Daily News Round Up 30/06

The Artesian blog takes a look at the morning headlines:

Yemen jet crashes in Indian Ocean
- A Yemeni airliner with 153 people on board has crashed in the Indian Ocean near the Comoros archipelago.

Some bodies have been spotted, a Yemeni aviation official said, and wreckage of the plane located. It is not clear whether there were survivors. (full story)

Queen will run out of money in Diamond Jubilee year without more funds - The Queen will run out funds by 2012 in her Diamond Jubilee year unless the government increases the Civil List for the first time in 20 years.

The total cost of keeping the monarchy increased by £1.5 million to £41.5 million during the last financial year, up three pence per persona year, to 69 pence. (full story)


Giant ladybird could threaten 1,000 British species - A giant ladybird is threatening to wipe out more than 1,000 native insect and plant species in Britain, scientists have warned.

The harlequin ladybird, originally from Asia, was first spotted in the South East in 2004 after being blown across the Channel. (full story)

Schools accused of wasting £1bn every year - Billions of pounds pumped into schools by Labour have remained unspent or been wasted on expensive contracts, according to the spending watchdog which accuses ministers of failing to hold headteachers to account for their expenditure.

The Audit Commission report, published tomorrow, concludes schools are wasting nearly £1bn of public money every year by "hoarding" it in bank accounts and failing to shop around for the best deals on meals, equipment and cleaning. (full story)


Obama junks ‘global war on terror’ label - The Obama administration has junked the term “global war on terror” because it does not describe properly the nature of the terrorist threat to the US, according to Janet Napolitano, secretary for homeland security.

“One of the reasons the nomenclature is not used is that ‘war’ carries with it a relationship to nation states in conflict with each other and of course terrorism is not necessarily derived from the nation state relationship,” she told the Financial Times. “In some respects ‘war’ is too limiting.” (full story)