Two women murdered in their beds at care home

Mother’s court fight to keep baby secret from father

A 20-year-old who gave birth to a child conceived after a one-night stand with a work colleague is battling to have the child, now 17 weeks old, adopted without the father knowing.

She wants the appeal court to overturn a county court ruling that the baby’s father should be told and override the local authority’s bid for him or her own parents to be approached to see whether they will look after the child.

Judgement was reserved.

Source:- The Guardian, Thursday 8 November 2007, page 4

Cot deaths Sally killed by alcohol

Sally Clark, the solicitor wrongly convicted of the murder of her two sons, drank herself to death but there was nothing to indicate that she intended to kill herself, an inquest heard yesterday.

Coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray told the inqeust in Chelmsford, Essex, her death was a “tragic accident”.

Clark was found guilty of the murders of eight-week-old Harry and 11-week-old Christopher in 1999 on the evidence of pathologist Roy Meadow but was later cleared after his evidence was called into question.

Source:- The Sun, Thursday 8 November 2007, page 33

Company wage rises push ahead

Private-sector pay rose faster than public-sector earnings in the 12 months to April, the Office for National Statistics has revealed, rising by 3.5% compared to 3% in the public sector.

The gap reflects the government’s determination to clamp down on public sector pay rises above 2%, a policy ministers will continue from 2008-11, heralding a period of industrial conflict with public sector unions.

Source:- The Financial Times, Thursday 8 November 2007, page 3

Stem cells ‘may reverse Alzheimer’s symptoms’

Experiments on mice conducted at the University of California appear to indicate that the injection of stem cells into the brains of people with Alzheimer’s could reverse the symptoms of the condition.

Researchers told New Scientist that the experiments had shown stem cells integrating with mice’s brains and then reversing cognitive deficits such as those associated with Alzheimer’s.

Source:- The Daily Mail Thursday 8 November 2007 page 37

Two women murdered in their beds at care home

A teenager has been arrested on suspicion of murdering two elderly women after attacking them as they slept in a nursing home in Leicester.

Source:- The Times, Thursday 8 November 2007, page 21

£33m wasted on asylum centre plans

The Home Office spent £33 million and four years drawing up plans for accommodation for asylum-seekers before abandoning the project, the National Audit Office reveals today.

Source:- The Times, Thursday 8 November 2007, page 27

Thalidomide film revives compensation fight

Germany’s pharmaceutical industry spent more than a year trying to ban the film, but last night a moving, widely acclaimed television drama about the tragedy suffered by thousands of children crippled by the drug thalidomide was finally broadcast to an audience of millions.

Source:- The Independent, Thursday 8 November 2007

Secondary school pupils who are struggling to read would be kept behind for up to an hour every day under plans drawn up by a leading government adviser.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Thursday 8 November 2007, page 1

Attacking the elderly is a hate crime, courts told

Criminals who target the elderly are to be treated more harshly by the courts, it was announced yesterday.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Thursday 8 November 2007, page 8