Mr. William Beck, 50, from Glasgow, spent four years in prison after a jury found him guilty of the robbery involving a hammer in Livingston, West Lothian, in 1981-12, when around 21000 GBP in cash was stolen from two postal workers. But the father of two has always maintained that he was 40 miles away in Glasgow when the incident took place.

He claims his conviction in 1982-03, when he was 21, was based almost entirely on ‘unreliable’ eyewitness identification, and says he is the victim of a miscarriage of justice.

Mr Beck claims only two of the five witnesses identified him in an identity parade. The other three are said to have picked out a volunteer.

Leave to appeal the conviction was refused in 1982 after his defence lawyer is alleged to have said he had no grounds for appeal.

Mr Beck claims his defence team called none of his witnesses during the trial at the High Court in Edinburgh, giving him ‘no chance’. He said:

‘I had a number of people who had seen me in Glasgow that day.: my wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, was called and she gave evidence that I had been with her all day, but when it came down to it, the jury had to decide whether or not to believe us, even though I know there were more people who could have been called on my behalf.

‘I sacked the defence team immediately after the trial; they didn’t try to prepare anything on my behalf, they gave me no chance.’

Mr Beck, who lives with his wife Louise in the Dennistoun area of the city, added:

‘All I want is to be allowed an appeal.

‘I just want to clear my name; I did not commit that robbery, and it is something that has now taken over my whole adult life.

‘I just want a chance to prove my innocence.’

The University of Bristol Innocence Project has taken on Mr Beck’s case and has submitted a response on his behalf following two rejections by The Scottish Criminal Case Review Commission (SCCRC) to review his case. The SCCRS is an independent public body set up to review alleged miscarriages of justice.

• CLIPPED FROM: ‘Man seeks justice over 1981 robbery‘, Googlenews, 2011-08-21

This time the object of her disapproval was centred on a work by Henri Matisse.

Ms.Susan Burns of Alexandria, Va., was arrested 2011-08-05 after police said she walked over to the 1919 Matisse titled, ‘The Plumed Hat,’ grabbed both sides of the frame and banged on it, damaging the original antique gilt and gesso frame.

The 7.28 million GBP painting was luckily protected by a strong plexiglas box which prevented the canvas being exposed to Ms Burns’s frenzied and sustained attack.

According to an arrest affidavit sworn by police Lt. Dexter Moten stated,

‘No damage to the painting itself was immediately apparent,’

Ms.Burns was charged with unlawful entry, contempt, destruction of property and attempted theft.

Back in early 2011-04, the same woman attacked a key Post-Impressionist painting on loan from the Metropolitan Museum in NY by Artist Mr.Paul Gauguin.

The work valued at over 100 million GBP was pulled from the wall but undamaged.

The Portrait was the centerpiece of The Gauguin Exhibition: ‘Gauguin: Maker of Myth.’ which travelled from Tate Modern in London had recently been installed at The National Gallery in the US American capital.

The painting titled ‘Two Tahitian Women’ was lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY and a gift of Mr. William Church Osborn in 1949. It is a classic example and one of the most iconic by the artist.

The frenzied attack lasted only seconds and security was swift to stop the woman before it was damaged. She has been named as, Susan Burns, 53, of Arlington, Va. The distressed woman surprised gallery goers by shouting:

‘I feel that Gauguin is evil.

‘He has nudity and is bad for the children.

‘He has two women in the painting and it’s very homosexual.

‘I am trying to remove it. I think it should be burned,’

According to the report she pounded on the painting which was protected by plexiglas. Ms. Burns added

‘I am from the American CIA and I have a radio in my head. I am going to kill you.’

She is now being held without bail, pending a mental health hearing today.

Ms Burns is known to the police and has been arrested several times. She served six months in jail after a 2006 conviction for assault and battery on a police officer. In 2002, she was convicted of misdemeanor trespassing. In the latest incident she was charged with unlawful entry and brought to the city’s mental health facility.

This woman should be barred from entering museums in the future. There seems to be a problem obtaining an exclusion order and this has led to the well dressed Ms Burns slipping through security. The attack raises questions about security at the museum in general with the protection of some of the world’s most famous works of art an issue. A court docket indicates that Burns was to be “transferred immediately’ from a D.C. jail to “St. Elizabeth’s Hospital and to be monitored closely.’ A police officer also pointed out,

‘Maybe she just really hates art.’

