Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Tuesday 14 Apr 2015

1. TORY MANIFESTO: RIGHT TO BUY FOCUS

The Conservatives unveil their election manifesto today, with David Cameron revealing two big pledges about housing at an event in Wiltshire. The Tories plan to extend the Right-to-Buy scheme allowing council tenants to purchase their homes to another 1.3 million families - and build 400,000 new homes.

Conservative manifesto 2015: the policies David Cameron has in store

2. ONE YEAR SINCE BOKO HARAM KIDNAPS

It is one year to the day since Nigerian terror group Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls, causing international outrage and campaigning. Marches are planned to mark the anniversary in Nigerian capital Abuja - and in London, Washington DC and other cities all around the world.

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3. BLACKWATER: IRAQ KILLERS JAILED FOR LIFE

A former employee of the private security contractor Blackwater was yesterday sentenced to life in prison by a Washington DC court - and three others have been given 30 years in jail. Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard murdered 14 Iraqi civilians in an unprovoked attack in 2007.

4. GREENS: WE’LL TAKE BACK THE NHS

The Green Party is launching its election manifesto, promising to “take back” the NHS from the private sector. They also plan a new 60% rate of income tax and a 10% reduction in public transport fares, to be paid for by scrapping major road-building projects. Party leader Natalie Bennett said: “Austerity has failed.”

Green Party manifesto 2015: policies for a 'peaceful revolution'

5. LIQUID WATER 'FOUND' ON MARS

Liquid water exists on Mars, according to evidence sent home by Nasa’s Curiosity Rover from the planet’s surface. While the water hasn’t been seen directly, data suggests it is in the planet’s soil. It had been thought it was too cold for liquid water - but high salt content in soil keeps the freezing point lower.

6. UK OPPOSES BAN ON MAKING KILLER ROBOTS

The UK government is opposing a proposed ban on developing lethal autonomous weapon systems (‘Laws’) - robots which can kill at will - at a UN conference on new technologies such as drones. An international group of concerned scientists and human rights groups has proposed a pre-emptive ban.

7. ALAN TURING NOTE-BOOK SOLD FOR $1M

A notebook written by Enigma code breaker and computing pioneer Alan Turing has been sold at auction in New York for $1,025,000 (£700,850). The rest of Turing’s papers were donated by a friend to King’s College, Cambridge, in 1977 - but this was kept back because of a “deeply personal” message it contained.

8. ROBOT SENDS BACK FUKUSHIMA PICTURES

A shape-changing robot has been abandoned inside one of the melted-down reactors of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant after becoming stuck. The device, which entered in cylindrical form through a pipe and then morphed into a different shape to crawl on the reactor floor, sent back pictures of the reactor.

9. HOW RICHARD III ‘HID’ HIS BENT SPINE

Researchers at the University of Leicester say Richard III hid the fact that he suffered from scoliosis, a curvature of the spine, during his reign. Special tailoring disguised it - until he was killed in battle in 1485 and his body stripped naked. There are no contemporary records of his disease until after his death.

10. BRIEFING: THE ANTI-VACCINE MOVEMENT

Australia is to withhold child benefit from parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated, in what the country described as "a very important measure to keep our children and our families as safe as possible". Experts are concerned that the anti-vaccine movement could reverse decades of progress in eliminating infectious childhood diseases.

'No jab, no pay': should parents be forced to vaccinate their kids?