Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 10 Jun 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. BROWN AND BALLS 'PLOTTED COUP AGAINST BLAIR'Ed Balls plotted with Gordon Brown to oust Tony Blair within weeks of the 2005 general election in a coup codenamed Project Volvo, the Daily Telegraph reports today, based on leaked private papers. The Cabinet secretary has agreed to investigate how the papers, last seen by Balls at his office when he was Labour education secretary, came to be leaked. The Mole: Project Volvo exposes Ed’s power-crazy gang Plot or no plot - history comes back to bite Balls GERMAN BEAN SPROUTS TO BLAME FOR E. COLIGerman bean sprouts are officially to blame for the E. coli outbreak that has killed 29 people in Europe and caused chaos for farmers and consumers. The outbreak was traced to a farm (above) in Lower Saxony and even though tests on crops there were negative the epidemiological investigation has proved that it was the source. CAMERON DELIVERS RIPOSTE TO ARCHBISHOPDavid Cameron last night responded to Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, by endorsing the Church's "political interventions" but "profoundly disagreeing" with his criticisms. The PM said he saw "nothing moral" in debt, trapping people on welfare, or poor schools. Norfolk rector defends the Archbishop's intervention TORY MP ARRESTED ON ACCUSATION OF SEX ASSAULT Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen was released on bail yesterday afternoon after being arrested following a complaint of sexual assault from a 29-year-old woman. Bridgen, 46, MP for North West Leicester since 2010, was not charged, but ordered to meet police again in mid-July. Leicestershire MP denies woman's allegation KATE AND JEMIMA MEET AT DINNERThe Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attended their first official engagement as a married couple last night – a gala dinner for the children's charity Ark. At their table was Jemima Khan, who controversially tweeted on their engagement: "Those are not heir-bearing hips are they? Unfeasibly narrow." Kate and Jemima meet at London charity dinner REPUBLICANS VOTERS TO PALIN: 'DON'T RUN'Republican voters last night sent a clear message to Sarah Palin on her presidential ambitions: "Don't run". Fifty four per cent of registered Republicans, who vote in the primaries, said she should not run, along with 66 per cent of all voters, according to the results of a CBS poll. Humiliating day for Palin as Lady T refuses meeting DUKE OF EDINBURGH HAS 'DONE HIS BIT' AT 90The Duke of Edinburgh celebrates his 90th birthday today with a 62-gun salute, a commemorative £5 coin and a declaration to the BBC that he plans on "winding down" to "enjoy myself" as he has "done his bit". He is Britain's longest-serving Royal consort. In pictures: Prince Philip at 90 VIDEO OF POLICE EXECUTION OUTRAGES PAKISTANAn amateur video of paramilitary police in Karachi dragging away a young man accused of robbery, shooting him in the legs and leaving him to die has outraged Pakistan. It was broadcast yesterday as the first irrefutable evidence of extrajudicial executions. Video ‘proves’ Pakistani extrajudicial murders ENGLAND 'IN DROUGHT'; WILD FIRES IN DORSETParts of East Anglia are officially in drought, with south-west and south-east England, the Midlands and Wales in "near-drought" following the dry spring and record-setting temperatures, the Department for Environment announced this morning. Wild fires raging through heaths in Dorset are called the worst since 1976. HILLARY CLINTON DENIES WORLD BANK RUMOURHillary Clinton has denied that she intends to step down as US Secretary of State next year to become the first woman president of the World Bank. Reuters had quoted a source saying "Hillary Clinton wants the job," and another saying President Obama had agreed.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up