Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 18 Apr 2014

1. S KOREA FERRY: CAPTAIN ‘NOT AT HELM’

The captain of the South Korean ferry which sank this week with 475 passengers on board was not at the helm when the disaster happened, investigators say. He may not even have been on the bridge at the time. Instead, the third officer had control. A total of 268 people, many of them schoolchildren, remain missing.

South Korea ferry verdict: Sewol captain escapes death penalty

2. OBAMA WARNS PUTIN OVER UKRAINE DEAL

Barack Obama says the US will not count on Russia sticking to the terms of a deal over Ukraine, involving disarming protesters, worked out at talks in Geneva “until we see it”. He warned that the west was ready to impose further sanctions on Russia if no progress were made towards de-escalating the crisis.

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3. AUTHOR GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ DIES

Nobel-prize winning Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez has died at the age of 87 after years of dementia. The novelist was sometimes credited with inventing magic realism - and with starting a Latin American fiction boom. His first novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, was considered his greatest.

4. SIX GUIDES DEAD IN EVEREST AVALANCHE

Officials in Nepal say at least six people have died, with another nine missing, after an avalanche just above the Mt Everest base camp early this morning. The men were Sherpa guides fixing rope for climbers. An official said four bodies had been recovered and two more were being dug out of deep snow.

5. PISTORIUS WITNESS MAKES FACEBOOK ‘JOKE’

An expert witness in Oscar Pistorius’s murder trial who endured a bruising cross-examination from prosecutor Gerrie Nel has claimed a Facebook update he accidentally made public was “a joke”. The post said: “Let's see how much of my credibility, integrity and professional reputation is destroyed... After that, beer!"

Oscar Pistorius out of legal options as request to appeal rejected

6. LABOUR HIRES OBAMA STRATEGIST AXELROD

David Axelord, an election strategist who masterminded Barack Obama’s entry to the White House in 2009, is to oversee Ed Miliband’s 2015 general election campaign. He is to work alongside shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander - and Labour will also call upon his consulting firm, AKVD, for assistance.

7. BULLIED CHILDREN ‘STILL SUFFER AT 50’

Children who are bullied at school can suffer ill effects as adults, even to the age of 50, a major study by King’s College London has found. Researchers tracked 7,771 children born in 1958 from the age of seven. Those frequently bullied were at greater risk of depression and anxiety and reported lower quality of life.

8. MOST EARTH-LIKE PLANET YET FOUND

A planet detected by scientists using the Kepler telescope is the most similar to Earth yet found orbiting a distant star. Nearly 1,000 ‘exoplanets’ are now known but the new discovery, named Kepler 186f, is the closest in size and temperature to our own. It has the potential to hold liquid water, an essential for life.

Is Saturn about to give birth to a new moon called Peggy?

9. DAVID CAMERON STUNG BY JELLYFISH

David Cameron was reportedly stung by a jellyfish while swimming off Lanzarote yesterday. According to the Daily Mirror, the PM was seen clutching his arm and yelling in pain after ignoring warnings from locals. Witnesses said he first got his children out of the water but then decided to get back in himself.

10. HOT TICKET: TOM HARDY'S LOCKE

British film drama Locke opens in UK cinemas today. Tom Hardy stars as a construction manager forced to tackle a series of personal and professional crises during a road trip from Birmingham to London. With Olivia Coleman. "Hardy is riveting," says Empire.

Locke: reviews of Tom Hardy's 'riveting' road movie