The News Matrix: Wednesday 7 May 2014

IRA tapes available for destruction

A college which has gathered an oral history of the Northern Ireland Troubles has said it is willing to hand back recordings made by former paramilitaries so they can be destroyed. Last year the Police Service of Northern Ireland won a legal battle to force Boston College to hand over sections of the archive that related to the murder of Belfast woman Jean McConville.

Report urges action on climate change

The Obama administration has released an updated report on how climate change requires urgent action to counter impacts that touch every corner of the country, from oyster growers in Washington State to maple syrup producers in Vermont. MORE

A-level students to study Russell Brand

Russell Brand’s views on the UK’s drugs policy are to become a set text at A-level as part of a radical overhaul of the English language and literature paper. The comedian is one of a number of contemporary names whose contributions have been added to an exam board’s texts. MORE

Islamists linked to second abduction

Suspected Boko Haram gunmen kidnapped eight girls near one of its strongholds in north-eastern Nigeria overnight. The abduction of the girls, aged 12 to 15, follows its kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls last month, whom it has threatened to sell into slavery. MORE

Nazi art hoarder dies in Munich flat

A reclusive collector revealed to be storing 1,400 works of art looted by the Nazis during the Second World War has died aged 81. Cornelius Gurlitt, who hoarded the works in his Munich apartment, died yesterday morning, his spokesman Stephan Holzinger confirmed.

Pussy Riot want 16 Russians sanctioned

Two members of the Russian dissident group Pussy Riot have asked the US Congress to add 16 officials to the list of Russian human rights violators who face US sanctions. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina said that under President Putin, Russia is headed for chaos.

Clinton condemns gun culture

Hillary Rodham Clinton says the nation’s gun culture has gotten “way out of balance”. She told a mental health conference that the US needs to rein in the notion that “anybody can have a gun, anywhere, anytime”.

Megrahi conviction may be reviewed

A fresh application for a review of the conviction of the only man found guilty of the Lockerbie bombing is expected to be submitted to authorities in Scotland. Libyan agent Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who died in 2012, said he was not responsible for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in 1988.

New element joins periodic table

The periodic table is to get a new addition after confirmation of the existence of a 117th element. Researchers in Germany created atoms of ununseptium four years after the element was identified, in the latest step towards the “island of stability” – a predicted group of massive but stable atoms. MORE

Mayor apologises for grabbing woman

A popular Bolivian mayor has made a televised apology for grabbing the thigh of a woman during a broadcast event. Santa Cruz Mayor Percy Fernandez expressed “anguish for this mess that’s been created”, and said he had not intended to offend journalist Mercedes Guzman. He did not specifically apologise for touching her.

Bolt urges burglars to return £20k spikes

Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt has urged burglars to return a pair of his signed running shoes, worth £20,000, taken from a house in Croydon, south London, in April. The Jamaican tweeted: “I know u love me, but please why u had to go stealing that signed Usain Bolt spikes in Croydon. I know u going to return it. Right?”

Air passengers vote for child-free zones

Almost 70 per cent of travellers think planes should have child-free zones, according to a survey. Some 35 per cent of air passengers would be prepared to pay extra to travel on a no-children flight, according to the poll by latedeals.co.uk; 69 per cent of those surveyed said planes should have child-free zones.

Beverly Hills Hotel in stoning protest

Queues of limousines and crowds of photographers are usually the main obstacle to getting into the Beverly Hills Hotel, but since its owner, the Sultan of Brunei, introduced fundamentalist laws such as stoning and dismemberment to the state he rules, protesters have displaced paparazzi at the entrance. MORE