Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 12 May 2014

1. ‘POLL VICTORY’ FOR UKRAINE REBELS

Pro-Russian separatists have claimed victory in a controversial referendum for self-determination in the east of Ukraine, saying 89% were in favour of splitting. Ukraine had described the ballot as a “criminal farce” organised by Russia, while the US and EU said they were illegal. The vote was largely peaceful.

Ukraine rekindles Nato aspirations, angering Russia

2. BOKO HARAM SHOWS VIDEO OF MISSING GIRLS

Militant Islamist group Boko Haram has released a video it says shows many of the schoolgirls it kidnapped in Nigeria. The group says it will not release the 200 girls until Nigeria frees Boko Haram prisoners. Earlier a special adviser to the Nigerian president, Gooluck Jonathan, said the country would not pay a ransom for the girls.

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Suicide bomber kills 47 at school assembly in Nigeria

3. RICHARD AND JUDY IN SUICIDE PACT

TV presenters Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan have agreed a suicide pact. The couple, famous for presenting This Morning, told the Daily Telegraph that they had pledged to give each other "a little push to go over the edge" should either of them fall seriously ill. Madeley said it was "your responsibility as a partner".

4. GARY BARLOW TOLD TO HAND BACK OBE

Former Take That singer Gary Barlow and two other band members are facing having to pay millions of pounds in tax after a court ruled that a partnership in which they invested was a tax avoidance scheme. There have been calls for Barlow to return his OBE - but David Cameron has said it is not necessary.

Gary Barlow should keep OBE despite tax scheme - Cameron

5. MENTAL HEALTH COST OF AFGHANISTAN WAR

The charity Combat Stress says there has been a “significant increase” in the number of UK veterans of the Afghanistan conflict seeking treatment for mental health problems. Last year, 358 ex-servicemen and women sought help for post traumatic stress, anxiety or depression, compared to just 228 in 2012.

6. THREE DIE IN KAYAKING ACCIDENT

The bodies of three men, all from the same family, have been recovered from the river Tyne after they went disappeared after going out kayaking on Sunday. The two brothers, aged 41 and 40, and their cousin, aged 36, did not return home after their trip to Hexham in Northumberland. Police said the river was "higher than usual and fast-flowing".

7. HARRIS 'ASSAULTED GIRL DURING HOLIDAY'

Entertainer Rolf Harris indecently assaulted a friend of his daughter when she was just 13, a court has heard. The woman, now in her 40s, described Harris as "pretty creepy" and said he assaulted her while she was on a holiday with the family in Hawaii. Harris, now 84, denies 12 counts of indecently assaulting her and three other girls between 1968 and 1986.

8. HUGE CAR BOMB DISCOVERED IN DUBLIN

A massive car bomb was discovered in Dublin, hours before the Giro d'Italia cycle race arrived in the city police have confirmed. The 500lb fertiliser bomb was hidden inside a milk churn in a car parked outside a hotel. It was armed and would have caused "carnage" if it had exploded. A man from Belfast has been arrested.

9. ENGLAND WORLD CUP SQUAD ANNOUNCED

England football manager Roy Hodgson has put his trust in youth, selecting several inexperienced players in his 23-man squad for next month's World Cup in Brazil. Ten of the squad have ten caps or fewer. Southampton teenager Luke Shaw takes the place of Ashley Cole in the squad while Everton midfielder Ross Barkley and Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling are also selected.

Shaw, Barkley and Sterling in England World Cup squad

10. HOT TICKET: SHAW’S TESTAMENT OF MARY

A stage adaptation of Colm Toibin's novel The Testament of Mary has opened at the Barbican, London. Fiona Shaw stars as Mary, narrating the story of Jesus’s last days before his crucifixion and her own escape to Ephesus. “Shatteringly brilliant,” says The Independent. Until 25 May.

Testament of Mary – reviews of ‘masterful’ Toibin adaptation