Flu 'heading for nine-year high'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7797775.stm

In short:

The number of flu cases in England and Wales are very high at the moment, and are heading for a nine-year high. It is said that there has been a rise of 75% of flu cases in the last week, and that there is a 73% increase compared to last year. Maybe a more worrying fact is that there are a lot more cases amongst elderly people, where previous reports showed that it was mostly rising under healthy youngsters. Several experts believe that the low temperatures of last week’s have contributed to the surge.

What does René think about this:

The worst thing, in my opinion, is that the British people are also infecting tourists. After my visit to London a week ago, I am here in Amsterdam with flu as well. Instead of searching for sharp objects at the airport, they should give us a vaccine when we enter this dangerous country.

To be serious, this is of course a danger for especially the weaker people in the U.K. like elderly people. For them this could be disastrous, so it is good that they warn the elderly to get themselves vaccinated. I found it slightly funny to read that it is partly because of the low temperatures, after having read on Benthe’s blog that this was a very warm year again. It must have been a really warm summer in the U.K. then.

Rapist had children with daughter

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/7796435.stm

In short:
A 72 year-old man has been convicted of fathering two children by his daughter while also sexually abusing them for years. The man abused his three daughters in Dundee and Fife during 1976 till 1993. He was found guilty of repeatedly raping two daughters and using libidinous behavior towards one of his daughters. He remains in custody for one month before he gets sentenced. He was caught after his daughters contacted the police and was later convicted after a week-long trial. His wife had also been accused of abusing the girls but her not guilty pleas were accepted by the Crown.

What does René think about this:
I consider this man the lowest of the lowest, probably even lower than that. I get really angry when I read these kind of things happening. This guy ruined the life of three women in a terrible way. And the worst thing is that this went on for years and years. These are the cases where I wouldn’t mind the guy being beat up, and I wouldn’t mind to ventilate my aggression on these kind of people. I think that there is no possible sentence that could make up for the crimes that he committed.

Man cleared over £53m depot raid

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7795382.stm

In short:

Michael Demetris, a 32 year-old man from south London, has been cleared by jurors of taking part in the £53m raid on a Securitas depot in Kent which was Britain’s biggest cash robbery ever. Jurors cleared him of conspiracy to rob, kidnap and possess firearms. The jurors heard claims against Mr. Demetris stating that he helped produce disguises for the robbery gang. Demetris himself said that he thought they were for a video game being produced by the gang. Jurors still have to reach a verdict on Paul Allen from Kent who faces the same charges as Mr. Demetris. Five other people were jailed earlier this year for the raid in February 2006.

What does René think about this:

With such a big robbery it is good that the court is really putting much effort in getting the guilty sentenced. Sometimes you see that there is a lot of prestige involved in getting people sentenced in big cases, but in this case you see that it is not always like that. Although I don’t know much about the whole case, it sound plausible that Mr. Demetris didn’t know that he was helping a gang in their robbery. I can imagine that the gang didn’t want to many people to know that they were going to perform the biggest robbery in British history.

Icesave customers still claiming

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7795354.stm

In short:
About 9,481 customers of Icelandic bank Icesave who are eligible to claim their money through internet have failed to do so. To make sure that every British Icesave customer gets their money back the Financial Service Compensation Scheme (FSCS) setup an online claim system which makes sure that the victims of the bankruptcy of Icesave get their money back within six weeks. The customers have until the 30th of December to claim their money back electronically, if they fail to do so they are going to have to do it through an alternative paper application system. Some 188,738 people have already used the online claim system.

What does Rene think about this:
This news probably reaches most of the UK, so the people who still have the chance to do this online have been warned now. Otherwise they can still use the alternative way, so everything is going to be all right for them. I chose this item because I thought it was going to be interesting as well for Dutch people, but I think it is the less newsworthy news item that I’ve read for this course. It actually only matters to the 9,481 customers who still have to sign up for the online claim system, they should feel very privileged that the press is informing them about this matter.

England line up Netherlands match

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/7767827.stm

In short

The national football team of England will play a friendly match against the Netherlands in Amsterdam on the 12^th of August. It will be England’s first match of their 2009-2010 campaign for the World Cup held in South-Africa in 2010. At the moment both England and the Netherlands are both top of their qualification groups for the World Cup finals. In the agreement on the friendly match is arranged that the Netherlands will also play a friendly at the Wembley stadium August 2011. With this fixture, England’s calendar for next year is almost full, except for one date, England is expected to compete with Spain on that occasion.

What does René think about this

Both England and the Netherlands have an impressive tradition in football. At the moment both countries are performing very well, so it will be an interesting match to see which of the two has got the best cards for the World Cup 2010. I predict the match to be very close, since Italian coach Capello is managing the English team they have done very well, and are playing better football. On the other hand the Netherlands are performing very well last years and they can beat every nation in the world if their top-players are on top of their game.

Boy George facing jail sentence

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7766624.stm

In short

The famous singer Boy George, whose real name is George O’Dowd, has been found guilty of falsely imprisoning a male escort at his flat in London. The victim, 29-year old Audun Carlsen, said that O’Dowd attacked him when he tried to escape the flat and later handcuffed Carlsen on to a bed. O’Dowd himself claimed that Carlsen stole photographs of O’Dowd from his laptop. Although O’Dowd didn’t’ give any evidence during the trial of imprisoning Carlsen in his flat, he did tell the police earlier that he handcuffed Carlsen while he was investigating the alleged tempering of his computer. The musician will be sentenced on the 16^th of January, but the judge told him that he was likely to face jail.

What does Rene think about this

Boy oh Boy, what a strange case this is. We all know Boy George as an extravagant character who is not afraid to shock people, but this time he got himself into serious trouble. He has acted a bit dumb in this case, imprisoning an escort because he is afraid that he stole photos from him, what was he thinking. And if he handled a bit smarter he even could have saved his behind, but he told the police in all honesty that he handcuffed the guy because he wanted to caught him red handed. With all this stupidity there is only one solution, and that is punish this crazy fellow, let him feel what it is like to be imprisoned.

'Lessons for BBC' after killing

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7751011.stm

In short:

After an inquest on the body of a BBC producer, Kate Peyton, who was shot in Somalia, it was found out that she was unlawfully killed. Kate Peyton, 39, got shot outside a hotel in Mogadishu in February 2005. When coroner Dr. Peter Dean announced the news at Ipswich Crown Court he stated that journalists should not feel pressured into taking dangerous jobs. Peyton’s family said that the BBC and other journalists would learn from this incident and it will improve their safety. The incident provoked a lot of discussion about the BBC taking unacceptable risks.

What does Rene think about this:

After having read the article I think that the BBC has no blame on taking the risks they took. In this article you can definitely see that the BBC was taking risks, but the fact that this story was important to report about and that Kate Peyton said she really wanted to do this, makes it acceptable. You can’t take no risks when you want to report about important issues going on in the world, of course there are many wars, where journalists are in great danger, but the importance of reporters in those places is huge.