French mother confesses to killing eight babies
A 47-year-old woman has confessed to killing her eight newborn children and hiding their bodies in a village in northern France. Dominique Cottrez and her husband, also in his forties, have been in custody since the bodies were found on Tuesday wrapped in plastic bags at two homes in Villers-au-Tertre, a sleepy village of about 650 people 125 miles north of Paris. She initially confessed in custody to killing two children at birth about ten years ago, before admitting to the murder of the six others, prosecutors said. Authorities have placed Cottrez, an auxiliary nurse, under formal investigation - a preliminary stage before criminal charges - for "voluntary murder of minors under the age of 15". Her husband, a carpenter, was also put under investigation for hiding the bodies and not alerting police.(itn)
FTSE lower as weak banks offset upbeat UK results
Britain's top shares closed easier on Thursday as a retreat from banks and investor caution ahead of U.S. growth data on Friday offset a batch of robust UK corporate earnings from companies including AstraZeneca. The FTSE 100 closed down 5.73 points, or 0.1 percent, at 5,313.95, after it ended 0.9 percent lower on Wednesday. AstraZeneca advanced 2.7 percent after the drugmaker doubled its 2010 share buyback programme, posted strong results and won an endorsement from a U.S. advisory panel for its potential blockbuster heart drug Brilinta. Reed Elsevier also notched up good gains, adding 3.8 percent, after the publishing and events group said underlying revenues returned to growth in the first half, beating expectations. "(UK) corporate earnings generally speaking have been fairly pleasing," said Richard Hunter, head of UK equities at Hargreaves Lansdown. "It's now a question of getting the corporate results season out of the way and making sure there aren't any more nasties on the economic front because obviously still in the background are concerns about the strength of the global economic recovery." BAE Systems , Europe's largest defence contractor, climbed 1 percent after it reported a 14 percent rise in first-half earnings and said it expected to deliver growth in the full year. BT added 3.5 percent as the telecoms provider said it did not expect to be overly damaged by looming British spending cuts and repeated its full-year outlook. And Vodafone rose 1.5 percent as talk turned to plans for an initial public offering by the Indian telecoms venture between the British mobile telecoms provider and Essar Group. Essar said plans are at an initial stage. Energy stocks were mixed, with Royal Dutch Shell reversing gains to end 0.2 percent lower in the wake of its second-quarter results.(reuters)
Ambulance patient killed by car
An assault victim was hit by a car and killed when he got out of an ambulance taking him to hospital, it has emerged. Andrew Hamilton was punched unconscious after a night out in Bideford, North Devon at 1.45am on June 13. He became agitated after regaining consciousness in an ambulance on his way to hospital in Barnstaple and the crew decided to let him out for a cigarette to calm down. They pulled into a layby on the A39 but the 32-year-old, originally from Glasgow, walked into the road and was struck by a white Nissan Almera car at 2am. Mr Hamilton, the son of shipyard boss Andrew Hamilton, died in North Devon District Hospital after the accident. The 41-year-old man who attacked Mr Hamilton has been cautioned for assault but no further action will be taken against him, police said.(press association)
News from Yahoo News
A 47-year-old woman has confessed to killing her eight newborn children and hiding their bodies in a village in northern France. Dominique Cottrez and her husband, also in his forties, have been in custody since the bodies were found on Tuesday wrapped in plastic bags at two homes in Villers-au-Tertre, a sleepy village of about 650 people 125 miles north of Paris. She initially confessed in custody to killing two children at birth about ten years ago, before admitting to the murder of the six others, prosecutors said. Authorities have placed Cottrez, an auxiliary nurse, under formal investigation - a preliminary stage before criminal charges - for "voluntary murder of minors under the age of 15". Her husband, a carpenter, was also put under investigation for hiding the bodies and not alerting police.(itn)
FTSE lower as weak banks offset upbeat UK results
Britain's top shares closed easier on Thursday as a retreat from banks and investor caution ahead of U.S. growth data on Friday offset a batch of robust UK corporate earnings from companies including AstraZeneca. The FTSE 100 closed down 5.73 points, or 0.1 percent, at 5,313.95, after it ended 0.9 percent lower on Wednesday. AstraZeneca advanced 2.7 percent after the drugmaker doubled its 2010 share buyback programme, posted strong results and won an endorsement from a U.S. advisory panel for its potential blockbuster heart drug Brilinta. Reed Elsevier also notched up good gains, adding 3.8 percent, after the publishing and events group said underlying revenues returned to growth in the first half, beating expectations. "(UK) corporate earnings generally speaking have been fairly pleasing," said Richard Hunter, head of UK equities at Hargreaves Lansdown. "It's now a question of getting the corporate results season out of the way and making sure there aren't any more nasties on the economic front because obviously still in the background are concerns about the strength of the global economic recovery." BAE Systems , Europe's largest defence contractor, climbed 1 percent after it reported a 14 percent rise in first-half earnings and said it expected to deliver growth in the full year. BT added 3.5 percent as the telecoms provider said it did not expect to be overly damaged by looming British spending cuts and repeated its full-year outlook. And Vodafone rose 1.5 percent as talk turned to plans for an initial public offering by the Indian telecoms venture between the British mobile telecoms provider and Essar Group. Essar said plans are at an initial stage. Energy stocks were mixed, with Royal Dutch Shell reversing gains to end 0.2 percent lower in the wake of its second-quarter results.(reuters)
Ambulance patient killed by car
An assault victim was hit by a car and killed when he got out of an ambulance taking him to hospital, it has emerged. Andrew Hamilton was punched unconscious after a night out in Bideford, North Devon at 1.45am on June 13. He became agitated after regaining consciousness in an ambulance on his way to hospital in Barnstaple and the crew decided to let him out for a cigarette to calm down. They pulled into a layby on the A39 but the 32-year-old, originally from Glasgow, walked into the road and was struck by a white Nissan Almera car at 2am. Mr Hamilton, the son of shipyard boss Andrew Hamilton, died in North Devon District Hospital after the accident. The 41-year-old man who attacked Mr Hamilton has been cautioned for assault but no further action will be taken against him, police said.(press association)
News from Yahoo News