The News Matrix: Thursday 24 October 2013

Plan for all children to get free vitamins

All under-fives could get free vitamins under plans being considered by the government. Currently low-income families qualify for vitamins for their children on the NHS, but the number of children with rickets has led England’s chief medical officer to ask the National Institute for Health and Care excellence to examine the case for all children to receive vitamins A, C and D. MORE

Facebook removes beheading video

Facebook has made a policy U-turn on the decapitation clip. The social networking site has removed a video clip which showed a woman in Mexico being decapitated and issued new guidelines on what can be shown on the site. This comes two days after it dropped a ban on extreme violence.

Protesters charged with hooliganism

Russia has dropped piracy charges against 30 people involved in a Greenpeace protest against Arctic oil drilling. The activists who protested at a Gazprom oil platform off Russia’s northern coast last month now face the lesser charge of hooliganism. MORE

PM ‘stepping back’ from press reform

Christopher Jefferies, a victim of press intrusion who was wrongly accused of murdering Joanna Yates in 2010, told a Lords Select Committee that he thought David Cameron was “stepping back” from implementing the Leveson Report’s recommendations in full.

Second Roma child abduction arrest

A second Roma couple have been arrested in Greece on suspicion of abducting a child, just a week after the discovery of a mystery blonde girl known as Maria during a raid at a camp. Police said a two-month-old baby was found living with the couple on the island of Lesvos. MORE

Brother blamed over Boston bombing

The Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s lawyers will argue he fell under the influence of his older brother. They are trying to get access to records implicating his brother in a triple murder in 2011.

Alaska’s ‘Rat Island’ finally rid of rodents

Five years after setting out to eradicate rats from a remote Alaska island, conservationists and wildlife officials have declared success. They say the island – once known as Rat Island because of its infestation of Norway rats – is now teeming with birds, and tufted puffins are breeding there for the first time.

Found: a galaxy far, far away

The most distant galaxy from Earth has been identified. It was found using the Hubble Space Telescope and lies 30 billion light years from Earth. Lead researcher Steven Finkelstein, from the University of Texas said: “We are seeing this galaxy as it was 700 million years after the Big Bang.”

$1m man Cowell has the X Factor

Simon Cowell’s price to sing has been revealed. The X Factor creator was reportedly auctioned for $1m to sing the theme from the Power Rangers series at a fundraiser in Los Angeles. Proceeds from his rendition of “Go Go Power Rangers” were donated to the Friends of Israel Defence Forces.

Starbucks brews a cuppa in Big Apple

Starbucks is trying to make tea trendy in America, by announcing plans to open its first “tea bar” in New York today. The Seattle-based company says Teavana Tea Bar will serve drinks priced from $3 to $6, including a spiced Mandarin Oolong tea and a blend of Pineapple Kona Pop and Blueberry Bliss iced tea.

Nick Grimshaw’s ratings plummet

Radio 1 breakfast show host Nick Grimshaw has seen his ratings plummet further according to radio research firm Rajar. The programme has lost another 300,000 viewers and audience figures are now the lowest they have been for a decade. The show has lost 1.1 million viewers since Grimshaw took over a year ago.