Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 27 Apr 2015

1. UK GIVES £5M TO HELP NEPAL QUAKE VICTIMS

The UK has contributed £5m to help those affected by the worst earthquake to hit Nepal for 80 years. More than 3,700 are now believed to have died in the 7.8 magnitude tremor which destroyed buildings in the capital, Kathmandhu. Several hundred British nationals are in the country and dozens remain unaccounted for.

Major earthquake hits Nepal for second time in two weeks

2. LABOUR: WE’LL CUT STAMP DUTY TO ZERO

Labour leader Ed Miliband will today announce plans to scrap stamp duty for first-time buyers on homes up to £300,000. The party says the cut would apply to nine in ten first-timers and could save them up to £5,000 each. Labour says the £225m scheme would be funded in part by taxing wealthy property investors.

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Stamp duty: how the new rules affect buy-to-let landlords

3. HIV SELF-TEST GIVES RESULT IN 15 MINUTES

For the first time, a legally-approved self-testing kit for the HIV virus has gone on sale in the UK. The BioSURE HIV Self Test gives a result from a finger-prick in 15 minutes. HIV expert Dr Michael Brady called it a “really exciting development”. It is feared many UK sufferers don’t know they are positive.

HIV home test kit: how does it work and is it reliable?

4. MUSIC BOSS TOPS UK RICH LIST WITH £13.17BN

Len Blavatnik, owner of Warner Music, is the UK’s richest man, with an estimated personal fortune of £13.17bn, according to the Sunday Times’s annual Rich List. For the first time, the Queen – who topped the first list in 1989 – is not in the top 300. There are now 117 billionaires on the list, 80 of them in London.

UK super-rich have doubled wealth since crisis

5. DRUGS TRAFFICKERS FACE EXECUTION

Australia has pleaded with Indonesia to delay the execution of two drug smugglers, after they and seven other death row convicts were given 72-hours notice that they would be shot. Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were convicted in 2006. French trafficker Serge Atlaoui faces execution if his appeal fails.

Bali Nine duo executed: what next for Indonesia and Australia?

6. WIMBLEDON BANS THE SELFIE STICK

Selfie-sticks have been banned from Wimbledon by the All England Lawn Tennis Club. The guide to this year's tournament says the Grand Slam tennis tournament is following the lead of "other major sports and entertainment events and cultural attractions" in banning them. A spokesman said the sticks had "nuisance value".

7. BACON PORTRAITS SET TO RAISE £30M

Two rediscovered artworks by Francis Bacon are expected to sell for £30m when set to go under the hammer in July. The paintings, entitled Self-Portrait 1975 and Three Studies for Self-Portrait (1980), were discovered in a private collection. Before being auctioned off they will be put on display for the first time in London and New York.

Francis Bacon's rediscovered self-portraits up for auction

8. BACK PAIN LINKED TO ‘CHIMPANZEE SPINE’

People with back pain may well have a spine shaped similarly to that of a chimpanzee, according to researchers from the UK and Canada. The team looked at the vertebrae of chimps, ancient humans and modern humans. They found that those with back issues had spines more like the chimps than their own ancestors.

9. STEPHEN HAWKING COMFORTS 1D FAN

Stephen Hawking surprised an audience at an event in Sydney, Australia, by offering comfort for fans of boy band One Direction – some are distraught that member Zayn Malik has quit. Asked what he thought of his departure, Hawking asserted that there may be a parallel universe in which Malik is still in the band.

10. BRIEFING: SURGEON'S HOPE FOR IMMORTALITY

A controversial neurosurgeon who plans to carry out the world's first head transplant has admitted that the final goal of his project is immortality. The procedure has never before been performed on a human, but Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero insists that "we are now at a point when the technical aspects are all feasible". He believes the biggest problems he faces are securing finding and finding a country willing to host the procedure.

Head transplant: how would it work and is it ethical?