The News Matrix: Friday 24 October 2014

DNA finding for cancer researchers

The search for cancer treatments has taken a significant step forward with a new insight into how cells multiply. Dundee University researchers have identified the process by which DNA unwinds and duplicates, ensuring that only a single copy of each chromosome is made. A failure in this process is a fundamental area of biology that goes wrong in cancer, scientists said.

Botham pecks away at the RSPB

The RSPB has become locked in a bitter dispute with Sir Ian Botham. Along with other members of the You Forgot the Birds campaign, he has accused the organisation of spending just 24 per cent of their £122m income on conservation work, despite promising 90 per cent.

Warning over Ebola deaths in Monrovia

Tens of thousands could be dead from Ebola in the Monrovia region if international aid efforts are not stepped up, disease experts have said, in the first mathematical predictions of the potential numbers the UK pledges an extra £80m in funding.

Call for rethink of school leave policy

Council leaders have urged the Government to drop its tough line on parents taking children out of school for holidays during term time. The move comes as i has found that half-term airfares between the UK and sunshine destinations are at record levels.

President pulls out of EU summit

The Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades pulled out of an EU summit yesterday after he was taken to a Brussels hospital with a nose bleed. Tests showed he was suffering from high blood pressure. Doctors sent him back to his hotel and advised him to rest for 48 hours.

Search for money stashed overseas

The Indian government has vowed to retrieve “untold sums” of money stashed away by politicians in overseas bank accounts. It has said it will publish a list of up to 136 names of those who have evaded tax by moving money, including many from the opposition party.

Balotelli ‘threatened woman over photos’

Police are investigating reports Mario Balotelli threatened a woman said to have taken photographs of his Ferrari. He is understood to have been in Manchester yesterday when the alleged incident took place.

Fugitive mayor linked to drug cartel

The mayor of a southern city where 43 students have disappeared was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a month by a local drug cartel, officials have said. Last month, Iguala’s Mayor Jose Luis Abarca ordered municipal police to detain protesting students.

Mother sends son’s ashes to heavens

A Maine mother using social media to have her son’s ashes scattered all over the world has sent him on his greatest journey: to space. Hallie Twomey mailed hundreds of packets of her son C.J.’s ashes to sbe scattered worldwide, and now a rocket containing a vial of his ashes has been launched into space.

Sunshine may help curb weight gain

Sunshine may protect against weight gain and diabetes, new research suggests. Scientists found that overfed mice with fur shaved to expose their skin were slower to gain weight after basking in ultraviolet light, the same rays that make up sunshine. They also displayed fewer of the warning signs of diabetes.

Why this comet is not to be sniffed at

Rotten eggs, horse urine, formaldehyde, almonds, alcohol, vinegar and sweet ether. That, researchers say, is the ‘perfume’ of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Scientists at the University of Bern say they have determined the smell by analysing chemicals surrounding the nucleus.

Of mice and MPs: calls for cat rejected

Parliament will not get a cat, despite calls for one to help tackle a mouse infestation at Westminster. John Thurso, a Liberal Democrat MP, told the Commons that a report into the matter found that the size of the rodent problem was so great that a “herd of cats” would be needed to tackle it.

Corden heads to LA for chat show debut

James Corden is making his US chat show debut on 9 March and plans to take long-time collaborator Ben Winston with him to Los Angeles to work as executive producer on the show. The pair have known each other since they were teenagers, and worked together on the Brit Awards.