The News Matrix: Wednesday 21 September 2011

Labour sympathiser theory in Gove leaks

An investigation has been opened into whether e-mails leaked to the media from aides of Education Secretary, Michael Gove, came from a Labour sympathiser. Advisers stopped using official emails, preferring private addresses, due to fears over the leaks. MORE

News Corp lawyers to question journalists

Journalists from The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times are to be questioned by lawyers acting for News Corp over their knowledge of phone hacking, while Scotland Yard last night dropped its bid to force The Guardian to reveal the sources behind its phone-hacking stories. MORE

Suicide bomber kills former president

A militant detonated a bomb hidden in his turban killing the former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani who was tasked with reconciling the Taliban, further crippling efforts to bring peace. MORE

Bid to restart Middle East peace talks

Diplomatic efforts to restart Middle East peace talks were intensifying last night as world leaders gathered for the United Nations General Assembly. The Israeli Prime Minister said he was willing to have a face-to-face meeting with the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas. MORE

Briton dies after row over price of drinks

A British man died in a drunken brawl after he claimed he was “ripped off” by the cost of drinks at a lap-dancing club on the French Riviera, local police said yesterday. Lee Elton Fisher, 37, confronted a man and was punched in the face. He collapsed and later died.

Leighton claims vilification by press

The nurse arrested over the suspected poisonings of patients at Stepping Hill hospital in Stockport, spoke yesterday for the first time of her ordeal, telling of her fear of walking down the street after being vilified in the press. Speaking on ITV1’s This Morning, Rebecca Leighton insisted she would emerge stronger from the experience.

Teacher guilty of killing his fiancée

A music teacher who dated a string of women has been found guilty of the murder of his fiancée. Andrew Lindo, 29, strangled, battered and stabbed Marie Stewart, 30, to death before storing her body in a flight bag in the garage. He will be sentenced today. MORE

Experts on trial over 2009 quake risk

A group of Italian scientists went on trial yesterday accused of manslaughter for playing down the risks before a devastating earthquake in L’Aquila in 2009 which killed more than 300 people and razed the medieval city. The six experts deny the charges. MORE

Miliband shakes up leader election rules

Ed Miliband has risked antagonising his trade-union backers with a shakeup of his party’s rule book on electing a new leader. He is hoping tens of thousands of Labour supporters will sign up as “registered supporters” to vote in the contest. MORE

Train goes 600 miles in wrong direction

Nearly 1,000 angry passengers stormed the office of a railway station supervisor in India after their train travelled nearly 600 miles in the wrong direction. Officials said they were amazed that the train did not crash into another one before the error was noticed. Officials blamed a communication mix-up.

Celebrities criticise ‘cruel’ audition

The X Factor has faced heavy criticism from celebrities such as Lily Allen, after devoting more than seven minutes of Sunday’s show to a “cruel” audition. Ceri Rees, 54, has auditioned for the show four times. She was shown struggling to sing in tune and was finally rejected by the panel of judges.

No one likes tune by Adele in Dublin shop

Too many ham-fisted renditions of Adele songs by pianists have driven a Dublin shop to ban customers from playing her track “Someone Like You”. A sign in the Opus ii instrument store informs musicians, “Strictly NO Adele”. Regular exposure to the song’s opening chords prompted the staff to take extreme measures.

$25m legal deal puts Sheen on actor’s exit

Charlie Sheen and the studio that fired him from the successful television comedy series Two and a Half Men are drawing closer to a deal to end their legal dispute. The final touches are being put on a deal that would give Sheen about $25m (£16m) to settle his contract, according to the Los Angeles Times.

‘PM’ wrapped up in office sex scandal

The national broadcaster faced calls for a review of funding over a TV comedy scene depicting a Julia Gillard lookalike draped in a national flag after having sex on her office floor. Conservative lawmakers said the Australian Broadcasting Corporation had offended good taste. Ms Gillard has laughed off the controversy.