News Article 9

Nepal Earthquake: Rescue effort intensifies

Relief efforts in Nepal are intensifying after more than 2,000 people were killed in the worst earthquake there in more than 80 years.

Rescue missions and aid material have started arriving in the country. Seventeen people have been killed on Mount Everest by avalanches - the mountain's worst-ever disaster. Meanwhile a powerful aftershock was felt on Sunday in Nepal, India and Bangladesh, and more avalanches were reported near Everest. The 6.7-magnitude tremor, centred 60km (40 miles) east of Nepal's capital Kathmandu, sent people running in panic for open ground in the city.

As military helicopters hovered over Kathmandu and ferried relief supplies to victims of the earthquake in western Nepal, search and rescue efforts were going on in at least five locations in Kathmandu.

Near the prime minister's official residence, two bulldozers scoured the rubble of a flattened four-storey house. A bystander said it was the local tax office. The bodies of the four staff inside had been recovered minutes before. As the search and road-clearing efforts got under way at noon, a major aftershock sent people into a panic again.

At a nearby open space, people were camped out fearing further tremors. They were short of food and water - clearly hoping and praying that the aftershocks would stop and things would be normal soon.

The death toll from the original earthquake on Saturday could rise, as the situation is unclear in remote areas which remain cut off or hard to access. Many mountain roads are cracked or blocked by landslides. Scores of bodies have been ferried to hospitals in Kathmandu, many of which are struggling to cope with the number of injured. More than 700 have died in the capital alone.

I personally think this is a really upsetting that a natural disaster can cause such devastation for so many people over the world. I hope that the the areas cut off are cleared and reached so that any further deaths can be taken into account and families can be notified. 

News Article 8

Plot to Star Wars Spin Off  Rogue One revealed to fans

A new Star Wars movie will tell the story of a mission by a group of resistance fighters to steal plans to the infamous Death Star.

The plot of Rogue One was revealed to fans at the Star Wars Celebration convention in California on Saturday. It will be the first in a series of on-screen adventures exploring stories outside the core Star Wars saga.

The movie will be set before the first part of the original series, Episode IV: A New Hope. It was released in 1977 and began with the Empire's pursuit of a ship carrying Princess Leia and blueprints to the lethal space station.

A specially created trailer was also shown at the convention, featuring a TIE fighter soaring over a planet where the Death Star can be seen in the clouds.

The film's British director Gareth Edwards said that because the Jedi Knights were all but wiped out in the preceding film Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, his story would be different from the other Star Wars movies. He said it would not focus on people who were able to use the mysterious "force". "It comes down to a group of individuals that don't have magical powers that have to somehow bring hope to the galaxy," he said.

Edwards, a lifelong Star Wars fan, also noted that in the previous movies, characters were clearly defined as good or bad. He said he wanted Rogue One to be more complex. "The thing that interests me about it, is Star Wars was basically very black and white. Our movie is grey." 

Rogue One will star British Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, as a rebel soldier.The movie starts filming in the UK this summer and is due to be released in December 2016, a year after Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

I think that making a spin-off from such a big film franchise is a great and clever way to make more money. Star Wars already has a huge fan base and by creating a spin off based on Stars Wars they have allowed them selves a current target audience that has already been produced from previous films who that will most defiantly go and view the film. I also think it will be good to see the point of view from  a different perspective.

Radio

Who? What? Where? When? 

Two men in particular, Serbian-American scientist Nikola Tesla and Italian physicist Guglielmo Marconi went head-to-head in what would become the race to invent the radio.  

Nikola Tesla

After emigrating to the U.S. in 1884, Nikola Tesla invented the induction coil or Tesla coil, a device essential to sending and receiving radio waves and one the U.S. Tesla applied for his first patents in radio work in 1897 in America. He also built and demonstrated a radio-controlled boat at Madison Square Garden in 1898. 

