Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 28 Apr 2011

published 28 April 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. SYRIAN AMBASSADOR OFF ROYAL WEDDING LISTOn the eve of the royal wedding, the Foreign Office has withdrawn the invitation for Syrian ambassador Sami Khiyami to attend. The decision was taken by Foreign Secretary William Hague, with the support of Buckingham Palace. He said the ambassador's presence would be "unacceptable" in the light of the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Syria, in which an estimated 450 people have died. Syrian ambassador not welcome at royal wedding Wills and Kate fairy tale: Their idea, or ours? In pictures: London prepares for royal wedding TRUMP SHIFTS ATTACK TO OBAMA'S COLLEGE CREDENTIALSDonald Trump last night shifted his attack on President Obama from the ‘birther' issue - finally silenced by the production of the president's birth certificate - to how he had gained entrance to the Ivy League. "How does a bad student go to Columbia and then to Harvard?" he asked. Trump's theory is that Obama got in as a "foreign student", which has the same disqualifying implications. Obama and the nutballs: They won't give up easily GEORGE OSBORNE'S SEXY VOICEMAILThe chancellor has left a risqué voicemail for BBC radio presenter Shelagh Fogarty in which he hopes she will have "sweet dreams" about him. Osborne was asked to record a message for Fogarty by her colleagues as a leaving present for her final breakfast show after she admitted on air to having erotic dreams about the debonair young chancellor. George Osborne, the radio star and the sexy voicemail RIVAL PALESTIAN GOVERNMENTS UNITEThe rival Palestinian governments of the West Bank and Gaza, bitterly divided by civil war, yesterday agreed to form a united government within the Palestinian Authority. The deal between Fatah and Hamas was brokered by the new Egyptian government. Israel and the US both say that the united government must repudiate Hamas' refusal to recognise Israel for there to be peace. Why are Fatah and Hamas suddenly uniting? TORNADOES KILL MORE THAN 200 in SOUTHERN USAt least 131 people died in Alabama yesterday as tornadoes and flash flooding continue to batter the southern states of the US. In the city of Tuscaloosa, a single tornado killed 15 people. One weather expert told the BBC that the storm was the "worst in Alabama's history". The deaths bring the total number of fatalities in the south to more than 200. Tornadoes and flash floods kill hundreds in US south (video) IMOGEN THOMAS, LOVER IN GAG ORDER ROW, SPEAKS UPImogen Thomas, the former Big Brother contestant who had an affair with "a married football player" said yesterday that she was "angry" that his name was kept secret by a gag order while she had been "named and shamed". His lawyers had threatened her with jail, but it was "not my fault" that the tabloids had discovered the affair. Richard Ehrman: Newspapers have no claim to the moral high ground FRIENDLY FIRE KILLS TWELVE IN MISRATANato planes mistakenly attacked a rebel-held salt factory in Misrata yesterday, killing 12. Rebels said they had informed Nato of their position. The air strikes forced Gaddafi troops to retreat, and a relief aid ferry managed to leave the port with 800 migrant refugees. In New York, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that the Libyan regime had lost "both legitimacy and credibility." INTERNET SEX SURVEY REVEALS LUST FOR FEETA scientific survey of more than a billion sex-related internet searches reveals that men lust for feet. But both straight and gay men are most attracted to "chests and buttocks". Women enjoy reading about gay male romance, but not watching. The findings are published in a book, A Billion Wicked Thoughts. BOMB BLAST KILLS FOREIGNERS IN MARRAKESHAn explosion in the main square of Moroccan city of Marrakesh has killed at least 14 people, including foreigners. Many more were injured in the blast that tore through a cafe in Djemaa el-Fna square. It was initially thought to be a gas explosion, but the interior ministry later blamed a bomb. The country has seen growing protests against King Mohammed VI in recent weeks. WAYNE ROONEY PHONE MAY HAVE BEEN HACKEDFootballer Wayne Rooney is the latest celebrity to be caught up in the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. He used Twitter to announce on Thursday that he had been visited by detectives, who told him he may have been targeted by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. He is now said to be considering taking legal action.