10 things you need to know this Monday morning

Never read the Sunday papers? Slept through the Today programme? Forgot to tape Strictly Come Dancing? Not sure what month it is? The First Post's new Monday morning service, posted at 8.0 am, is designed to help...

♦ WEALTH TAX: The Lib Dems are proposing a French-style wealth tax on people with homes worth more than £1m. A levy of 0.5 per cent would raise £1bn in revenue to help low-paid workers, Vince Cable will announce at the party conference in Bournemouth today.

♦ AFGHAN ULTIMATUM: In a secret document sent to US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, and now being reviewed by President Barack Obama, General Stanley McChrystal has demanded more forces for the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan. McChrystal says the conflict "will likely result in failure" if his demand is not met, according to a leaked copy published overnight by the Washington Post.

♦ ASSISTED SUICIDE: Relatives who help the terminally ill end their lives should receive 'clarification' from the Director of Public Prosecutions this week on the circumstances under which they will face prosecution. The key will be whether they gain from the death. Pros & Cons of assisted suicide...

♦ STRICTLY USELESS: Martina Hingis was the first celebrity to be voted off the new series of BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing. But the cries of "rubbish" were for new judge Alesha Dixon - "wooden", "hopeless" - not for the former tennis champ.

♦ OWEN'S BACK: Michael Owen became an instant Manchester United hero on Sunday by scoring deep into stoppage time to enable his new team to beat Manchester City 4-3 in one of the best Premier League derby games of recent years. City say the referee allowed play to go on too long. More...

♦ STUDENTS UNDER FIRE: British university students should pay more for their loans and accept higher tuition fees as "inevitable", says a CBI report. It comes as Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg warns that the scrapping of tuition fees - one of his party's key policies - might have to be re-visited because of the state of the economy.

♦ HERMAPHRODITE CONTROVERSY: Leonard Chuene, president of Athletics South Africa, faces the sack after admitting at the weekend that he lied about gender tests taken by the 800s women's gold medalist, Caster Semenya. Emails show that team doctor Harold Adams advised Chuene to have Semenya withdrawn from the recent world championships in Berlin. More...

♦ ITV PAY ROW: One of the autumn's big corporate appointments has been delayed over an excessive pay demand: Tony Ball, the former BSkyB boss, wants a package worth £30m over five years to be chief executive of ITV. Shareholders are not so sure he's worth it.

♦ FASHION WEEK: The first backstage row has erupted at London Fashion Week: Mark Fast's stylist flounced out when the designer insisted on using size 12 and 14 models to show his new knitwear collection - giants by normal skinny catwalk standards.

♦ JAGGER SOLUTION: Best memoir moment from the Sundays: Designer Nicky Haslam, in his book Redeeming Features serialised in the Sunday Times, described Mick Jagger's first appearance on the London scene in the Sixties. In a restaurant, a boozy couple at the next table taunted Mick, asking: "Is he a boy or a girl?" Fed up, Mick went to their table, unzipped, "slammed his cock on the table" and asked: "Now do you think I'm a girl?" ·