Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 12 May 2011

published 12 May 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. JOHN DEMJANJUK GUILTY OF NAZI DEATH CAMP MURDERS Nazi concentration camp guard John Demjanjuk (above) has been found guilty of helping to murder 28,000 Jews during World War II. He was sentenced to five years in prison pending an appeal. The 91-year-old Ukranian became a guard at the Sobibor death camp in Poland after being captured by the Nazis in 1942. He is the first foreigner to be judged in Germany for Nazi war crimes. First Post briefing: Is Demjanjuk a Nazi war criminal or victim? FACEBOOK HIRED PR FIRM TO SMEAR GOOGLE Social networking site Facebook has been accused of running a smear campaign against its rival Google after it emerged that it had hired a PR firm to try and place negative stories about the search giant. The firm, Burson-Marsteller, emailed a well known blogger asking him to write about privacy concerns surrounding Google's Social Circle service. Facebook admits hiring PR firm to smear Google NEWSPAPERS FACE CONTEMPT OF COURT CHARGE The attorney general is to bring contempt of court proceedings against the Sun and the Daily Mirror over their coverage of the Jo Yeates murder inquiry. The allegations concern stories about the arrest of the victim's landlord, Chris Jefferies, who was later released without charge. He is also suing several papers for libel. 10 DEAD AFTER EARTHQUAKE HITS SPANISH CITY At least 10 people were killed yesterday after a 5.2 magnitude earthquake hit close to the south-eastern Spanish city of Lorca. Many historic buildings were badly damaged, a television crew capturing the moment a church bell crashed to the ground. Thousands remained in the streets last night as the army mounted rescue efforts. Video: bell tower falls next to reporter during Spain earthquake COL GADDAFI REAPPEARS ON LIBYAN STATE TV Libyan state TV showed footage yesterday of Col Gaddafi meeting tribal leaders in a Tripoli hotel – his first public appearance in two weeks. A TV screen, in-shot behind the Libya leader, showed Wednesday’s date in the corner of a live chat show, thus ending speculation that Gaddafi died when his compound was hit by a Nato air strike on April 30. Is Gaddafi dead? Libyans suspicious of vanishing act CANNES STARTS WITH A SHOCKER The Australian film Sleeping Beauty reportedly left members of the audience speechless on the first day of Cannes, with its graphic depiction of the life of a student who becomes an escort girl, played by Emily Browning. Less controversial was the opening night gala screening of Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris – a "love letter" to the French capital with Carla Bruni in a small role. In pictures: Ten to watch for at Cannes 2001 Carla Bruni skips Cannes fuelling pregnancy gossip BULLET SENT TO LENNON AFTER FAN ATTACK A package addressed to Celtic manager Neil Lennon containing a bullet has been found at the club's stadium. The discovery came the day after he was attacked by a fan during his team's game against Hearts in Edinburgh. A man appeared in court in relation to the assault on Thursday. Earlier in the season, police intercepted parcel bombs addressed to Lennon. Neil Lennon attacked by fan during match DAVID LAWS SUSPENDED FROM PARLIAMENT OVER EXPENSES Lib Dem MP David Laws is to be suspended from the House of Commons for seven days and will have to apologise to Parliament after being found guilty of breaching expenses rules. He resigned after 17 days as chief secretary to the Treasury in May last year after newspaper reports that he had claimed more than £40,000 in expenses to pay rent to his partner, James Lundie. ASSAD WILL FIGHT TO THE END, SAYS DICTATOR’S FRIEND A Syrian businessman who is a cousin and confidante of Bashar al-Assad warned yesterday that the dictator has "decided to fight". Rami Makhlouf told the New York Times that the ruling clique sees demonstrations as "civil war", and warned against western intervention because "if there’s no stability here, there's no way there will be stability in Israel". MET POLICE TO USE LETHAL HOLLOW-POINT BULLETS The Metropolitan Police said yesterday that all 3,000 firearms officers will use 9mm hollow point bullets, designed to kill by 'mushrooming' on impact to cause maximum damage, and banned in the British Army. The police say they are less likely to harm bystanders, and can kill suicide bombers before they have time to detonate.