Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 17 Feb 2012

1. UN CALLS FOR END TO SYRIA VIOLENCE

The UN has overwhelmingly passed a motion backed by the Arab League calling on Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to step down and allow democratic elections after a year of appalling violence. As expected, China and Russia were once again among the nations who voted against the non-binding motion.

Syria: how Russia and China got Obama off the hook

2. THERESA MAY FLIES TO JORDAN FOR TALKS

Home secretary Theresa May will travel to Jordan to try and strike a deal over the deportation of radical cleric Abu Qatada, freed from jail earlier this week. He will not be sent back to his homeland unless there are assurances that evidence obtained by torture is not used against him. The government has three months until bail restrictions are lifted.

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Abu Qatada fiasco shows this government has lost its way

3. LIBYANS CELEBRATE, ONE YEAR ON

Libya is today celebrating the first anniversary of the beginning of the uprising which led to the end of Muammar Gaddafi's rule – and his life. Hundreds gathered in Tripoli's 'Freedom Square' to chant and sing last night. But there are fears that armed groups could carry out attacks to disrupt the festivities.

4. MURDOCH ANNOUNCES SUN ON SUNDAY

Newspaper tycoon Rupert Murdoch has announced the launch of a new paper, the Sun on Sunday, and said that all staff at News International who had been suspended during police investigations into corruption could return to work. He made the accouncement during a visit to News International HQ at Wapping.

Will Murdoch boost morale and launch the Sun on Sunday?

5. PRICELESS RELICS STOLEN FROM GREEK MUSEUM

Armed robbers have stolen artefacts of “incalculable” value from a museum in Ancient Olympia. Two masked thieves immobilised the guard at 7am as she arrived to begin her shift and stole 68 exhibits from the museum, which is dedicated to the Olympic Games of antiquity.

Relics of 'incalculable' value stolen from Ancient Olympia

6. DRIVER 'USED BUS AS WEAPON'

A bus driver in Bristol has been sentenced to 17 months in jail for deliberately using his bus "as a weapon" to hit a cyclist with whom he had argued. Gavin Hill, 29, overtook Philip Mead before veering into him, crushing his bike and leaving him lying on the ground with a broken leg in April 2011, CCTV footage showed.

Bus driver who deliberately ran over cyclist jailed for 17 months

7. AMANDA KNOX SIGNS $4M BOOK DEAL

Amanda Knox, acquitted with her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher in Italy, has signed a book deal reputed to be worth $4m with HarperCollins. The publisher said it would be a "full and unflinching account of the events that led to her arrest in Perugia".

How Amanda Knox and a top attorney won a $4m book deal

8. TREVOR PHILLIPS IN 'SHARIA LAW' ROW

Equality commissioner Trevor Phillips is at the centre of a storm after appearing to compare some Christians to Muslims who want to impose Sharia law. He said that no-one should be able to use religion to get round equality laws. But he has been accused of totalitarianism and forcing people to choose between their religion and the law.

Trevor Phillips 'Sharia law' row: what he really said

9. CRICKETER WESTFIELD JAILED FOR FIXING

Essex cricketer Mervyn Westfield has been jailed for four months after admitting spot fixing during a one-day match in 2009. He was sentenced at the Old Bailey, where he named former Pakistan international Danish Kaneria, who was playing for Essex at the time, as the 'go-between' who first approached him.

10. HOT TICKET: TWIN TOWERS DRAMA

Stephen Daldry’s Oscar-nominated adaptation of the best-selling post-9/11 novel ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’ opens at UK cinemas today. Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Max Von Sydow star in the tale of an autistic boy trying to understand his father’s death in the Twin Towers. “Eloquent”, says the LA Times.

Daldry courts Oscars with film of best-selling 9/11 novel