Newslip Episode 21 31.05.09

Welcome to Newslip. Today is Sunday, 31st May 2009. I’m Wesley Gerrard and here are the stories making this week’s news…

A 61-year old Briton has been killed in a hot air balloon crash in central Turkey. Ten others were injured in the incident, including nine other British tourists and the balloon operator. The balloon was conducting a tour of the Cappadocia region which is popular with tourists for its cone-shaped rock formations, rock-carved underground cities and early Christian churches. The balloon fell from a height of 200m and an investigation is under way to determine the cause of the crash.

Manchester United has lost the Champions League Final against Barcelona. Samuel Eto’o’s early goal in Rome was enough to keep the United team well subdued for the game in which Barcelona dominated. Lionel Messi scored later to seal the win with a two-nil score line. The victory meant that Barcelona won a treble. The FA cup final between Chelsea and Everton was won by Chelsea after they came from a goal behind to win 2-1 and was the icing on the cake for Gus Hiddink in his last game in charge of the club before he returns to manage the Russian national team.

Gay marriage has been outlawed in America’s most populous state, California. In demonstration against the Proposition 8 vote, 3000 gays and lesbians marched across California to their support base in Fresno. They are comparing their plight to that of US Civil Rights activists in the 1960s. Despite the outcry against the amendment, Proposition 8 was democratically decided with more than 70% voting to ban homosexual wedding ceremonies. Those wedded prior to the introduction of the law will be able to retain their statuses.

A one-armed multi-millionaire is currently standing trial in Moscow accused of a botched murder attempt on a rival in his silver Rolls-Royce. Vladimir Barsukov is reputed to be the last gangster at large in Russia out of those criminals that benefitted from the collapse of communism to extend vast organised crime networks that penetrated every Russian institution. Indeed Barsukov has business links to Vladimir Putin from his time as deputy mayor of St. Petersburg. He has been compared to Al Capone for his actions during Russia’s mafia wars. Barsukov, at the height of his power, had 2000 armed foot soldiers. He lost his arm in an assassination attempt on him in 1994. At his trial, the 53 year old gangster is protected by a bulletproof glass cage. He stands flanked by his lieutenants and is claiming that he is a high level political victim. He stated that he has no-one to answer to but God.

A mother has been reunited with her son, Gavin, after 27 years due to him appearing on facebook. Avril Grube of Poole, Dorset, claimed that her son was kidnapped when his Hungarian father, who had visiting rights, said he was taking him to the zoo, then disappeared back to Hungary with him. Grube’s sister was surprised when doing a Google search for her nephew’s name, discovered he had a facebook profile. Initial emails went unresponded as Mr Paros hadn’t logged into his site since October. But after his Auntie started contacting his children, he replied, and has been reunited with his estranged mother. His father died in 2006 and is mother is now in poor health. After years of protest involving contacting Margaret Thatcher and the Hungarian embassy to no avail, the social network site has produced a success story for this family.

The Pakistan defence secretary, Syed Athar Ali, has declared that government forces are successful in their operations against Taliban insurgents in the Swat valley with only about 5-10% of their job left before they have successfully cleared the risk of Taliban fighters in the region. The army had recaptured Mingora, the main city in Swat, and say that only a hardcore element of Taliban fighters remain. Out of revenge for the Swat offensive, the Pakistani Taliban bombed Lahore, the two bomb blasts killing 5 and injuring 30. Also in Lahore a suicide bomber killed 24 people and injured 300 a day prior to the Taliban bomb blasts.

The British Lion rugby tour of South Africa has gotten underway with a hard fought 37-25 victory over a Royals XV, who led 18-3 at halftime. Irish fly half Ronan O’Gara, paved the way to victory with a try and seventeen points from his boot. The Lions have a total tour schedule of ten matches, including three tests against South Africa. Their shaky start bodes badly for the tour outcome. Injury losses to the squad, including Welsh centre Tom Shanklin; mean that their stiff challenge to succeed will be more difficult. The 1997 tour to South Africa resulted in a 2-1 test victory and after the whitewash on the last tour to New Zealand; the Lions will be hoping to satisfy their multitude of travelling supporters with flowing rugby and healthy victories.

