Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 7 Feb 2011

published 7 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. ASSANGE DEFENCE TO BE PUBLISHED ONLINeAs Julian Assange arrived in court in east London this morning to fight a Swedish extradition hearing, his lawyer published online the 'skeleton argument' for his defence. Assange has been held since December - first in jail, then under effective house arrest - under a European Arrest Warrant. Lawyer Mark Stephens claims an EAW is meant for people who have been charged: yet Assange is only wanted for questioning after two Swedish women claimed he sexually abused them. LABOUR DID 'ALL IT COULD' to release MEGRAHI A report by Gus O'Donnell, the head of the civil service, says that the last Labour government did "all it could" to help the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi. The study of government papers concluded that there was an "underlying desire" to see Megrahi released in order to foster political ties with Libya and secure a BP oil deal. But O'Donnell insisted ministers "took great efforts" not to pressurise the Scottish government. AGUILERA FLUFFS SUPER BOWL ANTHEMBefore a worldwide audience of approximately 100 million, Christina Aguilera fluffed a line of the the US national anthem at the opening of last night's Super Bowl XLV in Dallas, Texas. She should have sung: "O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?" but instead repeated an earlier line with a slight variation: "What so proudly we watched at the twilight's last gleaming." The Green Bay Packers went on to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25. In pictures: Super Bowl XLV CAIRO PROTESTERS STAY PUT AS TALKS GO NOWHERE Round-table talks with Egyptian opposition leaders chaired by Vice President Omar Suleiman have not proved conclusive enough to persuade the protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square to return to work. The Muslim Brotherhood said it would only take part in future talks if Mubarak resigns, emergency laws are lifted and all political prisoners released. Mohamed ElBaradei said the process was "opaque". Robert Fox: Egypt on a knife edge as US seems to lose control Does the West need to fear Muslim Brotherhood? BIG SOCIETY AND 'DRACONIAN' CUTS DON'T ADD UP David Cameron's 'Big Society' idea is failing because there is no "strategic plan" and "draconian" budgetary cuts are "destroying volunteering", says the outgoing head of Community Service Volunteers, Dame Elisabeth Hoodless. Talking to the Times, she asked if "one hand knows what the other is doing". Her comments follow Liverpool city council's decision to abandon a "big society" pilot project because voluntary groups could not cope with cuts. FERNANDO TORRES FLOPS ON CHELSEA DEBUTSpanish striker Fernando Torres - whose £50m transfer from Liverpool to Chelsea last week made him the most expensive footballer in the history of the Premier League - failed to shine for his new club on Sunday. He was substituted on 65 minutes - and watched from the bench as Liverpool's Raul Meireles scored the only goal of the match. On Saturday, a record 41 goals were scored in eight Premier League games. 1-0 to Liverpool as Torres fails to shine for Chelsea Premier league review: 41 goals as Newcastle surge ANTI-GAY DRUGS ADVISER SACKED Controversial government drugs adviser Hans-Christian Raabe has been sacked over his his anti-gay views, just weeks after joining the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. Raabe, a GP with strong Christian values, was dismissed when it emerged that he had authored a study linking homosexuality to paedophilia. Other members of the panel had threatened to resign over his initial appointment. Melanie Phillips 'gay agenda' column outrages Twitter MPs 'MOCKED' COLLEAGUE WITH CEREBRAL PALSY Paul Maynard, a Tory MP with mild cerebral palsy, has told the Times how opposition MPs mocked him by pulling faces when he was speaking in the House of Commons, in a clear attempt to "take the mick" out of his disability. Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, told the BBC's Andrew Marr yesterday that the report made him feel "physically sick" and that the Speaker should be looking into the matter. AOL buys the huffington postOnline newspaper the Huffington Post has been bought by AOL in a $315m deal. The news and opinion site was set up by Arianna Huffington and Kenneth Lerer on a shoestring budget in 2005. Huffington will continue to oversee the site and will also be given responsibility for the rest of AOL's news operation which includes websites TechCrunch and MapQuest. Business digest: AOL buys the Huffington Post CAMERON RULES OUT TAX CUTSThere will no significant tax cuts in the next Budget, David Cameron told the Sunday Telegraph. The demand to reduce taxes in order to make life a little easier for families facing higher prices just "does not add up". He said: "I would love to see tax reductions. I'm a tax cutting Tory and I believe in tax cuts, but when you're borrowing 11 per cent of your GDP, it's not possible to make significant net tax cuts... I'm afraid it doesn't add up."