The News Matrix: Monday 6 December 2014

 

Saturday 06 December 2014 01:00 GMT
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50 surgeries wrongly branded a ‘concern’

The Care Quality Commission has said it will apologise after statistical errors whereby 50 GP practices were wrongly identified as of “high concern”. The CQC launched a database last month allowing patients to see which practices were high priority for inspections.

Holocaust survivors will share £38.5m

Hundreds of Holocaust survivors and others who were deported by France’s state rail company, SNCF, during the Nazi occupation will be entitled to compensation from a $60m (£38.5m) US‑French fund announced yesterday.

Driver dozed off before fatal crash

A trucker who killed a fellow lorry driver in a horrific smash had previously been looking at porn while he was behind the wheel and nodded off moments before the collision, a court has heard. John Kirk, 26, was jailed for five years for causing death by dangerous driving of family man Andrew Nimmo, 24.

Pope ends ‘medieval’ accounting practices

Vatican officials will be forced to work from a strict new financial rulebook from 1 January 2015, as Pope Francis makes the final push to clean up the Holy See after decades of sleaze. Its current accounting practices were “from the Middle Ages”, one expert said.

Adams: Israel barred me from visiting Gaza

Gerry Adams said that Israel barred him from making a planned visit to the Gaza Strip during a three-day tour of the region. He said he was not given a reason for the Israeli decision to prevent the trip. “I am not surprised by the decision but I am disappointed by it,” he said.

Obama picks Carter for top defence job

Barack Obama nominated former Pentagon official Ashton Carter (left) to be his next Defence Secretary, saying he offered a “unique blend of strategic perspective and technical know-how”. Mr Carter said if he is confirmed by the Senate: “I pledge to you my most candid strategic advice.”

Aspiring UK terrorist jailed for four years

A man who travelled to Syria to join a terrorist training camp has been sentenced to four years in prison at Kingston Crown Court. Mashudur Choudhury, 31, is the first person in the UK to be convicted of terror offences in connection with the Middle East conflict.

Baby identified as missing newborn

A baby found dead in the Avon Gorge was formally identified yesterday. Four-day-old Zaani Bevan Malbrouck had been taken from St Michael’s Hospital in Bristol on Tuesday by her mother, Charlotte Bevan. Ms Bevan’s body was found in the gorge on Wednesday night.

Queen Fabiola dies at age of 86

Belgium’s Queen Fabiola, widow of King Baudouin and Queen between 1960 and 1993, died yesterday at the age of 86, the royal palace said. No immediate cause of death was given but the Queen, who uses a wheelchair, had looked increasingly frail over the past month.

‘Orion’ spacecraft returns to Earth

After reaching its high point some 3,600 miles above the Earth, Nasa’s new Orion spacecraft – which will one day travel to Mars – splashed down in the Pacific off Mexico yesterday. Its journey was the furthest a spacecraft for humans has gone in four decades.

24 people blinded by cataract operations

Authorities ordered an investigation yesterday after 24 people went blind following cataract surgeries performed at a free medical camp run by a charity in northern India. The operations were performed in November on 130 patients living in Punjab state.

Security chief held over bribe claims

Chinese authorities have arrested the former domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang and expelled him from the ruling Communist Party, accusing him of crimes ranging from accepting bribes to leaking state secrets, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Dutch man guilty of £16m cocaine plot

A Dutch man has been found guilty of plotting to smuggle £16m of cocaine into the UK. Henri Van Doesburg, 68, planned to remove 108kg of the drug from a ship in Scotland with a Seabob underwater craft. The Leeds Crown Court jury is considering verdicts on three other men. All deny the charges.

12 arrested after cocaine lab raided

A dozen people were arrested in Nijar in Andalusia where police seized a reported 229kg of cocaine, chemical equipment and firearms. The lab was the first to be found in Spain where people were extracting an alkaloid from the coca leaf, the method used to make cocaine.

Dundee named UK’s first ‘City of Design’

Unesco has declared Dundee a “City of Design” – the first place in Britain to achieve the accolade. The city’s status was underlined by the Dundee V&A Museum of Design, designed by the eminent Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, which will open in 2016.

Road-safety donkey is killed in collision

A donkey foal used in road safety campaigns has been killed by a car in the New Forest. Jo-Jo had been used to teach young drivers about roaming animals in the Forest. She was killed on the B3055 in Sway, Hampshire. A petition has been set up for a lower speed limit.

Please pardon me, urges Wahlberg

Actor Mark Wahlberg is asking Massachusetts for a pardon for assaults committed in 1988 when he was a troubled teenager in Boston, saying he has dedicated himself to becoming a better person.

Rio wins legal battle over nudist beach

The city renowned worldwide for its wild Carnival celebrations featuring near-naked samba dancers has finally got its first official nudist beach. Following a 20-year legal battle, Rio de Janeiro enacted a law officially designating Abrico beach as nudist.

Sheeran and Smith in Grammy running

British acts including Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith are among the stars in the running for next year’s Grammy Awards as nominations were revealed yesterday. Smith, who won the Critics Choice prize at the Brit Awards earlier this year, has had huge success in the US.

Broadway’s ‘Matilda’ waltzes into profit

The naughty kids in Matilda the Musical have one reason to smile: the show paid back its $16m (£10m) investment on Broadway. Producers said the New York version became profitable after last week’s $1.4m box-office haul. The show opened in April 2013 – and is still running in London.

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