A manhunt for British Tycoon, Alan Griffin, is underway after his Polish girlfriend, Kinga Legg, was found murdered in their suite at the Hotel Le Bristol in Paris. Her bloodstained body lay amid a wreck of furniture and the crimson-coated hotel room was said to be due to a fisticuffs following a big champagne binge. Griffin, who made his money as a tan salon and mobile phone ringtone entrepreneur, made haste from Paris in his black Porsche, which was later recovered from near his parents’ home in Cheshire. He had been planning a seaborne getaway. He turned up at Shepperton Marina in Surrey and demanded that repairs on his speedboat were hurried up. When it became apparent that this would not be possible he inquired about making a quick purchase of a cabin cruiser. Apparently he also purchased a satellite navigation system and maritime charts for the waters of Britain, Ireland and Europe. The search for the murderer of the high flying Polish vegetable seller continues.

A British mother has gone to the European Court of Human Rights after she was branded ‘not clever enough’ to look after her three year old daughter. The woman has been certified by a psychiatrist to have no learning difficulties and ‘good literacy and numeracy and that her general intellectual abilities appear to be within the normal range’. However, it has been felt by social services that the complex medical care needs of her daughter cannot be addressed by the mother who is known as Rachel. The twenty-four year old can at the moment visit her daughter at the foster carers', but plans are for the visits to reduce in frequency and eventually stop. Social services allowed the parents of Baby P to continue looking after their child, which eventually led to his death. Yet at the same time, they are prepared to go to lengths to break up the family unit and give into adoption a baby whose mother has been certified capable of care. John Hemming, the liberal democrat MP, has taken up Rachel’s cause and is hoping that the system sees sense.

And this week’s top story…

North Korea has added to the controversy surrounding its satellite launch last month by claiming to have successfully detonated a nuclear bomb. The underground test was detected by seismologists after it triggered an earthquake in the region. It is believed to be on the same scale as the American bomb dropped on Hiroshima at the end of World War 2 and is significantly larger than the one previously tested in 2006. In addition to the tests, it was reported that several ballistic missiles were also launched from a base on North Korea’s east coast. China, a staunch ally of North Korea, and who supply up to 90% of the isolated country’s electricity and 40% of its food, condemned the tests along with most of the international community. Pyongyang made a declaration that its troops were prepared for war, a situation that bids ominously for its South Korea neighbour, as well as other countries in Southeast Asia.

That’s all for Newslip. Thanks for tuning in. See you again next week… Goodbye.

Newslip Episode 20 24.05.09

Welcome to Newslip. Today's date is Sunday, 24th May 2009. I'm Wesley Gerrard and here are the stories making this week's news.

17 alleged Al Qaeda members have been arrested in Bilbao, northern Spain. Mostly Moroccan and Algerian nationals formed the Islamic Maghreb cell. Spain suffered a major Al-Qaeda-inspired terror attack in the capital Madrid in 2004, when a total of 191 people were killed and 2,000 were injured when 10 rucksack bombs exploded in four crowded commuter trains. Twenty-one people, including a number of North Africans, were sentenced to over 40,000 years in jail for their roles in the attack.

Justice was meted out to those responsible in the death of Baby P who we now know as Baby Peter. He died in a bloodstained cot at the age of seventeen months at his north London home in August 2007. His mother received a minimum sentence of ten years, though that makes her eligible for parole in three and a half years time. The male lodger, Jason Owen, who lived in the house received a minimum sentence of six years and the boyfriend of the mother, who was recently handed a life sentence for the rape of a two year old girl, was given an additional twelve years. The NSPCC have been among the numerous campaigners to have condemned the leniency of the sentences. At a time when Peter should be attending school, his mother could be potentially free, having been responsible for the horrific death of a toddler which has shocked the nation. Already there have been numerous complaints of how the parents have managed to legally disguise their identity. Home Secretary Jack Straw has been busy defending the sentences.

