Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Wednesday 19 Jan 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. GOVERNMENT LAYS OUT RADICAL NHS REFORMSAmid mounting criticism from within the NHS, the government has presented details today of a radical overhaul of the health service. The Health and Social Care Bill proposes to hand over control of most of the NHS's annual budget to GPs by 2013. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley says: "Our ambition is simple - to deliver care for patients which is the best of anywhere in the world." First Post Briefing: The NHS reforms and why they're causing so much controversy ANNI DEWANI MURDER: 'ALL MIGHT BE REVEALED'The South African police chief seeking the extradition of Bristol businessman Shrien Dewani (above) to face a charge of having his wife Anni Derwani killed during their Cape Town honeymoon says he knows why Dewani - allegedly - did it. General Bheki Cele said the purported motive could be revealed at Dewani's extradition hearing in London on Thursday. HEALTHY AGAIN: APPLE POSTS RECORD PROFITS Apple's share price, which fell yesterday following Monday's news that CEO Steve Jobs was taking a medical leave of absence, bounced back when the computer giant announced its last-quarter profits. In the run-up to Christmas, Apple made record profits of $6bn on revenues of $26.7bn. The share price, despite falling during Tuesday, jumped 4 per cent in after-hours trading to about $354. unemployment jumps to 2.5 million UK unemployment has risen by 49,000, bringing it to a total of 2.5 million, according to figures for last year released by the Office for National Statistics. The increase was particularly sharp among people aged 16-24, 951,000 of whom are now without work, the largest number since records began in 1992. BERLUSCONI SCANDAL: PROSECUTORS SEEK MORE EVIDENCE An Italian parliamentary committee is due to gather today to discuss the request from Milan prosecutors to search the offices of Silvio Berlusconi's accountant. They hope to find further evidence that several women were given rent-free apartments in exchange for sex. One of them, Karima el-Mahroug, nicknamed Ruby Rubacuori, was allegedly underage. Wiretaps leaked to Italian media claim Ruby asked Berlusconi for E5m to "keep quiet". Berlusconi did pay for sex, say Milan prosecutors ben ali's assets frozen by swissSwitzerland's president, Micheline Calmy-Rey, said today that the federal council would freeze any assets held in the country by Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. She said it was to assist a possible criminal case against Tunisia's ousted leader. A Tunisian prosecutor has opened an investigation into the extent of Ben Ali's hidden wealth abroad. 'BABY DOC' DUVALIER CHARGED WITH EMBEZZLEMENT Following his mysterious decision to return to Haiti after 25 years in exile, former dictator Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier has been charged in Port-au-Prince with corruption and embezzlement of public funds. Although His 15-year despotic rule of Haiti was marked by the kidnapping, torturing and murdering of thousands of political opponents, he still has many supporters who yesterday expressed their fury at the charges. amid pomp, obama and hu emphasise mutual aimsAmid mounting tensions between the US and China over military growth, trade and currency issues, human rights and internet freedom, Obama has said each country has "an enormous stake in each other’s success". The White House has rolled out the red carpet for President Hu Jintao visit, with an intimate dinner last night and an elaborate ceremony today including a colonial fife and drum band and a 21-gun salute. China ratchets up military tension ahead of Hu visit UNDERCOVER POLICING: CLEAN-UP ORDEREDFollowing media revelations about the modus operandi of undercover policeman Mark Kennedy, who infiltrated the environmental protest movement, the Home Office has ordered a clean-up, according to the Guardian. Minister Nick Herbert said that the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), a limited company, is to lose control of three teams of "spies" involved in tackling so-called "domestic extremism". howard stern rattles piers morganUS shock jock Howard Stern questioned Piers Morgan's credentials when the Englishman hosted his second interview show on CNN. "England is about the size of Philadelphia," said Stern. "To conquer England takes about two days. America is something else." Morgan struggled to keep the interview on track, protesting: "This is my show, I'm doing the interview." Several US papers called Morgan's first interview with Oprah Winfrey 'fawning'.

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