Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 29 Jul 2011

published 29 July 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. SARAH PAYNE's MOther may have been HACKedSara Payne, the mother of eight-year-old murder victim Sarah, has been told by police that her phone may have been hacked by the News of the World. The Guardian reported yesterday that the hacked phone may be the one given to Payne (above) by Rebekah Brooks, then NotW editor, to help her campaign for a 'Sarah's Law' to publicise the whereabouts of paedophiles. Brooks said last night "these allegations are abhorrent". Payne hack claim is the final indignity for Brooks MPS 'likely' to recall james murdochMPs have voted against recalling James Murdoch to give more evidence to the committee investigating allegations of phone hacking. However, the chairman of the select committee John Whittingdale said it was "very likely" that he would be asked to appear again if his evidence is contradicted by other witnesses who are being recalled. BSkyB board backs James Murdoch, but for how long? FIRST FUNERALS OF NORWEGIAN SHOOTING VICTIMSNorwegian PM Jens Stoltenberg has described the victims of the Norway shootings as heroes as the first funerals took place a week after the massacre. Politicians joined relatives at a service in Oslo organised by the youth wing of the Labour Party - the target of the attacks. Meanwhile a former English Defence League activist, Paul Ray, admitted his ideology had inspired Anders Breivik. We must be prepared for more Anders Breiviks HEAD OF LIBYAN REBEL FORCES ASSASSINATEDGeneral Abdel Fattah Younes, the head of the Libyan rebel armed forces, was assassinated yesterday as he travelled to a Transitional National Council "judicial committee" meeting in Benghazi. Younes had been a lifelong supporter of despot Col Gaddafi before defecting and was to face questions over his loyalty to the rebels. The TNC said a suspect had been arrested. Was Libya rebel army chief assassinated by comrades? NHS BOSSES are 'WAITING FOR PATIENTS TO DIE'Health secretary Andrew Lansley has accused NHS primary care trusts of "gaming the system" by delaying routine operations as they wait for patients to die or go private. But health service managers say they are under pressure to restrict treatment as they attempt to make £20bn in efficiency savings by 2015. REPUBLICANS ABANDON VOTE ON DEBT ceilingRepublican House Speaker John Boehner last night abandoned a vote on his own bill to increase the US debt limit in return for spending cuts after right-wing Tea Party congressmen refused to support him. The threat of default on the $14.3 trillion US debt next Tuesday is becoming ever more real as the White House, Tea Party and mainstream Republicans all remain at loggerheads. JO YEATES LANDLORD AWARDED LIBEL DAMAGESThe landlord of murder victim Joanna Yeates has been awarded "substantial" libel damages from eight newspapers over allegations made about him during the police investigation into her death. The High Court has also ruled that reports about retired teacher Christopher Jefferies in the Sun and Mirror were in contempt of court. MAID THREATENS STRAUSS-KAHN WITH CIVIL SUITThe New York hotel maid who accuses ex-IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn of attempted rape yesterday threatened to file a civil suit for cash damages if prosecutors drop criminal charges, as is increasingly expected. Manhattan prosecutors have publicly questioned her credibility as a witness. Her lawyer said "what she wants is justice". Alexander Cockburn: Will DA have the nerve to go after DSK? WINEHOUSE’S FATHER HANDS OUT BELONGINGS TO FANSAmy Winehouse's father Mitch yesterday astonished fans of the singer, who died last Saturday at 27, by handing them items of her clothing and trinkets outside her Camden home. He had gone to the house to organise her effects, and left with notebooks of new songs now worth a fortune, a guitar, and a pair of ballet slippers in his back pocket. "Amy would have wanted this," he said. The destruction of Amy: a proper Greek tragedy cat that looks like hitler can't find a homeStaff at an animal charity say they have been unable to rehome a six week old kitten because she looks too much like Hitler. The kitten was found abandoned by the A421 in Cambridgeshire. Her black and white markings led staff at the Wood Green animal shelter to christen her Kitler, but now they fear her markings are putting people off.