Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Tuesday 30 Nov 2010

published 30 November 2010

Our popular news catch-up service is posted Monday to Friday at 8.0 am. You can rely on it to keep you up to date through the working day with the main news talking points. WIKILEAKS 1: NORTH KOREA 'A SPOILED CHILD'A senior Chinese official apparently told a South Korean minister that Beijing no longer values North Korea as a buffer state and would be happy for the Korean peninsula to be reunified under the South's control, according to the latest revelations from the WikiLeaks cables. In addition, China's deputy foreign minister He Yafei allegedly accused the North Korean regime of behaving like a "spoiled child". WIKILEAKS 2: WHAT PRINCE ANDREW SAIDPrince Andrew's continued role as a trade ambassador for Britain was under question today after he was described as "cocky" and "rude" in the latest WikiLeaks revelations. A senior US diplomat who attended a brunch with the prince in the capital of Kyrgyzstan two years ago described Andrew railing against anti-fraud officers for daring to investigate BAE Systems. In a show of "unmitigated patriotism", the prince also claimed "the Americans don't understand geography". MOURINHO HUMILIATED AS BARCELONA RUN RIOT Jose Mourinho suffered the worst defeat of his managerial career in the biggest game since the World Cup final last night when his Real Madrid side were beaten 5-0 by Barcelona at the Camp Nou. The so-called Special One was left looking very ordinary as Lionel Messi pulled the strings for Barcelona in midfield and David Villa scored twice. Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola said: "We are proud because the world has seen us play the way we like to play." Mourinho humbled at the Camp Nou WISCONSIN SCHOOL HOSTAGES RELEASEDAll 23 students and a teacher held hostage by an armed 15-year-old student at Marinette High School, Wisconsin have been released unharmed after a five-hour stand-off with police. It is understood the incident ended with the student shooting himself, though not fatally. Police remain uncertain why he did it. WORLD CUP: PANORAMA FINGERS THREE FIFA MEN David Cameron, David Beckham and Prince William fly to Zurich today in a last-ditch attempt to boost England's chances of hosting the 2018 World Cup ahead of Thursday's vote by the Fifa executive. Organisers of the England bid are furious at the BBC's broadcast last night of a Panorama investigation into claims that three members of the executive - Nicolas Leoz, Issa Hayatou and Ricardo Teixeira - took bribes in the 1990s. SNOW BLANKETS UK - WITH WINDCHILL A NEW ISSUE The snow that has covered Scotland and northern England in recent days hit London and the south today. With the snow and freezing cold temperatures come gusting winds reaching up to 30mph. "Windchill is a term we don't often use in the UK, but it's very significant now as the easterly wind makes it feel like the cold goes straight through you - it will feel pretty awful," said a Met Office spokesman. ECONOMY: GOOD AND BAD NEWS FROM THE OBRThe good news for civil servants is that the number of public sector job losses required by George Osborne's recent spending review has been revised down from 490,000 to 330,000 by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) following the Chancellor's decision to cut more deeply into welfare. The bad news for everyone is that the OBR believes inflation will outstrip household earnings, at least until the end of 2011. DAVID BECKHAM FACES NEW SEX CLAIMSDavid Beckham is said to be unconcerned by new allegations of extramarital affairs from the publishers of In Touch, the magazine he is suing for $25m after it claimed he slept with Bosnian prostitute Imra Nici. In court papers filed in response to Beckham's lawsuit, the publishers claim they have evidence of further "trysts" with women, including an unnamed LA lingerie saleswoman. A source close to Beckham told the Daily Mail the allegations would not "hold up in court". Fresh sex claims haunt Beckham’s trip to Zurich CLEGG URGES STUDENTS TO SEE 'TRUE PICTURE'Nick Clegg has not given up his attempt to persuade England's university students that they have got him all wrong. On the eve of today's planned protest against the near-trebling of tuition fees, the Lib Dem leader has written to the NUS president urging him to see the "true picture" of the coalition's plans. Graduates on lower incomes will be better off, Clegg insists, and the earnings threshold for loan repayments will rise from £15,000 to £21,000. DAY JACK NICHOLSON 'PULLED A REAL GUN'Filming a crucial scene for the 2006 Oscar-winning gangster movie The Departed, Jack Nicholson pulled a real gun on co-star Leonardo DiCaprio. "I still get the chills," recalls director Martin Scorsese, who tells the story in a new book, Conversations With Scorsese. Nicholson, playing a mob boss searching for a traitor in his organisation, sniffed his glass of wine and said, "I smell a rat", as scripted. "And then he pulled a gun on him. He didn't tell me he had a gun. It was great... Leo's reaction is real-time." Leonardo DiCaprio 'a real man' says Putin