Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 9 Aug 2010

published 9 August 2010

Too busy enjoying the Sunday afternoon sunshine to read the papers? Chilling out at the Big Chill festival with Lily Allen and Co? The First Post's catch-up service, posted at 8.0 am every Monday, is designed to help... MURDERED DOCTOR'S FIANCE SAYS GOODBYE Karen Woo (above), the 36-year-old British doctor who was among a group of 10 aid workers murdered in northern Afghanistan on Friday, was due to be married in London this month. Her fiance, former army officer Mark 'Paddy' Smith, had to identify her body today in Kabul. "I just wanted to say goodbye to my baby bear," he said. Woo's family have described her as a "true hero" and dismissed Taliban claims that the group she was travelling with in the remote region of Badaskhshan had been trying to convert Afghans to Christianity. Her motivation for working in Afghanistan was "purely humanitarian". SWAT VALLEY CUT OFF BY FLOODS The floods in Pakistan have worsened over the weekend, with the entire Swat valley now cut off. Rescue helicopters have been grounded by the monsoon rains. The UN said yesterday that six million people are now affected by the worst floods in living memory, with rising waters spreading south, swelling the Indus river. Criticism of President Asif Zardari for travelling to France and London at such a time has not let up. Pictures... 127 DEAD IN CHINA MUDSLIDETorrential rain in northwest China caused a mudslide in the town of Zhouqu early on Sunday morning which killed at least 127 people, possibly many more. The mud reached as high as the third storey of buildings. Single-storey homes were lifted from their foundations. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao yesterday visited the town, where rescuers were hampered by having to work in a meter of sludge. Before the landslide, more than 1,400 Chinese had already died a series of floods, according to official figures. Pictures... ROBBIE WILLIAMS MARRIESThe pop singer Robbie Williams, a former member of the boy band Take That, married his American girlfriend Ayda Field in Los Angeles on Saturday. Guests at a reception at his Beverly Hills home were served fish and chips. The couple are reported to have done a deal with Hello! magazine for exclusive photos of the ceremony. They put other press off the scent by spreading the word that the wedding would take place on the island of Santa Catalina, off the Californian coast. CITY BONUSES JUMP 25 PER CENT Despite all the efforts of government and financial watchdogs, City bonuses paid between December and April this year were 25 per cent higher than for the same period last year, up to a grand total of £10bn, according to the Office for National Statistics. Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Lord Oakeshott said: "It's bonuses for bankers and cuts and cutbacks for everyone else." PETER CROUCH 'CHEATED WITH SPANISH HOOKER' The Spurs and England footballer Peter Crouch, whose fiancee Abbey Clancey co-hosted one of the more high-profile TV soccer shows during the recent World Cup, has been exposed by the News of the World for cheating on her with a 19-year-old Spanish prostitute during a stag weekend in Madrid last month. Monica Mint said she was paid €1,000 to have sex with Crouch in a Madrid hotel after meeting at the Buddha del Mar nightclub. GRADUATE TAX BACK ON THE AGENDA Business Secretary Vince Cable's favoured option of a graduate tax to replace the current student loan scheme appears to be back on the coalition agenda. David Willetts, the Tory minister responsible for higher education, has confirmed that the independent review into funding is being directed to consider such a tax, which critics say will costs some graduates thousands of pounds more for their degrees. AUDREY HEPBURN 'COULDN'T ACT' The Oscar-winning actress Audrey Hepburn, long regarded as one of the Hollywood greats, couldn't act, couldn't sing and was "fantastically twee", according to the British actress and screenwriter Emma Thompson. She is writing the script for a new version of the 1964 film My Fair Lady, in which Hepburn played Eliza Doolittle opposite Rex Harrison's Professor Higgins. "It's high time that the extraordinary role of Eliza was reinterpreted," said Thompson. More... I'M A SPY - GET ME OUTTA HERE One of the 'deep cover' Russian spies arrested in the United States last month and returned to Moscow has already asked to be allowed his old life back. Juan Lazaro, who was living in the New York town of Yonkers with his Peruvian wife and son when he was arrested, "doesn't want to stay in Russia," his lawyer told the Wall Street Journal. His wife Vicky Pelaez, born in Peru, has reportedly been told that she can return to Peru whenever she wants. The question is, will Juan be allowed to go with her? MIDDLE-CLASS SPEEDERS 'HYPOCRITICAL' The outgoing Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire, Julie Spence, has accused speeding motorists of being hypocrites. They consider speeding as acceptable and only change their minds if they lose a child in a road accident. In a parting interview with the Daily Telegraph, Spence said the biggest problems perceived by the public in Cambridgeshire are speeding drivers on rural roads and illegal parking by parents outside schools.