Newslip Episode 26 05.07.09

Welcome to Newslip. Today’s date is Sunday, 5th July 2009. I’m Wesley Gerrard. Here are the stories making this week’s news.

At least 13 people died in a horrible accident in Northern Italy when a train carrying liquid petroleum gas derailed and exploded. At least 36 people were injured, 15 of those are in a critical condition. Most of those affected lived in local houses. The accident happened near the train station in the Tuscan seaside town of Viareggio, about 350 kilometres north of Rome. Eyewitness Gianfranco Bini said, "We saw a ball of fire rising up to the sky. We heard three big rumbles, like bombs. It looked like war had broken out." Firefighters battled overnight to contain blazes started by at least three explosions. Over a thousand people were evacuated from their homes.

Former England soccer star, Michael Owen, has committed one of football’s cardinal sins. The former Liverpool schoolboy who went on to carve worldwide fame for himself while at Liverpool, caused massive upset when he left the Merseysiders for Real Madrid. After a relatively unsuccessful period at the Bernabeu, Owen returned to England, to Newcastle United. Newcastle have just been relegated and out of contract Owen signed for Manchester United. The rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester means that there is very little movement of players between the clubs. Owen, a former winner of the Ballon D’Or, and once regarded as one of the best strikers on the planet, has in recent years had a loss of form, with many nasty injuries and has also lost his place in the national team. Maybe the new European Champions believe that they can reignite this once great player’s career?

Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs, 79 and in poor health, was denied parole after Justice Secretary Jack Straw vetoed the decision which was supposed to have released him. In 1963 Biggs was part of a gang which robbed a Glasgow to London mail train and escaped with £2.6m in used bank notes, the biggest haul of an era when many criminals became celebrities. In 1964 Biggs escaped from Wandsworth prison and began a life on the run which ended in 2001 when he left his refuge in Brazil and returned to Britain where he began a jail sentence. Throughout his years on the run, Biggs regularly courted the media and even appeared as a guest vocalist on a Sex Pistols song. In recent years his health has declined and he is currently being treated at a Norwich hospital. He son spoke of the heartlessness of the Justice Secretary, not to release a man on compassionate grounds. It is Biggs’ dream to die a free Englishman in his own country and he has appointed lawyers who are questioning the legality of Jack Straw’s decision.

Two German Shepherd police dogs have died after being left in a hot car by their handler. The dogs were found dead in a police car parked outside Nottinghamshire's force headquarters in Arnold at 2.15pm on Wednesday. The Independent Police Complaints Commission is deciding on whether or not to allow the RSPCA to investigate the matter. The maximum sentence for causing unnecessary suffering to an animal is six months in prison and a £20,000 fine. Nottinghamshire Police said the handler has not been suspended. It can take just 20 minutes for a dog to die and temperatures reach over 40 degrees in some vehicles. On the day of the incident temperatures hit 29.4 degrees centigrade in Nottingham. It is believed the dogs' handler was not on duty at the time and had called in to the force's headquarters at Sherwood Lodge, leaving the dogs to over-heat in the parked car.

The National Express franchise of the East Coast mainline announced that it had run out of money for the year and the government stepped in and nationalised the stricken rail service. The rail economy, although private, is heavily dependent on the state of the economy as user figures are very closely correlated with it. The economic conditions of three years ago when National Express made a successful bid were soon to change and what was considered a medium risk venture has now collapsed. The Transport Secretary threatened to also immediately take two other National Express franchises into state ownership. Lord Adonis went on to say, “It is simply unacceptable to reap the benefits of contracts when times are good, only to walk away from them when times become more challenging.” There were reports that National Express offered the government £100 million in cash in order to end the contract. National Express are better known for their ventures in national coach travel.