• CLIPPED FROM: ‘Matisse Painting Attacked Washington Lunatic Strikes Again‘ Artlyst 2011-08-15

Mr Janos Perczel, 22, an undergraduate student at St Andrews University in Fife, said that by slowing down light by way of an optical illusion, the light can then be bent around an object to ‘conceal’ it.

Attempts have already been made to create invisibility cloaks but research shows that efforts are limited because any cloak would only work within certain backgrounds.

But by slowing down the rays of light, Mr Perczel says the cloak wearer can move around ever-changing backgrounds.

Mr Perczel, from Hungary, came up with the idea under the guidance of ‘invisibility expert’ Professor Ulf Leonhardt, who teaches at the university’s school of physics and astronomy. The student recognised the potential of the invisible sphere and spent eight months fine tuning his project.

The key development lies in the ability of the sphere, an optical device, to not only remain invisible itself but to slow light.

According to Prof Leonhardt, all optical illusions can slow down rays of light and the sphere can be used to bend this illusion around an object, reflecting off it and making it appear to be invisible.

Mr Perczel added: ‘When the light is bent it engulfs the object, much like water covering a rock sitting in a river bed, and carries on its path, making it seem as if nothing is there.

‘Light however can only be sped up to a speed faster than it would travel in space, under certain conditions, and this restricts invisibility cloaks to work in a limited part of the spectrum, essentially just one colour.

‘This would be ideal if somebody was planning to stand still in camouflage. However, the moment they start to move, the scenery would begin to distort, revealing the person under the cloak. By slowing all of the light down with an invisible sphere, it does not need to be accelerated to such high speeds and can therefore work in all parts of the spectrum.’

• CLIPPED FROM: “Student makes ‘invisibility cloak’ ” Press Assoc, via Yahoo! News, 2011-08-10

For the first time, a team of Scottish researchers from St Andrew’s has found how levels of a hormone, which can reveal how many eggs a woman has remaining, change throughout her reproductive life.

The discovery will allow women to compare their own hormone levels with the average for their age to see whether they should be concerned about their future fertility.

This will indicate whether they are likely to have an early or later menopause, meaning they know whether they have to try for a baby sooner rather than later.

It will also help young women who have had treatment for diseases such as cancer, which may have affected their fertility, to find out whether their hormone levels have been affected. ‘

‘This study now provides us with the level you would expect to find in a normal healthy woman,’ The Scotsman newspaper quoted Mr Tom Kelsey, a lecturer in The School of Computer Science at St Andrews, as saying.

Professor Scott Nelson, from the University of Glasgow, said a major use of the new findings could be in helping young cancer patients wondering how their treatment may have affected their chances of having a baby.

• CLIPPED FROM: “Now, know your biological clock ticking“, Times of India, 2011-08-07

Instead, the focus will switch to family-friendly events aimed at boosting the day and nighttime economy. This year’s event will finish at 22:00 and feature music, ceilidh dancing and curling on the George Square ice rink.

The council said with services under pressure it was ‘imperative that we get the best bang for every Glasgow buck’.
Value concerns

Council leader Mr’Gordon Matheson said:

‘At the moment we are being asked to justify spending 34.00 GBP/head of public money  on an event which just isn’t delivering value and indeed received a fair amount of negative feedback last year.’
He added: ‘This is on top of the 19.00 GBP/head ticket price we are asking the public to pay.

‘Contrast that with the free fireworks display in November which costs the council just 1.50 GBP/head, or the hugely popular Christmas lights switch on which costs 6.00 GBP/head to stage, and I think most people would agree that Hogmanay in the Square is not good value for money.’

Glasgow’s traditional Hogmanay celebrations attracts 4500 to George Square but the council said this was only ‘a fraction of those out and about in the city’ to celebrate the New Year.

The council now plans to focus resources on the existing ‘Glasgow Loves Christmas’ events across the festive period.

This will dovetail with a ‘Glasgow Loves Hogmanay’ series of events on 2011-12-31 which will be co-ordinated with the city’s hospitality industry.

The aim is to create a family day in George Square rather than a one-off party.

Councillor Matheson added:

‘At a time when frontline services are under extreme financial pressure it is imperative that we get the best bang for every Glasgow buck and that is not what is happening at the moment.’

He added:

‘The change means that the ice rink and all the other hugely popular attractions in George Square can be open to families and visitors on Hogmanay and New Year’s Day which previously hasn’t been possible for operational reasons.

