Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 28 Feb 2011

published 28 February 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. KING'S SPEECH SWEEPS THE BOARD Brit flick The King's Speech has swept the board at this year's Academy Awards, with Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor (Colin Firth), Best Director (Tom Hooper) and Best Original Screenplay (David Seidler). Firth told the assembled Hollywoodites: "I'm experiencing stirrings... threatening to form themselves into dance moves." Oscars - pictures LIBYAN INSURGENTS FIRE ON RAF HERCULESThree RAF Hercules planes evacuated more Britons from the Libyan desert on Sunday, but disaster almost struck when insurgents shot at them and a round hit one of the pilots on the helmet. The small arms fire entered the cockpit after the plane was mistaken for one belonging to Muammar Gaddafi. Meanwhile, the UK government has issued an export bar on Libyan currency to the value of £900m which Gaddafi had ordered from a UK printer to pay foreign mercenaries. SAS rescues Libya Britons despite Jeremy Hunt gaffe Gene Sharp: Libyans 'must not meet violence with violence' BRITON CONVICTED OF MURDER IN IRAQA former British soldier who killed two fellow security contractors in Iraq has become the first westerner to be convicted of a crime there since the 2003 invasion. Danny Fitzsimons, 30, from Rochdale, was jailed for 20 years by the supreme court of Iraq for the murders in August 2009. The former paratrooper, who avoided a death sentence, said he had been suffering from post-traumatic stress at the time of the killings. NEW ZEALAND QUAKE: FIRST FUNERALSGrief-stricken New Zealand has begun to bury its dead after the devastating earthquake in Christchurch on February 22 which has left 148 dead and scores more missing. The first service was for Baxtor Gowland, an infant less than six months old. Only eight bodies have been released for burial so far and aftershocks are continuing. BA WORKER GUILTY OVER TERROR PLOTFormer British Airways worker Rajib Karim has been found guilty of planning terror attacks while working for the airline. The 31-year-old from Bangladesh, who moved to Newcastle in 2006, was a follower of radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, based in Yemen. A jury at Woolwich Crown Court convicted him of four charges, including plotting to blow up a plane and sharing information of use to hate groups. KENSINGTON STREET IS MOST EXPENSIVE IN UKVictoria Road in Kensington, west London, has been identified as Britain's most expensive street. The average price of houses on the street is estimated by property website Mouseprice.com as £6.4m. The street's location comes as no surprise: some 14 of the 20 most expensive streets in the UK are in Kensington & Chelsea. MUGABE SENDS TROOPS TO LIBYAZimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe celebrated his 87th birthday this weekend by sending several hundred troops and officers to Libya to support his long-standing ally and financial backer, Muammar Gaddafi. The Zimbabweans join mercenaries from Chad, Ivory Coast and Mauritania who are fighting Gaddafi's corner in Libya. Could Robert Mugabe be Col Gaddafi’s last hope? STEVEN DAVIES BECOMES FIRST OPENLY GAY CRICKETERWicket keeper Steven Davies has become the first professional cricketer to admit openly he is gay. The 24-year-old said he had told his family five years ago and could no longer bear to lie to the public about his sexuality. He said it was a "massive relief" to admit it - and hoped his example might help young gay men and lesbians. Gay cricketer Steven Davies is toast of Twitter PRODUCT PLACEMENT COMES TO BRITISH TVProduct placement has arrived on British television after Nescafe paid £100,000 to install one of its coffee machines in the kitchen area of the day time TV show This Morning. The three month deal began on Monday, the day that Ofcom's new rules on product placement took effect. The machine remained in the background during the show and was not mentioned or even used by presenters Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield. RUBY THE HEART STEALER GOES TO THE BALLEighteen-year-old Moroccan dancer and prostitute, Ruby the Heart Stealer (real name Karima El Mahroug), is to attend Vienna's most prestigious social occasion, the annual state opera ball. The centre of media attention after she was alleged to have been paid for sex by Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi, Mahroug is to receive a £35,000 fee to attend the ball from Richard Lugner, an Austrian property mogul. You shall go to the ball, Ruby the Heart Stealer