The English Premiership season has concluded with an exciting showdown for clubs at the bottom. Showcased as ‘Survival Sunday’ Two out of four clubs faced joining West Brom in the drop zone. All four teams involved lost their games, meaning that Sunderland and Hull City survived but Newcastle United and Middleborough took the plunge. Manchester United were making the headlines last week for winning the premiership but at the end of the season all the media attention has been drawn to Newcastle who are the biggest side to be relegated since Leeds United. New boss and Tyneside Messiah, Alan Shearer, is unsure whether he will be heading the Magpies as they attempt the arduous task of escaping from the Championship next season.

Iran celebrated the beginning of its official election campaign period with the launch of a missile capable of reaching Israel and American bases in the Gulf. The surface-to-surface Sejil 2 missile with range of 2000km compliments the even more far-reaching Shahab 3 missiles already in the arsenal. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has criticised the launch saying that combined with Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the launch threatens the very existence of Israel. Saudi Arabia also feel threatened as due to the fall of the Iraqi regime, there is a power struggle in regional hegemony and the Shia government in Iran are potentially hostile to the Saudis. However, when we constantly hear of Iran in the Western media in terms of its military hostility, we ignore some of the facts. Iran only actually spends 2.5% of its GDP on its military whereas Israel spends 7.5%, Saudi Arabia 10% and the USA 4.5%. Iran has also hit the headlines after suspending facebook in the runup to their elections.

The MPs expenses row continued to plague the media. More resignations have been forced upon politicians with the most high profile casualty being the speaker of parliament, Michael Martin, whose position became untenable after leading politicians blamed him for protecting MPs from previous scrutiny to their requisitioning of public funds. Michael Martin has been the first speaker in 300 years to be removed from his position. He receives automatic entitlement to a peerage which is being hotly contested by members of the House of Lords who feel that he has let parliamentary democracy down and don’t want him corrupting the upper tier of British government.

An Egyptian judge ordered contruction tycoon Hisham Talaat Mustafa and retired policeman Mohsen al-Sukkari hanged for respectively ordering and carrying out the brutal slaying of the Lebanese pop star, Suzanne Tamim, in a luxury Dubai apartment in July. The singer, whose throat was slit, was the lover of the businessman, who has strong links to Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party. The brutal slaying was ordered after Tamim tied the knot with Iraqi kick-boxing champion Riyad al-Azzawi, whom she met at London's renowned Harrods department store. The police officer who arrested the hitman testified that the assassin said in interrogation that Mustafa asked for Tamim's severed head to be delivered before he paid for the killing.

A Royal chauffeur has been suspended after giving two undercover journalists a tour of Queen Elizabeth II's official cars at Buckingham Palace. The News of the World reporters were posing as wealthy Middle Eastern businessmen and made contact with the chauffeur through his Lithuanian prostitute girlfriend. They published photos of them sat in the Queen’s Bentley and also a video of the car pool tour. The chauffeur, who is originally Trinidadian, is responsible for the latest in a long line of security gaffes, which have involved other reporters getting jobs as footmen and Osama Bin Laden impersonators gaining access to royal property. At the time of the car tour the Queen was officially in residence and police chiefs have expressed their dismay at how easily security was breached.

An Indonesian military Hercules aircraft has crashed while attempting to land at a base in East Java. 107 people were on board and including two people on the ground, 101 people died in the accident. Eyewitnesses reported hearing thunder-like explosions as the plane plunged from the sky, smashing into houses before finally bursting into flames in it resting place in a rice paddy. Fourteen children died and many soldiers and airmen. This is the latest in a string of incidents that have plagued Indonesian aircraft since 2007. The lack of investment in military hardware has been blamed. Indonesian aircraft are banned from European airspace due to their extensive crash history.

English adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, who suffers from vertigo, has scaled Everest at the age of sixty-five. He becomes the first man to cross both polar ice caps in addition to climbing the world’s highest peak. During his previous attempt at reaching the summit of Everest, Fiennes suffered a heart attack. He is the oldest Briton to reach the summit. At the top he declared "This is the closest you can get to the moon by walking." He said that he felt dreadful. His achievement was done to support the Marie Curie cancer care charity.

And this week's top story...

The Roman Catholic church has been hit by scandal after an inquiry into child abuse at Catholic institutions in Ireland has found church leaders knew that sexual abuse was "endemic". More than 2,000 told the Commission they suffered physical and sexual abuse while at institutions during the sixty year period of investigation. The five-volume study concluded that church officials encouraged ritual beatings and consistently shielded their orders' paedophiles from arrest amid a "culture of self-serving secrecy". There will be no legal proceedings as a result of the inquiry as the Christian Brothers successfully sued the commission in 2004 to keep the identities of all of its members, dead or alive, unnamed in the report.

That's all for Newslip. Thanks for tuning in. See you again next week. Goodbye.

Newslip Episode 19 17.05.09

Welcome to Newslip. Today's date is Sunday, 17th May 2009. I'm Wesley Gerrard and here are the stories making this week's news.

Pope Bendict XVI has made a tour of the Holy Land, visiting sites of importance to all three of the monotheistic faiths. He addressed Jews though they felt that he wasn’t apologetic enough for the holocaust. The Pope is a German and was part of the Hitler Youth movement in Bavaria during the war. He has previously made controversial remarks about Islam though as he met Muslim leaders in Jerusalem he spoke of the need for good multifaith relationships and made strong calls for the creation of a separate Palestinian nation. Christians are flocking out of the troubled holy land, feeling persecuted by bolh sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Pope gave a mass at the Kidron valley where most Jews and Christians believe to be the location of the Final Judgement.

The American/Iranian journalist who was jailed for eight years on spying charges has been released after an Iranian court upheld an appeal to reduce her sentence. Roxana Saberi flew out of Iran four days after the successful appeal and is now recuperating in Vienna. During her stay at Evin prison near Tehran she went on hunger strike for two weeks and was hospitalised. Originally Miss Saberi had been arrested for purchasing a bottle of wine which is illegal under Sharia law. It is not known whether the former Miss North Dakota was used as a makeweight in any political deal between Iran and the USA.

Manchester United have won the English Premier League with a game to spare after they drew with Arsenal at Old Trafford, putting them a point clear of second place Liverpool who cannot mathematically catch up any more. The season has been a close race and draws Man United level with Liverpool with 18 league titles. United have already won the Carling Cup and World Club Championship and go on to face Barcelona in Rome for the European Cup final.

Burmese pro-democracy leader, Aung Sun Suu Kyi, has been arrested and put in prison for breaching the conditions of her house arrest. An American man, John Yettaw, swam the lake surrounding her home and spent two days in her house where she has been held for about nineteen years. Burma’s military junta are allegedly looking for a pretext to continue holding the dissident nobel peace laureate during the forthcoming 2010 elections. Her house arrest was due to expire at the end of May. Human rights activists are constantly putting pressure on Burma for Aung Sun Suu Kyi’s continuing detention and she is one of the most famous political prisoners in the world. Her lawyers are arguing that as she did not invite the man to her house ( he was an uninvited guest), she had not broken the strict laws governing her detention.

A 27 year old woman has been arrested after a hit and run incident in Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol. Eleven year old Sam Riddall was killed after a white Ford Focus Estate car mounted the kerb and ploughed into him as he walked home from youth club with a group of friends. The boy’s parents appealed for the driver to come forward after the car failed to stop after the incident. After Avon and Somerset police released an image of the driver, Hannah Saaf was arrested and denied bail until she appears before Bristol Magistrates Court, charged with death by dangerous driving, failing to stop and driving without insurance.

