Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 1 Aug 2014

1. CEASEFIRE COLLAPSES: IDF SOLDIER CAPTURED

A 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire between Hamas and Israil in Gaza collapsed within hours today. Israel says Hamas forces attacked its soldiers as they destroyed tunnels in the territory, and kidnapped one. Gaza officials said Israeli shelling resumed after the incident, killing dozens. Talks aimed at a long-term ceasefire in Egypt have been postponed.

Family of Hamas 'mastermind' killed as Israel-Gaza talks fail

2. CHEMO ‘TO BE OBSOLETE IN 20 YEARS’

Chemotherapy will no longer be necessary in 20 years, say scientists launching a milestone project to find the genes responsible for cancer and rare diseases. Experts say that chemotherapy, with its devastating side-effects, will be replaced by sophisticated medicines that can fix individual faulty genes. The project aims to map the genomes of thousands of people.

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

How pioneering DNA project aims to transform cancer care

3. 30% OF TORIES WANT UKIP COALITION

Nearly a third of Conservative voters would prefer the party to form a coalition with Ukip rather than any other, according to a poll. Some 30% of Tory voters would support a coalition with Nigel Farage’s party. A similar number, 31%, would like to see their party maintaining its coalition with the Liberal Democrats in the event of a hung parliament next year.

4. ROLF HARRIS LAUNCHES APPEAL BID

Rolf Harris, jailed for five years and nine months for a string of sex offences, has applied for permission to appeal against his conviction. The entertainer's lawyers have lodged papers at the Court of Appeal and a judge will decide if there should be a full hearing. Earlier this week the Attorney General decided not to appeal for a longer sentence.

Rolf Harris: victims hit back over 'slimy woodworm' lyrics

5. EBOLA SCARE AT COMMONWEALTH GAMES

A cyclist from Sierra Leone was quarantined and tested for Ebola at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, before being given the all-clear. "All the doctors were in special suits to treat me - they dressed like I had Ebola," Moses Sesay told the Daily Mirror. The WHO has warned that Ebola, which has killed 729 people in West Africa, is spreading too fast to be contained.

Ebola: US suit stockpile causes shortage in Africa

6. EASTBOURNE PIER FIRE WAS 'ARSON'

The fire that gutted parts of Eastbourne Pier earlier this week is thought to have been started deliberately and Sussex Police say that the investigation is "now focusing on that line of inquiry". The blaze on Wednesday destroyed about a third of 300m long structure. The government has pledged around £2m to help rebuild the Victorian landmark.

Slideshow: Eastbourne and Britain's other fire-ravaged piers

7. MH17 INVESTIGATORS FIND HUMAN REMAINS

Dutch and Australian air investigators have found human remains at the site where flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine last month. The discovery was made on the forensic team's first full day at the site after they spent several days waiting for access. Fighting between Ukraine government forces and pro-Russia rebels continues nearby.

Missile that downed MH17 came from Russia, investigation rules

8. UGANDA ANTI-GAY LAWS ANNULLED

A court in Uganda has overruled tough anti-gay laws brought into effect earlier this year, because there were not enough MPs in parliament when they were voted through. The laws allowed life imprisonment for "aggravated homosexuality" and banned the "promotion of homosexuality", but were declared "null and void" by the Constitutional Court.

9. KILLERS TOP CONFUSING LYRIC POLL

The Killers and The Beatles have claimed the top two places in a chart of confusing song lyrics. The Killers' lyric "are we human, or are we dancer" was voted the most confounding line in pop, with the Fab Four’s I am the Walrus, in which John Lennon sings "I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the Walrus, goo goo g'joob", in second place.

10. HOT TICKET: HIDE YOUR SMILING FACES

American indie drama, Hide Your Smiling Faces, opens in UK cinemas today. In Daniel Patrick Carbone's debut feature two young brothers are forced to face their anxieties about life and death when their friend dies in mysterious circumstances. "Lyrical," says the Wall Street Journal.

Hide Your Smiling Faces – reviews of 'lyrical' debut