The News Matrix: Thursday 21 November 2013

Man, 78, on rape and assault charges

A 78-year-old man has been charged with rape and indecent assault in connection with incidents at several hospitals including Stoke Mandeville in the 1970s and 1980s. Michael Salmon, from Hampshire, was arrested as part of the Metropolitan Police Service’s Operation Yewtree which was set up following the Jimmy Savile allegations.

Huge majority for women bishops

The Church of England’s ruling body has voted 378 to eight for legislation that could see the ordination of women bishops by next year. The General Synod motion grants first approval of measures introducing women bishops along with safeguards for traditionalists. MORE

Landslide kills at least 12 prospectors

Residents in a mining town in northern Guinea say at least a dozen people are dead after a landslide in the area where they were searching for gold. A rescue operation was underway to try and find those still missing but authorities said the hope of finding more survivors was slim.

Two women and two boys die after blaze

Four people have died in a house fire in Derbyshire. Claire James, 27, and Josie Leighton, 32, were pronounced dead at the scene near Chesterfield, while Tyler Green, nine, and Jordan Green, 12, were pronounced dead in hospital. The cause of the blaze is still being investigated. MORE

Talks resume to curb nuclear programme

Big powers resumed talks yesterday on a preliminary deal to curb Iran’s nuclear programme, with Russia and Britain confident that a breakthrough could be clinched and Iran spelling out “red lines” but saying that it wanted friendly ties with all nations. MORE

White supremacist executed for murder

Joseph Paul Franklin, a white supremacist who targeted blacks and Jews in a killing spree from 1977 to 1980, was put to death yesterday in Missouri. Franklin, 63, was executed for killing Gerald Gordon. MORE

Midwife cautioned for baby in cupboard

A midwife has been given a three- year caution order after leaving a four-day-old baby in a cupboard. Yvonne Musonda-Malata, 35, was responsible for the girl while her mother slept at Queen’s Hospital in Romford in 2011, a disciplinary panel heard.

Islamist reach grows with twin attacks

A suicide car bombing killed at least 11 Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula yesterday. In a separate attack near Cairo, four policemen were wounded by a hand grenade thrown at a checkpoint, a security official said, underscoring the fighters’ widening reach. MORE

Mutant protein may have been tamed

A major cancer-driving protein that has troubled scientists for decades may have been tamed, raising hope of new treatments. US researchers have developed molecules that block the mutant ras protein, without affecting its healthy “normal” cousins.