‘With special Hogmanay events up until 10 pm, such as curling on the ice rink and a ceilidh, George Square will have a welcoming family feel to it throughout the New Year period.’

The decision to ditch the traditional Hogmanay party has been backed by Glasgow Chamber of Commerce. Commercial director Mr.Richard Muir said:

‘The entertainment economy is a priority sector for us with our bars, clubs, restaurants and other venues estimated to generate 600 million GBP for the local economy and employing almost 30 000 people throughout the city.

‘By promoting Glasgow as a destination we can encourage locals and visitors to use the wide range of top-class facilities, enjoy themselves during their stay and to visit again.’

• CLIPPED FROM: “Glasgow City Council drops George Square Hogmanay party“, BBC News, 2011-07-29.

The question is one of the most hotly contested in palaeontology and revolves around an apparent gap in the fossil record immediately prior to the K-T boundary — the distinct layer of geological sediments separating the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods, and associated with a massive asteroid impact and global extinction event.

Rocks laid down at the time – some 65.5 million years ago — show a thin layer abundant in rare elements like Iridium, spherules and shocked Quartz that could only have come from a meteorite impact.

Since no dinosaur fossils have ever been found in sediments dating from after this point, conventional wisdom has it that the largest creatures ever to roam the earth must have been cut down in their prime — victims of an asteroid impact that sparked firestorms, acid rain and a nuclear winter that blotted out the sun.

But there’s a problem. The fossil record also shows an apparent lack of dinosaur fossils in the last few million years leading up to the impact. It’s been suggested that this “three metre gap” proves that dinosaurs were either extinct, or well on the way out, long before the catastrophic impact event.

Now scientists working in the Hell’s Creek formation in the Montana badlands believe they have resolved the dispute.

Writing in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters they report the discovery of a distinctive brow horn from a Ceratopsian dinosaur (most likely a triceratops) just 13 centimetres below the K-T boundary.

According to the lead author of the paper, Yale University’s Tyler Lyson, the discovery proves that

‘At least some dinosaurs were doing pretty well right up to the impact event 65 and a half million years ago, and that dinosaurs did not go extinct prior to the impact’.

Gaps in the fossil record — which is patchy at best – are nothing new, another, covering tens of millions of years, is clearly evident in the Hell’s Creek formations some 60 metres below the K-T boundary.

But because similar dinosaur fossils are found both above and below this ancient gap it is assumed the absence of fossils has more to do with geological processes, or even simply blind prospecting luck, than any extinction event and subsequent miraculous reintroduction.

The 3 metre gap prior to the K-T boundary is unique because dinosaur fossils never reappear in the geological record. Speaking on the programme this morning The Natural History Museum’s Dr Paul Barrett said the discovery was strong evidence for the catastrophic theory of dinosaur extinction in north America, but not conclusive globally.

‘It shows that in this part of the world dinosaurs were still viable and still roaming around at the time the meteorite hit, but what it doesn’t tell us is what was going on in the rest of the world, and it could be that in other parts of the world dinosaurs were dying out at different rates and for different reasons because of other things going on at the time’.

Just as one swallow doesn’t make a summer, it seems, one triceratops brow horn doesn’t resolve the argument over dinosaur extinction.

• CLIPPED FROM: “Closing the ‘three metre gap‘” BBC News, 2011-07-13

The allegations were made at a public meeting called to discuss concerns held by parts of the Asian community that powers held by police, ports and immigration officials to question travellers at travel hubs were abused, with travellers singled out solely on the basis of their race or skin colour.

• CLIPPED FROM: “Muslims boycott airport“, The Herald, 2011-07-13

Mr. Antonio Prestieri’s father is a convicted murderer, drugs trafficker and clan boss — but he rejected his father’s lifestyle from the start. Ms. Alessandra Clemente’s mother was killed by the brutal crime syndicate.

His father was one of its clan bosses, and yet the two have become unlikely friends. More striking still, they are now taking a brave stand against The Camorra, inspired by the firm conviction that it can be defeated once and for all.

Ms. Clemente, who was only 10 when her mother was killed accidentally in a shoot-out between Camorra clans, wants to become a judge taking on organised crime cases.

She also engages with convicted juvenile delinquents, including the offspring of Camorra bosses, in an attempt to talk them into abandoning their life of crime. And she volunteers at a centre which provides free legal advice to victims of racketeering.