Mourning for the dead pop singer Michael Jackson continued. The family announced that there would be no public showing of the body. There was a scramble for lottery won tickets to the Michael Jackson memorial with 8500 lucky ‘winners’ instantly putting their tickets up for auction. Jackson’s will made preparations for the care of his children. He stated that if his mother were unable to look after the three kids then they should be handed over to Diana Ross’ care. It is believed that his ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, intends to fight a custody battle. Recent video footage of the star’s gruelling preparations for his forthcoming tour were released. Fellow superstar Madonna gave a special tribute to Michael Jackson, fittingly at the O2 Arena in London where Jackson had intended to begin his final farewell concerts…

British police have called off their 45-year search for the last missing Moors murder victim Keith Bennett. Bennett was just 12 when he became the third victim of notorious killers Myra Hindley and Ian Brady in June 1964. Hindley and Brady killed a total of five youngsters between 1963 and 1965 before burying them on Saddleworth Moor, Greater Manchester. Bennett was the only victim whose remains were never found. Bennett's mother Winnie Johnson, 75, was devastated by the police decision to end the search for her son. Brady, 71, remains in Ashworth high security hospital in Liverpool. Hindley died aged 60 of a heart attack while in jail in 2002.

The sole survivor of Yemenia Flight 626 could barely swim and didn't have a life jacket. When Bahia Bakari's airplane crashed into the stormy Indian Ocean this week, killing 152 other passengers and crew, the 12-year-old girl suddenly found herself in the watery darkness. She could hear the voices of other passengers, but couldn't see anyone, including her mother who perished. For 13 hours, Bahia clung to debris until she was rescued. Back now in France with her father Kassim, he commented, "I would never have thought she would have survived like this. I can't say that it's a miracle, I can say that it is God's will." Research has been produced that apparently sitting towards the rear of an aircraft encourages your chances of surviving a crash so the advantages of flying first class and business class do have certain drawbacks…

A tower block fire in South London left six people dead including a three week old baby and two children. About 30 people were rescued from the fire at the 12-storey Lakanal House on the Sceaux Gardens Estate, Camberwell. The blaze started on the ninth floor, at 1620 BST on Friday. Of the 30 people rescued, 15 were taken to hospital for treatment, including three who died. Fire bosses believe it will take "weeks if not months" to establish how the blaze, in south-east London, happened and the whole area was being treated as a crime scene so many people weren’t allowed to return to their homes. Harriet Harman MP, whose constituency includes the tower block, said it was "clearly a very tragic situation".

And this week’s top story…

The lawn tennis championships at Wimbledon have concluded for yet another year. The weather throughout the tournament was surprisingly good with Britain experiencing an early summer heatwave. Serena Williams upstaged her big sister, Venus, in a closely fought Ladies Singles final. Serena turned on the heat in the final set, winning four games in a row to finish with a score of 7-6, 6-2. Her victory makes a mockery of the world rankings system which states that Dinara Safina is the best player in the world despite having not won a grand slam. In the men’s tennis, Britain’s great hope did as well as Tim Henman had done previously, by making it to a semifinal. But unfortunately for the excited strawberry eating, cream-slurping fans, Murray got knocked out by Andy Roddick. Federer went on to win the final after a prolonged battle with Roddick which never seemed to want to end. 5-7 7-6 7-6 3-6 16-14 were the final scores. The victory was the Fed Express’ 15th Grand Slam title, helping him take an onlooking Pete Sampras’ record. The win means that Roger Federer reclaims the No1 world ranking spot ahead of injured Rafael Nadal.

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

Newslip Episode 25 28.06.09

Welcome to Newslip. Today is Sunday, 28th June 2009. I’m Wesley Gerrard and here are the stories making this week’s news…

The world of football had one of its biggest ever shocks this week when underdogs, USA, beat tournament favourites, Spain, in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup in South Africa. Spain had a world record of 15 consecutive wins and had been unbeaten in 35 matches. The USA had been comprehensively beaten by Italy and Brazil earlier in the tournament. Goalkeeper Tim Howard kept them in the game. Goals came from Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey. The winning scoreline was 2-0. Their win makes it the first time that they will appear in the final of a major international tournament. The USA face Brazil in the final who promise that their own weak semifinal performance against South Africa will be bettered.

Nine people were killed and about 70 injured in a subway train crash in Washington DC. Carriages of one of the trains came to rest on top of the other after a moving train hit a stationary vehicle above ground near a station. The crash which was the worst in the 33 years of the Metro system, happened above ground between Fort Totten and Takoma at 1700 local time on Monday. Two men and seven women died, including Jeanice McMillan, 42, who was the driver of the moving train. The train that crashed was part of a fleet of older carriages and the ongoing investigation into the crash is gathering details from the black box recorders to try to find out what caused it.

