10 things you need to know this Monday

Never read the Sunday papers? Slept through the Today programme? Forgot to tape the X Factor? Not sure whether Tony Blair became EU president or not? The First Post's new Monday morning service, posted at 8.0 am, is designed to help...

DRUGS WAR
The sacking of the government's chief drugs adviser, Prof David Nutt, has caused mayhem, with two members of his Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs resigning in protest, and more expected to follow. Home Secretary Alan Johnson has written to the Guardian defending his decision to fire Nutt, who believes cannabis is less harmful than alcohol and nicotine. Johnson said Nutt could not be both an adviser and a campaigner against government policy.

HOSTAGE 'SOLUTION'
The Somali pirates who took Paul and Rachel Chandler hostage want $7m for their release - which the couple cannot afford and the British government refuses to pay. But a way out of the impasse has emerged: the Somalis could try to exchange the Chandlers for seven other pirates captured last week by the German navy.

TOY BOY WARS
The news that artist Sam Taylor-Wood and actor Aaron Johnson (pictured above) have become engaged - she is 42, he is 19 - has divided the weekend columnists. "Isn't getting engaged taking a 'revenge shag' too far?" asked Barbara Ellen in the Observer, referring to the affair between Taylor-Wood's ex, art dealer Jay Jopling, and pop star Lily Allen. "Give me youth every time," said Janet Street-Porter in the Independent on Sunday. There were plenty of reasons to celebrate younger men, she said, first of which was: "They usually do their own ironing". Aaron stars in Taylor-Wood's well-received John Lennon biopic, Nowhere Boy. More...

KARZAI DECLARED AFGHAN PRESIDENT
Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission has declared Hamid Karzai the elected president of the country after cancelling the presidential election run-off, due to be held next Saturday. The decision comes a day after President Karzai's only challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, decided to pull out. The first round of the vote in August was marred by incidents of electoral fraud. The chance to rectify that in the run-off has now been lost.

M1 BIRTHDAY
Watford Gap, the first service station to open on Britain's first motorway - the M1 - celebrates its 50th anniversary today. Known as the Blue Boar cafe when it first opened in 1959, it was a late-night haunt for touring rock bands, who would stop for fry-ups, tea and the chance to put a shilling in the jukebox to hear their own music. Current owners RoadChef plan to celebrate by selling tea today at the 1959 price - sixpence a cup.

CLIFF COLLAPSE
At least two people, including 57-year-old Marion O'Hara from Britain, were crushed to death yesterday when a cliff collapsed on to the Canary Islands beach where they were sunbathing, burying them under rocks and boulders. Rescue workers were unable to clear the debris on the Playa de los Gigantes in time. There is a dispute as to whether the local authorities had clearly indicated that the beach was closed.

'TESCO'S TONY'
Just as the EU presidency seemed to be slipping away from Tony Blair, the Mail on Sunday claimed the former PM had been in talks with Tesco about helping the supermarket chain open branches in the Middle East. Blair is employed by the "quartet" of the United States, Russia, the UN and the EU as their official MidEast peace envoy. The paper said he had been in line to receive as much as £1m from Tesco for his services, but reported that the talks had broken down, much to Tesco's disappointment.

'BENITEZ THREAT'
Pressure is mounting on Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez after his team's shock 3-1 defeat by Fulham on Saturday. Among those who think Rafa's days are numbered is Ronnie Whelan, the former Liverpool player, who claims the Spaniard is concentrating on winning the Champions League at the expense of the Premier League, in order to further his own career. "He's putting all his eggs in one basket," Whelan told RTE Television. "He wants to be the man who wins the European Cup so he can get a job anywhere in Europe."

FRANTIC FRY
The comedian Stephen Fry, who has 900,000 Twitter followers, threatened to stop using the site after a Birmingham blogger accused him of becoming a bore with his constant tweets. "Think I may have to give up Twitter. Too much aggression and unkindness around. Pity," Fry wrote on Saturday. But within 24 hours, having flown to LA, he was back online, saying it was "a mood thing" and adding: "Sunshine will help. So sorry."

SCARE FACTOR
Despite being praised by the judges for singing the most emotional song of the night, 17-year-old Rachel Adedeji found herself voted off the X Factor by the public this weekend. The "terrible twins" - John and Edward Grimes - survive another week, despite Dannii Minoque calling their performance of Queen's We Will Rock You "scary" and Simon Cowell commenting: "It was the night of the living dead".