The News Matrix: Saturday 25 August 2012

Winners of £148m are begged for cash

The Suffolk couple who won the £148m EuroMillions jackpot this month have been inundated with letters asking for help. Adrian and Gillian Bayford have had requests from all over the world. "People have come over from France and Germany to deliver letters in person," said Adrian.

Oxford's posh-girl pulling guide row

A student paper article offering tips on how to woo upper class female students has prompted a row at Oxford University. The guide, warned: "She'll have had a lot of it; way more than you." The student union's women's officer Sarah Pine said the piece was "outdated and boring".

Young hippo dies after pool ordeal

A hippo that wandered into a swimming pool at a South African game reserve died yesterday while a team was trying to rescue him. The young animal had been chased from his herd by dominant males and it is thought stress may have contributed to his death.

Nasa delays launch of satellite

Nasa delayed the launch of its newest science satellites four minutes before it was due to take off yesterday after a problem cropped up with the rocket's tracking beacon. The twin satellites aboard the Atlas V rocket are designed to study Earth's radiation belts.

Student attacked by chimps is awake

An American student who was seriously injured when he was attacked by chimps at a refuge in South Africa in June is awake and communicating at the hospital where he is being treated. Andrew Oberle Jr has had three operations after being mauled by chimpanzees.

Recession not as bad as feared

Britain's recession is not as deep as previously feared after revised figures showed a smaller contraction in the second quarter of the year. Gross domestic product fell 0.5 per cent in the Office for National Statistics' second estimate, less than the 0.7 per cent fall announced last month. MORE

Two killed in Empire State shooting

A store worker who had recently been laid off shot dead a former colleague outside the Empire State Building in New York yesterday before being killed by police. Nine others were hit in the confrontation, but police said all were expected to survive. MORE

Man fined for GM break-in

Hector Christie, 50, from Devon, has been ordered to pay £3,850 in compensation to a research centre carrying out GM wheat experiments after admitting causing criminal damage.

No force feeding for three-stone woman

Doctors do not have to force feed a woman who weighs just three stone two pounds, a High Court judge has ruled. Mrs Justice Eleanor King told the Court of Protection in London that it would not be in the "best interests" of the 29-year-old to subject her to "forcible feeding".

Putin commits to disarmament

Moscow is open to the idea of new nuclear arms cuts on a reciprocal basis if Washington addresses its concerns about a US-led missile defence system in Europe, said President Vladimir Putin yesterday. Putin said preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction was "a key issue on the world agenda".

16 die in drone attack on militants

Missile-firing US drone aircraft killed at least 16 people in an attack in north-west Pakistan yesterday, intelligence officials said. The attacks targeted three walled compounds in the Shawal Valley, on the border with Afghanistan, an area known as a sanctuary for militants.

Berlusconi denies starlet's pregnancy

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday denied a claim by starlet Sabina Began that he had made her pregnant. In an interview with Italian paper Il Fatto Quotidiano, Began, 38, said she was pregnant and was sure Berlusconi was the father because "I only slept with him".

Two arrests over teenage boy's rape

Two men, aged 55 and 41, were arrested after a teenage boy was raped in a department store toilet. The attack happened when the 14-year-old victim visited the Arndale centre, Manchester. Earlier this week, police released CCTV images of suspects they were trying to trace.

Romney takes a jab at Obama

Republican candidate Mitt Romney took a dig at President Obama over his birth certificate yesterday in a reminder of the controversy over the Democrat's eligibility to be president. "Nobody ever has to see my birth certificate, they know this is the place I was born and raised," said Romney.

Brutal new leader for Zetas cartel

The murderous Zetas cartel has a new leader who even rival gangs view as worryingly brutal. Miguel Angel Trevino Morales is renowned for putting his enemies in oil drums, pouring petrol over them and setting them on fire. Other groups are joining forces to combat him. MORE

Parents warned of measles outbreaks

The number of measles cases this year has almost doubled following two outbreaks of the illness. In England and Wales there were 964 cases in the first six months of this year, and the Health Protection Agency is urging parents to ensure their children are properly immunised.

More than 200,000 flee bloody civil war

More than 200,000 Syrians have poured into neighbouring countries during the conflict, surpassing the 185,000 the UN expected to flee by the end of the year. The total reflects an increase of about 30,000 in the past week as people fled to Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan.

Delay train deal, Government is told

Louise Ellman, chairman of the House of Commons Transport Committee, has asked the Government to delay signing off the deal which will see Sir Richard Branson's train firm lose its West Coast Main Line rail franchise. A petition calling for a rethink was signed by 100,000 people.