Australian wallabies are eating opium poppies and creating crop circles as they hop around "as high as a kite". The kangaroo-like marsupials have been getting into poppy fields grown for medicine in Tasmania. Australia supplies about 50% of the world's legally-grown opium used to make morphine and other painkillers. Apparently the effect of stoned animals grazing on opium and then walking around in circles till they fall over in a heap was first noticed in sheep. The circle hopping wallabies are the latest revelation in the global crop circle mystery which often blames aliens for the strange designs in fields. The evidence on the phenomenon was presented to the Australian government as part of a report on the security for poppy crops.

The row over MPs expenses has spilled over to other areas of the public sector. The BBC’s director general Mark Thompson has said £350,000 in expenses claims paid out to the corporation's top executives was "reasonable and justified". He defended his decision to publish the salaries of executives but not of BBC talent. Claims included luxury hotels, vintage champagne, parties and a private aeroplane. There was public demand to discover what amounts were being paid to the BBC’s so-called ‘stars’ but Thompson said that in such a competitive industry as that of entertainment, where there was no history of such disclosure, in publishing salary information the BBC could potentially face a talent drain.

A bomb killed at least 72 people on Wednesday at a busy market in eastern Baghdad's Sadr City slum. About 127 people were wounded by the blast in the poor, mostly Shi'ite Muslim area. A witness said the explosion tore through a part of the Mraidi Market where birds are sold, setting stalls ablaze. Bloodshed has dropped sharply across Iraq in the past year, but militants including Sunni Islamist al Qaeda continue to launch car and suicide bombings aimed at undermining the government and reigniting sectarian conflict. Wednesday's market bombing came four days after the U.S. military formally handed control to local forces in Sadr City, where U.S. and Iraqi forces fought fierce battles against Shi'ite militiamen in the spring of 2008.

The Swine Flu endemic continues to engulf the globe. Statistics show that there are now more than 1 million cases in the US. In Britain. There are 3600 confirmed cases with only one death so far. The worst hit areas in the UK are the West Midlands, London and Glasgow. The West Midlands has about twice as many cases (more than a thousand) than each of the other two areas. Two university students and a ten year old have showed signs of the disease at the Glastonbury music festival. Due to the rapid spread of the disease, UK officials have dismissed the possibility of containment exercises by closing schools . 29 schools where cases of the disease have been found are indeed staying open. Officials have remarked how surprised they are at the unexpected low death levels that the pandemic has induced so far across the world.

Popular BBC television series Top Gear has pulled a remarkable publicity coup. The hit series for car lovers, presented by Jeremy Clarkson, has a cult driver, The Stig, whose white suit and crash helmet keep his identity disguised as he performs driving feats. He has a massive following and to mark the start of a new series, presenter Clarkson promised a moment in television history to ‘rival the moon landings and JR’s shooting.’ The Stig was unveiled, to everyone’s surprise, as former German formula 1 world champion, Michael Schumacher. Doubters of the veracity of this mystery solution were immediate and the internet was full of conspiracy theories. At the end of the show doubt was cast on Michael Schumacher’s Stig as he made a terrible mess of a test drive. Publicity stunt or not, does the Stig’s identity remain a mystery? It is certainly no mystery that viewing figures rose substantially.

A gunman opened fire in a packed restaurant in West London on Friday night. A man and a fifteen year old boy are suffering from non life threatening bullet wounds. The incident occurred at Harry Morgan's restaurant in St John's Wood High Street, a relatively affluent area of the capital. Pop star Rachel Stevens was dining at the venue at the time. A spokeswoman for the former S Club 7 member said: "Rachel and her family were in a restaurant where there was gunfire. It was very frightening for everyone there but none of the diners were hurt." A man in a motorbike helmet brandishing two automatic pistols chased the two victims into the restaurant and opened fire, sending diners scurrying to the floor to hide beneath their tables. Harry Morgan's was established in 1948 by a London butcher and has been shortlisted in the Evening Standard Restaurant Awards. Fortunately none of the diners were hurt.

