The News Matrix: Friday 21 June 2013

Argentina: claim to islands backed by UN

Argentina has re-ignited its row with Britain over the sovereignty of the Falklands after claiming it received “strong support” for its claim to the islands from the United Nations. Argentinian Foreign Minister Hector Timerman told the UN he regretted “the intransigence of the United Kingdom”. The Foreign Office said the UN “no longer has a relevant role to play” regarding British overseas territories.

Mum who threw baby down chute jailed

A mother who threw her six-day-old daughter down a rubbish chute has been jailed for two-and-a half years. Jaymin Abdulrahman was guilty of inflicting bodily harm but cleared of attempted murder and a separate charge of causing grievous bodily harm at Birmingham Crown Court.

School-run crash leaves nine injured

Nine people have been hurt after a car crashed outside a primary school in Rhoose, South Wales. A lollipop lady, who was escorting children across the road at the time, was among the injured. One of the children, a nine-year-old girl, is being treated for head injuries. MORE

Council grants to be slashed

Councils could see their government grants cut by 10 per cent as part of a new £11.5bn round of spending cuts. Local authorities contended that the cuts could result in higher bus fares and street lights being turned off in the early hours of the morning. MORE

Shot Boston suspect is buried at home

A man who died during questioning over his links to a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing has been buried in his native Chechnya. Ibragim Todashev was shot in Florida on 22 May while being questioned by an FBI agent and two Massachusetts troopers.

Row over ‘leper colony’ for junkies

Politicians in the town of Falkoping want to build a glass enclosure in the main square so that alcoholics and drug users can socialise without disturbing the public. They said such people should be able to enjoy public places, but not at the expense of others. Critics branded the proposal an “updated version of a leper colony”. MORE

Monks’ beer output threatened by quarry

Production of beer at one of the world’s eight remaining Trappist breweries is under threat from the expansion of a limestone quarry. Monks at Notre-Dame de Saint-Remy-Rochefort Abbey, in southern Belgium, say the water from a nearby threatened well is crucial to the taste of their ale.

Fritzl cellar to be filled with concrete

The cellar where Josef Fritzl held his daughter for 24 years and fathered seven of her children is to be filled with cement. Fritzl’s daughter, Elisabeth, disappeared in 1984, at 18, re-emerging in 2008. A court found Fritzl guilty of raping her thousands of times; he was sentenced to life in a prison psychiatric ward in 2009.

Boy born with four legs has two removed

A two-month-old Namibian boy born with four legs is responding well to treatment after undergoing surgery at a South African hospital. Doctors performed a nine-hour operation to remove two legs. The baby, Andrew Palismwe, is now recovering. The Namibian government paid for the surgery from a special fund.

Taylor-Johnson to direct Fifty Shades

British filmmaker Sam Taylor-Johnson is to direct the movie adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey. Author E L James said she was “delighted and thrilled” by the news that the director of 2009’s acclaimed Nowhere Boy – about the early life of John Lennon – would helm the film. No actors have yet been confirmed. MORE