Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 28 Mar 2014

1. MH370: PLANES SPOT OBJECTS IN OCEAN

Five spotter planes hunting debris from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have seen objects floating in the new area of the Indian Ocean now being searched. Earlier, new analysis of data, which suggested the plane had been using more fuel than thought, prompted authorities to move the search area 685 miles north east, nearer to Australia.

MH370: mysterious 89kg load ‘added to cargo flight list after take-off’

2. GERMANY BACKS UK OVER EURO ‘FAIRNESS’

Germany has lent its support to the UK over the issue of non-eurozone countries being protected from “systematic” disadvantage in the event of further European integration. George Osborne and his German counterpart, Wolfgang Schauble, have penned a joint article making the point in the Financial Times today.

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3. NEW FIGURES THROW DOUBT ON ‘BEDROOM TAX’

Only six per cent of council tenants whose benefits have been reduced because they have a spare bedroom have gone on to move to a smaller property, the BBC has found, undermining the validity of the government’s flagship welfare reform, dubbed the ‘bedroom tax’ by opponents, while 28% are now behind with rent.

4. POLL: 20% WOULD NOT ATTEND GAY WEDDING

A poll conducted by BBC Radio 5 live suggests one in five Britons would turn down an invitation to a same-sex wedding. Rights group Stonewall said it was positive that four in five people were supportive. Same sex weddings become legal on Saturday, with the first couples tying the knot after midnight tonight.

Same-sex couples to marry at the stroke of midnight

5. REGULATOR CALLS FOR PORN AGE CHECKS

The UK’s video-on-demand regulator, Atvod, is calling for mandatory age checks to be placed on porn sites. It wants the law to be changed so that credit and debit card operators will be forbidden to process payments from sites which don’t comply. One campaigner said the change would be a “worthless gesture”.

Porn sites: are age checks the best way to protect children?

6. KATE BUSH SELLS OUT IN 15 MINUTES

Tickets to Kate Bush's 22-night run of shows at the Hammersmith Apollo later this year, her first tour since 1979, sold out in 15 minutes when they went on sale this morning. The tickets cost between £49 to £135 but were changing hands on eBay and other secondary ticketing sites for more than £1,000 each within hours of the sale.

7. BRITON FOUND DEAD BY BURNING YACHT

Police in the Caribbean island of St Vincent are investigating the death of a British man, John Edward Garner, who was found floating on a life raft near a burning yacht on Wednesday with head and leg injuries and later died in hospital. Foul play has not been ruled out, nor an accidental gas explosion.

8. GAY CAMPAIGNER SUES CHINA GOVERNMENT

A 19-year-old from Hunan Province has become the first gay man to sue China’s government over its stance on homosexuality. Xian Xiaohan has been dubbed ‘Don Quixote’ because of his dogged determination to extract an apology from the authorities after they refused to register his civil rights group.

9. MICHAEL GOVE PERFORMS WHAM RAP

Asked by schoolchildren to give them a taste of his favourites, self-confessed rap music fan Michael Gove quoted some of George Michael’s 1982 Wham Rap. The education secretary described it as “very vanilla” and said he had later in life gone on to enjoy the hip-hop stylings of Public Enemy and Tiny Tempah.

10. HOT TICKET: FAMILY DRAMA THE PAST

French-Iranian drama The Past opens in UK cinemas today. Berenice Bejo stars as a woman whose attempt to divorce and move on from her Iranian husband is complicated by her new partner and her troubled daughter. "A bold, honest film about family life," says The Guardian.

The Past – reviews of 'brilliant' French-Iranian family drama