Daily News Roundup - Wednesday 16th January
Here is todays roundup of stories.
There will not be an audio podcast today (Wednesday 16th January) - but it will be back tomorrow. It will available from the early hours, as I am switching from doing my recordings at 6am to midnight the night before. The target is to have the “Daily Roundup” podcast available around 12:30am (12:42 update: Helsinki time for the first occasion).
News
BBC (BBC) - Eighty Tories reported over gifts
Eighty Tory MPs have been referred to the Electoral Commission by Labour for potentially failing to declare donations in the right way.
Two Labour MPs John Mann and Kevan Jones have written to the watchdog, the BBC understands.
They believe the Tories may have failed to declare correctly cash given to them by “patrons clubs” and other so-called “unincorporated associations”.
Labour’s Peter Hain is being probed over £103,000 in undeclared donations.
Daily Mail (Daily Mail) - Weather woes continue as floods engulf West Country seven months on
Dozens of flood warnings remain in place after several days of torrential rain caused widespread flooding in western England and Wales.
Matthew Weaver and agencies (Guardian Unlimited)- US considers tighter travel rules for European visitors
Europeans travelling to America could face travel restrictions because of concerns about terrorism, the US head of homeland security said today
Stephen Adams (Daily Telegraph) - Scrabble and Facebook battle over Scrabulous
The makers of the popular word game have issued an edict to the massively successful social networking site ordering it to take down an online version that millions play called Scrabulous.
Sky (Sky) - Clowns Disliked By Young Patients
A survey found that decorating wards with images of clowns was more likely to frighten young patients than cheer them up.
Angela Jameson (Times Online) - Energy firms did not rig price rises, says Ofgem
Regulator says global pressures are forcing up prices and calls on industry to share £9bn windfall with customers
Joby Warrick and Walter Pincus (Washington Post (Free Registration)) - Station Chief Made Appeal To Destroy CIA Tapes
In late 2005, the retiring CIA station chief in Bangkok sent a classified cable to his superiors in Langley asking if he could destroy videotapes recorded at a secret CIA prison in Thailand that in part portrayed intelligence officers using simulated drowning to extract information from suspected al-Qaeda members. The tapes had been sitting in the station chief’s safe, in the U.S. Embassy compound, for nearly three years. Although those involved in the interrogations had pushed for the destruction of the tapes in those years and a secret debate about it had twice reached the White House, CIA officials had not acted on those requests. This time was different.
Comment
Rowan Pelling (Daily Telegraph) - Family history a matter of identity
I am hardly alone in finding that the older I get, the stronger the urge to investigate my roots. The big question of one’s teens and twenties, Where am I going? is replaced by the often equally thorny, Where did I come from?
Libby Brookes (Comment is Free) - Paedophiles can find it all online - except help to stop
To cut offences like Chris Langham’s, we should treat sexual abuse as a public health issue and discuss it without taboo
Luke Harding (Guardian Unlimited) - British Council row escalates as Russia arrests director
The row between Russia and Britain over the fate of the British Council dramatically escalated today after the council confirmed that one of its senior British staff members - the son of Neil Kinnock - had been arrested.
Jonathan Freedland (Comment is Free) - Better politicians who row over race than candidates who hardly care
The US Democrat feud has highlighted the gaps in the London campaign. Excitement, and genuine cultural awareness
CORNELIA DEAN (NYT) - Global Advances Challenge U.S. Dominance in Science
The United States remains the world leader in scientific and technological innovation, but its dominance is threatened by economic development elsewhere, particularly in Asia, the National Science Board said Tuesday in its biennial report on science and engineering.
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[tags]daily roundup, the skinny, matt wardman, wardman wire, mattwardman[/tags]
