election hopes? AUSTRALIAN TEEN FREED AFTER 10-HOUR BOMB DRAMAPolice in Australia have freed an 18-year-old woman after a 10-hour operation to defuse a bomb, reportedly strapped to her body in an extortion attempt. The police were called to the Sydney suburb of Mosman at 2.20pm and the area was evacuated after a man in a balaclava attached the device to teenager Madeleine Pulver. CLEVELAND POLICE CHIEFS ARRESTEDThe chief constable of Cleveland Police, Sean Price, and his deputy, Derek Bonnard, have been arrested. They have been held on suspicion of misconduct in a public office, corrupt practice and fraud by abuse of position. A third, female, member of police staff has also been arrested. JAPANESE DISASTER CLOSES SELLAFIELD PLANTA nuclear fuel manufacturing plant at the Sellafield complex in Cumbria is to close because of the Fukushima disaster in Japan earlier this year. Around 600 people could lose their jobs at the plant, which recycles plutonium into mixed oxide fuel. The plant's only customer was the Japanese nuclear industry. DRAGON offers bounty to catch TWITTER blackmailerDurham police were last night investigating an alleged threat made on Twitter to the daughter of Dragons' Den star Duncan Bannatyne. A tweet demanded a £35,000 "investment to stop us hurting your Hollie Bannatyne". Bannatyne responded with an offer of £50,000 to break the arms of the blackmailer. Bannatyne offers money to catch Twitter blackmailer CUTS MAY LEAVE ARMED FORCES UNABLE TO PERFORMThe Defence Select Committee warned yesterday that cuts to the armed forces may leave them unable to perform their duties, rejecting Prime Minister David Cameron's assurance of maintaining a "full spectrum" defence capability. The defence review outlined plans to cut the Army by 7,000 and the Royal Navy and RAF by 5,000 each. CYCLING MAYOR OF VILNIUS CRUSHES CAR IN BIKE LANEThe mayor of Lithuania's capital, Vilnius, has been filmed by a Swedish TV show using an armoured vehicle to crush a car parked illegally in a cycle lane. Arturas Zuokas, a keen cyclist, posted a clip on his city website, saying: "That's what will happen if you park your car illegally." Cycling mayor drives tank over illegally parked cars SCOTTISH STUDENTS GET RESULTS A DAY EARLYAround 30,000 school students in Scotland received their exam results a day early after a text messaging error by the company hired to send out the grades. The Scottish Qualifications Authority said all pupils who elected to receive their results by text had been contacted, but it insisted that the results were correct. ITALY DRAWS UP LAW TO BAN THE BURKAItaly yesterday launched legislation that would make it the third European country after France and Belgium to ban the burka. A parliamentary committee passed a draft law which will go to a full vote after the summer recess. The bill would ban in public any headwear covering the face.