La clé des langues - Anglais - News headlines

News headlines - press review

Every monday, tuesday, thursday and friday, this section gives you an overview of the topics that hit the headlines in national newspapers in Britain (the Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and The Independent) and in the United States (the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune and USA Today). It also provides you with links to other newspaper websites of the English speaking world as well as a selection of 'lighter' readings.

UK latest

New banker bonus boom: Payouts leapt 64% to new record when Chancellor George Osborne cut top-rate tax to 45p in April The Independent, 20 June 2013
Nigel Morris
Bankers’ bonuses soared to record levels in April as the Government’s cut in the top rate of income tax came into effect, new figures have revealed.

The disclosure provoked anger, with Labour accusing David Cameron of giving a “massive tax cut” to millionaires in the City at a time when ordinary families are seeing their incomes shrink.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the average weekly bonus in the financial sector was £143 in April – a rise of 64.4 per cent compared with April 2012.

Read on...
Ofsted chief calls for troubleshooters in schools failing poor children The Guardian, 20 June 2013
Richard Adams
New superteachers should be parachuted into areas with "mediocre schools", the chief inspector of schools in England will say in a radical speech on Thursday, as part of a drive to improve education for poor children "unseen" by the current system.

Sir Michael Wilshaw will also spell out a tougher approach from Ofsted to schools that are believed to be failing poor children. Schools previously judged outstanding but which are not doing well by their poorest children will be reinspected by the inspectorate.

The head of Ofsted argues that a cadre of "national service teachers" should be created, employed directly by central government rather than by local authorities or individual schools. They would be sent to teach in parts of the country that struggle to attract accomplished teachers, into schools that are said to be failing their most disadvantaged pupils.

Read on...
Scotland safer in UK, says Hague The Herald, 20 June 2013
Michael Settle
Speaking in Edinburgh in his first major intervention in the debate, the Foreign Secretary will say Scots would have to "start again in world affairs" and face the cost of establishing new diplomatic and intelligence networks.

He will say he has met "bafflement anyone would try to break up a union that has been so resilient, so successful and so admired as ours" while travelling to about 70 countries in the past three years.

The Secretary of State will emphasise Scotland's membership of the world's sixth-largest economy, which is represented at the G7, G8 and G20 and has a permanent seat at the UN Security Council as well as an influential and growing diplomatic network.

Read on...

USA latest

Cervical cancer vaccines cut rates of HPV infections: U.S The Chicago Tribune, 20 June 2013
Reuters
CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. introduction of a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer in 2006 has reduced infections with the human papillomavirus or HPV - the sexually transmitted virus that causes the disease - by more than half among girls and young women, U.S. health officials said on Wednesday.

The results were better than expected and may even suggest that unvaccinated individuals are benefiting because of a drop in the number of infections circulating, the team reported in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

"This report shows that HPV works well, and the report should be a wake-up call to our nation to protect the next generation by increasing HPV vaccination rates," Dr Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement.

Read on...
FBI uses drones inside U.S. for spying, director says The Los Angeles Times, 20 June 2013
Richard A. Serrano and Brian Bennett
WASHINGTON — FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III testified Wednesday that the controversial National Security Agency surveillance program "has been a contributing factor, one dot among many dots" for tracking terrorist plots, and he admitted for the first time that the bureau had used surveillance drones inside the U.S.

The FBI uses drones "in a very, very minimal way and very seldom," said Mueller, adding that "we have very few."

Mueller's comments were the first time an FBI official publicly acknowledged that the bureau used remotely piloted aircraft, though the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have both tested drones for use in investigations.

Read on...
Scrapping equipment key to Afghan drawdown The Washington Post, 20 June 2013
Ernesto Londoño
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — Facing a tight withdrawal deadline and tough terrain, the U.S. military has destroyed more than 170 million pounds worth of vehicles and other military equipment as it rushes to wind down its role in the Afghanistan war by the end of 2014.

The massive disposal effort, which U.S. military officials call unprecedented, has unfolded largely out of sight amid an ongoing debate inside the Pentagon about what to do with the heaps of equipment that won’t be returning home. Military planners have determined that they will not ship back more than $7 billion worth of equipment — about 20 percent of what the U.S. military has in Afghanistan — because it is no longer needed or would be too costly to ship back home.

Read on...

News from other parts of the world

Ireland

The Irish Times: A socially liberal and rather left wing newspaper. Founded in 1859, it is one of the major Irish daily information media and offers an excellent online edition.
The Irish Independent: Founded in 1905, it is Ireland's best-selling daily newspaper. Its website offers regular updates on both Irish and world news.

South Africa

The Mail and Guardian: A major investigative newspaper founded in 1985. Although it is a weekly paper, its online version offers daily updates on South African and world news.

Australia

The Daily Telegraph: Founded in 1879 and named after the British upmarket daily newspaper, it is rather conservative and offers a variety of sections ranging from politics to 'wacky' news.
The Australian: Less populist than the telegraph, this newspaper provides its readers with news from all over South-East Asia. It was founded in 1964 and is based in Sydney.

New Zealand

The New Zealand Herald: Founded in 1863, it is the country's best-selling paper and offers an excellent website with regular news updates.

Canada

The Toronto Star: Canada's largest daily newspaper, with a left of centre vantage point. It was founded in 1892.
The Globe and Mail: A result of the 1936 merger between The Globe and The Mail and Empire, it is a widely read conservative newspaper.

India

The Indian Express: Started in 1931, it is one of India's most prominent daily newspapers. It is renowned for its investigative reports and offers a fine website.

On the lighter side

The Daily Mirror: Launched in 1903, the Mirror was intended as a newspaper for women, run by women. It now belongs to the buoyant and colorful British gutter press.
The Sun: Founded in 1964 and sold in the UK and Ireland, it is the pendent of the Mirror on the waiting room table of any good British GP.
People: An American weekly magazine of celebrity and human-interest stories founded in 1974.