The News Matrix: Thursday 21 June 2012

Boris 'dropped in' to dinner with Murdoch

Boris Johnson "dropped in" to dinner with Rupert Murdoch in January 2011, shortly before police began a new inquiry into phone hacking at the News of the World. He also met News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks. Neither encounter was officially declared. MORE

Gunman takes four hostage in Toulouse

A gunman claiming links to al-Qa'ida was detained after taking four people hostage in a Toulouse bank yesterday. All were freed. Tensions have been high in the French city since March, when another gunman claiming to be linked to the terror network killed seven people.

Ecclestone could face trial on bribery charge

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone could face prosecution after a German banker admitted taking $44m in bribes from him. Gerhard Gribkowsky, 54, told a Munich court yesterday the bribe accusations are "essentially true". Mr Ecclestone has denied bribery.

Free boarding school offer for children

Up to 1,000 vulnerable children will be offered a free boarding school education at some of the country's top establishments after councils reneged on their earlier decision not to subsidise places. Three in five local authorities across the country have backed the scheme. MORE

All eyes on who will be Romney's No 2

Attention in the US has turned to whom the likely Republican nominee for President, Mitt Romney, will pick to be his running mate this November. Mr Romney has confirmed his campaign is considering Marco Rubio, the popular Florida senator, but others are thought to be in the fray. MORE

Tensions rise ahead of election results

Tensions are running high in Egypt as the country awaits the results of the country's presidential election today, which pitched the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi against Ahmed Shafik, the last Prime Minister of the deposed President Hosni Mubarak. Confusion over Mubarak's health is adding to the tension, with the former leader in a coma last night. MORE

Clemency offer to be discussed for Assad

Western powers may soon be pressured to consider an offer of clemency for President Bashar al-Assad as the international community struggles to resolve the conflict in Syria. The idea to protect the Syrian leader from prosecution by the International Criminal Court may come up for discussion in Geneva. MORE

Man dies and woman is injured in shooting

A man was killed and a woman hospitalised after a shooting in Ealing, west London. A Met police spokesman said: "A 32-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. A woman in her late 20s has gone to a west London hospital where she remains in a critical condition." No arrests have been made.

Soldier tries to stay under for 120 hours

A former soldier aims to break a world record by staying underwater for five days. Ex-Royal Engineer Mark Colman aims to stay submerged in a water tank for 120 hours in a bid to raise £500,000 for Veterans in Action (VIA), a charity which he says has changed his life.

Tourist trade cashes in on England win

Businesses have taken advantage of England fans' last-minute scramble to the Ukraine following the team's victory over the host nation on Tuesday. Lufthansa's £370 tickets from England have increased by 50 per cent, and hoteliers have upped their rates. Tickets to the quarter-final against Italy are still available for £34.

Military training for tax collectors

Tax collectors are to receive three weeks of military physical training from the President's security forces in an effort to build up the muscles and moral fibre of an organisation seen as ineffective and corrupt. The move comes after Indonesians were shocked last year by a corrupt tax official who bribed his way out of jail.

Cops are caught on the hop by fugitive

An unlikely fugitive is on the loose in the German village of Hulshagen: a kangaroo. The marsupial escaped when police, responding to a sighting in a local neighbourhood, attempted to corner it. The animal is said to belong to a resident of a nearby village, but police do not believe it poses a threat to the public.

7/7 survivor chosen for Paralympics

A 7/7 survivor has been named in the British sitting volleyball team for the Paralympics. Martine Wright lost her legs when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside Aldgate station in 2005. Netra Rana, of the Royal Gurkha Rifles, has been chosen for the men's team. He lost his left leg below the knee in Afghanistan. MORE

Judge orders arrest of dinosaur

A federal judge has ordered the arrest of a dinosaur. Authorities filed a lawsuit to seize the skeleton from an art-storage company in New York and return it to Mongolia, its country of origin. The 24ft-long Tyrannosaurus bataar specimen sold at auction for $1m in May. It roamed Asia 70 million years ago.