The News Matrix: Friday 12 April 2013

G8 group condemn North Korea’s threats

The G8 group of foreign ministers condemned Pyongyang’s threats of military action in London yesterday. Foreign Secretary William Hague said: “If [North Korea] conducts another missile launch or nuclear test, we have committed ourselves to take further significant measures.”

‘UK’s Obama’ linked to Wikipedia edits

Despite Chuka Umunna’s apparent frustration at journalists labelling him as the British version of Barack Obama, the first mention of the comparison was apparently made using a computer at the law firm where the Labour MP once worked, Rochman Landau, it has emerged. MORE

Watchdog says stores ‘trick’ customers

A consumer watchdog has accused supermarkets of tricking customers into buying own-label merchandise by making them look like popular branded items. Which? said retailers mimic packaging of better-known producers to sell more of their own label biscuits, cereals and bath products. MORE

Nation must pay €13bn toward bailout

The cost of bailing out Cyprus has swollen to €23bn, with the country having to take on the lion’s share of the measures needed to avoid bankruptcy, according to a document by its creditors. The country will have to find €13bn – an increase on the €7bn agreed last month. MORE

‘Bullying’ Madonna rejects criticism

Madonna, left, has been accused by President Joyce Banda’s office of demanding VIP treatment, “bullying state officials” and chaining Malawi to “an obligation of gratitude”. MORE

Criminal inquiry into Stafford death

A criminal investigation has been launched into the death of a woman at the scandal-hit Stafford Hospital. Gillian Astbury, 66, who was a diabetic, died in 2007 after nurses forgot to give her insulin. Robert Francis QC, who chaired the public inquiry into the trust, said the error that led to her death had “never registered with the Trust board”. MORE

Scientists support plan to end polio

Hundreds of scientists have announced their support for a plan to eradicate polio. More than 400 scientists called on international organisations to fund the $5.5bn project which seeks to eliminate the disease by 2018. So far this year there have only been 18 polio cases. MORE

Widower forgives midwife for honesty

The widower of an Indian woman who died in an Irish hospital said he has forgiven a midwife who claimed she could not terminate his wife’s baby because it was in a Catholic country. Praveen Halappanavar thanked Ann Maria Burke for her honesty at the inquest into the death of his wife, Savita.

Former minister is now an outcast

The former French budget minister, Jérôme Cahuzac, has become a pariah forced to sleep some nights in his car, it emerged yesterday. Mr Cahuzac, 60, has given his first press interview since he plunged the French government into crisis. MORE

Picasso work to be lost to the nation

Picasso’s early masterpiece Child with a Dove is to leave Britain next month after insufficient funds were raised to keep it in the country. The painting is thought to have been acquired by Qatar for £50m. Experts mourned the loss of the work. MORE

Draw Something app made into TV show

Draw Something, the addictive mobile game that became a cult hit among smartphone users, will now become a Channel 4 television show. Contestants brandishing tablet devices will test their skills when the Pictionary-style game, which has topped 100 million downloads, transfers to the slightly-larger screen.

Hermit accused of over 1,000 thefts

A man who lived as a hermit in the wilderness of Maine for nearly three decades was arrested last week for allegedly perpetrating more than 1,000 thefts of food, clothes and camping equipment to sustain his solitary existence at a makeshift forest encampment, it emerged yesterday. MORE

Becks, Wills and PM to star in Fringe

Prime Minister David Cameron, David Beckham and the Duke of Cambridge will all be portrayed in a new comedy production for this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The Three Lions, written by Silent Witness actor William Gaminara, will see the unlikely threesome thrash out their failed plan to bring the 2018 Fifa World Cup to the United Kingdom.