Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Morning news headlines for February 26, 2014


LEE RIGBY KILLERS TO BE SENTENCED


The two Muslim fanatics who murdered soldier Lee Rigby will be sentenced at the Old Bailey today.


Michael Adebolajo, 29, and Michael Adebowale, 22, mowed the young soldier down in a car before hacking him to death in front of horrified onlookers near Woolwich barracks in south-east London on May 22 last year.


They could face whole life jail terms after a key appeal court ruling last month found that the sentences can be used by UK judges.


RULING DUE ON NHS TRUST DISSOLUTION


The Health Secretary is set to announce his decision on whether the scandal-hit Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust should be dissolved.


Jeremy Hunt has the final say on plans to dissolve the trust and move key services to neighbouring hospitals.


In January, the health watchdog, Monitor, approved plans drawn up by administrators to downgrade some services at Stafford Hospital, despite opposition from local campaigners.


NURSE CUTS ’LINKED TO DEATH RATES’


Nursing cutbacks are directly linked to higher patient death rates in hospitals, a major study has found.


Every extra patient added to a nurse’s workload increases the risk of death within a month of surgery by 7%, according to data from 300 European hospitals in nine countries.


The situation is made worse by employing poorly qualified nurses, the research showed.


MILIBAND ’MUST RULE OUT COALITION’


Ed Miliband is coming under pressure from one of Labour’s biggest backers to rule out a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.


Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey urged Mr Miliband to say he would govern alone even if the party falls short of a majority in next year’s general election.


The intervention comes amid speculation that David Cameron could try to galvanise the Tory rank-and-file by making the same promise in the run-up to the poll.


MAN FACES COURT OVER FARM SHOOTINGS


A man will appear in court today charged with murdering a mother and daughter at a dog breeding farm.


The bodies of Christine Lee, 66, and her daughter Lucy, 40, were found on Sunday in Farnham, Surrey.


John Lowe, 82, was charged last night with two counts of murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.


POLICE QUIZ EX-GUANTANAMO CAPTIVE


Police are continuing to question a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who has been arrested on suspicion of Syria-related terrorism offences.


Moazzam Begg, 45, from Hall Green, Birmingham, is suspected of attending a terrorist training camp and facilitating terrorism overseas, West Midlands Police said.


He was arrested yesterday morning along with a 36-year-old man from Shirley, in Solihull, and a 44-year-old woman and her 20-year-old son, both from Sparkhill, in Birmingham, who were held on suspicion of facilitating terrorism overseas.


LOST PROPERTY PAYOUTS TO PRISONERS


Prisoners have been awarded compensation over damaged stereos and missing socks, a watchdog has revealed.


Taxpayers’ money is being wasted on redress paid to prisoners for lost or damaged property, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) said.


Prison staff need to pay greater attention to their responsibility for prisoners’ property to avoid complaints being made, the Ombudsman added.


CANCER ’DROVE BLACK SKIN EVOLUTION’


Cancer may have driven the evolution of black skin early in human history, a study suggests.


Scientists believe dark skins appeared more than a million years ago to prevent our African ancestors dying from skin cancer.


The change occurred after ancient humans shed most of their body hair and ventured out into the sun-drenched African savannah.


CHARLES VISIT TO MARY ROSE MUSEUM


The Prince of Wales will tour the new Mary Rose Museum nearly 39 years since he first dived on the wreck site.


Charles, who is president of the Mary Rose Trust, will be accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall during his visit to the purpose-built museum at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, Hampshire.


The centre opened last year, re-uniting the hull with thousands of artefacts for the first time since they were lifted from the seabed of the Solent in 1982.


IMMIGRATION CURBS DETER STUDENTS


Immigration curbs have “played disappointingly badly” in India despite prime ministerial charm offensives to show Britain welcomes students, the science minister has admitted.


Ministers have been working “flat out” to attract international candidates but Indian press coverage about reforms to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands by 2015 has been “surprisingly negative”, David Willetts said.


The Conservative appeared to suggest that while numbers from India were falling - a 38% drop between 2011 and 2012 - there continued to be a surge in applicants from China because of the way the immigration crackdown was covered by its more tightly-controlled media.



No comments:

Post a Comment