Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 8 Jul 2011

published 8 July 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. COULSON ARRESTed AS 'NEWS OF THE WORLD' CLOSES Former Downing Street spin chief Andy Coulson has been arrested over "allegations of corruption and phone hacking" during his time as News of the World editor. Former reporter Clive Goodman, jailed in 2007 over the scandal, was rearrested. Earlier prime minister David Cameron refused to apologise for hiring Coulson but announced two inquiries. Yesterday, James Murdoch announced this week's NoW will be the last. Have the Murdochs saved Rebekah and BSkyB? No The Mole: PM stands by Coulson even as he’s arrested Alexander Cockburn on Murdoch and the NoW FINAL SHUTTLE MISSION LIFTS OFFThe 135th and final space shuttle mission has lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The predicted bad weather held off and the launch happened on schedule at 4.30pm BST. After the mission to the International Space Station has ended Atlantis and Nasa's other two shuttles will go to museums. Around half-a-million people turned out to watch the spacecraft take off. DSK UNDER INVESTIGATION OVER 'ATTEMPTED RAPE'The French authorities have opened a preliminary investigation into claims that former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to rape writer Tristane Banon when she interviewed him in 2003. She filed a complaint earlier this week. In May the IMF chief was arrested on sex charges in New York, but he has been released from house arrest and the case against him appears to be unravelling. BRITISH GAS HIKES PRICESBritish Gas, owned by Centrica, has announced double-digit price hikes for both electricity and gas from next month. Electricity will go up 16 per cent and gas 18 per cent. It will cost the average household £190 a year and consumer groups have condemned the move. The company blamed the rising wholesale price of gas. SYNTHETIC WINDPIPE TRANSPLANTEDA completely synthetic windpipe, made with stem cells from the patient's own bone marrow, has been transplanted for the first time. The cancer patient is not expected to have any problem with the 'organ' being rejected, a great advantage of synthetic transplants. The surgery was carried out in the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. HARRY POTTER STARS LOSE IT ON RED CARPETLast night's London premier of the last Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, turned out to be an emotional experience for the film's young cast, who have grown up together making the popular wizarding series. Emma Watson was so tearful she had to be hugged and comforted by producers and co-stars. Watson and Rowling shed tears for Harry Potter In pictures: Harry Potter premiere in London MILLION-STRONG MARCH FOR TAHRIR SQUAREEgypt's transitional military government will face a stern test today as members of Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood join political rivals in a protest in Cairo they claim will involve a million demonstrators. The protest is to demand that police officers and members of Mubarak's regime are held to account for their actions. WARREN BUFFET GIVES AWAY ANOTHER $1.78BNThe 'sage of Omaha', investor and billionaire Warren Buffet, has donated another vast chunk of his fortune to charity. Buffet gave $1.78bn to several causes, with the bulk going to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. Worth $50bn, Buffet has now given away $11bn, but plans to donate 99 per cent of his wealth to charity. Warren Buffett gives away $1.78bn shares MEET 'BONSAI SUPERSLEEP', THE NEW MEOW MEOW'Legal high' drug mephedrone, aka 'meow meow' or 'bubbles', was made banned in the UK last year. Now young people looking for a new 'party drug' have found a substitute: a drug used to control the symptoms of epilepsy, phenazepam. The substance can be bought legally on the internet under the name 'bonsai supersleep'. EASTENDERS: NO MORE PATPam St Clement, the actress who has played EastEnders character Pat for 25 years, morphing from shrew to matriarch, has announced she is leaving the show. Approaching her 70th birthday, St Clement said she was keen to pursue other work. She added: "Leaving the EastEnders 'family' will be akin to a bereavement."