Newslip Episode 8 01.03.09

Welcome to Newslip. I'm Wesley Gerrard. Today is St.David's Day, Sunday, 1st March 2009. Here are this week's Newslip stories...

Manchester United have lifted the first silverware of the football season after beating Tottenham Hotspur in a penalty shootout in the Carling Cup Final. The match was level at nil-nil after ninety minutes and an extra 30 minutes of extra time could still not separate the sides. Tottenham missed two penalties in the shootout, allowing Anderson to score the winning penalty to win 4-1. It sets Manchester United on their way to a possible quadruple this season.

Missiles fired by US unmanned aircraft have killed seven people close to Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. Two missiles reportedly struck a house in Sararogha, in South Waziristan, and the dead are believed to include suspected militants. Apparently the Taleban were active in the house at the time of the attack. US Drones are part of high tech warfare operations in Afghanistan.

The British film industry had massive success at this year's Academy Awards. Slumdog Millionaire won a total of eight Oscars including best director and best picture. British actress Kate Winslet also scooped best Actress award. In a rare occurence, a posthumous Oscar was awarded to Heath Ledger for best supporting actor for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight.

An Australian surfer has been attacked by a shark at a North Sydney beach, the third such attack in as many weeks. The teenager has severe lacerations to his leg and is lucky as in one of the other attacks the victim lost his limbs. It is believed that a ban on commercial fishing and hence a rise in fish stocks, has attracted the sharks to the area. One of the attacks was at Bondi beach, the first such attack in 80 years.

At Athens' highest security prison, two of Greece's most wanted men have staged a daring helicopter escape. It is the second time in three years that serial armed robber and kidnapper Vassilis Paleokostas and his Albanian sidekick Alket Rizai have fled the prison. They were imminently due to stand trial for their previous attempt. The helicopter used in the raid was fired upon by prison guards. It was left abandonned on a highway leading up to the Greek mountains where it is believed the men have sought refuge.

An international court has been set up at The Hague in the Netherlands to try the suspected killers of assassinated Lebanese Primie Minister, Rafik Hariri. Just after the killing in 2005, 4 pro-Syrian generals were held. It is expected that Lebanon will hand over these suspects for the trial. A bomb blast ripped through Hariri's convoy killing a total of 22 people. The finger has pointed to Syrian involvment which Damascus denies and it is expected that the trial will reveal more details.

Corpus Christi College, Oxford, have beaten Manchester University in the final of University Challenge. However, the BBC are investigating claims that one of their team members was ineligible for the show as he left the college during the summer and works as an accountant after he failed to secure funding for his PhD. The Corpus Christi captain, Gail Trimble, who answered 75% of her team's questions throughout the series, has been making headlines and has been dubbed 'the human google' after her awesome displays.

A government watchdog has questioned the efficiency of many over the counter cold remedies in treating children under the age of twelve. In all 36 remedies have had to withdraw being sold to children under six after the MHRA released its study findings. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said that most remedies had little positive effect on children under the age of twelve and recommended children's colds to be treated traditionally with little more than paracetamol and hot honey and lemon.

The government have revealed controversial plans to part-privatise the post office, breaking part of their election manifesto. Postal unions are up in arms about the decision and have the backing of many labour backbenchers. There is a need for private cash to fill the massive gap in postal workers pensions. It is hoped that foreign companies with experience in privatised postal services will be able to help streamline the inefficiencies that reside in our system. Business secretary, Lord Mandelson, has accused the unions of 'scare tactics'.

And this week's top story...

Conservative leader, David Cameron, was hit by family tragedy this week when his six year old son, Ivan, died. His disabled son suffered from cerebral palsy and an extreme form of epilepsy called Ohtahara syndrome. As a mark of respect, Prime Minister's questions in the House of Commons were suspended. David Cameron paid tribute to the joy his son brought him and paid thanks to the many messages of sympathy he had received. Through his time looking after Ivan, Mr Cameron was given an insight into the running of the NHS and he has become a staunch supporter of the health service.

Thanks for tuning in. That's all for this Newslip. Until next week. Goodbye.

Newslip Episode 4 01.02.09

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Welcome to Newslip. I'm Wesley Gerrard. Today is Sunday, 1st February 2009 and here are this week's news stories...

The funeral took place of Bill Stone, the last British serviceman to have seen active duty in both world wars. Mr Stone lived to be 108 and during the wars, served in the Royal Navy, which he originally joined in 1918 on his eighteenth birthday. He died peacefully in a care home surrounded by his family.

Brazil and Manchester City striker, Robinho, who recently was fined by his club for walking away from an international training camp, was charged on Tuesday for an alleged sexual assault on a girl in a Leeds nightclub. Robinho, whose £32.5 million pricetag makes him the most expensive player in Britain, has strenuously denied any wrongdoing and is making no further comment as the investigation continues.

The coldest winter in thirteen years is ongoing as icy winds threaten to plunge Britain into subzero temperatures. Snow from Russia will be falling Sunday night and will become more widespread across England & Wales by Monday with drifts between 5 and 10 cm to be expected.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom warned at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, that financial protectionism is a greater danger than trade protectionism in the current global economic crisis. He told participants that cooperation between major powers and global financial institutions is vital to ensure a continued flow of credit to developing and smaller countries, which are likely to be the biggest victims of the recession.

Steelmaker Corus has announced that it is to cut 3500 jobs worldwide, including 2500 in the UK. Corus' plans include 'mothballing' part of their site at Llanwern in Newport meaning the loss of 600 jobs. They hope that they will be able to implement a voluntary redundancy scheme. Global steel demand has fallen 40% from its peak last year and Corus' orders have hence fallen by a third.