Mr. Prestieri, whose father Tommaso is a powerful former boss now serving life for murder and drugs running, has publicly denounced the crime syndicate and has turned his back on his own family.

A talented musician and playwright, he is the only male member of the clan not to join the Camorra.

As well as his father, his three uncles and cousins were all die-hard Camorristi, who at the height of their power controlled the drugs business in one of Naples’ most infamous districts.

Antonio Prestieri talks about rejecting his father’s lifestyle:

‘In Naples it’s difficult to find people who have not been affected by The Camorra in some way or another,’ said 24-year-old Clemente.

‘But the problem is that too many here are resigned to it. They feel that nothing can be done and that this city will always be cursed by it.

‘They’re wrong; I want to become a judge because that’s my way of honouring my mother’s memory, of saying enough, if we unite we can rid Naples of the Camorra.’

‘One day I can see my city without crime. I see it free,’ said Mr Antonio Prestieri, who when his family’s clan was at war feared for his life because of his surname.

The commitment of the two friends is admirable but they are up against a formidable enemy. Less known abroad than its Sicilian counterpart The Cosa Nostra, The Camorra is by far Italy’s most brutal mafia.

The powerful crime syndicate has claimed more than 3000 lives in the past 30 years, more than any other mafia in Italy. That is an average of 100 hits a year – mainly in a city of only one million people.

The word ‘Camorra’ means gangIt first appeared in the mid-1800s as a prison gang. There are more than 100 clans, and some 7 000 members in Italy and abroad — mainly the US (Source: The FBI)

Its fiefdom is not in faraway Mexico or Colombia, it is a 70-minute train ride from the Vatican, in the heart of a democracy which is a G8 member.

And yet The Camorra, which locals call ‘Il Sistema‘ (the system), has survived mass arrests — most of its biggest names are behind bars — bloody turf wars and most threatening of all in recent times, betrayal from within. Scores of pentiti, or turncoats, plea bargain by giving evidence against their own.

Going from strength to strength, the syndicate is involved in drugs trafficking, racketeering, money laundering, business, politics, public works and the illegal dumping of deadly industrial waste.

It also profits from Naples’s perennial domestic rubbish crisis as it controls some of the waste truck companies and is savvy at embezzling state funds earmarked to solve the problem.

Ms. Alessandra Clemente was playing with a doll in her room on 1997-06-11 — the day The Camorra changed her life. Ms.Silvia Ruotolo, her mother, was walking her five-year-old son Francesco from school when Camorra hit-men opened fire in the street in an attempt to kill a rival boss.

Caught in the crossfire, the 39-year-old school teacher was shot in the head and died instantly in front of her little boy.

‘The terrible thing is that I remember absolutely everything about that day,’ said Clemente, her eyes welling up.

‘I heard loud noises come from the street. I stepped out on to the balcony on the ninth floor, looked down and saw mum on the ground. I hurled myself down the stairs but as I ran out some neighbours took me into their arms to stop me.’

‘I’m committed to fighting the Camorra because I simply cannot accept that in today’s Naples something like this can happen – a young mother is killed because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. There can be no such thing.’

Mr.Prestieri, who grew up with his mother but kept in touch with his father, rejected crime from early on, but his infamous name has haunted him all his life. He recalled how school teachers would treat him differently from other pupils because they feared his family.

After two of his uncles were gunned down by rivals and his father and surviving uncle Maurizio took over the business, Prestieri on many occasions feared that he would be gunned down by his family’s enemies.

His uncle Maurizio, now also in jail, has since given evidence against his own brother to plea bargain.

Not only has Prestieri always condemned his father’s life of crime, he has also rejected its proceeds.

He recalled how on his 18th birthday his father sent one of his men with a gold wrist watch as a present. The young man unceremoniously sent it back with a curt note.

‘The Camorra only sows death and suffering,’ said Prestieri. ‘It’s blighted this city. Friends have often suggested I change my surname to free myself of the burden it’s been. But that would be cowardly. I want to cleanse it so that future generations can carry it with pride.

‘Naples, too, can be cleansed of The Camorra, I have no doubts. Without this curse it would be the most beautiful city in the world.’

This World: Italy’s Bloodiest Mafia will be broadcast on Wednesday 2011-07-13 on BBC Two at 2100 BST or watch online (UK only) for 7 days afterwards

• CLIPPED FROM: “Standing up to Naples’ mafia!“,  This World  , BBC News 2011-07-13

Despite having worked in the UK for the best part of 30 years, where she’s produced many innovative designs, the Riverside Museum in Glasgow is her first major commission to be built in the UK.