Britain has expelled two Iranian diplomats from the country in a clear sign of ever-worsening relations with the Middle Eastern country. The decision was made by the Prime Minister as a tit-for-tat response after two British diplomats were expelled from Tehran. As the post-election crisis continues further foreign influence carries on. President Obama said Mir Hossein Mousavi, the head of the opposition, had captured the imagination of groups in Iran that were interested in opening up to the world. Dr Arash Hejazi, who is studying at a university in the south of England, has spoken of the moments when he tended to the shot female protestor, Neda Agha-Soltan, who bled to death. President Ahmadinejad accuses foreign governments of stirring up the current troubles and his paranoia is not without reason as the history of Iran is full of foreign intelligence inspired coups, in particular coups provoked by the CIA and SIS or British MI6.

And this week’s top story…

‘King of Pop’ Michael Jackson has died suddenly after suffering a cardiac arrest at his Los Angeles home. After collapsing, his personal physician failed to revive him and ambulance crews rushed the singer to the UCLA medical centre where he was pronounced dead. The star was fifty years old and was in preparations for a heavily scheduled farewell world tour, commencing with a series of gigs at London’s O2 Arena. Fans immediately began congregating outside the hospital and rumours flew across the media. It was the biggest ever single news event on twitter and all major web services reported carrying capacity problems, including Google who thought that they were under attack by spammers. Michael Jackson was one of the most famous people on the planet and not since the death of Elvis Presley has such a death devastated the entertainment world. His album, Thriller is the biggest selling album of all time. Jackson’s life was surrounded by a media circus and his death appears no different. He is often mocked for his extensive plastic surgery and the controversial child abuse court case severely affected his reputation in recent years. However, I am sure that the annals of history will remember this star, who has died before his time, for his remarkable catalogue of hit pop music. Rest in Peace, Michael Jackson.

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

Welcome to Newslip. Today is Sunday, 28th June 2009. I’m Wesley Gerrard and here are the stories making this week’s news…

The world of football had one of its biggest ever shocks this week when underdogs, USA, beat tournament favourites, Spain, in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup in South Africa. Spain had a world record of 15 consecutive wins and had been unbeaten in 35 matches. The USA had been comprehensively beaten by Italy and Brazil earlier in the tournament. Goalkeeper Tim Howard kept them in the game. Goals came from Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey. The winning scoreline was 2-0. Their win makes it the first time that they will appear in the final of a major international tournament. The USA face Brazil in the final who promise that their own weak semifinal performance against South Africa will be bettered.

Nine people were killed and about 70 injured in a subway train crash in Washington DC. Carriages of one of the trains came to rest on top of the other after a moving train hit a stationary vehicle above ground near a station. The crash which was the worst in the 33 years of the Metro system, happened above ground between Fort Totten and Takoma at 1700 local time on Monday. Two men and seven women died, including Jeanice McMillan, 42, who was the driver of the moving train. The train that crashed was part of a fleet of older carriages and the ongoing investigation into the crash is gathering details from the black box recorders to try to find out what caused it.

Australian wallabies are eating opium poppies and creating crop circles as they hop around "as high as a kite". The kangaroo-like marsupials have been getting into poppy fields grown for medicine in Tasmania. Australia supplies about 50% of the world's legally-grown opium used to make morphine and other painkillers. Apparently the effect of stoned animals grazing on opium and then walking around in circles till they fall over in a heap was first noticed in sheep. The circle hopping wallabies are the latest revelation in the global crop circle mystery which often blames aliens for the strange designs in fields. The evidence on the phenomenon was presented to the Australian government as part of a report on the security for poppy crops.

The row over MPs expenses has spilled over to other areas of the public sector. The BBC’s director general Mark Thompson has said £350,000 in expenses claims paid out to the corporation's top executives was "reasonable and justified". He defended his decision to publish the salaries of executives but not of BBC talent. Claims included luxury hotels, vintage champagne, parties and a private aeroplane. There was public demand to discover what amounts were being paid to the BBC’s so-called ‘stars’ but Thompson said that in such a competitive industry as that of entertainment, where there was no history of such disclosure, in publishing salary information the BBC could potentially face a talent drain.

A bomb killed at least 72 people on Wednesday at a busy market in eastern Baghdad's Sadr City slum. About 127 people were wounded by the blast in the poor, mostly Shi'ite Muslim area. A witness said the explosion tore through a part of the Mraidi Market where birds are sold, setting stalls ablaze. Bloodshed has dropped sharply across Iraq in the past year, but militants including Sunni Islamist al Qaeda continue to launch car and suicide bombings aimed at undermining the government and reigniting sectarian conflict. Wednesday's market bombing came four days after the U.S. military formally handed control to local forces in Sadr City, where U.S. and Iraqi forces fought fierce battles against Shi'ite militiamen in the spring of 2008.

