News in Pictures - April 1, 2014

Simon Stevens on Pinterest NHS UK, England

The UK could have achieved better value for the taxpayer in floating Royal Mail, NATO Alliance counterparts meet to discuss the situation in Ukraine, the new NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens calls for a radical shakeup, the UK Financial Conduct Authority takes over the regulation of payday lenders on April 1 and is promising a crackdown on companies that do not adhere to strict rules over lending to people without checking their ability to repay, as well as offering too many rollover loans, and Buckingham Palace has agreed for test drilling for the controversial energy technique called fracking to be allowed in the Royal gardens, according to a report in the media on April Fool's Day.

From The Voice of Russia, News. Email: letters@ruvr.ru

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Climate change: Health, homes, food and safety under threat, says IPCC

By Nina Green on the Voice of Russia about: migration, environment, poverty, climate change, global warming, food supply and other news. 

A landmark United Nations report on climate change has warned that the impacts of global warming are likely to be "severe, pervasive and irreversible". 

However, some campaigners have called the report a 'missed opportunity", as it doesn’t highlight how little money is being spent by governments to try and tackle global warming. Nima Green has more.

http://cdn.ruvr.ru/download/2014/03/31/15/31_03_14_climate_change_Nima_tx.mp3

From The Voice of Russia, News. Email: letters@ruvr.ru

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via http://voiceofrussia.com/uk/news/2014_03_31/Climate-change-Health-homes-food-and-safety-under-threat-says-IPCC-6576/

Crossrail: More ancient skeletons uncovered, this time in known cemetery

Yet another clutch of ancient skeletons has been uncovered during excavations for the Crossrail transport project in central London. It's thought that the group of skeletons dates from the time of the 'Black Death' - the plague which wiped out about a third of the British population in the middle of the 14th century. We spoke to Don Walker, a senior osteologist with Museum of London Archaeology, about the significance of this particular find.

From The Voice of Russia, News. Email: letters@ruvr.ru

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Death penalty on the decline, global spikes in executions

The death penalty is on the decline globally, according to a new report by Amnesty International. The human rights organisation said that 21 countries had carried out executions last year, but the number of countries which had the death penalty on their statute books had dropped from 63 to 58. China remains the biggest culprit. We spoke to Jan Wetzel, a death penalty expert from Amnesty.

from The Voice of Russia.

Juliet Spare Convicted murderer appeals on grounds of mental illness #VoRUK

London’s High Court on Wednesday has given hope to the family of convicted murderer, Stacey Hyde who was just 17 when she killed a man, but campaigners say her case highlights the issues young women with mental illness face when standing trial. VoR's Juliet Spare reports.

Convicted murderer appeals on grounds of mental illness http://t.co/3ejV6cExwR
— Betty Long (@longbettlisa) May 16, 2014

Calls for Germany to bring more people to justice over WWII crimes

There have been calls for Germany to make more arrests of alleged Auschwitz guards. This follows the detention of nine people suspected of working at the concentration camp during World War Two. In September German's main agency for investigating Nazi war crimes recommended the prosecution of 30 guards from Auschwitz. Scott Craig spoke to Dr Efraim Zuroff, chief Nazi hunter at the Simon Wiesenthal centre.



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Chemicals in food packaging should be regulated - scientists

For some years there have been concerns about whether plastic packaging can cause harmful chemicals to leak into foodstuffs. Now the Food Packaging Forum in Switzerland has expressed concerns in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health that stricter monitoring of chemicals in packaging should be carried out. We spoke to Dr Jane Muncke, managing director of the Food Packaging Forum, about the dangers.



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