Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 21 Apr 2016

1. Queen celebrates 90th birthday in Windsor

There have been celebrations around the country to mark the Queen's 90th birthday, with Prime Minister David Cameron leading the tributes in the House of Commons. In Windsor she greeted well wishers and unveiled a 6.3km walkway through the town. There were also royal gun salutes across the UK and the Queen was also due to light a beacon near Windsor at the end of the day.

Queen's 90th birthday: Five highlights from the weekend

2. Obama to warn against Brexit on London trip

Barack and Michelle Obama arrive in London today and will have lunch with the Queen tomorrow to mark her 90th birthday. The US president is expected to lend his weight to the Government's call for an In vote in the EU referendum in June, warning that leaving the union would jeopardise the UK's 'special relationship' with the US.

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3. Mitsubishi shares plummet over fuel scandal

Shares in Mitsubishi fell 20% today, going untraded for most of the session due to the volume of 'sell' orders - and the Japanese firm lost 15% of its market value yesterday. Government officials raided its research and development centre in Nagoya today after the company admitted it faked fuel economy tests for some of its models.

Mitsubishi admits rigging fuel economy on 625,000 cars

4. Comedian Victoria Wood dead at 62

Tributes are being paid to Victoria Wood, the comic actor and writer who rose to fame in the 1980s and was best known for her sketch shows and other TV work. Wood died at home yesterday after a "short but brave" struggle with cancer, her family said. Wood rose to fame in the 1980s and went on to win five Baftas.

Victoria Wood: 'Brilliantly talented' comedian dies at 62

5. Ched Evans face retrial after rape conviction quashed

Former footballer Ched Evans has had his rape conviction quashed at the Court of Appeal after new evidence came to light – but the former Manchester City, Sheffield United and Wales striker now faces a retrial. He was jailed for the rape of a 19-year-old woman in 2012 but his case was later referred to the court by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

Ched Evans faces retrial after rape conviction is quashed

6. More than 2.2 billion at risk in Zika areas

More than 2.2 billion people live in areas of the world which could be at risk of the Zika virus, which causes severe birth defects and is spread by mosquito bites. Researchers have produced a precise global map showing where the disease might spread. In the US, Florida and Texas could sustain the infection in the summer.

7. UK to take 3,000 extra child refugees by 2020

The UK will take in 3,000 child refugees from the Middle East and North Africa by 2020 in what the government claims is "largest resettlement programme for children in the world". That is in addition to the 20,000 refugees the government has pledged to take. More than half the 4.5 million people displaced by the war in Syria are said to be children.

8. Harriet Tubman to appear on US $20 note

Anti-slavery campaigner Harriet Tubman is to become the first African-American woman to appear on US currency, replacing president Andrew Jackson on the $20 note. Tubman was herself a slave. She escaped and then helped others to do so, helping run the so-called Underground Railroad, a network of safe houses.

9. Woman jailed after fake Oxford career

A 34-year-old woman has been jailed for 40 months for conning her parents out of £250,000 over a period of years. Nicola Boardman told her parents she had secured a scholarship to Oxford University to complete a PhD but needed help meeting expenses and conducting research trips. Her father said his retirement was ruined.

Woman cons parents out of £250k by pretending to study at Oxford

10. Briefing: The Taliban spring offensive - myth or reality?

Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds more injured in a coordinated Taliban attack in the centre of the Afghan capital Kabul. The car bomb and gun attack occurred near key ministries and government offices, and marks the beginning of the militant group's annual "spring offensive". But Waheed Massoud, from the BBC's Afghan Service, says the so-called offensive is simply part of a propaganda war. "The group fights all year round and so do the Afghan security forces," he says. "It is the story of the past 37 years."

Dozens killed in Afghanistan as Taliban begins 'spring offensive'