The Swine Flu endemic continues to engulf the globe. Statistics show that there are now more than 1 million cases in the US. In Britain. There are 3600 confirmed cases with only one death so far. The worst hit areas in the UK are the West Midlands, London and Glasgow. The West Midlands has about twice as many cases (more than a thousand) than each of the other two areas. Two university students and a ten year old have showed signs of the disease at the Glastonbury music festival. Due to the rapid spread of the disease, UK officials have dismissed the possibility of containment exercises by closing schools . 29 schools where cases of the disease have been found are indeed staying open. Officials have remarked how surprised they are at the unexpected low death levels that the pandemic has induced so far across the world.

Popular BBC television series Top Gear has pulled a remarkable publicity coup. The hit series for car lovers, presented by Jeremy Clarkson, has a cult driver, The Stig, whose white suit and crash helmet keep his identity disguised as he performs driving feats. He has a massive following and to mark the start of a new series, presenter Clarkson promised a moment in television history to ‘rival the moon landings and JR’s shooting.’ The Stig was unveiled, to everyone’s surprise, as former German formula 1 world champion, Michael Schumacher. Doubters of the veracity of this mystery solution were immediate and the internet was full of conspiracy theories. At the end of the show doubt was cast on Michael Schumacher’s Stig as he made a terrible mess of a test drive. Publicity stunt or not, does the Stig’s identity remain a mystery? It is certainly no mystery that viewing figures rose substantially.

A gunman opened fire in a packed restaurant in West London on Friday night. A man and a fifteen year old boy are suffering from non life threatening bullet wounds. The incident occurred at Harry Morgan's restaurant in St John's Wood High Street, a relatively affluent area of the capital. Pop star Rachel Stevens was dining at the venue at the time. A spokeswoman for the former S Club 7 member said: "Rachel and her family were in a restaurant where there was gunfire. It was very frightening for everyone there but none of the diners were hurt." A man in a motorbike helmet brandishing two automatic pistols chased the two victims into the restaurant and opened fire, sending diners scurrying to the floor to hide beneath their tables. Harry Morgan's was established in 1948 by a London butcher and has been shortlisted in the Evening Standard Restaurant Awards. Fortunately none of the diners were hurt.

Britain has expelled two Iranian diplomats from the country in a clear sign of ever-worsening relations with the Middle Eastern country. The decision was made by the Prime Minister as a tit-for-tat response after two British diplomats were expelled from Tehran. As the post-election crisis continues further foreign influence carries on. President Obama said Mir Hossein Mousavi, the head of the opposition, had captured the imagination of groups in Iran that were interested in opening up to the world. Dr Arash Hejazi, who is studying at a university in the south of England, has spoken of the moments when he tended to the shot female protestor, Neda Agha-Soltan, who bled to death. President Ahmadinejad accuses foreign governments of stirring up the current troubles and his paranoia is not without reason as the history of Iran is full of foreign intelligence inspired coups, in particular coups provoked by the CIA and SIS or British MI6.

And this week’s top story…

‘King of Pop’ Michael Jackson has died suddenly after suffering a cardiac arrest at his Los Angeles home. After collapsing, his personal physician failed to revive him and ambulance crews rushed the singer to the UCLA medical centre where he was pronounced dead. The star was fifty years old and was in preparations for a heavily scheduled farewell world tour, commencing with a series of gigs at London’s O2 Arena. Fans immediately began congregating outside the hospital and rumours flew across the media. It was the biggest ever single news event on twitter and all major web services reported carrying capacity problems, including Google who thought that they were under attack by spammers. Michael Jackson was one of the most famous people on the planet and not since the death of Elvis Presley has such a death devastated the entertainment world. His album, Thriller is the biggest selling album of all time. Jackson’s life was surrounded by a media circus and his death appears no different. He is often mocked for his extensive plastic surgery and the controversial child abuse court case severely affected his reputation in recent years. However, I am sure that the annals of history will remember this star, who has died before his time, for his remarkable catalogue of hit pop music. Rest in Peace, Michael Jackson.

