The News Matrix: Tuesday 8 October 2013

Fast return expected from Royal Mail

The Government is giving up Royal Mail for £600m less that it is worth, experts say, in a move that could see private investors line their pockets with an instant return of up to 25 per cent. Bets placed by the City ahead of Royal Mail’s stock market debut forecast that the shares – on sale for no more that £3.30 each – will leap to as much as £4 on the first day of trading. MORE

Madoff’s ex-workers go on trial for fraud

The secretary of jailed financier Bernard Madoff and four other back-office subordinates of the Ponzi king go on trial today as the government shows a jury what it has collected in its five-year probe of one of history’s biggest frauds. The trial is expected to last up to five months. MORE

MPs warn Osborne of creating bubble

George Osborne’s £12bn scheme to help first-time buyers get a foot on the property ladder could create a housing bubble and distort economic recovery. MPs at the Treasury Select Committee warned the Chancellor against Help to Buy, which is being launched today.

Attacks point to new Islamist uprising

Suspected militants killed six soldiers near the Suez Canal and fired grenades at a state satellite station in Cairo yesterday, suggesting a gathering Islamist insurgency. The attacks came a day after dozens of Muslim Brotherhood supporters were killed in clashes with security forces. MORE

Sarkozy cleared of illegal donations

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been cleared of allegations he illegally took donations from France’s richest woman on the way to his 2007 election victory. Magistrates cited a lack of evidence for claims he had taken advantage of frail Liliane Bettencourt. MORE

‘Harry Potter’ author helps to open clinic

Harry Potter author J K Rowling is “elated” at the opening of a multiple sclerosis research clinic named after her late mother. She donated £10m to start the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic in Edinburgh.

38 more bodies recovered off coast

Italian divers have recovered 38 more bodies from a smugglers’ boat that capsized and sank to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea with hundreds of migrants on board. This brought the confirmed death toll to 232, as MPs called for a change in the law which criminalises those seeking asylum. MORE

Six care workers are arrested by police

Six care workers have been arrested in connection with a fraud involving vulnerable patients. The four women and two men were held during a series of raids after an investigation into criminal activity at a care service provider. The suspects were held at residential addresses in and outside of London.