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The News Matrix: Tuesday 20 August 2013

 

Monday 19 August 2013 17:43 EDT
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Lib Dems say no to coalitions

Grassroots Liberal Democrats have told party leader Nick Clegg that he would struggle to win support for a fresh coalition with the Conservatives amid growing hostility towards David Cameron. Mr Cameron is believed to be laying the ground for a second coalition after 2015 by amending Tory party rules. MORE

Tesco fined for dodgy pricing

A pensioner’s complaint about the price of strawberries resulted in the supermarket giant Tesco being fined £300,000 for breaching trading standards rules over special-offer pricing. It admitted customers had been misled over the “half-price” punnets offer. MORE

Rudd leadership left rudderless

A bold gamble by Kevin Rudd to reclaim the leadership of Australia from Julia Gillard and launch national elections appears to be failing. A poll yesterday in The Australian suggested his centre-left Labor government is headed for a heavy defeat in a September ballot.

Survivors tell of Greenland ordeal

A pair of British charity adventurers told an inquest of their nightmarish ordeal when they were caught in a horrific Arctic storm in Greenland, during which their friend froze to death. Philip Goodever-Docker, 31, was raising money in memory of his grandfather. MORE

Al-Jazeera launches US television arm

Al-Jazeera America launches today as the Qatar-based news organisation finally establishes a firm foothold on American television. “We’re breaking in with something that we think is unique,” said Kate O’Brian, the former ABC News executive who is now the channel’s president.

Medical chief ate ‘hash’ cookies at uni

Dame Sally Davies, England’s chief medical officer, has admitted eating ‘hash’ cookies at university. She stopped after hallucinations, and said taking drugs is a medical rather than criminal problem. Page 26

Jewellery that’s out of this world

Iron beads used by the Egyptians for a necklace 5,000 years ago came from space, a study has shown. Scientists from University College London scanned the beads with neutrons and gamma rays to discover they were hammered into shape and come from meteorites. They were found in 1911 near el-Gerzeh in lower Egypt.

Vroom boom… rare Ferrari makes £17.5m

A 1967 Ferrari owned by an orphan-turned-millionaire sold at auction for $27.5m (£17.5m). The 275 GTB/4*S NART Spider was one of only 10 built, and its single-family ownership increased interest in the sale. The owner, the late Eddie Smith, died in 2007 aged 88. He was a former mayor of Lexington, North Carolina.

No more bread for over-fed ducks

Ducks living in a park in Peterborough have been put on a diet after becoming overweight due to being fed too much white bread by visitors. Chris Park, who works at Ferry Meadows park said: “If you ate white bread all day, you’d get fat too.”

A beer 300 years in the making

An Austrian brewery is offering beer-lovers a trip back in time by reviving a 300-year-old recipe. The Hofstetten brewery in Saint Martin recreated the Neuhauser Herrschafts Pier from ingredients listed in an invoice for the local Neuhaus Castle in 1720. The brew made its debut at the town’s volunteer firefighter festival.

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