There has been controversy in Guatemala after the murder of lawyer, Rodrigo Rosenberg. The dead man left a Youtube video alleging that Guatemala’s president, his wife and his staff, were responsible for the crime. Groups have taken to the streets to demand the removal of Alvaro Colom, who denied responsibility for the crime, saying that it was just an effort to destabilise the government. He went on to claim that it was just a video and that there was no evidence for the crime. The lawyer was gunned down in the street whilst riding his bicycle. Guatemala has one of the highest murder rates in the world and as a key route for drug smuggling into the USA, it is notoriously corrupt and drugs money taints the highest of officials.

The commander in charge of the American military in Afghanistan, General David D. McKiernan, has been fired by the Obama administration. The general was seen to be too conventional in his methods and his policies are seen as having failed in the ongoing insurgency against Taliban and Al Qaeda forces. Counterinsurgency methods have been advocated and the man who replaces McKiernan is a veteran special operations officer, Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal . It is envisaged that in order to break the military stalemate, more future support will be offered to US-backed local militias. War in Afghanistan is notoriously difficult and throughout history many superior fighting forces have been defeated during prolonged guerrilla style campaigns in the difficult terrain.

Catherine Masters, a 109 year old woman from Oxfordshire, wrote a letter of complaint to the Queen after she noticed that in five of the least nine birthday cards she has received from Buckingham Palace, HRH Elizabeth II was wearing the same dress. To respond to one of the eldest of her subjects, the Queen sent around a special surprise to the Grange Care Centre. There was a knock on the door and it was the Queen’s grandson, Prince William, sent to offer a personal apology. The shocked Mrs Masters spent the day teaching the future King how to make shepherd’s pie. It is a tradition for the Queen to send birthday cards to those who reach their one hundredth birthday. William invited his new friend to a garden party at the Queen’s home where the lady can discuss a change to the card she expects to receive for her 110th birthday in November.

The row over MPs second home allowances continues to rage after the Daily Telegraph went on publishing expenses claims. Tory MPs and Liberal Democrats were included and readers have been horrified to hear of taxpayers’ money being used to pay for the repair of moats and maintenance of swimming pools. There have been resignations and vows of repayments as transparency sent MPs on the retreat as public outcry demanded that their abuse of power ceases. There has been pressure on parliamentary speaker Michael Martin to resign and public disillusionment with parliament looks likely to produce some shock results in forthcoming European elections with minority parties such as the BNP likely to benefit from the people’ fallout with the major parties.

And this week's top story...

The 26 year old civil war in Sri Lanka has finished as the surrounded Tamil Tiger separatists declared a ceasefire from their tiny enclave in the north of the island. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has already declared victory though his army claim that there are no civilians left in the enclave and see no need for them to accept the ceasefire. They want to continue and annihilate the remaining fighters who want peace to preserve the life and dignity of the Tamil people. Mass graves have been discovered this week and the final fighting has been brutal. On the streets of Colombo, people are rejoicing and an official government announcement of the conclusion of hostilities is expected early next week.

That's all for Newslip. Thanks for watching. See you again next week. Goodbye.

Newslip Episode 18 10.05.09

Welcome to Newslip. Today’s date is Sunday, 10th May 2009. I’m Wesley Gerrard and here are the stories making this week’s news.

An engagement party in Turkey was interrupted by gunmen and 44 people, including the future bride and groom, were mown down. The shootings occurred after a longstanding blood feud boiled over. As well as arguing over clan land, the assassination party believed that the bride had been promised to their clan as payment for a previous rape, but instead had been given over to an enemy family. To avenge the dishonour, with their government weapons, as they formed part of a government militia to control violence in the Kurdish region, they turned a day of family happiness into one of pure tragedy. There were three pregnant women among the murdered guests. Abdulkadir Celebi , his four sons and three other relatives have been arrested over the incident. It was the biggest single attack on civilians Turkey has ever seen.