But having arrived on the scene late, she and her London-based company seem to be making up for lost time, with a string of iconic buildings due to open in the next 18 months, including the new aquatics centre for the 2012 Olympics.

Critics and public alike admire her buildings’ smooth sleek lines. She describes the Glasgow museum as ‘a sophisticated shed’ but its column free interiors and pleated roof provide more than storage.

She admits she’d been to Glasgow before, more than 20 years ago, when a visit to pick up a prize and give a lecture, ended with a tour of the city’s nightclubs.

She’s won many prizes since then — including being the only woman to win The Pritzker, architecture’s answer to The Nobel Prize.

But when her company was picked from 140 submissions to build the 74 million GBP  Riverside Museum, she recalled the fun element of those nightclubs as well as the more obvious inspiration around the Clyde.

‘You only have to look out the window to all these sheds and shipyards, and a site at the meeting of two rivers and one knows so much was made on the Clyde and taken round the world,’ she says, during a tour of the building.

‘But I do remember this was a city with a real sense of fun and people really enjoyed themselves. I hope we brought some of that excitement to the project.’

This isn’t Ms Zaha Hadid’s first project in Scotland. Although smaller in scale and ambition, the Maggie’s centre in Kirkcaldy, with its sharp, dynamic edges already gave a sense of what she could do, but after almost 30 years working in the UK, why has it taken so long for her designs to come to fruition. She shrugs.

‘I really don’t know. There has also been scepticism for whatever reason and it’s hard to take a chance on something you don’t know. European cities seem more prepared to take a chance of something they don’t know, but hopefully all that is changing.’

She also believes this is an important flagship for her company, Zaha Hadid Architects. So much so that she’s arranged for all 280 of her employees to make a site visit this weekend.

‘It’s very important for us and nice that it’s in this location. The Clyde has been important to us, and to have a second building in Scotland is a great honour.’

The building’s steel clad exterior and industrial setting has also led to much discussion about whether it’s ‘The Guggenheim of the north’ — a reference to the iconic Mr Frank Gehry building which helped change Bilbao’s fortunes.

Onlookers are quick to point out that Glasgow had already tapped into that effect — thanks to its reign as European city of culture in 1990 — and according to a recent report now employs more people in the cultural sector than it ever did in the shipbuilding trade.

Nevertheless, the new museum is likely to bring additional attention to a city prepared to commission such a bold design.

For now, though, Ms Zaha Hadid has to step back and realise her work is done and that her radical new design is now public property.

‘I’m always curious what they’re doing with it. But it’s their project, it’s born, you give it to them and they have to take care of it.’

And the infamous pistachio colour scheme, which looks likely to divide public opinion when the building opens on June 21st? Zaha Hadid admits it was her choice — but even she looks like she’s having second thoughts.

‘It’s hard; you’re under pressure to come up with something other than white. It’s not an art gallery. It needs something radiant and edgy. I hope they like it — if they don’t, they can complain to the director but I think, with all these engines, it’s going to be OK.’

• CLIPPED FROM: “Riverside Museum architect visits ‘sophisticated shed’”, BBC News, 2011-06-09

A deal offering three boxes of various alcoholic drinks for £20 was going through the tills at three for £11.

Police were called to Tesco in Greenock after heavy congestion was reported in the car park as customers rushed to get the deal.

A spokesman for Tesco said the pricing error was quickly spotted.

He said till operators changed the prices manually until the system was corrected.

It is understood the offer was supposed to be “buy three boxes of beer and save £11″.

Instead customers were able to purchase up to 45 small bottles of lager or 36 cans for £11.
Beer ‘stampede’

News of the error spread quickly from about 1900 BST, with many people posting messages on social networking sites.

There were also problems at a store at the Silverburn shopping centre in Glasgow and in Bellshill.

One customer said the situation was “bedlam” as people phoned their friends and some went home to change clothing to come back and buy more beer.

Twitter user Graham McKenzie tweeted:

“Price glitch for beer has literally caused a stampede at the local Tesco. Tempers are flying in car park.”

Rebecca Macdougall tweeted:

“Was casually chatting to my dad about the beer situation at Tesco mention 3 crates for 11 quid and he sprints to the car.”

• CLIPPED FROM: ‘Tesco mistake leads to beer rush’ BBC News, 2011-06-02