Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 22 Nov 2010

Family of missing NZ miners wait for news at Pike River

published 22 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. NZ PREMIER TRIES TO CALM MINERS' FAMILIES There is "every chance" the 29 miners missing at the Pike River coalmine in New Zealand are still alive, says the country's prime minister John Key, in an effort to calm frustrated relatives (above) still waiting for a rescue attempt to begin. Key claims that despite the presence of toxic gases, he has been advised the miners could have found safety in a "pocket" of oxygen. Have expectation been raised too high by Chile rescue? HONEYMOON MURDER: WAS IT A PLANNED HIT?Shrien Dewani, the Bristol businessman whose wife Anni was killed by carjackers in a South African township during their honeymoon, is to return to Cape Town to help police establish whether the murder might have been a "planned hit". Three men have been arrested so far, and the couple's taxi driver, Zola Tongo, is reported to have turned "state witness". Tongo turns out to be a limousine driver who was moonlighting on the night he drove the Deqanis into Gugulethu. PREMIER LEAGUE TITLE RACE HOTS UPThe Premier League title race is wide open after a weekend that saw defeats for the top two clubs and wins for those in third and fourth place. After Arsenal's dramatic collapse against Spurs and Chelsea's loss to Birmingham, Manchester United leap-frogged the Gunners into second spot with a win over Wigan and, on Sunday, Manchester City grabbed fourth thanks to a 4-1 win over Fulham. City back in the title hunt Arsenal squander two-goal lead CONFUSION OVER POPE'S CONDOM CONVERSIONPope Benedict's apparent U-turn on the use of condoms has led to confusion among Catholics. In a book published this week, he says their use could be morally justified when the sole intention is to "reduce the risk of infection" from Aids. But Catholics are unsure whether this means married couples are now "cleared" to use condoms when one of them is HIV positive. The Pope faces pressure to clarify his comment. HARRY POTTER FILM SET TO BREAK RECORDSDespite an underwhelming reception from film critics, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 looks set to break records by taking more than £17m at the UK box office over its opening weekend. The previous record take over the opening three nights was £15.3m held by the Bond film Quantum of Solace. Potter creator JK Rowling has called Deathly Hallows 1 her favourite film so far. Harry Potter: What the critics are saying WILLIAM HAGUE 'FEARS EURO COULD COLLAPSE'The Irish government has agreed to accept a loan of approximately €80bn from the EU and the IMF to deal with the effects of the recession and the almost total collapse of Ireland's banks. Irish PM Brian Cowen confirmed the rescue package amid growing fears for the Euro. Foreign Secretary William Hague, a long-standing critic of European monetary union, said on Saturday it was possible the Euro could collapse. He hoped the currency would survive but asked: "Who knows?" ANDY MURRAY 'SCARED' BY PM'S TENNISBritish tennis Number One Andy Murray says he was "scared" a chandelier might get broken when David Cameron challenged him to a game of tennis in the state dining room at Number Ten last week. Cameron "was hitting the ball really hard" while Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer looked on. The reception was for players in the Barclays ATP finals at the O2 Arena, where Murray went on to thrash Robin Soderling 6-4 6-2 on Sunday. SOMALI PIRATES COULD FACE UK MERCENARIES The British government is considering hiring mercenaries to confront Somali pirates in an effort to make the Horn of Africa safer for commercial vessels, according to the Sunday Telegraph. Former members of the Special Boat Service - the naval equivalent of the SAS - would train Somali recruits to tackle the pirates. Acting as mentors, they would accompany the Somali crews on patrol. CAMERONS CANCEL XMAS BREAK IN THAILANDDavid and Samantha Cameron have jettisoned their plans for a family holiday on the coast of Thailand this Christmas amid concerns that it would "send the wrong message" at a time of supposed austerity. They will instead spend the holiday in Britain. There were rumours in the Thai press that the Camerons were eyeing a resort hotel in Phuket where the price of luxury rooms hits £1,000 and more. TRAFFIC WARDENS 'EARNING £50k A YEAR'An east London traffic warden earned £52,786 last year, according to an investigation by the News of the World. He was employed by Tower Hamlets council, who paid another warden £44,319. Both men boosted their pay with overtime. The council made £2.9m out of issuing parking tickets - twice the income from parking fines of any similarly-sized council in Britain.