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

Newslip Episode 24 21.06.09

Welcome to Newslip. I'm Wesley Gerrard. Today is the summer solstice, 21st June 2009. here are the stories making the news this week.

647 workers at the Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire were sacked after they called wildcat strikes. Their unsympathetic employers, French oil giant Total, had been in a bitter dispute with the union who claimed that promises not to make further job cuts had been broken. The refinery had been subject to strikes against the use of foreign labour back in January. The latest row began after Total sacked 51 employees working on a construction project at the plant. Workers who joined the wildcat action included those at the Staythorpe power station in Nottinghamshire, Ferrybridge power station in Yorkshire and around 1,100 construction workers building a bio-fuel plant on Teesside. Total apparently didn't turn up to a meeting with the union and the leader of the GMB Union, Paul Kenny, said: "Total has not even had the decency or courtesy to turn up at the meeting that they themselves arranged... Bullying and intimidation is not the way to bring about peace."

A truck bomb killed 64 people near the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk on Saturday, the country's bloodiest attack in 15 months. The attack, which also wounded 202 people, struck near a mosque in Taza Kharmatu, a predominantly Turkmen Shiite town south of Kirkuk, at around 1:00 pm on Saturday and claimed women and children among its victims, officials said. More than one ton of explosives was used in the bombing. Kirkuk, north of Baghdad, is plagued with intercommunal tensions among its Kurdish, Turkmen and Arab communities.

Scotland Yard has decided to launch an investigation into MPs' misuse of expenses. Its economic and specialist crime command will investigate several MPs, Labour's Elliot Morley and David Chaytor have admitted that they are among those under scrutiny. Both apparently claimed interest payments on mortgages they had already paid off. They have been barred by Labour in standing at the next election. Scotland Yard have previously made parliamentary investigations which have ended in no criminal prosecutions. In addition to this new leaf in the ongoing saga, it has been revealed that over 50 MPs had been guilty of overclaiming their council tax expenses. After checking data with local town halls it was discovered that these MPs had falsely inflated the amount that they were actually being charged.

The British and Irish Lions played the first test in their tour of South Africa and were unfortunate to lose. A disappointing first half left them trailing to the hosts by about twenty points. The Lions forwards were letting them down with Phil Vickery performing badly in the scrummage and the Lions lacking the Southern Hemisphere ferocity at the breakdown. Changes were made and the Lions started a comeback which left South Africa shellshocked but it was too little too late and the match was abruptly ended by an under-the-cosh South Africa with them pipping the legendary tourists to a 26-21 defeat and condemning the Lions to the necessity of another comeback if they wish to gain victory in the overall series.

A record crowd has gathered at Stonehenge to witness the summer solstice. 36,500 people gathered at the prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain to watch the sun rise, putting massive pressure on local transport infrastructure. By 3AM revellers were struggling to lift their beer cans to their mouths. Sensibly, the druids held their ceremony beside the heel stone, a leaning monolithic a few dozen yards from the main stone circle. They were joined by a group of Papuans who made the pilgrimage in an effort to draw attention to their struggle with the Indonesian authorities in their homeland. The record crowds were lucky enough in that the sun was shining. The high numbers are due to the solstice falling on a weekend this year.

A row has erupted in Formula 1, threatening to end the sport as we know it. The eight Fota teams - McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull, Brawn, Toro Rosso, Renault and Toyota - released a statement declaring their intention to quit Formula 1 and set up a breakaway group. Their move is as a protest to the planned budget caps which would limit the amount of money each team could spend. Also they are discontented with FIA President Max Mosley who they see as having an autocratic grip on the sport. He allowed the Concorde agreement to lapse which gave the teams rights in determining the rules and regulations of the sport. Mosley described the breakaway threat as "posing and posturing", adding: "Always with these things in the end there's a compromise."

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Spacecraft are on their way to the moon atop the same Atlas V rocket. LRO will go into orbit around the moon, turning its suite of instruments towards the moon for thorough studies. The spacecraft also will be looking for potential landing sites for astronauts. NASA plan on landing humans on the moon again some time before 2020. In addition to the probing, the current mission, which is due to reach lunar orbit on Thursday, will be seeking to find sources of water on the Moon.