A right wing American shock jock has appeared on the British home secretary’s list of undesirable American citizens and has been banned from travelling to the UK. Michael Savage broadcasts a talk show from San Francisco to 10 million people nationwide across the USA. In his show he regularly stirs up controversial debates on ‘Anal rights’, ‘Islamo-Fascism’ and other liberal causes. He has promised to sue Jacqui Smith for defamation and feels that being included on the list alongside Hamas bus bombers and Nazi skinheads is unjustified. Critics of the UK government’s decision have said that by Savage’s inclusion unnecessary publicity is being brought to his cause.

Scotland’s biggest paedophile network has been thwarted. Eight people faced charges in an Edinburgh court after an indecent picture of a child on a work computer led police to discover 125000 images. They traced the ring who used to discuss their sick fantasies on the internet. Neil Strachan, 41, who is HIV positive, was found guilty of the attempted rape of an 18 month old boy. James Rennie, 38, was found guilty of sexually assaulting a three month old. The other men were found guilty of an array of perverted charges. The family of a victim talked of how Strachan befriended their family and unknown to them over a period of fifteen years abused their children and made them available to other members of his network. All eight men will be sentenced at a later date.

The Champions League Final in Rome on 27th May will be between Barcelona and Manchester United after both teams were successful this week in their respective semi-finals. Cup holders Man United had a comprehensive 4-1 aggregate victory over Arsenal. Barcelona secured their place in a much narrower way, going through on away goals after a 1-1 aggregate score against Chelsea. It was in the last couple minutes of the match that Andrés Iniesta scored the decisive goal at Stamford Bridge. The match was marred with controversy after the game when Chelsea players, most notably Didier Drogba, harassed the referee, blaming him for his poor decisions. Chelsea had three penalty claims throughout the match which weren’t awarded. Chelsea players and supporters believe that there was a UEFA conspiracy to not allow two English teams in the final again. Match referee, Tom Henning Ovrebo, was smuggled out of Britain and now has round the clock police protection at his Norwegian home.

The government will be deleting the DNA profiles of 850 000 innocent people from their database. However, civil liberties groups claim that new data retention measures do not go far enough. Currently the government holds details of 4.5 million people on their database. The profiles of those arrested but not charged for minor offences will be retained for a period of six years or twelve years in the case of serious violent or sexual crimes. It is likely that the government will face further court action despite the European Court forcing them to make this current climbdown. The Home Secretary suggested that the DNA database was worthwhile as it had helped solve 390 000 crimes since 1998.

A senior White House Aide has resigned after he clandestinely arranged for the President’s jet, Air Force 1, to make a low pass over New York City, in a publicity stunt. During the flyby, where the jet was accompanied by a fighter jet escort, the workers of New York fled in panic as the presence of the low-flying jet rekindled memories of September 11th. Panic spread across the city and the stunt, which cost about $300 000 to arrange, brought embarrassment to Barack Obama who was only made aware of the incident through the media. His White House Military Director Louis Caldera felt that his irresponsible actions made his position untenable.

Actress Joanna Lumley’s campaign for justice for the Gurkhas has continued with her high profile campaign leading her to a meeting with the Prime Minister. Gordon Brown. He is under pressure after a commons defeat for the government over the issue and promised he would reassess the situation by the end of May. The actress leads the fight for Gurkha resettlement rights after the Gurkhas protected her father from the Japanese army during the Second World War. The Nepalese regiment, it appears, has other high profile support after Lumley revealed that a senior member of the Royal family had written to her, supporting the cause.

