Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 21 Nov 2014

1. UKIP VICTORY COULD CHANGE POLITICS

Ukip has won another by-election, prompting party leader Nigel Farage to predict more victories and analysts to say the right-wing party may change British politics for ever. Incumbent Mark Reckless, who stood for re-election after defecting from the Conservatives, took the seat with a 2,920 majority over Tory rival Kelly Tohurst. Labour was a distant third.

Ukip's Mark Reckless savours victory at Rochester and Strood

2. LABOUR MP QUITS OVER FLAG TWEET

Labour MP Emily Thornberry has resigned from the party’s front bench after being accused of "snobbery" and being "derogatory" by colleagues. Thornberry sent a tweet from the campaign trail in Rochester showing a terraced house with three English flags and a white van parked outside it. Labour leader Ed Miliband called it "disrespectful".

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Thornberry's house tweet and five other bizarre resignations

3. OBAMA’S RESCUE FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Barack Obama has pushed measures through, bypassing the US Congress, which will allow up to five million of the country’s 11 million illegal immigrants to apply for work permits. The majority to benefit will be immigrants living in the US for at least five years who have children living there legally.

Executive orders: how a US president can rule by decree

4. OSBORNE DROPS EU BONUS CAP CHALLENGE

Chancellor George Osborne has dropped his challenge to EU legislation which caps bankers’ bonuses, saying he did not intend to waste public money on a campaign which he believed was “now unlikely to succeed”. The cap restricts bonuses to 100% of salary, or 200% with shareholder approval.

5. SHEFFIELD UNITED DROP CHED EVANS

Sheffield United have retracted their offer to allow former player and convicted rapist Ched Evans, who still maintains his innocence, to train at the club, after an outcry from patrons including athlete Jessica Ennis-Hill. She said she wanted her name taken off a stand if the unrepentant Evans returned to the club.

Rapist Ched Evans returns to training: is frenzy 'disgraceful'?

6. WIGAN ATHLETIC OWNER ACCUSED OF RACISM

Dave Whelan, the owner of Wigan Athletic, is under investigation by the FA over remarks about Jewish and Chinese people. Whelan has apologised after saying that Jews "chase money" and referring to Chinese people as "chinks" in an interview. He made the comments as he defended new manager Malky Mackay, accused of sending sexist, racist and homophobic texts messages.

7. ANDY COULSON RELEASED FROM PRISON

Former News of the World editor Andy COulson has been released from prison after serving five months for conspiracy to hack phones. Coulson, who also worked as David Cameron's director of communications, was sentenced to 18 months in July. He was released from Hollesley Bay jail in Suffolk after 20 weeks. He is believed to be wearing an electronic tag.

8. TWO DIE IN LONDON BALCONY COLLAPSE

Two men have died after a balcony gave way outside a flat in Knightsbridge, west London. Six other people were injured when railings gave way on the balcony in Cadogan Square. It is thought the men who died were removal men, and the accident happened as they tried to winch a couch up to the first floot apartment in the exclusive red-brick block.

9. TAPEWORM LIVED IN MAN’S BRAIN FOR YEARS

British doctors have removed a tapeworm from inside a patient’s brain. The one-centimetre creature, a rare parasite sometimes accidentally transmitted by Chinese traditional medicine, had travelled five centimetres during the four years it had lived inside the 50-year-old man’s skull.

10. HOT TICKET: BIOPIC GET ON UP

A new biopic about legendary American soul singer James Brown, Get On Up, opens in UK cinemas today. Chadwick Boseman stars as Brown, who rises from an impoverished childhood to become the world-famous Godfather of Soul. "Stylish and engrossing," says Empire.

Get On Up - reviews of 'thrilling' James Brown biopic