Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Wednesday 11 Jan 2012

1. ROMNEY TRIUMPHS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

With 95 per cent of the votes in last night's New Hampshire Republican primary counted, the clear leader was Mitt Romney on 40 per cent. Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman were second and third. No-one except a sitting president has ever equalled Romney's feat of taking both Iowa and New Hampshire.

US election industry in crisis as Mitt Romney romps home

2. CAMERON AGAINST SCOTS INDEPENDENCE

David Cameron and Ed Miliband have both urged Scotland to reject calls for independence after First Minister, Alex Salmond, said he would hold a referendum in the Autumn of 2014. Cameron told MPs he believed "passionately" in the Union, despite agreeing to allow a vote within 18 months. Miliband said independence would be economically damaging.

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Independence for Scotland: a few wee questions

3. IRAN NUCLEAR SCIENTIST ASSASSINATED

An Iranian nuclear scientist has been assassinated in a bomb attack in Tehran. Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan was a deputy director of the commercial department at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility. He is the fourth Iranian nuclear scientist to have been assassinated in the past two years. Tehran has blamed Israeli agents for all of the deaths.

Iranian nuclear scientist killed as drums of war beat louder

4. BRYAN FERRY MARRIES 29-YEAR-OLD

Suave Roxy Music frontman, Bryan Ferry, who is 66, has married for the second time. He wed PR woman Amanda Sheppard on January 4 with a simple private ceremony on the Turks and Caicos Islands, it has emerged. She is 37 years his junior. Ferry told a newspaper his four sons think he is "rather supercool".

In pictures: ageing rock stars and their young squeezes

5. 'MARIJUANA CAN BOOST LUNG FUNCTION'

A new study has found that mairjuana is not as harmful to the lungs as tobacco and smoking the drug infrequently can even boost their efficiency. The findings are contained in a report led by universities in San Francisco and Birmingham, Alabama. Researchers collected data from more than 5,000 American adults for more than 20 years.

6. MAIL GETS 400 PIPPA PICTURES A DAY

The picture editor of the Daily Mail has told the Leveson Inquiry that the paper receives up to 400 pictures of Pippa Middleton every day from paparazzi photographers and agencies, but does not publish them. Paul Silva said the Mail only used pictures of celebrities that had been "taken in the proper way".

Daily Mail gets '400 pictures of Pippa Middleton every day'

7. BOOM TIME FOR ITALIAN MAFIA

Not everyone is suffering in global economic crisis – the mafia is making a killing in Italy. A new report by an employers' association finds that the four mafia groups have spread their tentacles out of their southern heartlands across the country and together form "Italy's biggest bank" with 65bn euros liquidity.

Euro debt crisis makes Mafia ‘Italy’s number one bank’

8. MI5 PRAISED AS TOP GAY EMPLOYER

Until 1989 homosexuals were not recruited as spies by the UK security services because they were thought to be too easy to blackmail - but now MI5 has been listed by Stonewall as one of the top-100 gay-friendly employers in Britain. Ranked at 62nd, the agency beats both the Arts Council and Hackney Council.

MI5 beats Arts Council in gay-friendly employer ranking

9. UK FILMS 'MUST BE MORE MAINSTREAM'

A report commissioned by the Government and carried out by former Labour culture secretary Lord Smith is expected to urge the UK's filmmakers to produce more commercially-oriented work when it is published on Monday. The PM will stress the same message on a visit to Pinewood studios today.

Cameron in deep water over demand for UK blockbusters

10. HOT TICKET: PAJAMA COMEDY

After successful shows in Edinburgh and the Soho Theatre, the US comic duo Pajama Men have transferred to the West End. Their show ‘In the Middle of No One’ combines stand-up, sketch and physical comedy. The Guardian calls it “comic bliss”. Until 3 March at the Charing Cross Theatre.