The row over MPs expenses has continued with the Daily Telegraph serialising a series of articles detailing individual MP’s expense bills. The biggest hitting headline included the £6000 paid by Gordon Brown to his brother to arrange for a cleaner for his second home. John Prescott had charged the taxpayer to install some mock Tudor beams on his country home. The expenses detail show that MPs have been keen to claim taxpayers money for some really bizarre expenses including nappies and the needlework repairs of Chinese rugs. Some are threatening legal action against the Telegraph for inaccuracies in its articles. Overall it is widely perceived that the whole expenses row has damaged the government.

The worldwide Swine Flu pandemic continues. Mexico relaxed its shutdown policy and schools and workplaces reopened this week. The worldwide spread of the virus continues and the WHO state that the USA has more cases than any other country. There are 2254 cases reported there and there have been three American deaths due to the disease. There have been 48 deaths out of 1626 infections in Mexico. There is approximately 50 infected people in the UK. The panic of a mass spread of the disease has died down a little though the imminent danger has not yet completely passed.

And this week’s top story…

Afghanistan President Karzai and Pakistani President Zardari had trilateral talks in Washington with President Obama about the ongoing conflict with the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the Asian region. Karzai criticised US air attacks which have killed many Afghan civilians. Pakistan, which has been accused of providing a safe haven to terrorists, beefed up its actions against the Taliban, which are threatening to overthrow the Pakistani regime. Pakistani government forces are fighting a prolonged battle against Taliban insurgents in the northwest Swat Valley region, a Taliban stronghold. The situation here has caused a mass exodus of refugees. It Is feared that should the Pakistani Taliban succeed in their goals of gaining control of the country, a powerful cache of nuclear weapons will fall into some very dangerous hands. Pakistan and Afghanistan have strained relations though it is hoped that the trilateral talks will help bring the countries closer together.

That’s all for Newslip. Thanks for tuning in. See you again soon. Goodbye.

Newslip Episode 17 03.05.09

Welcome to Newslip. I'm Wesley Gerrard and today's date is Sunday, 3rd May 2009. Here are the stories making this week's news.

A five day shutdown of parts of the Mexican economy is in operation to help prevent the spread of the Swine Flu which originated there. Non-essential public services have halted and many public buildings like restaurants and cinemas have also closed their doors. There are over 300 cases of Swine Flu in Mexico. It is believed that the epidemic is on the decline in Mexico now though it is feared that it could resurface during a cold spell. Mexico’s economy is already ailing and will be badly hit by the outbreak of this virulent disease.

The six year British military mission to Iraq has ended in an official ceremony at Basra. The 20th Armoured Brigade lowered the Union Jack and handed over the reins to the US Army. There was a total of 179 British deaths during the conflict and subsequent occupation. Prime Minister Gordon Brown hailed the UK troops' efforts as a ‘success story’. Opposition called for an immediate postwar inquiry to be held into why British troops were there in the first place. Other voices of criticism included the Stop the War Coalition who have always regarded British troop presence in Iraq as pointless. The BBC's John Simpson says many ordinary Iraqis in Basra are worried that the Americans who will replace the British will be much more aggressive.

A Royal parade for Holland’s ruling family ended in chaos when an assassination attempt was made resulting in the deaths of five people. A 38 year old man driving a black Suzuki Swift went at high speed through police barriers, narrowly missed the royal family’s open top bus and crashed into a memorial column, having taken out several spectators during his efforts. The Royal family looked on in shock as the incident unfolded. The incident occurred at Apeldoorn, a small town 90km south-east of Amsterdam. The event marked celebrations of Queen’s Day, for Queen Beatrix’s birthday. Queen Beatrix addressed the nation to express her dismay. The driver was badly injured but survived and faces a life sentence in jail for the attempted assassination.

The good news is that we can, according to weather forecasters, expect a British summer heatwave this year with temperatures soaring to 40 degrees centigrade. The bad news is that as many of 10000 deaths are predicted due to the intense heat and the government are preparing to put people on high alert. Up to 35000 people were killed across Europe during the 2003 heatwave, 2000 from Britain. The erratic climatic conditions look set to heat things up though as ever with long range forecasts there is a high degree of speculation at work. A hot one this year would certainly make up for last year’s non-event of a summer.