Pressure on the Labour government continued with Hazel Blears, the former communities secretary, narrowly escaping deselection in her Salford constituency. Her decision to quit the cabinet prior to the European elections was said to have been within a hair's breadth of bringing down Gordon Brown. The Prime Minister, this week, spoke of not enjoying the pressures of office and how he could quite easily walk away from his position. The trappings of power continue to haunt him at cabinet level as he faced a hostile pack regarding his plans for taking on the Tories at the next election.

The Islamic Shiite Resistance in Iraq have handed over two dead bodies to British government officials in Iraq. The dead men have been identified as security guards, Jason Swindlehurst, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, and Jason Creswell, from Glasgow. They were part of the hostage party seized by militants in 2007. They had been guarding computer expert Peter Moores, who remains hostage with two other guards. It is believed that the release of the bodies was a goodwill gesture after Laith al-Khazali was released by the Americans last week. The British government has a policy of not paying extortionate ransoms for kidnapped Brits, which has been criticised and also praised.

And this week's top story...

The aftermath of the controversial Iranian election has been the principal headline of the week. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke out against foreign nations and claimed that the UK was the most evil of all these governments. the Iranians have criticised international media bias in its reporting and believes that the current unrest is a result of foreign stirrings. Riots between police and opposition protestors has left at least ten people dead. Authorities are firing into crowds of demonstrators with live ammo. The BBC, whose Persian language channel is very popular in Iran, has evacuated its main Tehran correspondent. There has been a general media blackout in the Pariah state and people there have turned to social networks in their droves to push information out. President Obama has begun to criticise the events after initially maintaining silence.

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

Newslip Episode 22 07.06.09

Welcome to Newslip. I'm Wesley Gerrard.Today's date is Sunday, 7th June 2009 and here are the stories making this week's news...

The twentieth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre passed this week with no official recognition from China other than the mass deployment of security forces in Beijing where they outnumbered tourists and ensured that no protestors would gather in a country where to even speak of Tiananmen is illegal. On June 4th 1989, angry students, who sought more political rights, were confronted by Chinese army tanks. Scores of peaceful protestors were massacred that day in an event which shocked the world and presented the ruling communist party of China in a very unfavourable light. The past twenty years have seen China truly rise to the world stage as a superpower. However, as protestors gathered to commemorate the event in international cities, the general consensus was that despite the economic leap forward, political rights in China had hardly changed at all. Today’s student generation are in general politically apathetic.

One of Britain’s Got Talent’s stars has been admitted to a mental hospital suffering from exhaustion. Susan Boyle was runner up on the TV talent contest and her dowdy and unglamorous appearance captivated the imagination of global viewers. After coming second in the contest’s final when she lost out to dance troupe, Diversity, from London, the visibly shaken unemployed church volunteer, broke down and was admitted to the Priory clinic suffering from mental exhaustion. The singer had been born with slight brain damage after suffering from lack of oxygen at birth. Despite her loss in the final of the show, Boyle is undoubtedly the show’s star. Her performances have received over 200 million Youtube downloads and she has been invited to appear on Oprah Winfrey and Larry King’s US show. It is expected that Simon Cowell is likely to cash in on her success by signing her up in a music deal. After spending less than a week in the celebrity clinic, Boyle left for home in a central London flat where it is hoped that the press will cease camping out on her doorstep and allow her to recover.

Actor David Carradine has been found dead in his Bangkok hotel room. The star of Kill Bill made his name as Caine in the cult 1970s TV series Kung Fu. The Thai Police say that he was found naked in his wardrobe with a cord tied around his neck. They have initially said that they believe the death was a suicide and cctv footage suggests that he was alone in his hotel room at the time of death. However, foul play has not been ruled out and close friends of the actor have stated that he was suffering from no form of depression. The FBI have been asked to investigate. Controversial photos of the death scene were printed in the Thai press and Carradine’s family have threatened to sue any news outlet that reprints the pictures.

Eating a curry once or twice a week can, according to American research, prevent the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The key ingredient is curcumin, a component of the spice turmeric. Curcumin appears to prevent the spread of amyloid protein plaques - thought to cause dementia - in the brain. It is known that Turmeric is a very useful anti-cancer spice. Some sceptics at the Royal College of Psychiatrists have poured scorn on the findings and the incomplete research is set to be put to the test by studying the effects of curry bingeing when they analyse the effects of people eating curries all week long. Apparently eating a curry could not counter-balance the increased risk of dementia associated with a poor diet. As curry is now the national dish of Britain, there is hope for the future.

