Daily Briefing

Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Tuesday 17 Apr 2012

The Week’s super-quick catch-up on the main news talking points, available from 8am daily

Abu Qatada
1. QATADA WHISKED BEFORE DEPORTATION COURT
Extremist cleric Abu Qatada who was freed from prison in February, has appeared before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission where he was told the government intends to deport him on 30 April. However, Home Secretary Theresa May told MPs that the process could in fact take months.
Abu Qatada arrested, but deportation could take months
2. BREIVIK: ONE DAY YOU WILL UNDERSTAND
Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in last year's bomb and gun rampage in Norway, would do it all again “because my actions were motivated by goodness not evil”, he told an Oslo court this morning. One day, he said, people would understand that his actions were to protect Norway from multiculturalism.
3. 'FRACKING' FOR GAS GETS GREEN LIGHT
The extraction of natural gas from shale through the controversial technique known as 'fracking' should be allowed to resume in the UK, says a panel of experts appointed by the Department of Energy and Climate Change. Fracking near Blackpool was halted last year following earth tremors.
4. RECOVERING MUAMBA HOME FROM HOSPITAL
Bolton footballer Fabrice Muamba was discharged from hospital yesterday to continue his recovery at home nearly a month after suffering a heart attack on the pitch during the FA Cup quarter-final at Tottenham. The 24 year-old from Kinshasa has made rapid progress at the London Chest Hospital.
5. PIPPA GUN INCIDENT FOLLOWED WILD PARTY
Pippa Middleton had attended a wild birthday party in Paris, featuring dwarves and strippers, hours before she was photographed in an open car whose driver pulled a gun on a photographer, latest reports claim. The host of the party, fashion entrepreneur Arthur de Soultrait, was a passenger in the car and is said to be "mortified" by the incident.
6. POLL GIVES LABOUR 11-POINT LEAD
Labour has an 11-point lead over the Conservatives after David Cameron's worst month in office, according to a YouGov poll for The Sun, which puts Ed Miliband's party on 43 per cent and the Tories on 32. A Populus poll for The Times, meanwhile, gives Labour a nine-point lead. It found that Budget controversies and the fuel tankers' dispute had left 61% saying the coalition is doing "badly".
7. WORLD BANK: KIM GETS TOP JOB
Korean-American Jim Yong Kim was yesterday named the new president of the World Bank, continuing the run of US candidates in the post. A developing world health expert who is president of Dartmouth College, he takes over from Robert Zoellick, who said: "Jim has seen poverty and vulnerability first hand."
8. WIGAN 2-1 VICTORY SPOILS ARSENAL PLANS
Wigan became the first side in more than ten years to beat Manchester United and Arsenal in successive games when they won 2-1 at the Emirates last night. The result dents Arsenal's chances of finishing third: as does a sruious ankle injury sustained by Mikel Arteta in the opening minutes.
9. BRITISH LIBRARY BUYS £9M GOSPEL
The British Library has bought a seventh-century copy of the Gospel of St John for £9 million from a Roman Catholic Jesuit order. The oldest European book to have survived intact, it was found in the coffin of St Cuthbert when his remains were rescued from Viking raids on Lindisfarne in 698.
Arts & Life
10. HOT TICKET: MAGIC OF WITCHER 2
The enhanced edition of 'The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings' is now available for Xbox 360 and critics are drooling over one of the best role-playing games ever made. Witchers have special powers with which to fight monsters, including alchemy, magic and huge swords. Available now.
Witcher 2 buffs up into an awesome Xbox masterpiece