Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 4 Aug 2011

Kate Middleton, Catherine Duchess of Cambridge

published 4 August 2011

Our popular news catch-up service is posted Monday to Friday at 8.0am. You can rely on it to keep you up to date through the working day with the main news talking points. UN CONDEMNS SYRIA AS TANKS OVERRUN HAMAThe UN Security Council yesterday condemned Syria's "widespread violations of human rights and use of force against civilians" as Bashar al-Assad again sent tanks into the centre of the rebel city of Hama. Human rights groups say 140 people have been killed across Syria since Sunday - most in Hama. Robert Fox: Assad cannot hope to win the impending civil war In pictures: Inside Syria BOMB ATTACHED TO AUSTRALIAN TEEN 'A HOAX'Australian police say a 'bomb' attached to 18-year-old Madeleine Pulver, which took 10 hours to remove, was part of a "very, very elaborate hoax". She had been at home in Sydney when an intruder attached the apparent bomb to her neck in what may have been an extortion attempt. Sydney schoolgirl collar bomb was 'elaborate hoax' ITALY 'BOUND TO DEFAULT' AS DEBT CRISIS CONTINUESItaly is "bound to default" but Spain "has a real chance" of avoiding it, a report from the British think tank the Centre for Economic and Business Research reports today. Both the eurozone and the US continue to struggle with debt crises despite the US debt ceiling deal. Kate MAKES VANITY FAIR BEST DRESSED LIStThe Duchess of Cambridge has been included on the 72nd annual Vanity Fair magazine Best-Dressed List, it was revealed last night. She had "captivated the world with her signature mix of high and low fashion". Also on the list is the "runaway bride" of Prince Albert of Monaco, Princess Charlene, former Olympic swimmer. GOVERNMENT e-Petitions website crashesThe government's new e-petitions website crashed on its first day as hundreds of campaigns were launched. Some activists, including blogger Guido Fawkes, called for a return of the death penalty, but others demanded the opposite. There were also petitiions to leave the EU, televise courts and give rape defendants anonymity. First Reaction: death penalty uk holds Interest rates at 0.5 per cent The Bank of England has left interest rates at their record low of 0.5 per cent for the 29th month in a row. It has also made no change to its £200bn quantitative easing programme. The decisions were expected following poor GDP growth figures of 0.2 per cent in the last quarter. No interest rate hike until 2012, say experts 60 per cent of teens highly addicted to their phone Nearly half of teenagers (12- to 15-year-olds) and more than a quarter of adults (over 16s) now have smartphones such as Apple's iPhone, an Ofcom survey has revealed. Sixty per cent of teens say they are "highly addicted" to their phone with nearly half admitting to using it on the toilet. HEATHER MILLS SAYS PHONE was HACKED BY MIRRORHeather Mills, ex-wife of Sir Paul McCartney, has told the BBC's Newsnight that in 2001 a Daily Mirror journalist quoted to her from voicemails left by the former Beatle. Former Mirror editor Piers Morgan referred to listening to a similar voicemail from McCartney in an article for the Daily Mail in 2006. Piers Morgan hits back at Mills phone hacking claim sales boost for hacker's READING MATTERThe book that Shetland Islands teenager Jake Davis was photographed clutching as he left Westminster Magistrates Court charged with hacking for Anonymous, has received a sales boost. Free Radicals: The Secret Anarchy of Science rose 2,627 places up the Amazon bestseller list to number 182 within 48 hours. SPIDER-MAN MORPHS INTO MIXED-RACE TEENMarvel Comics yesterday unveiled a new half-black, half-Latino Spider-Man to replace the recently killed-off Peter Parker. Named Miles Morales, he debuts in Ultimate Fallout Issue 4 as a nerdy teenager from Brooklyn, New York.