An Iraqi sculpture of a shoe at an orphanage in Saddam Hussein's hometown, Tikrit, has been dismantled after being unveiled last Thursday. The sculpture, a homage to the Iraqi journalist who launched his shoes at Mr Bush, was taken down on the orders of local authorities. Muntadar al-Zaidi is still being held, awaiting trial for his actions for which he faces a possible 15 year jail term.

Up to 2.5 million people took part in demonstrations in France on Thursday as the nation ground to a halt through strike action. People were angered by the government's failure to deal with the current economic crisis. In Paris, police met protestors with repeated baton charges, and after fires were lit on some of the capital's best-known boulevards, they used tear gas on the minority of protesters who were violent.

The House of Lords has fallen into disrepute after a secret Sunday Times investigation revealed Lord Truscott to offer an undercover reporter the opportunity for him to hire the peer to change legislation in the house, in return for a cash payment. Three other lords were also revealed to be operating similar bribe schemes. Calls have been made for the House of Lords to be subjected to similar laws as affect the lower House of Commons.

Communist North Korea has accused Seoul of hostile intent and as a result has scrapped all military and political agreements with its Southern neighbour. The North, angry with new South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, says that it is at the brink of war. The two Korean states are still technically at war because their three-year conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953.

And this week's top story...

US President Barack Obama has reacted angrily to reports that US bank executives paid themselves $18 billion in bonuses last year. At a time when American unemployment figures are at the highest level ever recorded and when taxpayers money is being used to bail out the financial services industry, he said that bonuses were shameful.

Thanks for tuning into Newslip. See you all next week. Goodbye.

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Newslip Episode 1 11.01.09

Welcome to Newslip, your brief weekly news update. I am Wesley Gerrard. Today is Sunday the 11th of January 2009 and this is our inaugural episode. In this week's news we have ten stories to present to you... If you want to see the site in its original context please visit the main website Also the site can be seen at Youtube and Myspace A record chill has been felt across Europe with at least seventeen lives being claimed across the region. Most of southern France is blanketed in snow and Milan in Italy has had to shut its two airports. In Eastern Germany, a weather station recorded temperatures dropping as low as minus 27 degrees centigrade. Conversely, temperatures in Australia are soaring, as it experiences an extremely hot summer heatwave. The siege of the Saudi oil tanker, the Sirius Star, has finally ended after owners of the plighted ship arranged for a plane to parachute a $3 million ransom to the Somali pirates which have held the crew hostage for the past two months. Two Britons were among the 25 strong crew and reports suggest that they are both safe and well. English cricket was hit by a storm on Wednesday when the relationship between captain and coach became untenable. Kevin Pietersen resigned as captain due to the breakdown and coach Peter Moores was sacked. Andrew Strauss has been appointed as the new permanent captain. Film star, Patrick Swayze, has been admitted to hospital, suffering from pneumonia. Earlier this week he spoke on an ABC news interview about his battle with pancreatic cancer. The star of Ghost said: 'Am I dying? Am I giving up? Am I on my death bed? Am I saying goodbye to people? No way.' Despite his comments he admitted that he expected to be dead within two years. A Tory activist was expelled from the party after boasting to friends on his facebook page how he dressed up as the missing girl, Madeleine McCann, at a New Years Eve Party. Matthew Lewis apologised to Madeleine's incensed parents and his position as branch chairman of Staffordshire's Conservative Future is now listed as vacant. The Head of MI5, the British secret intelligence service, Jonathan Evans, warned that the decline in economic power of the West, due to the international recession, could be a watershed moment in the maintenance of domestic security. As the balance of economic power shifted away from the West, Mr Evans predicted that new threats would emerge. As well as the ongoing rise of Islamic fundamentalist activity, the MI5 chief suggested that there has been a rise in spying by growing economic powers such as Russia and China. After a dispute over payments by the Ukraine for their gas supplies, Russia cut off all supplies of the raw material to their neighbours. This had a knock-on effect across Eastern Europe as Ukraine is the transit route for gas pipes from Russia to Europe. During the particularly cold spell which has hit the continent, many homes across Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and Serbia have been left without their energy. An accord has now been reached between the leaders of the disputing countries and the gas supply is expected to be resumed shortly. Manchester United and Portugal football star, Cristiano Ronaldo, who, during the summer was branded by FIFA chief, Sepp Blatter, as a wage slave, crashed his Ferrari this week in a tunnel at Manchester airport. As the wreckage of the sports car was cleared from the road, the uninjured Ronaldo went to training with his teammates at the United training ground. Police are yet to decide on whether or not to prosecute the 23 year old for dangerous driving. Video footage has emerged of Prince Harry in which he brands one of his colleagues in army barracks as a 'Paki'. In the same video he is heard calling another fellow army cadet a 'raghead'. The third in line to the throne has previously hit headlines after offending Jews when he turned up dressed as a Nazi at a party. Harry has apologised for his comments and claims that they were taken out of context. And this week's top story... We have entered the third week of the bloody Israeli invasion of Gaza and the number of dead has dramatically increased since Israel launched the ground offensive against Hamas insurgents. The number of civilians killed, however, has been prolific, especially since the attack on a school as well as an alleged bombardment of a UN aid convoy. The total number of Palestinian fatalities is now in excess of 850 whereas only 13 Israelis have died. Both sides rejected a UN resolution for peace and embassies across the world have been besieged by infuriated demonstrators. Of course, the really big news this week is that Newslip has been launched. We hope you enjoyed the program and will continue to support us in the future. We are also available on You Tube, Podomatic, Myspace, Facebook and have several blogs as well as the newslip.co.uk website. We'll be back next week to update you all. Good bye.