The News Matrix: Thursday 23 May 2013

Tornado dwarfed Hiroshima bomb

The energy released in the massive killer tornado in Oklahoma on Monday dwarfed the power of the atomic bomb that levelled Hiroshima, meteorologists said yesterday. Using real-time measurements to calculate the energy released during the storm’s life span, their estimates ranged from eight times to more than 600 times the power of the bomb, with more experts at the high end. MORE

Google to invest in UK ‘no matter what’

Google will not withdraw its business from the UK even if it is forced to pay more tax. Chairman Eric Schmidt said: “Google will continue to invest in the UK, no matter what you do.” Ed Miliband had attacked the firm for going to “extraordinary lengths to avoid paying its taxes”. MORE

Britain and US seek talks in bid for peace

Britain and the US sought to end Syria’s civil war yesterday, announcing plans to arrange talks between the Syrian government and the rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad. Foreign Secretary William Hague said talks could be held as early as next month. MORE

BBC news is short of women, says Harding

There are too few women on the BBC’s news bulletins, according to the corporation’s incoming director of news. James Harding, former editor of The Times, said he would address the issue as a priority. “There is clearly an issue about the number of female broadcasters,” he said. MORE

Lymphoma survival rates have doubled

Survival rates for non-Hodgkin lymphoma have doubled over the past three decades. Cancer Research UK said that from 1971 to 1975 only 21 per cent of men and 24 per cent of women with the disease survived for 10 years. Now 54 per cent of male and 58 per cent of female patients are expected to.

Disgraced Weiner on the comeback trail

Anthony Weiner, the former congressman whose career imploded in a rash of raunchy tweets two years ago, has announced via YouTube that he is embarking on an audacious comeback quest and entering the race to take over from Michael Bloomberg as the mayor of New York. MORE

Lights on gadgets ‘disrupt our sleep’

Electric lights on laptops, smartphones and other media devices play a key role in disturbed sleep, an expert has warned. Professor Charles Czeisler, of Harvard University in the US, said artificial lights disrupted the body’s natural rhythm and drove people to use stimulants such as caffeine to stay awake longer.

Great-grandmother starts DJing at 91

A woman of 91 is thought to be Britain’s oldest DJ. Margaret Leigh-Jones, a great-grandmother from Havant in Hampshire, has begun presenting a two-hour nostalgia programme on Angel FM after starting at the station answering phones. She says the key to staying young is cycling every day.

Alarm bells ring over £163,000 phone bill

An electrician and his wife have received a £163,000 mobile-phone bill. Alan and Carolyn Mazkouri, of Swansea, told the BBC’s Watchdog programme they normally paid Orange about £300 a month. They fought to clear the debt for seven months, but now Orange has apologised and promised a refund.

King Edward VIII had phone tapped

The Security Service tapped the phone calls of King Edward VIII during the abdication crisis of 1936, previously unseen documents have revealed. The Home Secretary asked MI5 to intercept all calls between the King’s residences and addresses likely to include the home of his divorced lover, Wallis Simpson. MORE