Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Tuesday 29 Nov 2011

1. OSBORNE CUTS PUBLIC SECTOR PAY

Chancellor George Osborne has announced in his Autumn Statement that public sector pay rises will be held at 1% for 2013 and 2014 and that government borrowing will be £112bn higher than expected over the next four years. This year's growth forecast is down from 1.7% to 0.9% and next year's target is now just 0.7%. However, the country should avoid another recession.

Sombre Osborne: it’s bad and a euro crash will make it worse

2. BRITISH EMBASSY IN TEHRAN ATTACKED

Anti-British protesters in the Iranian capital, Tehran, have stormed the British embassy, smashing windows, burning the flag, and chanting "death to England". They attacked the building after a demonstration turned violent. Two days ago Iran's parliament voted to reduce diplomatic relations with Britain in the row over its nuclear programme.

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Iranian mob storms UK embassy in Tehran

3. NEWSPAPERS 'DO NOT SEEK THE TRUTH'

Guardian journalist Nick Davies has told the Leveson Inquiry that News of the World reporters, not investigator Glen Mulcaire, hacked messages from Milly Dowler's phone. He also said he no longer supported press self-regulation. Earlier former Daily Star reporter Richard Peppiatt said he made up stories and said the tabloids were not "truth-seeking enterprises".

4. MARMITE SPILL CAUSES M1 JAM

Police have closed the M1 near Sheffield after a lorry carrying 23.5 tonnes of yeast extract, believed to be Marmite, spilt its load over the road. The Highways Agency has now reopened the closed stretch of motorway, between junctions 32 and 33.

5. STALIN'S DEFECTING DAUGHTER DIES

The only daughter of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin has died of cancer in a care home in America, aged 85. Svetlana Alliluyeva, also known as Lana Peters, denounced communism and described her father as "a moral and spiritual monster" after defecting from the Soviet Union in 1967. She wrote four books, including two best-selling memoirs.

Stalin's daughter dies at 85, 'a prisoner of her father's name'

6. BRITAIN BRACES FOR STRIKE

Two million people are expected to take part in tomorrow's strike over pension changes in the public sector which could close 90% of schools and cause disruption at hospitals and airports. Unison has warned of "further action" early next year. Minister Michael Gove says union leaders are “militants itching for a fight”.

Why private sector workers should support the strike

7. BREIVIK 'INSANE' SAY PSYCHIATRISTS

Norwegian mass-murderer Anders Breivik is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia according to psychiatrists. They have concluded that he was in a psychotic state on July 22 when he killed 77 people and injured more than 150 on a gun rampage. Doctors also said he was insane during the 13 interviews they had with him.

8. HOUSE PRICES STILL RISING

House prices rose by 0.4 per cent in November, according to Nationwide, which says the value of property has "remained surprisingly resilient in recent months". Over the past year, prices have increased by 1.6 per cent. However, the building society expects prices to fall slightly or flatten out over the next 12 months.

UK house prices rose again in November says Nationwide

9. WOMAN ARRESTED AFTER 'TRAM VIDEO'

A woman has been arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence after a video of a tram passenger launching a racist rant went viral on the internet. The video, entitled 'My tram experience', shows a woman with a child on her lap hurling abuse at passengers on the Croydon to Wimbledon tramlink.

Woman arrested as racist tram rant video goes viral

10. HOT TICKET: COMEDY OF ERRORS

Shakespeare’s madcap comedy of mistaken identities opens tonight at the National Theatre. Lenny Henry, recently praised for his Othello, stars as one of the long lost twins, separated at birth, but finally crossing paths during a series of hilarious mishaps in a baffling yet magical foreign city. Until 1 April 2012.

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