Guglielmo Macroni

Guglielmo Marconi had conducted experiments and in 1896, sent and received Morse code-based radio signals at distances spanning nearly 4 miles (6 kilometers) in England. That same year, he applied for, and was granted, the world's first patent in wireless telegraphy in England

Case Study: Capital FM 95.8

Capital FM was first aired in 1973 in England. It was previously owned and operated by global radio but they sold Capital Birmingham and Scotland to Communicorp in 2014. Within the first five months of the network Capital's flagship London station regained its spot as the most listened to commercial station in London. 
Capital was previously known as Mix, One, Galaxy and Hit Music at various times. The stations were formerly owned by GCap Media and Chrysalis Radio prior to their respective takeovers by Global Radio and, with the exception of Capital London, were all part of Galaxy or Hit Music until they were merged to form the Capital network on Monday 3 January 2011.
In June 2013 Capital's audience consisted of 4.0% of the whole of the UK and have 7.2 million listeners weekly. Global Radio announced Choice FM to be rebranded as Capital Xtra. 

Capital's London breakfast show, fronted by Lisa Snowdon and Dave Berry, increased its weekly audience by 10% to 1.19 million to remain the most popular among commercial broadcasters. Where as Kiss FM's breakfast show, presented by Rickie, Melvin and Charlie, went up 22% to 824,000 and reinforced its position as the second most popular among commercial stations in London.

News Article 7

A white South Carolina police officer has been charged with murder after video emerged of him shooting a black man running away from him.

South Carolina police officer Michael Slager

State investigators arrested North Charleston police officer Michael Slager on Tuesday after viewing the mobile phone video of the shooting. Authorities say victim Walter Lamer Scott was shot after the officer had already targeted him with a stun gun. The US Department of Justice is set to launch an investigation.

"When you're wrong, you're wrong," North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey said, announcing the arrest. "When you make a bad decision, I don't care if you're behind the shield or a citizen on the street, you have to live with that decision."

Police officers in the US fatally shoot and kill hundreds of people each year, but only a handful of cases result in the officer facing criminal charges. The incident on Saturday began after Scott's car was stopped for having a broken rear light, local media reported.

A video of the incident published by the New York Times shows a brief scuffle before Scott begins running away. The video then shows the officer firing several shots at Scott, who falls to the ground.

The Post and Courier newspaper of Charleston reported that Mr Scott had been arrested about 10 times, mostly for failing to pay child support or show up for court hearings. Mr Scott's brother, Anthony, told the Post and Courier that he believed his brother fled from Mr Slager because he owed child support.

I think that it's good the police officer has been charged because it gives the family some justice and the video was the main cause of this justice. With the amount of shootings I don't think the police officers are trained very well and they tend to act on impulse. More police officers should be charged with shootings rather than getting away with their crimes. However I also do not agree with the gun laws in America. 

Weely News Article 6

The NHS in England has missed its four-hour A&E wait target for the past three months with performance dropping to its lowest level for a decade.

Just 91.8% of patients were seen in four hours between January and March - below the 95% target. That is the worst three-month performance since the target was introduced at the end of 2004. The figures were widely expected as the weekly performance has been below 95% since September.

What does the target measure?

The four hours covers the point from a patient arriving at A&E to when they are either discharged, transferred to another part of the NHS or admitted into hospital for further treatment. It was introduced at the end of 2004 in England when the NHS was told it had to see 98% of patients in four hours. That was relaxed to 95% in 2010 on the advice of doctors - they argued the pressure to hit the target was distorting decision-making.

The rest of the UK also expects hospitals to see 95% of patients in four hours - although in Scotland it is an interim target with the aim of getting 98% of patients seen in that timeframe. It is the third time the target - it is officially measured on a quarterly basis - has been missed under the coalition. Other parts of the UK have also been missing the target during winter.

Figures released in Scotland showed that in the 12 months up to the end of February 92% of patients were seen in four hours. Monthly waiting times have been even worse in Northern Ireland and Wales, although the latest yearly figures are not yet available.

I don't personally know why these targets have been missed but I believe they need to be working to solve the problem. Whether they hire more staff or have one doctor/nurse per patient they need to become more efficient with their timings. However I think a problem for A&E is that people go to A&E for problems that aren't very serious e.g. someone is drunk and take up the doctors time when they could be dealing with more serious matters.