Violent clashes between security forces and indigenous people in Peru have led to 31 deaths. In the most intense fighting since trouble began to flare in the Amazon region in April, 22 tribesmen and 9 police died. The natives are incensed by government supported attempts to exploit oil reserves in their territory. New laws that have been passed by Peru’s President, Alan Garcia, also offer up the exploitation of communal land to foreign logging companies, large-scale farming and mining. Most of the trouble occurred six hundred miles to the north of Lima near the town of Bagua. Indigenous leaders say police using helicopters opened fire on demonstrators in the latest incident though the government counter-claimed, equating the locals to criminals and by saying that they were first to open fire.

Neil and Kazumi Puttick were so overcome with grief at their loss of their son, Sam, that they drove to the cliffs in East Sussex and jumped 400ft to their deaths, holding his body in one rucksack and his toys in another. Sam who had as a toddler been paralysed in a car crash, had just died from Meningitis. It has been suggested that his loving parents made a Japanese suicide pact before ending their lives at the notorious Beachy Head blackspot. In the hours after his death they had refused visits from friends. Their devotion to their son during his life was intense and they revealed their anguish in a typewritten note before the final tragic event unfolded.

The 20-20 cricket world cup is underway in Britain with some amazing results captivating the willow world. There was a massive shock on the first day when England lost to cricketing minnows, The Netherlands. Australia also suffered a surprise defeat when they were soundly beaten by the West Indies after an impressive performance by the islanders in which batsman Chris Gayle scored six sixes, resulting in a seven wicket defeat for the world champions with four overs to spare. England managed to salvage a place in the last eight after recovering from the Dutch and beating Pakistan by 48 runs. The tournament continues for the next few weeks and the success of the shortform of cricket looks set to blossom with the exotic nature of results.

Barack Obama made a tour of the Middle East in which he gave speeches reaching out to the Muslim world. He stated that the "cycle of suspicion and discord" between the US and Muslims must end. He gave a keynote speech in Cairo, calling for a ‘new beginning’. In his speech he made key references to the Koran. His father is a Muslim and Obama spent part of his early life growing up in the Muslim country of Indonesia. He spoke of hopes for peace between Israel and the Palestinians and also emphasized that Islam had a been a major part of US history and had an important role to play within the USA’s borders. He tried to convey the feeling that he didn’t associate the Islamic militants and their violence with the entire Islamic community. He equated the plight of the Palestinians with that of slaves in America. His addresses were condemned for their inconsistencies by Hamas and the Ayatollah in Iran made a prior speech stating that America was still very much hated in the region.

Voters across Europe went to the polls this week and turned up some surprises in the European elections. On the whole, socialist parties lost out and right-wing parties came out on top. In Britiain the ruling Labour party suffered catastrophic defeat, with many calling for Gordon Brown to resign. Conservatives made good of the voters’ disillusionment with Labour but there were also shock elections to the European parliament for the controversial BNP with them gaining two seats in Brussels due to the proportional representation aspect to the vote. Although the British government felt the worst effects of defeat in Europe, Germany’s ruling Social Democrats and France’s Socialist Party were also heading for historic defeats. Some British Labour MPs stated that they were not concerned too much as they had previously done badly in European polls yet gone on to win in general elections.

And this week's top story...

An Air France plane travelling from Rio Di Janeiro to Paris went missing over the Atlantic and initial attempts at locating the plane were unsuccessful. There were 216 passengers aboard flight 447. Relatives fears for the worst looked substantiated when body parts and plane debris were located in the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha. There has however been no confirmation of a crash and location of flight recorders hasn’t succeeded. Experts are baffled as to what may have caused a plane in perfectly good condition to plunge from the sky on a routine flight. 17 bodies have been recovered in total. Among the lost passengers were three Irish doctors of a mainly French and Brazilian populace. It is the second serious plane tragedy in Brazil in the last two years after a major crash in Sao Paolo in 2007 when199 people perished.

That's all for Newslip this week. Thanks for tuning in. See you again soon. 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.