Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Tuesday 1 Mar 2011

published 1 March 2011

Our popular news catch-up service is posted Monday to Friday at 8.00 am. You can rely on it to keep you up to date through the working day with the main news talking points. JOHN GALLIANO SACKED BY CHRISTIAN DIORBritish fashion designer John Galliano has been sacked by fashion house Christian Dior after a video emerged of him making abusive comments in a Paris bar, days after he was arrested for allegedly making anti-semitic remarks. Dior's chief executive Sidney Toledano said Galliano's behaviour was totally against "the values which have always been defended by Christian Dior." Did ‘disgusted’ Portman get John Galliano fired? GADDAFI: WEST CONSIDERS MILITARY OPTIONS Britain and the US are considering military options to get rid of Col Gaddafi and avoid a long and bloody civil war in Libya. David Cameron has asked military chiefs to make plans for a no-fly zone over Libya, designed to stop Gaddafi using helicopter gunships against his people. The PM also suggested Britain might arm Libyan opposition forces, even sending ground troops to help. The US is sending warships and 2,000 Marines to the Mediterranean. TWO MINUTES SILENCE ACROSS NEW ZEALANDTwo minutes silence was observed at 12.51 local time today across New Zealand to mark the moment Christchurch was struck by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake exactly a week ago. Afterwards, rescue teams, still searching for possible survivors, resumed their work. The death toll is now 154, but authorities fear the final figure will be closer to 240. THE 'TWO AND ONLY JANE RUSSELL' DIES AT 89 Jane Russell, one of Hollywood's most famous sex symbols, has died at 89. She was first seen in Howard Hughes's 1943 western, The Outlaw, which was banned when censors complained about her cleavage. Once introduced as 'The two and only Jane Russell', she went on to prove herself as an actress in The Paleface and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, in which she co-starred with Marilyn Monroe. OSCARS AUDIENCE DOWN BY 10 PER CENTThe Oscar organisers' plan to cater to a younger and hopefully bigger TV audience failed, with Sunday night's audience down 10 per cent on 2010. The decision to have the event co-hosted by the young actors Anne Hathaway and James Franco rather than an established comedian appears to have backfired, just as the critics said it would. Franco, in particular, was panned for looking distracted and disinterested. Oscars' Miss Congeniality vs mellow James Franco BROWN 'BLOCKED KNIGHTHOOD FOR STEVE JOBS'Former prime minister Gordon Brown has been accused of blocking an honorary knighthood for Steve Jobs - because the Apple computer founder turned down an invitation to address the Labour Party conference. The alleged snub to Brown and his reaction have been revealed by a former Labour MP who had been pushing for Jobs to be recognised by Britain for his work. Gordon Brown ‘blocked Steve Jobs knighthood’ 'I'M ON A DRUG - IT'S CALLED CHARLIE SHEEN'Actor Charlie Sheen, claiming he is off drugs, took on his critics in a series of bizarre media interviews yesterday. "I'm tired of pretending like I'm not special," he told NBC. "You can't process me with a normal brain." He then told ABC: "I am on a drug, it's called 'Charlie Sheen'. It's not available because if you try it once, you will die. Your face will melt off and your children will weep over your exploded body." CHAOS AT LIBYAn BORDERS The situation on Libya's borders with Egypt and Tunisia is approaching crisis point as tens of thousands of foreigners and refugees flee fighting in the country. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said around 75,000 people had crossed each border since the uprising began last month. At the Tunisian border 2,000 people are said to be crossing every hour, but with 20,000 people waiting there is the danger of a crush. In pictures: Thousands flee Libya MAX MOSLEY WAS 'PROUD' OF FATHER OSWALD Privacy campaigner Max Mosley has broken his silence over his relationship with his father British fascist leader Oswald Mosley to say that he was "proud" of him as a child, and thought he was "hard done by". He also revealed that Oswald, who founded the Blackshirts, did not like Hitler but did admire Mussonlini, even though he thought he was slightly "over the top". Max Mosley speaks out in defence of father Oswald 'BARON CUT-AND-PASTE' QUITS GERMAN CABINETGerman defence minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, one of the country's most popular politicians, has resigned over a plagiarism row about his 2007 thesis that earned him the nicknames Baron Cut-And-Paste and Googleberg. He had his doctorate from the University of Bayreuth withdrawn last week and 50,000 academics signed a letter calling for his resignation after it emerged that more than half his thesis contained lifted passages. ‘Baron Cut-and-Paste’ quits as German minister