The News Matrix: Thursday 14 July 2011

President buries assassinated brother

President Hamid Karzai buried his younger brother in a shrine at their ancestral home yesterday, leading an outpouring of grief for one of the country’s most controversial politicians a day after he was shot dead by a trusted bodyguard. MORE

UK ‘must act’ to stop Greek-style collapse

Britain will suffer a Greek-style debt crisis without further tax rises and spending cuts, the Office for Budget Responsibility says. It claims our ageing population is pushing the Government’s total liabilities to £2 trillion on a national debt of £906bn. MORE

Poet protester is released from jail

Bahraini student Ayat al-Gormezi, who was jailed and tortured for reading a poem which was critical of the regime at a pro-democracy rally, has been released. MORE

Police arrest 26 after nationalist rioting

Riots in the nationalist areas of Belfast and Londonderry after Tuesday’s Orange Order parades saw 16 police injured and 26 arrested. In Belfast’s Ardoyne area, 55 plastic baton rounds were fired and a 12-year-old boy arrested.

Art and drama axed from classrooms

The new English Baccalaureate has seen key subjects removed from the curriculum in four out of 10 schools, a conference was told yesterday. Drama, art, religious education and information technology have all suffered severe cutbacks. MORE

Pakistan spy chief goes to Washington

The head of the Pakistani spy agency at the heart of tensions with the US is due in Washington to try to soothe relations between the countries. Ahmed Pasha’s visit is believed to be his first since the May raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Five reported dead at Boston estate blast

Five people were reported dead last night after what was believed to be an explosion at an industrial estate in Boston, Lincolnshire. Emergency crews were called to the Broadfield Lane Industrial Estate after 7pm.

Wanted man nabbed after dating show

A suspect in a murder committed 13 years ago has been detained by police in north-eastern China after he wooed the audience on a TV dating show. An anonymous caller tipped police that the man closely resembled Wu Gang, who was wanted for stabbing a man to death.

Motörhead guitarist Wurzel dies, aged 61

Michael Burston – the Cheltenhamborn Motörhead guitarist known as Wurzel – died this weekend. The band announced in a statement: “Wurz was pouring a Guinness and cracking a joke when he succumbed to a heart attack. At least we know he went with a smile.”

Men dream of being Jeremy Clarkson

Presenting Top Gear alongside the likes of James May and Richard Hammond has topped a poll of men’s dream jobs. Almost three out of 10 respondents said they’d love to take up the role, beating jobs as a video games tester (21 per cent) and a Formula 1 driver (19 per cent).

Smelly feet could be used in malaria fight

The smell of old socks can help fight malaria by enticing mosquitoes into traps, scientists have found. Tanzania’s Ifakara Health Institute showed mosquitoes were attracted by human foot odour, raising the prospect that they could be lured into outdoor areas and poisoned. MORE

Two-headed snake makes zoo debut

An albino snake with two heads has gone on display at a zoo in southern Ukraine. An official at the park did not give details of why the California Kingsnake was born with the defect, but said that the two heads reacted and appeared to think independently.