The McCann family marked the second anniversary of the loss of their daughter, Madeline, who went missing during a family holiday at Praia da Luz in the Portuguese Algarve. They published a photo of how she might now look two years on from when the four year old was taken from her parents. They also made a high profile appeal on the Oprah Winfrey show in America. Detectives in Portugal are now concentrating their efforts on the immediate vicinity of the town where Maddy disappeared after corroborated reports suggest a man was seen carrying a small girl similar in appearance to Madeleine near the McCann’s holiday apartment.

The government has won a series of votes on planned MPs' expenses reforms, after it agreed to delay a decision on controversial second homes allowances. Gordon Brown backed down on his original decision made during his episode on Youtube which claimed that he would be scrapping the second homes allowance in favour of a non-receipted attendance allowance. There has been much controversy recently over MPs claiming taxpayers’ money for silly expenses such as for adult films or patio heaters. The proposed changes are believed by the PM to be the most significant changes to expenses in 25 years. His opposition see his climbdown as another sign of weakness.

The trial of a pregnant Briton in Laos has been brought forward. Samantha Orobator, 20, faces charges of heroin trafficking which carries a potential sentence of death by firing squad. The woman who is originally Nigerian but who lived in Britain for twelve years and is a British citizen was found last August at Wattay Airport allegedly with 600g of the drug after a holiday in Thailand and the Netherlands. She became pregnant in December during her stay at the notoriously harsh prison. Her lawyers claim that the bringing forward of legal proceedings makes her defence difficult to arrange.

Ricky ‘The Hitman’ Hatton fought Filipino, Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas. Before the fight Hatton commented ‘This fat, beer-drinking Englishman is going to shock the world again’. Shock the world he did. He was downed twice in the first round, displaying a lack of defence. In the second round, the hard, fast-hitting Filipino caught the celebrity Brit with a perfect left hand knockout punch which sent Hatton unconscious to the ground where he lay dazed for a good couple of minutes. He spent the night mourning the loss of his world title in the local hospital and it is predicted tthat he will be forced into retirement after the worst defeat in a 45 and 2 professional career.

The family of Baby P who we now know as ‘Peter’ have hit headlines again. Baby P was the baby that social services critically failed to protect when he died of neglect at the hands of his mother and stepfather. His stepfather, Steven Barker, was found guilty in court over the rape of a two year old girl. The girl, who is now four, gave evidence to the Old Bailey becoming the youngest ever witness before the court. Her video evidence confirmed the sickening incident to the jury as she used a teddy bear and a doll to demonstrate the trauma she had been forced to endure. The jury were unaware of the man’s relation to the Baby P case. The results of the trial draw into question again the activities of social services who failed to protect the youngster in a similar way to how they failed to protect Baby Peter. It is believed that either Steven Barker or his paedophile brother are being held at Belmarsh prison where they are given round the clock protection from vigilantes.

And this week's top story...

The World Health Organisation announced that it was no longer possible to contain the spread of Swine Flu. Emitting from Mexico the disease has spread to sixteen countries across the world as travellers returning home have started to affect local people with human to human transmission of the deadly virus. The H1N1 strain known as Swine Flu has emerged previously in recent history. The worst medical holocaust since the Black Death killed between 20 and 100 million people in 1918-1919. This was twice as many who died during the First World War. At that time half of the world’s two billion people were infected. In Western Samoa 90% of the population was wiped out. The flu at this time was called Spanish flu but an alternative name was the Swine Flu with which it is now being tagged. Governments across the world have been put on high alert and are stocking up on medical supplies should the crisis worsen.

That's all for Newslip. Thanks for tuning in. See you again next week. Goodbye.