The News Matrix: Wednesday 4 September 2013

NHS ‘up for sale’, warns Labour

The NHS has been “put up for sale” by the Coalition Government, Labour has claimed, as it emerged that the Department of Health approved the sale of a district general hospital. The George Eliot Hospital in Warwickshire could be acquired by another NHS trust or “a franchise that may be a non-NHS organisation”. Labour’s Andy Burnham said it was “privatisation driven from the top”.

New law guarantees the right to food

India plans to subsidise wheat, rice and cereals for some 800 million people under a $20bn (£13bn) scheme to cut malnutrition and ease poverty. The bill guarantees citizens a legal right to food. India has some of the world’s worst poverty and malnutrition. MORE

Ex-Sunday Mirror reporter charged

A former Sunday Mirror reporter yesterday became the first journalist outside newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch to be charged with phone hacking offences. Dan Evans, 37, is accused of plotting to intercept voicemails of “well-known people and those associated with them”.

Regime closes TV stations

A Cairo court yesterday ordered Al-Jazeera’s local affiliate and three other stations to stop broadcasting, part of a growing government crackdown on media seen as supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and theousted President, Mohammed Morsi.

Fall in cases going forward for trial

The number of cases of domestic violence referred to the Crown Prosecution Service has decreased, despite an increase in reported incidents, according to a Freedom of Information request. Successful prosecutions peaked in 2010-11 and then fell by 1.6 per cent. MORE

TV survival expert helped find killer

Ray Mears used the bush craft skills familiar to his television fans to come within a few feet of killer Raoul Moat. Mears, left, joined the operation to find the club doorman after he shot dead three people. MORE

Assange seeks to recover suitcase

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has asked police to investigate what happened to a suitcase he suspects was stolen from him by intelligence agents as he travelled from Sweden to Germany in 2010. The suitcase contained three laptops with WikiLeaks material, including evidence of a US “war crime”.

Two Britons held over fake kidnap

Two British women were arrested in Portugal after they took part in a fake kidnapping as part of a stunt to celebrate a 40th birthday. Alarmed onlookers called police after seeing the women bundled into a van on Sunday by two men, one of whom was hooded, before it sped off as part of the prank.

Millipedes ‘possible cause of train crash’

Black Portuguese millipedes are suspects in a rear-end collision between two trains in Western Australia after hundreds of the tiny creatures were found squashed in a slippery mess on the track. “Millipedes are one of the factors we are going to take into account,” said a spokesman at the Public Transport Authority.

BA apologises after getting irate tweet

A disgruntled British Airways customer, who was annoyed at the handling his father’s lost bags, won an apology from the airline after complaining in a self-sponsored tweet. Instead of writing a normal message on the micro-blogging site, Hasan Syed used a promoted tweet for which he paid to get the airline’s attention.

Google signs sweet deal with Nestlé

Google has announced that the next version of its Android mobile operating system will be called KitKat. The internet giant has teamed up with Nestlé, with the title following on alphabetically from other sweet-themed names such as Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean.

Record-breaking fruit salad created

Students at a university marked the start of the school year with a world-record fruit salad weighing more than 6,800kg. A Guinness World Records representative certified the record. The University of Massachusetts food event has become an annual tradition. Recent years have featured seafood stews and stir fries.

Rooney tweet did not break rules

Wayne Rooney has been cleared of breaking advertising rules after a tweet he posted plugging a Nike marketing campaign was deemed to use markedly different language from his usual posts. Previous tweets from the Manchester United included: “Is the masters on tv now cant find it.”