Today's news

Students fight call to attend lectures
More than 1,000 students at East Anglia University have signed a petition protesting against new recruits being told to begin lectures during freshers’ week. Only 200 students signed a petition opposing war in Iraq. The students’ union is demanding that, in future, freshers’ week be set aside exclusively for freshers to settle in and socialise.
( Daily Telegraph , Times )

UK-trained woman behind Iraq’s biological warfare research
Former University of East Anglia doctoral student Rihab Taha is listed in Tony Blair’s Iraq dossier as one time head of the secret biological warfare project. Dr Taha took up the job in 1984, almost immediately after completing a research degree in Norwich.
( Guardian , Times )

Exams chief to face inquiry
Exams chief Sir William Stubbs will today face a grilling at the independent inquiry into the fixing of A-level grades.
( Daily Mail , Times )

Booker judges plead for a little light reading
Queen Mary, University of London, professor Lisa Jardine has criticised publishers for submitting too many serious novels for the Booker prize. Professor Jardine, in her role as chairman of the judges, said it was a shame novels such as Porno by Irvine Welsh were never given a chance.
( Times , Independent , Guardian , Daily Telegraph )

Student at centre of right-to-buy row
Student Arberore Riza has found herself at the centre of a row over the right-to-buy housing scheme after making a £94,000 profit on her former council flat within weeks of becoming its legal owner. Mrs Riza, who is studying at Middlesex University, and her husband came to Britain from Kosovo as asylum seekers in 1995.
( Daily Mail )

Big risks on a microscopic scale
Scientists say fears about the potential dangers of nanotechnology are threatening its wider use.
( Financial Times )

Business school management overhauled
The Sir John Cass Business School of City University has created a new executive management structure to lead and manage the school under the dean, Lord Currie, after his appointment as chairman of Ofcom, the telecommunications and media super-regulator.
( Financial Times )

Hedgehogs get streetwise
Scientists have discovered that hedgehogs may finally have got the message that roads are bad for their health. The researchers from the University of Southampton found that they now avoid roads and highways whenever possible.
( Functional Ecology , Daily Mail )

Coffee, the painkiller for women
Scientists at Goldsmiths College have found that a cup of coffee works within minutes to give the body the short-term ability to cope with pain. In an experiment involving 50 men and women, the 250mg dose of caffeine was effective only in increasing women’s tolerance to pain.
( Daily Mail )

A stiff upper lip is better than counselling
Getting on with life may be healthier than pouring out your heart to counsellors after suffering a trauma, according to researchers at Tel Aviv University.
( Daily Mail , Psychosomatic Medicine )

Computer historian dies
Allan Bromley, Babbage scholar and computer historian, has died age 55.
( Independent )

Maths professor dies
Geoffrey Matthews, the maths professor who set out to re-write the O-level syllabus, has died age 85.
( Independent )

Economist dies
Economist Peter Donaldson has died age 67.
( Guardian )