The News Matrix: Saturday 6 October 2012

Call that came from the dog and bone

A man who thought he was getting a call from a burglar was actually called by his dog, say police in Orem, Utah. The man alerted police after he received a call from home on his cellphone. He later found his dog had hit the redial button while trying to bury the handset in the garden.

Morrissey 'not a charming man'

X Factor host Dermot O'Leary has revealed he bumped into Morrissey as he checked into his honeymoon hotel in Rome – and the former Smiths frontman told him his marriage would not last. O'Leary tied the knot with long-term girlfriend Dee Koppang last month.

Yorkshire firm wins legal war of the roses

Bosses at a Yorkshire woollen mill have won a legal war of the roses with a Lancastrian fabrics firm after claiming that one of their plaid designs had been unfairly copied. A Patents County Court judge ruled that Abraham Mooon's copyright had been infringed by Art of the Loom.

Mammoth may have been killed by man

A teenage mammoth that once roamed the Siberian tundra in search of fodder and females may have been killed by an Ice Age man on a summer day tens of thousands of years ago, a Russian scientist says. The animal was dug out of the Siberian permafrost last month. MORE

But do they still make good chips?

Cracked potatoes, blemished apples and undersized carrots are all being sold in Britain's supermarkets after the lacklustre summer forced retailers to lower their standards on the appearance of fresh products. The moves have been welcomed by British growers. MORE

Egg protest lands student in hot water

A court has given a suspended prison sentence to a student who fried eggs over the eternal flame at a war memorial in protest at government policies. Hanna Sinkova, 21, was found guilty of desecrating the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Kiev.

Fans vote Hey Jude is better, better, better

"Hey Jude" has been named the nation's favourite Beatles song as the 50th anniversary of the band's recording career was celebrated today. The track - which featured on Let It Be, the last album released by the group - topped a BBC local radio poll of more than 12,000 music fans.

Pablo Escobar's son cashes in

Nearly 20 years after Colombian cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar died in a hail of bullets, his eldest son Sebastian Marroquin is conquering new markets in Mexico, with T-shirts in his father's image.

Scotland's star is shining brightly

A star has been named after Scotland to mark the opening of a public observatory at the UK's only dark sky park. First Minister Alex Salmond was handed a certificate for "Alba" (Gaelic for Scotland) as he officially opened the Scottish Dark Sky Observatory in Galloway yesterday.

Street above new rail line collapses

A street in central Warsaw has partly collapsed during the construction of an underground line, and builders are pumping hundreds of tons of concrete into the hole to stabilise nearby buildings. An office block and an apartment building shifted slightly and were evacuated.

Fuller's £350m plan to outdo Cowell

Pop mogul Simon Fuller, who masterminded the Spice Girls, hopes to outmanoeuvre his rival Simon Cowell by buying up many of the assets of record company EMI in an audacious £350m deal. Fuller, 52, is putting together a bid to buy 60 per cent of EMI's businesses in Europe. MORE

Banks say sorry for cash machine chaos

Two major banking groups apologised to customers yesterday after technical hitches left people frozen out of their accounts. Customers of Halifax and Lloyds TSB, which are part of the same group, had their cards rejected in shops and were unable to use some cash machines and online services.

Violence fears over Bollywood films

Cinemas in Nepal have stopped screening Bollywood movies because they fear violence after a Communist Party offshoot alleged the films were vulgar. The group is demanding that the government give priority to locally made movies and strictly censor Hindi films.

New award boosts traditional subjects

New figures show a big rise in the take-up of traditional subjects such as history, geography, languages and science at GCSE. The shift coincides with the introduction of the English Baccalaureate, to be awarded to candidates with good grades in core academic subjects.

Kenyans win right to High Court trial

Three Kenyans tortured by British authorities during the 1950s Mau Mau rebellion have won the right to a High Court trial in a judicial ruling that exposes the UK Government to thousands of legal claims arising from brutality during the colonial era. MORE

Taliban warn Khan against peace march

The Pakistani Taliban warned yesterday that it opposes a planned "peace march" into dangerous tribal areas led by Imran Khan, and accused the cricketer-turned-politician of being a "slave of the West" who is using the issue of US drone strike for his own political gain. MORE

Riot police used after funeral protest

Riot police in Bahrain used water cannons and tear gas yesterday to disperse hundreds of anti-government protesters trying to reach Pearl Square in the capital, Manama, which was once the hub of their uprising. The protests followed the funeral of a demonstrator who died in custody.

Rebels come under huge bombardment

Syrian warplanes and artillery pounded Homs yesterday, subjecting rebels to the heaviest bombardment in months, activists said. The stepped-up pace of attacks suggests that the regime's forces have not been distracted by escalating tensions with Turkey. MORE

Three jailed for life after 'sadistic' torture

Three people who subjected a vulnerable man to "sadistic" levels of torture have each been jailed for life. Derek Blake, 44, was found dead in a flat in Great Yarmouth. Ricky Roys, 20, Andrew Brown, 42, and Helen Cooke, 19, all pleaded guilty to the murder at Norwich Crown Court.

Obama struggles to regain lost ground

Desperate to recover from his limp debate performance, President Obama received a boost yesterday with a decline in the US unemployment rate to below 8 per cent, as a re-energised Mitt Romney stepped up his efforts to recapture the vital swing state of Virginia. MORE

Chief Constable is sacked

The chief constable of Cleveland Police has been sacked after he was found guilty of gross misconduct. Sean Price is the first chief to be dismissed in 35 years. He was found to have lied about his role in the recruitment of the former police authority chairman's daughter. MORE

Floods warning as rain sweeps UK

Parts of England and Wales have been warned they are at risk of more flooding as heavy rain sweeps in over the weekend. Parts of the South West have had almost an inch (20mm) of rain in the past 24 hours, and the Met Office said 0.8-1.2 inches was due by the end of today.

PM warns nation will run out of cash

Greece will run out of money at the end of November if it doesn't receive the next instalment of its bailout, the country's PM has said. Antonis Samaras warned that it is "very difficult" to make further cuts to pensions and wages that the country's debt inspectors are seeking. MORE

Cameron to stress Tories' 'caring' side

David Cameron will announce a £155m boost for nursing and cancer treatment today as he seeks to reaffirm the Conservatives' "One Nation" credentials. The Prime Minister will tour a hospital ahead of the opening of the Tory conference in Birmingham.