The News Matrix: Wednesday 19 October 2011

Pit manager arrested after 4 mine deaths

The manager of a coal mine in Wales where four men drowned last month has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter. The pit manager, Malcolm Fyfield, escaped after the flood at the Gleision Colliery near Swansea in September, Wales’s worst mining disaster in three decades. MORE

Swine flu poses risk to unborn babies

Pregnant women were advised to get a flu jab after research showed babies were five times more likely to be stillborn if their mothers caught swine flu. The National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at Oxford recorded seven stillbirths and three baby deaths among 256 mothers with swine flu.

Murder victim called police repeatedly

A mother was beaten to death by her ex-partner after police failed to intervene 11 times. Casey Brittle, 21, repeatedly called Nottinghamshire Police before she was murdered in front of her daughter. MORE

Nun dies in fiery protest at China rule

A 20-year-old nun, Tenzin Wangmo, has died after dousing herself in petrol and setting herself alight on Monday. The young woman is the ninth Tibetan to have set themselves alight this year in protest at Chinese policies in the region and the first woman to have done so. MORE

Radiation at plant halves in one month

The operator of a tsunami-hit nuclear power plant has said the amount of radiation being emitted from the complex has halved from a month ago. The Fukushima Daiichi plant was damaged in March in the world’s worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago.

Rioters lose appeals against sentences

The two men jailed for four years each for inciting rioting over Facebook are among seven rioters who have had their appeals against their sentences turned down. Lord Judge sitting in the Court of Appeal stated that sentences handed out to rioters should be “designed to deter others from similar criminal activity”. MORE

Aid won’t be needed ‘within a generation’

Africa can be free of its dependence on international aid within a generation, former Prime Minister Tony Blair will claim today. Overseas aid makes up the majority of Government spending in areas like Sierra Leone and Liberia, paying for basics such as clean water.

Swastika team claim Facebook hacking

The personal details of 10,000 people were stolen from their Facebook accounts and leaked online yesterday, according to hackers who claimed responsibility. Team Swastika briefly posted the usernames and passwords of Facebook users on the website Pastebin. Facebook said the details were not related to live accounts.

Neo-Nazis use ruse to buy manor house

Officials have been stung by revelations that they were hoodwinked into selling a 19th-century manor house to a neo-Nazi group who used a woman posing as a practitioner of alternative medicine to complete the deal. It’s an embarrassment for Thuringia state, which spends millions combating neo-Nazi politics.

Three-wheelers in race across Asia

Sixty-six people from 12 nations are powering their way from the Indonesian capital Jakarta to Bangkok in a race against time, mechanical breakdown and climactic extremes using Asia’s ubiquitous auto rickshaws. The rally, which began on Sunday, is for charity, with participants hoping to end their journey on 30 October.

Girl, 9, trapped down a manhole

Firefighters have rescued a nine-year-old girl who became trapped down a manhole. The girl was found down an inspection manhole in an alleyway in Northampton. It is not known whether she climbed down herself or whether it was part of a prank. She suffered just a few scratches.

Viking boat burial site discovered

A Viking boat burial site, thought to be 1,000 years old, has been discovered by archaeologists in the Scottish Highlands. The first intact boat burial site to be uncovered on the UK mainland, it contained a high-status Viking buried with an axe, sword and spear.