Today's news

UK academic plays key role in Middle East peace deal
Dr Andrew Coyle, director of the International Centre for Prison Studies at King's College, London, is overseeing the detention of six Palestinians in Jericho as part of a deal brokered by the US to end the stalemate in the Middle East.
(Daily Mail)

Tome raider gets four years for library thefts
Cambridge graduate William Jacques has been jailed for four years for stealing hundreds of rare books from Cambridge University library, the London Library and the British Library.
(Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Independent, Daily Mirror)

Research councils launch partnership to coordinate activities
The seven research councils that distribute almost £2 billion a year of public money to British scientists have launched a partnership, Research Councils UK, in an effort to coordinate their activities more effectively.
(Financial Times)

Key physicist in the emergence of “big science” dies
Physicist Oreste Piccioni, who was part of the development of subatomic particle physics into “big science”, has died aged 86.
(Guardian)

Scientists urge new approach to nuclear waste
The serious and urgent problem of radioactive waste storage and disposal requires an entirely new approach from the government, the Royal Society says today.
(Financial Times)

Student dies in bungee accident
A 26-year-old Italian student from Rome and her boyfriend plunged 220ft to their deaths in a bungee-jumping accident. Tiziana Accorra and Alberto Galletti died after jumping from a bridge at the Polino Jumping Centre near Arrone on Wednesday.
(Daily Telegraph, Independent, Daily Mirror)

Private college prepares state pupils for exams
Ryde College, the private institution best known for smashing the record books yearly with the youngest students passing GCSE and A levels, has embarked on a partnership with the state sector. The tutorial college in Watford wants to pass on its expertise in a pilot scheme with children aged 12-15 in east London Schools.
(Guardian)

Heavy drinking after stress linked to genes
German scientists have found that people who drink heavily after stressful events could have their genes to blame after experiments on mice.
(Daily Mail, Guardian, Independent)

Species under threat as their habitats are cut in half
Life on earth is facing an extinction crisis that could be far worse than previously thought due to a constriction of animals’ breeding territories, according to two leading ecologists from Stanford University and Mexico University.
(Independent)