Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Wednesday 7 Aug 2013

1. AL-QAEDA PLOTTED TO TAKE OVER PORTS

The BBC says al-Qaeda had planned an audacious attack on Yemen’s ports with operatives dressed as soldiers, giving it control over the country’s oil exports. After the US and UK withdrew diplomatic staff and urged their citizens to leave the country, Yemeni security forces are now on a state of high alert.

Yemen terror threat – why the West is so worried by AQAP

2. THIRD MAN ARRESTED OVER TWITTER THREATS

A 32-year-old man has been arrested in Bristol after MP Stella Creasy and feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez were targeted with violent threats on Twitter. It is the third arrest in connection with the abuse in the wake of the Jane Austen banknote campaign. Several high-profile women have reported rape and death threats.

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Criado-Perez scare: what turns men into misogynist bullies?

3. OUTCRY AFTER CHILD DUBBED ‘SEX PREDATOR’

A paedophile who abused a 13-year-old girl and was given a suspended sentence will have his sentence reviewed in case it was unduly lenient. The CPS has criticised the “inappropriate language” of a barrister who called the 13-year-old victim of abuser Neil Wilson, 41, “sexually experienced” and “predatory”.

Barrister under fire for calling child abuse victim 'predatory'

4. UKIP MEP STANDS BY 'BONGO BONGO' TALK

Godfrey Bloom, the UKIP MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire, is unrepentant after a video clip emerged of him complaining that the UK should not send aid to “bongo bongo land” where it will be spent on “Ferraris and sunglasses”. He told Radio 4 it is what “ordinary people in the rugby and cricket club” are thinking.

UKIP 'bongo bongo' scandal: who is Godfrey Bloom, MEP?

5. BANK RATE HELD UNTIL UNEMPLOYMENT FALLS

The Bank of England will not raise interest rates until the UK's unemployment rate has fallen to 7%. Nor will it cut back on quantitative easing until that threshold is reached. Introducing his much-heralded 'forward guidance' policy, the Bank's new governor, Mark Carney, said a fall from 7.8% to 7% would mean another 750,000 new jobs.

Mark Carney's 'ingenious' reversal of forward guidance

6. SPAIN AND UK DEFUSE GIBRALTAR ROW

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has offered to "reduce measures" at the Gibraltar border following a “constructive” phone call with David Cameron, according to Number 10. It followed a formal protest from the British ambassador to Spain over the country's "disproportionate" checks and threat to introduce a border fee.

7. OBAMA CANCELS SUMMIT WITH PUTIN

US president Barack Obama has cancelled a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the upcoming G20 summit in St Petersburg in the wake of Russia's decision to grant asylum to US security whistleblower Edward Snowden. Earlier the US accused Russia of adopting a "cold war mentality" over the situation.

8. PANESAR 'URINATED ON BOUNCERS'

England cricketer Monty Panesar has apologised for his behaviour after he was fined for urinating on bouncers outside a Brighton nightclub. The spinner, who plays for Sussex, was thrown out of a seafront nightclub on Monday morning for 'hassling' women and responded by peeing on the bouncers, who then chased him down and called the police.

Monty Panesar drunk and disorderly in wee small hours

9. DUSTIN HOFFMAN TREATED FOR CANCER

US actor Dustin Hoffman has been “surgically cured”, according to his publicist Jodi Gottlieb, who revealed that the double Oscar winner has been suffering from cancer which was “detected early”. Gottlieb said the 75-year-old star was “feeling great and in good health” but did not reveal what cancer he had suffered.

10. HOT TICKET: STEVE COOGAN’S ALPHA PAPA

Steve Coogan’s new comedy ‘Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa’ opens at UK cinemas today. Coogan’s hapless talk show host, Partridge, sees a chance to return to the limelight when he is called in to negotiate with a former colleague during a siege at his radio station. “Excruciatingly funny,” says The Times.

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa - an audacious triumph for Coogan