Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Wednesday 6 Apr 2011

published 6 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. BERLUSCONI TRIAL LASTs EIGHT MINUTESThe 'bunga bunga trial' of Silvio Berlusconi opened in Milan this morning - and only eight minutes later was adjourned until May 31. As The First Post reported last night, Berlusconi supporters packed the Italian parliament yesterday to win a vote asking Italy's Constitutional Court to rule on who should try the PM. Lawyers are still arguing over what happens next. DAVID CAMERON SAYS BRITAIN IS TO BLAMEPrime Minister David Cameron said during his visit to Pakistan that Britain was to blame for Subcontinental wars and for other global conflicts. Distancing himself from the imperial past, he responded to a question on disputed Kashmir by saying that he would not "insert Britain in some leading role where, as with so many other of the world's problems, we are responsible for the issue in the first place". FINAL ASSAULT LAUNCHED AGAINST GBAGBOForces opposed Laurent Gbagbo have launched what is being described as a "final assault" on the presidential compound in Abidjan after Gbagbo failed to negotiate a surrender with the UN. Troops of the internationally recognised new president Alassane Ouattara have laid siege to the residence and heavy fighting has been reported. Gbagbo insists he won November's run-off vote, but election officials said Ouattara was the winner. MAN arrested over ronan kerr murderA man has been arrested in Scotland over the murder of Catholic police officer Ronan Kerr, who died in a car bombing in Northern Ireland last Saturday. The man was detained in Renton, Dunbartonshire. Meanwhile, Sky News reports that a "significant quantity of arms" has been found in Co Tyrone. CLEGG ADMITS HE USED 'OLD BOY NETWORK'Deputy PM Nick Clegg has admitted to securing jobs as a young man through his father's influence. The admission came on the day he announced the coalition's campaign to promote social mobility and "fairness" by ending the 'old boy network' and stopping the practice of unpaid interns, which give the children of the rich job opportunities the poor cannot afford. Clegg and Willetts: two prats for the price of one LIBYA'S REBEL LEADERS APOLOGISE FOR TERRORISMLibya's rebel Transitional National Government offered an unequivocal apology for Col Gaddafi's "despicable" acts of terrorism against the British at Lockerbie and through the IRA in Northern Ireland. It promised to pay reparations to victims of IRA bombs made of Semtex supplied by Libya. The rebels appealed to Britain to send more RAF sorties against Gaddafi's troops. TEACHER JAILED FOR SEX WITH UNDERAGE PUPILSThe Manchester PE teacher who styled himself the 'Salford stallion' has been jailed for six years for having sex with underage pupils. Christopher Drake, 29, who slept with two girls from the age of 14 and a third from 16, admitted 18 counts of sexual activity with a child. The abuse was discovered on St Valentine's Day when two of his victims discovered that he was seeing them at the same time. DNA TESTS FOR INHERITED DISEASE TO BE APPROVEDControversial DNA tests that offer the opportunity for parents to eliminate the chances of having a baby with an inherited disease will be given ethical approval today by the Government's Human Genetics Commission, the Times reports. The commission says there are no ethical, legal or social reasons to prevent the NHS from offering routine DNA screening before people become parents. BODIES MOUNT ON BEACH FROM 'CRAIGSLIST' KILLERA new serial killer is feared to be haunting New York after the discovery of the bodies of eight women, all of them believed to be prostitutes, on the wintry beaches of Long Island. He has been tagged the 'Craigslist Ripper' because police believe that he contacted all his known victims through the internet listings site. The bodies were found in the brush along Ocean Parkway. BRANSON TO DIVE LEAGUES UNDER THE SEAVirgin boss Sir Richard Branson, who has gone around the world in boats, balloons and aeroplanes, now plans to pilot a solo mini-submarine several leagues beneath the sea. He unveiled his 18ft carbon fibre and titanium craft, which looks like a plane with stubby wings, in Newport, California. He plans to dive 36,000 feet to the bottom of the Pacific's Mariana Trench later this year.