Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 9 Feb 2012

1. ARAB LEAGUE TO RETURN TO SYRIA

Ban Ki-moon, head of the UN, says the Arab League will revive its mission to Syria. The monitors pulled out last month amid escalating violence but Ban said they had asked the UN for help to mount a return, possibly with a joins special envoy heading the programme. He said the UN was ready to help.

Syria: US says military options 'may not be avoidable'

2. LANSLEY 'ISOLATED' AS NHS BILL FALTERS

The Times reports that David Cameron gave only "qualified" backing to health secretary Andrew Lansley yesterday as the NHS reform bill faltered on its first visit to the Lords. A cabinet reshuffle is expected before the summer. And it has emerged that senior Tories begged Cameron to drop the bill six weeks ago.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Cameron stands by deadbeat Lansley – but for how long?

3. GREECE AGREES AUSTERITY CUTS

The leaders of Greece's main political parties have agreed to a package of austerity measures demanded by the IMF and EU in return for a €130bn bailout. Greece would not give any details about the thorniest issue, pension cuts, ahead of a meeting of eurozone finance ministers tonight. Unions have already promised a 48-hour strike in protest.

4. MILLS DENIES PLAYING MORGAN VOICEMAIL

Heather Mills has told the Leveson Inquiry that she did not give Piers Morgan permission to listen to a voicemail message from her then husband, Paul McCartney in 2001. Morgan has said he was played the message but would not say how. Mills also showed the inquiry home video footage of harassment by paparazzi photographers.

Steve Coogan and Campbell accept NotW hacking payouts

5. NEW ENGLAND COACH COULD BE FOREIGN

Spurs manager Harry Redknapp has emerged as favourite to succeed Fabio Capello as England boss, who quit over the FA's decision to strip John Terry of the captaincy over racism allegations. Stuart Pearce will become caretaker manager and FA chairman David Bernstein has refused to rule out appointing another foreign coach.

Capello ended up a disaster, England will not mourn him

6. HIMALAYAS 'LOST NO ICE IN LAST 10 YEARS'

A new study, the largest yet made, has stunned climate researchers by showing that the Himalayas and nearby peaks have lost no ice in the last decade. While their glaciers are melting at lower altitudes, enough ice has been added to compensate higher up. The polar ice caps were, however, found to be melting.

7. HARRY PASSES APACHE PILOT COURSE

Prince Harry has passed an Apache helicopter training course with flying colours to become a qualified co-pilot and gunner in the two-man chopper. He is likely to be deployed to the front line of Afghanistan to fight the Taliban as early as this autumn. The 27-year-old even won an award for excellence.

8. BBC: WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH OLDER WOMEN...

Writing in the Daily Mail, BBC director-general Mark Thompson has admitted that there are "manifestly too few older women broadcasting on the BBC". He says he hopes an employment tribunal being brought by former Countryfile host Miriam O'Reilly, 54, will be an "important wake-up" for the BBC.

9. ...BUT WE'LL HAVE JORDAN ON NEWSNIGHT

Glamour model and ghost-written novelist Katie Price, aka Jordan, was an unlikely guest on the BBC's Newsnight last night. She talked breast implants with Jeremy Paxman in the wake of the PIP implants scandal. Price, who had her first boob job at 18, said the age limit on the procedure should be raised to 21.

10. HOT TICKET: LUCIEN FREUD PORTRAITS

A Lucien Freud retrospective opens at the National Portrait Gallery today. The show features over 100 of the late artist’s uneasy, unflattering but masterful portraits, many never publicly exhibited. The Guardian calls it “unmissable”. Until 27 May.