The Saturday Matrix: Saturday 25 June 2011

Measles on rise in England and Wales

Outbreaks of measles in England and Wales have risen sharply in recent months with far more cases already this year than for the whole of 2010, according to new figures. MORE

Supermarkets cut petrol prices

UK supermarkets are to cut fuel prices. Tesco yesterday slashed 3p a litre off the cost of its petrol and diesel. Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons pledged to introduce similar cuts from today. MORE

Car bomb kills five as protests continue

Tens of thousands of Yemenis protested in Sanaa in a “Friday of the Revolutionary Will” to underline their drive to oust their wounded president. A car bomb killed five people in the southern port city of Aden. MORE

Nike criticised for T-shirt branding

Nike is facing a wave of criticism from politicians and pressure groups in the US who accuse the multinational of glamorising drug use in its new T-shirt slogans.

Bin Laden thought of renaming al-Qa’ida

Osama bin Laden, holed-up in his Pakistan hideaway, contemplated changing the name of al-Qa’ida and rebranding the organisation to make it more attractive to potential recruits. MORE

Becker’s Spanish villa is impounded

Boris Becker’s Mallorcan villa was yesterday reported to have been impounded by authorities because he allegedly failed to pay bills totalling more than a quarter of a million euros to his gardener. MORE

End to drought not cut and dried

Britain’s drought is not over, the Environment Agency has said. The Met Office is warning that parts of the country could be hit by a heatwave by the end of the weekend and early next week.

First woman found guilty of genocide

The UN war crimes tribunal for Rwanda sentenced Pauline Nyiramasuhuko to life in prison yesterday – the first woman to be found guilty of genocide by an international court. MORE

Climber finds body of friend on Everest

A British mountain climber tackling Everest came across the body of his best friend frozen in the ice months after he died having reached the summit. MORE

Device makes things ‘invisible to sound’

Scientists have unveiled a “cloaking device” that makes objects invisible to sound waves. It uses plastic sheets with arrays of holes, and could be used to make ships invisible to sonar.

PM’s son disparages Arabs on Facebook

The Israeli Prime Minister’s 19-year-old son posted disparaging comments about Arabs and Muslims on his Facebook page, an Israeli paper reported yesterday. MORE