News Headlines - 09 May 2012

▽The tale of two French first ladies: A dilemma of protocol - NDTV
http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/the-tale-of-two-french-first-ladies-a-dilemma-of-protocol-208138
France has two first ladies for the moment. Carla Bruni, wife of outgoing President Nicolas Sarkozy, and Valerie Trierweiler, the companion of the newly elected President Francois Hollande. They both have their 'firsts'. Carla Bruni was the first one to marry a President while he was in office and to have a child at the Elysee palace. Valerie Trierweiler is the first one to be a French President's unwed companion.

▽Lords reform expected in Queen's Speech - BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17994738
The government is expected to use the Queen's Speech to push ahead with House of Lords reform, despite strong opposition from many Conservative MPs.

▽Members of paedophile gang to be sentenced - Telegraph.co.uk
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9253712/Members-of-paedophile-gang-to-be-sentenced.html
Nine members of an Asian paedophile gang are today being sentenced for their role in a child sex ring that exploited vulnerable teenagers.

▽Great Pacific Garbage Patch has increased 100-fold since the 1970s - Telegraph.co.uk
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/9253665/Great-Pacific-Garbage-Patch-has-increased-100-fold-since-the-1970s.html
Scientists warned the killer soup of microplastic – particles smaller than five millimetres – threatened to alter the open ocean's natural environment.

▽Dinosaur gases 'warmed the Earth' - BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/17953792
British scientists have calculated the methane output of sauropods, including the species known as Brontosaurus.
By scaling up the digestive wind of cows, they estimate that the population of dinosaurs - as a whole - produced 520 million tonnes of gas annually.
They suggest the gas could have been a key factor in the warm climate 150 million years ago.